I am Isocrates, the Grand Vizier of Egypt, right-hand of the Pharaoh and for all practical intents the ruler of Egypt. The Pharaoh, Zosimus, rose to the throne at the age of two, too young to rule on his own, so the burden of government fell on me and my fellow councillors, the Chancellor Ankhmachis, the Royal Treasurer Neferibre and the Chief Torturer Psammuthes.
Pharaoh Ptolemy had not been well the last years, while he had never been charismatic, his erratic behaviour made matters even worse, and while he did make some good choices, such as giving me my prestigious position as his right hand, he also regrettably made his bastard son Zosimus his heir, although everyone had expected Theocritus to become the new Pharaoh. Well he died before being able to do anything worse.
Still the political situation was fairly good, the Seleucids may have been victorious recently but we still remained stronger. Our rule in the eastern mediterranean and the Aegean sea remained unchallenged. Around the black sea Pontus and the Bosporan kingdom were the strongest powers, although the Getae held control of the Greek cities along its western coast. To the west however two great powers loomed. Carthage and the Bituriges. After the collapse of Roman power those two republics were without doubt the most powerful local powers, though neither was as powerful as us.
While I saw it would be worthwhile to ally with Rome, our relations with them were sadly rather low. But we also had to decide what to do about the Achaean League. While unable to defeat us, it had caused trouble before, and it was decided that the League would have to be dissolved and the cities given the same rights and obligations as the other cities of Greece. The League attempted to resist, but it was a futile effort and Polyperchon crushed their army and took the defiant cities.
Later that year the rather long-lived Seleucid King Athineos died, and his son Antiochos rose to the throne. The new Seleucid king did not become involved when in the following year Ariobarzanes of Pontus declared war. King Pairisades of the Bosporan Kingdom and Iberian king Xerxes supported him in this. First hope was that Xenon, general of the local army, would be able to deal with this invasion on his own, but he was defeated in a battle in Bithynia and retreated to Thrace.
Psammuthes was given command of the Royal Army and the navy transported it to Lydia. Bithynia fell to the Pontic forces, but as they began moving into Thrace, Psammuthes ordered the army to wait in Mysia until the army of Pontus had crossed into Thrace and then move into Bithynia. The plan worked perfectly, the Bithynian cities was relatively quickly liberated, and the Pontic army lost a massive battle in Thrace.
The Pontic army did manage to win a fight near Tylis when general Xenon died, but soon it had been completely obliterated. However as the war progressed well, with the cities of Paphlagonia besieged, the admiral of the Phoenican navy, one Ptolemy of the royal family, rose in revolt. While he managed to get support from several provinces, all armies remained loyal.
The lack of armies quickly showed decisive as several rebel strongholds quickly came under siege. Still while there were little doubt this revolt would be dealt with, it is always wise to do it quickly. The Seleucids where briefly involved in fighting the rebels, but they decided not to attempt to gain any provinces and feel the wrath of the Egyptian armies. The war with Pontus ended, not in a victory as had been hoped but not in defeat either, so that the Royal Army could be brought on the rebels. After the fall of Cyprus after two years of civil war the rebels only held Achaea and Sparta, where the only real army they had managed to gather was active. But after another year of fighting Sparta fell and the civil war ended.
A few months later King Antiochos died and his brother Omirus became the new Seleucid King. During the next year, the foolish Neferibre came into a fight with the nomarch of Greece and was killed. The new treasurer was an able man named Ptolemy. Then war came again, this time the Carthaginians decided they would make another attempt to retake western Sicily. Syracusan leader Peneus called in his allies, which in addition to us was king Nikon of Pontus, the republic of Rome and the distant barbarians of Chauci.
Being the most powerful we took command of the war, and sent the fleet west to provide aid. The Carthaginians made an attempt to invade Cyrenaica, but they were driven back. The Carthaginians soon found they had trouble controlling the seas, so in a desperate gambit they gathered most of their ships and attacked our navy outside Syracuse.
Carthaginian admiral Mago however made a fatal mistake, resulting in almost the entire Carthaginian navy meeting its end, admiral Manetho pursued the remains of the Carthaginian fleet and ended its existence in a second naval battle to the north. The Carthaginians made two additional attempts to invade Cyrenaica, but both met the same fate as the first. In order to force the Carthaginians to sign peace the Royal Army was shipped to Carthage and took the city in an assault. The Carthaginians attempted to defeat the Royal Army but failed as the Cyrenaican army began moving along the coast taking the Carthaginian cities of Leptis, Oea and Sabratha. Finally the Carthaginians swallowed their pride and signed peace ceding Malta and the Baleares to Syracuse and giving up all claims on Sicily.
Later in that year Zosimus became old enough to rule himself, but he did not appear to be very well-suited to it. However he might be lazy, and maybe a bit too trusting, but have he not the support of some great and honourable men that will help him guide the kingdom?