Chapter 5: The new dawn (27 APR 302)
Amastris awoke before dawn this day, stepping out onto the marble balcony, she wanted to see the sun from the first glimpse. She knew that in a few short hours her nation will plunge into a war that was not of her desire. Families will be torn apart by losing loved ones in a war not of their making. Rulers have to defend all of the various interests in the present and future The Greco-Pontic ports are too valuable to fall in the wrong hands.
Pairisades came out to comfort her, but she brushes him off, partly blaming him for the situation. Looking at Pairisades she states: ‘Here I am a ruler not even fit to find peace in my own royal chambers. I voted with you so that I can be in peace here, yet you disturb my only peaceful time of the day’. With that Pairisades nods and exits without saying a word to the dressing chamber to make ready for the day’s events.
Oxyathres and Hermaios already in the war room from the moment the decision was made. The burly men were making progress on the plan to move the army towards the nearby settlement of Dadybra. Hermaios is a superstitious man, he looked to Klearchos for divine guidance. The Hierophant starts to plot quietly about how to take advantage of the situation. Being the youngest son, he does carry some weight and is the one most often looked to when one is needed to determine the divine prophecy of gods.
Pairisades joins in the conversation by stating he is hoping that Hermaios is able to capture the first settlement without resistance since they are our Bithynian and Hellinic brothers. Upon receiving this news, Hermaios then quickly adjusted his plan by turning to the coast marching to the City of Sisamos. Once there the general will survey the land before deciding on heading south into enemy territory at Ziporea early in the spring, on 27 APR 302, our first foray into enemy territory.
At this early stage the enemy had the advantage in overall troop numbers; nine cohorts consisting of two archer cohorts and seven light infantry cohorts. Their combined navies were eight ships with three in the light class and five of the trireme class. Our current forces were two royal archers cohorts, held over from the 1 Oct 304 start, as Amastrsis used them to claim the crown with support of Lysimachos of Thrace. There are four new cohorts; two heavy infantry which we used the iron from the settlement of Kieros to produce, then the two mounted archers. Oxyathres proudly proclaims they will be the savior of our nation. Our navy consisted of six ships: three of each light and trireme class, they were mostly confined to ports, due to the superior enemy and their closer proximity to the war.
To our advantage; the enemy had divided interests, one being he was the aggressor against Pontus, or would he be a defender in our separate war. King Hidarnes I of Paphlagonia was a man of bold actions.
Action was swift and fierce on the battlefield of Ziporea, three battles happened in the first month. Our six combined cohorts in the Grand Stratos quickly dispatched the single cohort on guard from Sinope that was defending Ziporea, killing each one to a man without a single loss on our side.
This opening skirmish resulted in the Paphlagonian main force to marching toward our position. Hermaios kept the men steady and in line as the army approached and engaged our position when our morale was at its peak. We had the terrain and martial advantage and we quickly defeated the five cohorts that approached on foot. Losses were 952 with 2010 to the main enemy army following this second battle.
Now both armies were bloody, the war began in earnest, with Ares looking on in amusement from above. After the second battle of Ziporea was finished a late arriving contingent from Sinope of three thousand walked into a trap set by our General. The horse archers finished driving off the Paphlagonian main army and hit the rear guard of the approaching Sinope army causing them to be slaughtered to the man. It was a shame to see four thousand Greek brethren slaughtered on this battlefield. They were on the wrong side of our god Ares thus they deserved their fate. After that first fateful action in Ziporea the body count was 1186 to 6010, would the enemy keep throwing more troops into this obvious trap? That answer was answered two days later on 29 APR, when a poorly lead fragment army from Paphlagonia wandered into the battlefield also being slaughtered to the man. Once the battles were concluded over the prior eight days Hermaios secured Ziporea for Heraclea Pontica.
Amastris was in the palace stressing over the war situation. She wanted a quick end to war so she wrote the Cassis Belli based upon the area of Paphlagonia Inferior along the coast which included a series of four meager settlements on the fringes of both nations. Stephane, Koloussa, Karambis, and Aigialos were marked by our cartographers as the four territories after Ziporea that needed to be annexed under our rule to complete that objective. Amastris wanted a quick battle without the aid of our allies Thrace, to show them we could stand on our own. That hope quickly faded.
A courier from Thrace arrived on the morning of 1 JUN 302 with a letter demanding Amastris to fulfill her obligation to marriage with Lysimachos or he would declare war upon us. This greatly upset the Basilissa as a direct threat which she promptly told the courier. Go ready your nation for war WITH US, not against as we are already at war! I am not a piece of property I have been married before and I have a divine right of royal blood to rule on my own accord.
Meanwhile back on the battlefield things were going well for the nation. Morale was very high and our treasury increased to over 100 talents from the conquests and occupation levies. Over the course of the next year the enemy used several evasive tactics to avoid conflict until our Thracian allies arrived in JUN 301.
Herminos then pressed the advantage once the Thracian two divisions of Stratos arrived to aid us. He marched to Timonion where an even matched battle of even cohorts: seven on seven, would present an opportunity to end this war early.
This Battle of Timonion was essentially a draw with both armies losing a few hundred men before the Paphlagonia army retreated as they lacked the will to continue the fight. The while the main Paphlagonia army was regrouping the king of Paphlagonia dispatched two cohorts to slow down our army and they met Herminos in Koloussa. The king and the rest of the retreating enemy army left the city just prior to the conflict. Those poor two cohorts did not stand a chance as they were slaughtered to the man, in a repetitive theme for this war.
For more than a year, this war has carried on. Now it’s the summer of 301. We have achieved our war goals, yet the enemy will not accept any form of peace. So, Amastris orders the general to besiege Sinope to show we meant business. During the war to date we lost only 1565 total men from our alliance, compared to the 10117 for the enemy coalition. Perhaps Oxyathres was right that this new army would be legendary and she knew little about war. Time would eventually wear the enemy down, but time was the one commodity she could ill afford to waste. She was about to change in a way few expected.
(edit: to fix a duplicate image insertion)
