Ptolemaic navy
Ptolemaic navy | |
---|---|
Active | 305-30 BC |
Country | Ptolemaic Kingdom |
Branch | Navy |
Size | est: 900-1000 ships distributed into 4 fleets Alexandrian Fleet Aegean Fleet Nile River Fleet Red Sea Fleet |
Engagements | Battle of Salamis (306 BC) Battle of Ephesus (258 BC) Battle of Cos (261/255 BC) Battle of Andros (246 BC) Battle of Actium (31 BC) |
The Ptolemaic navy was the naval force of the
History
There were a number of maritime powers competing across the
The early Ptolemies focused of developing naval instead of striving to develop a land empire in
Ptolemy I’s major maritime rival in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean was therefore Antigonus I (assisted by his son, Demetrius I of Macedon). The Macedonian king Perdiccas briefly threatened Ptolemy in 321 BC when he sent an army and naval force to invade Egypt, when this operation failed he was assassinated by his officers that fleet was eventually acquired by Antigonus.[2] Antigonus chose not to focus on maritime affairs until 315 BC, after he first campaigned into the former Achaemenid Empire to defeat Eumenes. After this, he returned to the Mediterranean, where a coalition of Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus was preparing to face him.[2]
Antigonus started a gigantic ship-building program, building five
In 313 BC,
In 306 BC Antigonus ordered his fleet under his son Demetrius to head to Cyprus for what was to be the decisive naval conflict with Ptolemy, this naval engagement was known as the
In 294 BC recorded by Plutarch, Demetrius began construction of a huge shipbuilding program that was to consist of 500 ships built at dockyards in Corinth, Chalcis, Pella and Piraeus.[2] This program was halted when following his seven year reign he lost his throne in 288 BC, at which point Ptolemy I took this chance to return to the matters of Greek affairs by personally commanding an expedition of his Aegean Fleet sent into the Aegean Sea. The expedition succeeded, he gained possession of Cyprus and strategic bases in the Aegean like Andros, the Ptolemaic navy once again became the strongest navy in the Eastern Mediterranean area.[2]
After this, the Ptolemaic navy remained unchallenged for almost 30 years when there followed a number of decisive naval battles in the Aegean during the reign of Ptolemy II. The first was at the Battle of Ephesus involving the Ptolemaic Kingdom and its former ally Rhodes it took place of the coast of Anatolia at Ephesus. The Rhodian fleet was under the command of Agathostratus, whilst the Ptolemaic fleet was commanded by an Athenian admiral called Chremonides resulted in a major defeat for Ptolemaic navy. The outcome of which was the success breaking Ptolemaic dominance in the Aegean Sea.
To ensure the Ptolemaic navy never gained resurgence in the Aegean region, a further engagement, the
It was during the
For almost the next two hundred years the navy was not involved in any further major conflicts until the
Supreme Commander
Name | Dates | Appointer |
---|---|---|
Callicrates | 270–250 BC | Ptolemy II[14]
|
Seleucus, son of Bithys | 144–ca. 130 BC | Ptolemy VIII Euergetes[15] |
Crocus | ca. 130–124 BC[16][17] | |
Theodorus, son of Seleucus | 123–118 BC[15] | |
Helenus of Cyrene (1st time) | 118–117 BC[15] | |
Ptolemy IX Soter II |
117–116 BC<[15] | |
Ptolemy X Alexander |
116–114 BC[15] | Ptolemy IX Soter II
|
Helenus of Cyrene (2nd time) | 114 BC–106 BC[15] | |
King Ptolemy IX Soter II |
105–88 BC [15] | himself |
Potamon | 105–88 BC[15] | Ptolemy IX Soter II
|
Chaereas? | 88–80 BC | |
