072: The Fourth Syrian War - The Battle of Raphia

The Hellenistic Age Podcast

History

4.7 • 558 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2022

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Only a few short years after his coronation, Antiochus III would invade the kingdom of Ptolemy IV in 219 B.C., intent on reclaiming the lands of Coele Syria as part of his birthright. To stem the tide, the Ptolemaic government tries to rejuvenate the now-rusty Egyptian army by ordering a massive recruitment drive and issuing reforms, and the two kings would come to blows at Raphia, where over 140,000 men would take part in one of the largest battles of the ancient world. Episode 072 Notes: (https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2022/05/21/072-the-fourth-syrian-war-the-battle-of-raphia/) Episode 072 Transcript: (https://hellenisticagepodcast.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/072-the-fourth-syrian-war-the-battle-of-raphia-transcript.pdf) Intelligent Speech Conference 2022 Website (https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/Intellspeechcon) Promo Code: AGE Social Media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/HellenisticPod) Facebook (www.facebook.com/hellenisticagepodcast/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hellenistic_age_podcast/) Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/hellenisticagepodcast) Show Merchandise: Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellenisticAgePod) Redbubble (https://www.redbubble.com/people/HellenisticPod/shop?asc=u) Donations: Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast) Amazon Book Wish List (https://tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.
0:13.2	Episode 72, the fourth Syrian war, the Battle of Raffia.
0:32.7	The inaugural years of Antiochus I of the Salucod Empire and Ptolemy the 4th Philopater of Egypt saw each young monarch faced with similar challenges, but their attitudes and responses differed
0:38.1	dramatically. Anyone hedging their bets at the start of 222 would have assumed that the Saluca
0:43.6	dynasty would have collapsed under his own weight, and that the flourishing Ptolemaic realm was
0:48.2	poised to expand its borders in the aftermath. Yet, if anything, the fortunes of each began to
0:54.0	switch as one king was demonstrably
0:56.2	more qualified for his role than the other. While Antiochus was out in the field and leading
1:01.7	armies into Mesopotamia to confront rebellious governors, Ptolemy simply empowered his corrupt
1:07.2	courtiers and spent more time cavorting in the pomp and circumstance as his family members
1:12.2	were murdered or assassinated. With some semblance of order in his empire restored, Antiochus turned his
1:19.0	attention to his Egyptian neighbor, poised to lead an invasion force across the Syrian border.
1:25.0	These would be the events that would lead up to the fourth Syrian war, the largest conflict
1:29.8	of the Hellenistic world since the wars following Alexander's death nearly a century before.
1:35.6	Of the sixth Syrian war, spot between the Seleucids and Ptolemies, this is the most well-documented,
1:41.6	as Polybius provides us with a highly detailed account of an event that, in his
1:45.7	eyes, was comparable and scaled to the contemporary Second Punic War.
1:50.4	Culminating in the Battle of Raffia in 217, it would also be the swan song of the Hellenistic
1:56.4	military tradition, a topic that necessitates an extensive analysis of the trends and developments
2:01.7	of warfare following Alexander and the successor kingdoms.
2:06.2	With this in mind, let us look at the factors that contributed to its outbreak. While the official
2:11.8	start is generally considered to be the year 219, there were issues stemming back as early as 222. Following his coronation,
	...

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