The two chief pieces of evidence for the Ptolemies' control of southern Asia Minor in the first half of the third century are a few lines from the poet Theocritus as well as an inscription of Ptolemy III Euergetes' from Adulis (Burstein, nr. 99). Theocritus, the founder of the genre of bucolic poetry, is best known for his pastoral idylls, but he also wrote poetry in praise of his patron Ptolemy II Philadelphus:
He has cut off for himself parts of Phoenicia, Arabia, Syria, and Libya; and he rules over the dark Ethiopians, all the Pamphylians, the spearmen Cilicians, the Lycians, the warlike Carians, and the Cycladic Islands. (Theoc. XVII 86-90)
Ptolemy II clearly ruled over much of southern Asia Minor though one must allow for poetic license: the Seleucids, for example, always retained the eastern "Smooth Cilicia" (since they had access from Syria to Asia Minor through the Cilician Gates), so Ptolemy
II can have held the western "Rough Cilicia" only.
When exactly the Ptolemies came into the possession of these regions is unclear. In the early 290s Ptolemy I Soter wrested Cyprus from Demetrius Poliorcetes (Plut. Demetr. 35) and could have seized territory in Asia Minor as well. Ptolemy II could have taken advantage of Seleucus I's assassination (280) to establish control over the seaboard of southern Asia Minor. Finally, in the late 270s Ptolemy II may have waged war in southern Asia Minor against Antiochus I during the so-called First Syrian War. Perhaps the Ptolemies seized territory on all three occasions.
Inscriptions (discussed in Ma 1999: 40-42) shed less light on the situation than one might hope. The inscription SEG XXVII 929 shows Ptolemaic control of the Lycian coastal town of Limyra, but the inscription is dated to "year 36" of Ptolemy - if Ptolemy I Soter, then 288 bc (that is to say, Ptolemy I must have seized some of Lycia in the 290s), but if Ptolemy II Philadelphus, then 247 bc (that is, Lycia need not have come under Ptolemaic control until the First Syrian War in the late 270s). The inscriptions do, however, make one thing clear: Ptolemaic control (whenever established and for however long retained) was not limited to the coast (see Ma, l. c.). Overall, the inscriptions bear out Theocritus' lines.
However, Ptolemy II lost much of this territory to Antiochus II during the so-called Second Syrian War (mid-250s). The inscription from Adulis lists the lands which Ptolemy
III Euergetes inherited from his father:
. . . he inherited from his father rule over Egypt, Libya, Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Lycia, Caria, and the Cycladic Islands. . .
Pamphylia and Rough Cilicia are missing, so Ptolemy II had presumably lost them.
In the Third Syrian War (245 bc), however, Ptolemy III Euergetes reconquered Pamphylia and (Rough) Cilicia as the inscription from Adulis claims ("he gained control of Cilicia and of Pamphylia. . .") and with the possible exception of Pamphylia, the Ptolemies held these regions until the time of Antiochus III Megas who reconquered them towards the end of the third century bc (see chap. 24).
Sparta by storm (Plut. Pyrrh. 26-29), Areus and Antigonus cooperated in destroying him.
When Antigonus brought his army to Argos, Pyrrhus marched northwards to meet him. Thereupon Areus, with 1,000 Cretan mercenaries and a handful of Spartiates, also marched towards Argos and joined Antigonus. Neither army initially entered Argos, but some within the city offered to betray it to Pyrrhus. As Pyrrhus’ troops entered under cover of darkness, others in Argos, realizing what was happening, sent to Antigonus for help, and Antigonus’ and Areus’ troops entered the city through another gate. At dawn, with two armies inside, street-bystreet fighting ensued in which Pyrrhus himself was slain (Plut. Pyrrh. 32-34).
With his one major opponent in Europe removed, Antigonus had time and leisure to establish his rule firmly. Over the next few years he saw to it that his allies became the rulers - commonly termed “tyrants” - of most Greek states (Pol. II 41 and IX 29). In addition, strong garrisons held a few important sites such as Corinth and Chalcis - along with Demetrias the so-called “Fetters of Greece” (Liv. XXXII 37; App. Mac. 9).
All the same, now that Pyrrhus was dead, Areus again worked against Antig-onus. Areus concluded alliances with various Peloponnesian states and established friendly relations with Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In 269 or 268 one Chremonides moved a motion in the Athenian assembly that Athens should join Areus in an alliance against Macedonia (Burstein, Nr. 56). The modern name for the war which ensued is the Chremonidean War.
Antigonus promptly marched against Athens and occupied Attica. Ptolemy II Philadelphus sent a fleet to the tip of Attica, but it did nothing (Paus. I 1). Areus attempted to march across the Isthmus (Paus. III 6), but Antigonus’ troops blocked it. A mutiny among his Galatian mercenaries in Megara briefly brought him into serious danger, but he crushed the mutineers in battle (Trog. Prol. 26; Just. XXVI 2). Thereafter Areus marched back to Sparta (Paus. l. c.), only to march out again the next year, and this time Antigonus met him in battle and defeated him (Trog. l. c.; Plut. Agis, 3). Antigonus now besieged Athens and forced it to surrender; thereafter he installed a garrison in the Peiraeus (Paus. l. c.) as well as one in Athens itself, where he either abolished the offices or filled them with his own appointments (Apollodorus, BNJ 244, Fr. 44; Athen. IV, p. 167).
By the mid-260s, then, Antigonus had restored Macedonian dominion over most of Greece. His rule in Macedonia itself was securely established. Yet Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who had supported Sparta and Athens in the Chre-monidean War, still controlled the Cyclades and other Aegean islands, especially Samos (Burstein, Nr. 92), and would remain a threat for as long as he did so.
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