 | Attalus I: Encyclopedia II - Attalus I - Second Macedonian War
Attalus I - Second Macedonian War
In 200 BCE, Attalus became involved in the Second Macedonian War. Acarnanians with Macedonian support invaded Attica, causing Athens, which had previously maintained its neutrality, to seek help from the enemies of Philip.36 Attalus, with his fleet at Aegina, received an embassy from Athens, to come to the city for consultations. Informed that Roman ambassadors were also at Athens, Attalus went there in haste. His reception at Athens was extraordinary.37 Polybius writes:
… in company with the Romans and the Athenian magistrates, he began his progress to the city in great state. For he was met, not only by all the magistrates and the knights, but by all the citizens with their children and wives. And when the two processions met, the warmth of the welcome given by the populace to the Romans, and still more to Attalus, could not have been exceeded. At his entrance into the city by the gate Dipylum the priests and priestesses lined the street on both sides: all the temples were then thrown open; victims were placed ready at all the altars; and the king was requested to offer sacrifice. Finally they voted him such high honors as they had never without great hesitation voted to any of their former benefactors: for, in addition to other compliments, they named a tribe after Attalus, and classed him among their eponymous heroes.38
Sulpicius Galba, now consul, convinced Rome to declare war on Phillip39 and asked Attalus to meet up with the Roman fleet and again conduct a naval campaign, harassing Macedonian possessions in the Aegean.40 In the spring of 199 BCE, the combined Pergamon and Roman fleets took Andros in the Cyclades, the spoils going to the Romans and the island to Attalus. From Andros they sailed south, made a fruitless attack on another Cycladic island, Kithnos, turned back north, scavenged the fields of Skiathos off the coast of Magnesia, for food, and continued north to Mende, where the fleets were wracked by storm. On land they were repulsed at Cassandrea, suffering heavy loss. They continued northeast along the Macedonian coast to Acanthus, which they sacked, after which they returned to Euboea, their vessels laden with spoils.41
On their return, Attalus and the Roman commander, went to Heraclea to meet with the Aetolians, who, under the terms of their treaty asked Attalus for a thousand soldiers. Attalus refused, citing the Aetolians' own refusal to honor Attalus' request to attack Macedonia, during Philip's attack on Pergamon two years previous. Resuming operations, Attalus and the Romans attacked but failed to take Oreus, and deciding to leave a small force to invest it, attacked across the straight in Thessaly. When they returned to Oreus, they again attacked, this time successfully, the Romans taking the captives, Attalus the city.42 The campaigning season over, Attalus, after attending the Eleusinian Mysteries, returned to Pergamon after an absence of more than two years.43
In the spring of 198 BCE, Attalus with twenty-three quinqueremes sailed again to Greece and joined a fleet of twenty decked Rhodian warships at Andros, to complete the conquest of Euboea, begun the previous year. Soon joined by the Romans, the combined fleets took Eretria and later Carystus. Thus, the allies controlled all of Euboea except for Chalcis.44 After a failed attempt to take Corinth, the Romans left for Corcyra, while Attalus sailed for Piraeus.45
Early in 197 BCE, Attalus was summoned to Thebes by Titus Quinctius Flamininus, the Roman consul, to a Boeotian council to decide which side Boeotia would take in the war. Attalus was the first to speak in the council, but during his address, he stopped talking and fell down, one side of his body having become paralyzed.46 Attalus was taken back to Pergamon, where he died the following fall, perhaps having heard of the news of the decisive Roman victory at the Battle of Cynoscephalae, bringing about the end of the Second Macedonian War.
Other related archives197 BC deaths, 197 BCE, 198 BCE, 199 BCE, 201 BCE, 205 BCE, 206 BCE, 208 BCE, 209 BCE, 210 BCE, 211 BCE, 213 BCE, 214 BCE, 215 BCE, 216 BCE, 217 BCE, 218 BCE, 219 BCE, 223 BCE, 228 BCE, 241 BCE, 269 BC births, 269 BCE, Acanthus, Acarnanians, Achaeus, Achelous, Aegean, Aegina, Aetolia, Aetolian League, Andros, Antiochus Hierax, Antiochus I, Antiochus III the Great, Antiochus IV, Asia Minor, Athens, Attalid dynasty, Attalids, Attalus, Attica, Battle of Cynoscephalae, Bithynia, Boeotian, Byzantium, Calydonia, Caria, Carthage, Carystus, Cassandrea, Celtic, Chalcis, Chios, Corcyra, Cronos, Cyclades, Cyzicus, Delphi, Dying Gaul, Egyptian, Eleusinian Mysteries, Eretria, Erythrae, Euboea, Eumenes, Eumenes I, Eumenes II, First Macedonian War, France, Galatia, Galatians, Gauls, Hannibal, Hellespont, Heraclea, Italy, Kithnos, Lamia, Lemnos, Livy, Locris, Macedonian Wars, Maeander, Magna Mater, Magnesia, Mende, Mount Ida, Olympia, Opus, P. Sulpicius Galba, Pausanias, Pergamon, Philetaerus, Philip, Philip V of Macedon, Phrygia, Piraeus, Polybius, Prusias I, Rhodes, Rome, Samos, Sardis, Second Macedonian War, Second Punic War, Seleucid, Seleucus I Nicator, Seleucus II Callinicus, Seleucus III Ceraunus, Sibylline Books, Skiathos, Switzerland, Taurus Mountains, The Dying Gaul, Thebes, Thessaly, Thrace, Thracian, Titus Quinctius Flamininus, Turkey, Zeus, Ziaelas, consul, proconsul, quinqueremes, stategoi
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Second Macedonian War", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
