WAR IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD

THE UBIQUITOUS WAR
Third Punic War on the side of Rome (147 BC), and occasional piratic raids
and attacks during the civil wars of the late Roman Republic.
Counting wars in Hellenistic Crete
Finally, turning to Hellenistic Crete (see map 2), this island gave the contemporary
observer the confusing picture of a region affected by endemic
wars. Ancient historians were puzzled by this situation, as the following
comment by Polybios shows (24.3.1): “This year [181 BC] witnessed the
beginning of great troubles in Crete if indeed one can talk of a beginning of
trouble in Crete. For their continual civil wars and their excessive cruelty to
each other make beginning and end mean the same thing.” Since in this
case we are not dealing with one state, but with some 50 or 60 independent
city-states concentrated in a limited space, a more detailed discussion is
necessary. It should be remarked that in many cases we know of a war only
from its results – i.e., the conquest and/or destruction of a city. The causes
of the continual war in Hellenistic Crete were mainly territorial expansion
and the involvement of foreign powers.
In the late fourth or early third century BC, Praisos (east Crete) conquered
the harbors of Setaia and Stalai, and Dragmos suffered the same
fate somewhat later. Cretan cities were involved in the Chremonidean War
(ca. 268–261 BC) as allies of both parties, and this division of Crete may
have also resulted in conflicts within the island. The greatest war in Cretan
history is the “War of Lyttos” (ca. 222–218 BC). Here, the cities of Gortyn
and Knossos joined forces to attack the third major city, Lyttos. Because its
warriors were busy attacking the neighboring city of Dreros, Lyttos had
been left defenseless. The Knossians attacked, sacked the city, destroyed it
entirely, and captured all the women and children (Polyb. 4.54). When the
Lyttians returned and saw what had happened, they lamented the fate of
their fatherland, turned their backs on it and retired to Lappa.
However, the situation soon changed. Several allies of the Knossians left
the alliance and joined with Lyttos, while the other major power, Gortyn,
was divided due to a civil war. Contemporary inscriptions allude to further
civil wars (SEG XLIX 1217; I.Cret. I, ix 1), and it seems probable that at
the end the anti-Knossian alliance was victorious. A small episode of this
war was the attack of Milatos against Dreros for the occupation of a border
area (I.Cret. I, ix 1); the Drerians were able to defend it, but both cities
were conquered and destroyed by Lyttos some time later. The fact that the
protagonists of this war were also allied with major powers makes the
“War of Lyttos” look like a local episode of the “Social War” of Philip V of
Macedonia and the Achaians against the Aitolians (222–217 BC). Knossos
was allied with the Aitolians, while Gortyn and its allies supported Philip
and the Achaians. To make things more complex, we also hear of an attack
of Eleutherna against Rhodes, an ally of the Knossians (219 BC), and many
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