King Ptolemy of Cyprus | 80–53 BC [15] | himself |
Fleet Commanders
Below is a list of post holders holding the title of nauarchos, some of whom were fleet commanders, commanding individual fleets, whilst others were supreme commanders of the navy such as Callicrates.[9]
Name | Dates | Appointed by | Notes/Ref |
---|---|---|---|
Polycleitus | 313 BC | Ptolemy I Soter | [5] |
Menelaus | 322-254 BC | Ptolemy II |
[18] |
Zenon | 286 BC | Ptolemy I Soter | [19] |
Timosthenes | 280s-270s BC | Ptolemy II |
[20] |
Philocles, King of Sidon | 260–253 BC | Ptolemy II |
[21] |
Perigenes | 218 BC | Ptolemy IV Philopator | [22] |
Fleets
Alexandrian fleet
The
Aegean fleet
The Aegean fleet was established and headquartered at Thera from the 3rd century BC. This was the main wartime fleet for the entire Aegean Sea and was stationed in the city's harbour. It was disbanded in 145 BC.[25]
Nile River fleet
The Nile Fleet or Royal River fleet was a naval force garrisoned at Alexandria from at least the 3rd century BC.[26] Part of this fleet included a river guard force or police patrol to ensure the free movement of commerce up and down the Nile, which in these times could be dangerous. The Nile fleet was operating until at least 94 BC.[26]
Red Sea fleet
The Red Sea Fleet, was based at
Bases and ports
# | Base/Port | Area |
---|---|---|
1. | Alexandria | Mediterranean Sea |
2. | Berenice Troglodytica | Red Sea |
3. | Ephesus | Aegean Sea |
4. | Itanos, Crete[34] | Aegean Sea |
5. | Kom Ombo[35] | Upper Nile
|
6. | Nea Paphos, Cyprus |
Levantine Sea |
7. | Ptolemais, Phoenicia | Levantine Sea |
8. | Salamis, Cyprus | Levantine Sea |
9. | Samos | Aegean Sea |
10. | Thera[36] |
Aegean Sea |
# | battle | against | date/s | part of | result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Naval expedition against Greece | Sikyon |
308 BC | Fourth War of the Diadochi |
Won.[37] |
2. | Battle of Salamis | Macedonian navy & Athenian navy | 306 BC | Fourth War of the Diadochi | Loss.[38] |
3. | Battle of Cos | Macedonian navy | 261/255 BC | Second Syrian War |
Loss. |
4. | Battle of Ephesus | Rhodian navy | 258 BC | Second or Third Syrian Wars | Loss.[39] |
5. | Battle of Andros | Macedonian navy | 246 BC | Third Syrian War |
Loss.[40] |
6. | Battle of the Plane Tree Pass | Seleucid navy | 218 BC | Fourth Syrian War |
Undecided[41] |
7. | Battle of Actium | Roman navy | 31 BC | Final War of the Roman Republic |
Loss.[42] |
Footnotes
- ISBN 9781107007758.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Robinson, Carlos. Francis. (2019). "Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult". Chapter: Naval Power, the Ptolemies and the Maritime Aphrodite. pp.79-94. A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy. University of Queensland, Australia.
- ^ a b Robinson. pp.79-94.
- ISBN 9780190202330.
- ^ ISBN 9781853676857.
- ^ Worthington. pp. 118-119.
- ^ a b c Rickard, J (6 June 2007), Battle of Cos, 258 BC , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_cos.html
- JSTOR 624686.
- ^ a b Hauben 2013, p. 52.
- ISBN 9780472116324.
- ^ Mavrogiannis, Theodoros. "The Mausoleum of Ptolemy Eupator and the "Tombs of the Kings" at Nea Paphos in the Light of the Portraiture of the Ptolemaic Strategoi from Voni - Kythrea', Ostraka XXV 2016, pp. 119-162". academia.edu. University of Cyprus, Department of History and Archaeology.: 123. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ISBN 9780871690838.
- ^ Bagnall 1976, p. 47.
- ISBN 9780198748472.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bagnall 1976, pp. 45, 47.
