First Battle of Lamia

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First Battle of Lamia
Part of First Macedonian War
Lamia First Battle of Lamia (Greece)
Date Spring 209 BC Location Lamia, Greece Result Macedonian victory
Belligerents
Macedonia	Pergamum
Commanders and leaders
Philip V of Macedon	Pyrrhias
Casualties and losses
unknown	1,000

The First Battle of Lamia was fought in 209 BC between the forces of Philip V of Macedon and the Aetolians led by Pyrrhias. The Aetolians were aided by a small Roman force and a force from the kingdom of Pergamon. The Macedonians were victorious. Another battle was fought at Lamia within the year.

In the First Battle of Lamia the Aetolian league suffered almost 1,000 casualties.

Background

In the spring of 210 BC, Laevinus again sailed from Corcyra with his fleet, and with the Aetolians, captured

Although there was some fear of Rome and concern with her methods,[2] the coalition arrayed against Philip continued to grow. As allowed for by the treaty, Pergamon, Elis and Messenia, followed by Sparta, all agreed to join the alliance against Macedon.^[3] The Roman fleet, together with the Pergamene fleet, controlled the sea, and Macedon and her allies were threatened on land by the rest of the coalition. The Roman strategy of encumbering Philip with a war among Greeks in Greece was succeeding, so much so that when Laevinus went to Rome to take up his consulship, he was able to report that the legion deployed against Philip could be safely withdrawn.^[4]

However, the Eleans, Messenians and Spartans remained passive throughout 210 BC, and Philip continued to make advances. He invested and took Echinus, using extensive siege works, having beaten back an attempt to relieve the town by the Aetolian

.

In the spring of 209 BC, Philip received requests for help from his ally the

Asia Minor.^[6] It was due to this that King Philip decided to march south into Greece

.

References

1. ^ Livy, 26.26; Polybius, 9.39. Livy says that Anticyra was Locrian, but modern scholars disagree, see Walbank, p. 87, note 2.
2. ^ Polybius, 9.37–39, 10.15.
3. ^ Polybius, 9,30.
4. ^ Livy, 26.28.
5. ^ Polybius, 9.41–42.
6. ^ Livy, 27.29.

Bibliography

• Livy, From the Founding of the City, Rev. Canon Roberts (translator), Ernest Rhys (Ed.); (1905) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.
• Evelyn S. Shuckburgh
  (translator); London, New York. Macmillan (1889); Reprint Bloomington (1962).

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