1st Official Post

    Hello everyone, I’m back today with a mini article to give you an outline on what you can expect from my upcoming blog posts. So yes, this is a post about posts. But, it will also contain some background on the city of Cyrene and the two scenarios for the campaign taking place in this region.

Conquest of Cyrenaica 

    In my first campaign, we have Alexander the Great invading the region of Cyrenaica with the goal of subduing the Greek cities along the coast. For both games, I will be using Tactica II for the rule set with some alterations for each scenario. Rather than slugging it out until one army reaches its breakpoint, the main game will be decided by the highest point total from controlling objective points on the map. Control of the objective will grant the player its full point value while both a contested objective and an uncontrolled objective will not grant any points to either player. The other, smaller game will feature a much smaller scale version of these rules to test them out and introduce Tactica II to the players. The exact measurements of the deployment zones, along with rough illustrations and photos of the battlefields will be in future articles that will proceed each game. For now, some brief context for these special rules will be provided below. 

    The first scenario is a 5 turn limit small scale skirmish. It is a surprise by the Greeks of Cyrene at a diplomatic meeting between a representative of Alexander the Great and Greek nobles from the major cities of Cyrenaica. The ambush is being led by a fictional Archon of Cyrene, Nikanthos. Their objective is to capture the meeting grounds and capture or kill the Macedonian leader. The other side is led by the Macedonian commander and Satrap of Egypt, Cleomenes of Naucratis. Their objective is to hold the meeting grounds and get their commander to a marked escape zone on the map. Each player will get 1 point for completing an objective. This scenario is meant more as a learning game to familiarize us with the rules of Tactica II before the major scenario.

    The major scenario is an engagement between the vanguard of the invading Macedonians and a portion of the garrison of Cyrene. Alexander himself is leading the Macedonians and attempting to set up a fortified camp in a strategic location outside the city of Cyrene. Nikanthos is leading the Greek allies sallying from the city. The Greek allies are trying to set up a fortified position at the same location. This scenario will feature the capture points I mentioned earlier. Each capture point represents a strategic place, such as woodlands for siege equipment and a nearby river for a source of water close to the city. I will be going into much more detail on the objectives in the article proceeding the scenario. For now, here is some information on Cyrene and why it is significant enough to be the setting for a campaign.

The city of Cyrene and the region of Cyrenaica

    Ancient Cyrenaica was a coastal region in northern Libya made up of Greek Colonies established in the 7th and 6th centuries b.c. Cyrenaica got its name from the most prominent city of the region, Cyrene, which was founded around the year 630 b.c. For more detail on the settlement of Cyrene I can recommend taking a look at the writings of Diodorus Siculus, in his Bibliotheca Historica, or the writings of Herodotus for primary sources. These two YouTube videos made by History with Cy and Generic History are alternatives that go over the mythical founding of Cyrene in a brief and entertaining way. 

    My scenario takes place in the year 320 b.c., meaning the region of Cyrenaica has been colonized by the Greeks for over 300 years. By this point in time, Cyrene and the other colonies in the area are flourishing trade centers. The region exported goods like silver, grain, cattle, and a plant called silphium. Silphium is a now extinct plant that was used for many purposes in the ancient world. Some of its applications included being used as a laxative, contraceptive, food seasoning, and a long list of other purposes. I have not come across references of the plant growing outside North Africa, but Silphium may have been cultivated in other areas due to how often I have seen it referenced being used across the Mediterranean. Either way, having Silphium as a major export must have been very lucrative for the cities of Cyrenaica due to how much of a staple the plant was in antiquity. Many other grains and livestock like horses were also exported from the region in ancient times.

    With their rich economy and close proximity to Greece, the colonies of Cyrenaica were able to remain a major participant in Greek politics. Several ancient sources such as Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus have quoted the cities of Cyrenaica participating in various Greek wars and politics, but have not given details that I could find. It seems like the cities of Cyrenaica most often contributed ships or material to various allies and participants in these conflicts. One example I found of direct involvement in an outside conflict was around the year 310 bc during the Greco-Punic wars between Carthage and the Greek cities in Sicily. The Ptolemaic ruler of Cyrene, Ophellas, reportedly brought between 10-15,000 troops to aid the Greek leader Agathocles in his invasion of Carthage. From what I could find, the majority of these troops were Greek mercenaries, showing that the region had the wealth to support large armies.

    A later example was a planned invasion of Ptolemaic Egypt by the Ptolemaic ruler of Cyrenaica, Magas. This invasion did not end up materializing as Magas had to turn around to defend an incursion from Libyan tribes while en route to Egypt. While it is definitely possible that there are more instances where men were sent from Cyrenaica to participate in foreign wars, I think it would be in small numbers and only for short periods of time. Like other Greek colonies on foreign lands, the colonists of Cyrenaica had to contend with the other local cultures of the region. Excluding mercenaries, the armies of these Greek colonies would typically be a seasonal force made up of the citizens and could only be raised for a limited window of time.

    The reason Cyrenaica features as the first region in my campaign is because Alexander is turning his attention westward and I found myself very interested in the history of the area. The region of Cyrenaica also falls along the African coast on the way to Carthage and Sicily. While the region was nominally subject to Alexander already historically, in my fictionalized setting Alexander is finally getting around to solidifying his sovereignty of the area. He initially sent a diplomatic party to re-organize and fully incorporate the Greek cities there into his empire. After Nikanthos and the city of Cyrene killed his diplomatic party and refused to recognize Alexander’s authority, Alexander was obliged to retaliate and given a pre-text for invasion, depending on how you look at it. Nikanthos is also the leader of the fictionalized mercenary band that features in my other campaign. So this setting serves as a way to kick start both storylines.

Next Time

    In my next article, I will be going over the Greek allied forces and talking about the mercenary proto-thureophoroi unit led by Nikanthos in more detail. The article will serve as an introduction to his band and include the first short narrative in his story.

Community Questions

    For some community engagement, is there any stand out figure or event from the Hellenistic Era you enjoyed learning about or wish you could learn more about?

Sources

1.) Diodorus Siculus “Bibliotheca Historica” Book 4: The Relationship Between Cyrene and the Greek World

2.) Herodotus

3.) Pindar

4.) Duncan Head “ Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars”

5.) Introduction to ancient Greek colonies by History with Cy 

6.) Greek colonization sounds stressful by Generic History