The Scythian Campaign of Philip II: A Problem of Reconstruction and Localisation
Abstract
The article considers the campaign of the Macedonian King Philip II against the Scythians in 339 B.C. The principal objectives of this study were to determine the plans of King Philip II and the balance of the forces of the opposing parties. The study also analysed the course of the military operations and the results of the campaign. The study uses a multifaceted approach to probe the ancient narrative sources. It also makes a content analysis of the data, retrieved from various national scientific schools. The analyses reveal that Philip conducted a military campaign against Ateas with the help of small expeditionary forces that moved from Byzantion to the mouth of the River Istros (Danube). Philip's enemy Ateas was a ruler of a small Scythian kingdom in Dobrudzha. The primary goals of the Macedonian king's campaign were to capture booty and help the local allies. A desire to morally compensate for the unsuccessful completion of the sieges of Perinthos and Byzantion was the central motive of the campaign. The result of the war was determined in a single pitched battle. Despite the defeat of the Scythians in Dobrudzha, Philip could not deliver the captured booty to Macedonia because of the limited forces. The Triballoi captured this booty, and this devalued the success of the whole Scythian campaign.
Keywords
Scythians, Philip II, Ateas, Dobrudzha, Warfare
References
Alekseev, A.Yu. (2003). Khronografiya Evropeiskoi Skifii VII-IV vv. do n.e. [The Chronography of European Scythia (7th-4th centuries B.C.)]. Saint Petersburg: Izdatelstvo Gosudarstvennogo Ehrmitazha.
Andruh, S.I. (1995). Nizhnedunaiskaya Skifiya v VI – nachale I v. do n.e. [The Lower Danubian Scythia in the 6th – early 1st centuries B.C.]. Zaporizhia, Ukraine: Zaporozhskii universitet.
Blavatskaya, T.V. (1952). Zapadnopontiiskie goroda v VII-I vekakh do n.e. [West Pontic Cities in the 7th-1st centuries B.C.]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR.
Blavatskii, V.D. (1950). O strategii i taktike skifov [On the Strategy and Tactics of the Scythians]. In Kratkie soobshcheniya Instituta istorii materialnoi kultury AN SSSR [Brief Notes of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR] (Issue 34, pp. 19-30). Moscow: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR.
Blavatskii, V.D. (1954). Ocherki voennogo dela v antichnykh gosudarstvakh Severnogo Prichernomoria [Essays of Warfare in the Ancient States of the Northern Black Sea Coast]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR.
Braund, D. (2015). Thracians and Scythians: Tensions, Interactions and Osmosis. In J. Valeva, E. Nankov & D. Graninger (Eds.), A Companion to Ancient Thrace (pp. 352-365). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Buckler, J. (2003) Aegean Greece in the Fourth Century BC. Leiden: Brill.
Chernenko, E.V. (1984). Dlinnye kopya skifov [Long Spears of the Scythians]. In A.I. Melyukova, M.G. Moshkova & V.G. Petrenko (Eds.), Drevnosti Evrazii v skifo-sarmatskoe vremya [Antiquities of Eurasia in the Scythian-Sarmatian Time] (pp. 231-235). Moscow: Izdatelstvo Nauka.
Chernenko, E.V. (1968). Skifskii dospekh [The Scythian Armor]. Kiev: Naukova dumka.
Danov, Ch. (1947). Zapadniyat bryag na Cherno more v drevnostta [The Western Coast of the Black Sea in Antiquity]. Sofia: Universitetska pechatnitsa.
Delev, P. (2008). Philip II i Aleksadr Veliki v Severna Trakiya [Philip II and Alexander the Great in Northern Thrace]. In Proceedings of the Ruse Regional Museum of History. Book XII. The World of the Getae (pp. 5-19). Ruse: RuseRegional Museum of History.
Ellis, J.R. (1976). Philip II and Macedonian Imperialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fol, A. (1975). Trakia i Balkanite prez rannoelinisticheskata epokha [Thrace and the Balkans until the Early Hellenistic Era]. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo.
Gabriel, R.A. (2010). Philip II of Macedonia: Greater than Alexander. Washington: Potomac Books.
Gaebel, R.E. (2002). Cavalry Operations in the Ancient Greek World. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Glotz, G., & Cohen, R. (1936). Histoire grecque (Vol. III). Paris: Universite Paris Dauphine.
Grakov, B.N. (1971). Skify [The Scythians]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo universiteta.
Hammond, N.G.L. (1994). Philip of Macedon. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd.
Hammond, N.G.L. (1991). The Sources of Justin on Macedonia to the Death of Philip. The Classical Quarterly, 41/2(496-508), 0009-8388.
Harris, E.M. (1995). Aeschines and Athenian Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kallistov, D.P. (1968). Rabstvo v Severnom Prichernomore V-III vv. do n.e. [Slavery in the Northern Black Sea Coast in the 5th-3th Centuries B.C.]. In D.P. Kallistov (Ed.), Rabstvo na periferii antichnogo mira [Slavery on the Periphery of the Ancient World] (pp. 193-221). Leningrad: Izdatelstvo Nauka.
Machinskij, D.A. (1971). O vremeni pervogo aktivnogo vystupleniya sarmatov v Podneprove po svidetelstvam antichnykh pismennykh istochnikov [About the Time of the First Active Manifestation of Sarmatians in the Dnieper Region According to Ancient Text Sources]. In Arkheologicheskii sbornik Gosudarstvennogo Ehrmitazha [Archaeological Collection of the State Hermitage] (Issue 13, pp. 30-54). Leningrad: Izdatelstvo Gosudarstvennogo Ehrmitazha.