Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Episode 84, Rome arrives in the Hellenistic East.

The final decades of the 3rd century BC were a time of great turmoil for much of the ancient

world.

Within a short window, three new young monarchs, built the of Macedon, Ptolemy the 4th of Egypt,

and Antiochus III of Syria, took the thrones of the great kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean.

Philip and his Achaean allies fought the Itoleon League to a standstill in the social war of 220 to 217,

positioning the talented Macedonian king to dominate the Greek peninsula. From 219 to 217, positioning the talented Macedonian king to dominate the Greek peninsula.

From 219 to 217, Antiochus and Ptolemy battled it out for control over Kholy Syria in the

4th Syrian War, concluding with a surprising victory of the less than competent Egyptian

king over his northern rival.

In spite of his loss at Raffia, Antiochus

was able to restore the fortunes of his crumbling empire by launching an Anabasis that saw

him campaigned from Anatolia to Afghanistan over the next ten years, securing his

dynasty's authority over the world's largest empire by 205. Of course, outside of the Hellenistic kingdoms,

the Second Punic War saw the armies of Rome and Carthage engulf much of Europe and North Africa

in a conflict that raged for nearly 20 years, before Hannibal Barca formerly offered terms

of surrender to Skip U. Africankanus in 201 BC.

While we have covered all of this in our grand narrative, I must admit that I neglected several key events that transpired during this time period.

Although the Roman Republic was preoccupied by many theaters of operation during the Second

Punic War, its attention was increasingly being drawn across the Adriatic, eventually leading

to their arrival and intervention in the Hellenistic East.

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