Bato (Dardanian chieftain)
| Bato | |
|---|---|
| Reign | c. 206 BC – c. 176 BC |
| Predecessor | Monunius II |
| Father | Longarus |
Bato (ruled c. 206 – 176 BC
Military activities
When the Romans returned to
At the beginning, Athenagoras made skirmishes against their rear lines but when Bato's army turned their flags and assumed regular positions in front of the enemy, the battle turned into a full-fledged war. As soon as the Dardanians set out on the road, the king's men attacked them with their cavalry and light infantry. Bato did not have an army of this type and were carrying heavy weapons,[5] but the nature of the terrain helped them.. Few were killed and a few more were injured, but none were taken prisoner, because in those few cases the Dardanians come out of their lines and in close formation they fight together or withdraw. The Dardanian army under Bato was a well-organized military force in line with the most advanced tactics of that time, but also distinguished by bravery, discipline and solidarity.[6]
News of the Roman victory in 197 BC, drew Bato once again down the Vardar valley, but Philip caught and defeated him near the Paeonian capital Stobi with an army he had hastily conscripted from the cities of his kingdom. The Macedonians continued to hold Bylazora and through that Paeonia, whose return the Dardanians were still demanding thirty years after another major Roman victory.[7] Bato did not receive any land as he had hoped in contrast to the Ardiaean Kingdom which was given lands so that Pleuratus could attack Macedonia from them. This angered the Dardanian State which hoped to annex Macedonian land and to free Paeonia, their allies. Such is the fact that in 190 BC, the Aetolians asked Bato for paid soldiers in their war against Rome.
Since it was difficult to defeat Bato militarily, Philip V drew up a plan to set the large Germanic/Celtic of the Bastarnae against him. He proposed to them that he would open a way to the Dardanian State so that the Bastarnae could settle there for a while and later continue on their way through Illyria, finally reaching Italy. Philip's purpose was to wipe out the Dardanians and settle the Bastarnae in their lands, and send the Bastarnae to Italy to lay it waste, leaving their women and children in Dardania. It was up to Monunius, the brother of Bato to confront the Bastarnae, as he succeeded Bato in 176 BC.[8]
See also
- List of rulers of Illyria
Notes
- Bato was the first known person with this name. He is scarcely known in modern historiography as "Bato of Dardania",Latin: Bato, Longari' filius and "Bato, prince of the Dardani".
References
- ISBN 0-631-19807-5, page 86, "... including the names of Dardanian rulers, Longarus, Bato, Monunius and Etuta, and those on later epitaphs, Epicadus, Scerviaedus, Tuta, Times and Cinna. Other Dardanian names are linked with ..."
- ^ BATON or BATO. 1. The son of Longarus, a Dardanian chief, who joined the Romans in their war with Philip of Macedon, B.C. 200. (Liv. xxxi. 28.).
- ^ Livy 31028 (Bato, son of Longarus)
- ^ The Illyrians by, John Wilkes pg. 150
- ^ The Illyrians to the Albanians -Neritan Ceka p. 179
- ^ Livy (XXI, 43, 1-3)
- ^ Livy 31.38 - 41; 33.19 (after Cynoscephalae)
- ^ Livy (XL, 574-9)
- ^ Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond (1967). Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas. Clarendon P.
At the other end of the protectorate Rome obtained promises of aid from Pleuratus the Illyrian and from Bato of Dardania.
- ^ James Arthur Dewar (1968). The Second Macedonian War. University of Wisconsin--Madison.
This policy was facilitated by the accession to the Roman cause of the minor chieftains, Pleuratus of Scodra and Bato the Dardanian and Amynander, king of Athamania.