- ^ T. B. Mitford: "The Hellenistic Inscriptions of Old Paphos," The Annual of the British School at Athens, 56 (1961), p. 28, no. 74. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 13.573. Inscriptions de Délos 1528 = OGIS 140.
- ^ Bagnall 1976, p. 45.
- ^ Sharpe, Samuel (1852). "V". The History of Egypt from the Earliest Times Till the Conquest by the Arabs A. D. 640 by Samuel Sharpe: Vol. 1. London, England: Edward Moxon. p. 206.
- ^ Buraselis 2013, p. 106.
- ISBN 9780520207387.
- ISBN 9780674659643.
- ^ "Polybius • Histories — Book 5. 68". penelope.uchicago.edu. University of Chicago. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ISBN 9781107113367.
- ^ a b c d Muhs.
- ISBN 9780198787273.
- ^ a b Kruse 2013, pp. 172–185.
- ISBN 9780520303386.
- ISBN 9789004076440.
- ISBN 9781443826198.
- ^ "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, PACHIA AMMOS ("Minoa") Ierapetra district, Crete. , PANTELIMONUL DE SUS, see ULMETUM , PAPHOS or Nea Paphos (Kato Paphos) Cyprus". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Princeton, New Jersey, United States.: Princeton University. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ Christodoulou. p.265.
- PMID 29561857.
- ^ a b Public Library of Science (PLOS).
- ISBN 9789004188310.
- ISBN 9780892367962.
- ^ Constantakopoulou. p.48.
- ISBN 9780810876255.
- ISBN 9780313335396.
- ISBN 9781107007758.
- ^ Rickard, J (17 June 2007), Battle of Andros, 246 or 245 B.C., http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_andros.html
- ^ Rickard, J (18 June 2007), Battle of the Plane Tree Pass, 218 BC, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_plane_tree_pass.html
- ISBN 9780415973342.
Bibliography
- Bagnall, Roger S. (1976). The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions Outside Egypt. Leiden: E. J. Brill. ISBN 9789004044906.
- Bagnall, Roger S. (2004). Egypt from Alexander to the Early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide. Los Angeles, California, United States: Getty Publications. ISBN 9780892367962.
- Buraselis, Kostas (2013). "Ptolemaic grain, seaways and power". In Buraselis, Kostas; Stefanou, Mary; Thompson, Dorothy J. (eds.). The Ptolemies, the Sea and the Nile: Studies in Waterborne Power. Cambridge University Press. pp. 97–107. ISBN 9781107033351.
- Fischer-Bovet, Christelle (2014). Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107007758.
- Hauben, Hans (2013). "Callicrates of Samos and Patroclus of Macedon, champions of Ptolemaic thalassocracy". In Buraselis, Kostas; Stefanou, Mary; Thompson, Dorothy J. (eds.). The Ptolemies, the Sea and the Nile: Studies in Waterborne Power. Cambridge University Press. pp. 39–65. ISBN 9781107033351.
- Kruse, Thomas (2013). "The Nile police in the Ptolemaic period". In Buraselis, Kostas; Stefanou, Mary; Thompson, Dorothy J. (eds.). The Ptolemies, the Sea and the Nile: Studies in Waterborne Power. Cambridge University Press. pp. 172–184. ISBN 9781107033351.
- Muhs, Brian (2 August 2016). "7:The Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)". The Ancient Egyptian economy, 3000-30 BCE. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107113367.
- Robinson, Carlos. Francis. (2019). "Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult". Chapter: Naval Power, the Ptolemies and the Maritime Aphrodite. A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy. University of Queensland. Australia.
- Sidebotham, Steven E. (1986). Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa: 30 B.C.-A.D. 217. Leiden, Netherlands.: BRILL. ISBN 9789004076440.
- Sidebotham, Steven E. (2019). Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route. Berkeley, California, United States.: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520303386.