Battle of Raphia

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Raphia
partof=the Fourth Syrian War
date=22 June 217 BC
place=Rafah, near Gaza
result=Egyptian victory
combatant1=Ptolemaic Egypt
combatant2=Seleucid Empire
commander1=Ptolemy IV of Egypt
commander2=Antiochus III the Great
strength1=70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, 73 elephants
strength2=62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, 103 elephants
casualties1=1.500 foot, 700 horse and most elephants killed or taken
casualties2=10.000 foot, 300 horse and 5 elephants killed, 4.000 foot takenThe Battle of Raphia, also known as the Battle of Gaza, was a battle of the Syrian Wars fought on 22 June 217 BC near modern Rafah between the forces of Ptolemy IV of Egypt, Philopator and Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.

Synopsis of Forces

According to Polybius, Ptolemy had 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 war elephants and Antiochus 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 103 elephants. [Polybius V.65 and V.79-87.]

Antiochus' Forces according to Polybius

Antiochus' army was composed of 5.000 light armed Daai, Carmanians and Cilicians under Byttacus the Macedonian, 10.000 phallangites with white shileds (leukaspides)under Theodotos the Aetolian, the very one who betrayed Ptolemy and handed much of Coele Syria and Phoenicia over to Antiochus, 20.000 phallangites under Nicarchos and Theodotos, 2.000 Persian and Agrianian archers and slingers, 1.000 Thracians under Alavadeas Menedemon, 5.000 Medes, Kissians, Cardushians and Carmanians under the Mede Aspasian, 10.000 Arabians under Zavdevelon, 5.000 Greek mercenaries under Eurilochos and 1.000 Neocretans under Zelyn the Gortynian, 500 Lydian javelineers and 1.000 Kardakes under Lysimachus the Gaul.

4.000 horse under Antipatros, the nephew of the King and 2.000 under Thesmion formed the cavalry and 73 war elephants of the Indian stock marched under Philip and Myischos.

Ptolemy's Forces according to Polybius

Ptolemy had just ended a major recruitment and retraining plan with the help of many mercenary generals. His forces consisted of 3.000 phallangites under Eurylochos the Magnesian (the agema), 2.000 peltasts under Socrates the Boeotian, 25.000 phallangites under Andromachos the Aspendian and Ptolemy of Thraseos and 8.000 Greek mercenaries under Phoxis the Achaean and 2.000 Cretan and 1.000 Neocretan archers under Philon the Knossian. Ptolemy had also trained in the Macedonian way of warfare, which means as a sarissa bearing phalanx another 3.000 Libyans under Ammonios the Barcian and 20.000 Egyptians under his Prime Minister Sosivios. Apart from these he also had contigents of 4.000 Thracians and Gauls (from those who had dwellt for years or had been born in Egypt) and another 2.000 of the newcomers under Dionysus the Thracian.

His Household Cavalry (tis aulis) numbered 700 men and the local (egchorioi) and Libyan horse, another 2.300 men had as appointed general Polycrates and those from Greece and the mercenaries were led by Echecratis the Thessalian. Ptolemy's force was accompanied by 73 elephants of the African stock.

War Elephants

Ptolemy's elephants were of the African Forest Elephants' stock; those of Antiochus were mainly of the large Syrian Elephants' stock, brought from India. According to Polybius, the African elephants could not bear the smell, sound and view of their Indian counterparts and would easily give way and route.

Battle

Antiochos set up his camp initially 10 (about 2 km) and then only 5 stades (about 1 km) from his adversary's. Many skirmishes took place before the battle due to this proximity. One night Theodotos the Aetolian sneaked inside Ptolemy's camp and reached what he presumed to be the King's tent but his information proved false and so failed to assassinate him.

After 5 days, the two Kings decided to array their troops for battle. Both placed their pikemen in the center attached to the light armed and the mercenaries arrayed in the wings. In front of them they placed their elephants and even further their cavalry. They spoke to their soldiers and took their places in the lines, Ptolemy in his left and Antiochus in his right wing and the battle begun.

At first the elephants charged each other but most Afrian elephants of Ptolemy panicked and retreated before the impact. On the elephants there were towers protecting soldiers with sarrisae. The African elephants retreated through the lines of the Egyptian infantry and brought disorder into their ranks. At the same time Antiochos led his cavalry to the right and rode past the left wing of the elephants and charged the enemy horse. The right wing of Ptolemy retreated and wheeled to protect itself from the panicked elephants and Ptolemy moved to the center encouraging his phalanx to attack. On the Egyptian right, Ptolemy's cavalry routed their opponents.

Antiochos also routed the Egyptian horse posed against him but made the mistake to pursue the retreating enemy, believing to have won the day. But the Egyptian center drove the Syrians back and soon he realized that his judgment was wrong. He rode back to his lines but could not regroup his men. The battle was over.

After the battle, Antiochos wanted to regroup and make camp outside the city of Raphia but most of his men had already found refuge inside and thus was forced to enter it himself. Then he marched to Gaza and asked Ptolemy to bury his dead, which he did under truce.

The Syrians suffered a little under 10,000 foot dead, about 300 horse and 5 elephants, 4,000 men were taken prisoner. The Egyptian losses were 1,500 foot, 700 horse and 16 elephants. Most other elephants were taken by the Syrians.

Aftermath

Ptolemy's victory secured the province of Coele-Syria for Egypt, but it was only a brief respite; at the Battle of Panium in 198 BC Antiochus defeated the army of Ptolemy's young son, Ptolemy V and captured Syria and Judea.

Ptolemy owed his victory in part to having a well equipped and trained native Egyptian Phalanx which for the first time formed a large proportion of his phalangites. The self confidence the Egyptians gained was credited by Polybius as one of the causes of the secession in 207-186 of Upper Egypt under pharaohs Hugronaphor and Ankmachis, who created a separate kingdom that lasted nearly twenty years.

The battle of Raphia marked a turning-point in Ptolemaic history. The growth in influence of the native Egyptian element in second-century Ptolemaic administration and culture, at first in the financial pressure aggravated [The Ptolemaic currency had already been debased under Ptolemy V (F.W. Walbank, "The Hellenistic World" 1981:119.] by the cost of the war itself. The stele that recorded the convocation of priests at Memphis in November 217, to give thanks for the victory was inscribed in Greek and hieroglyphic and demotic Egyptian: [See also the trilingual Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy IV) of ca 218.] in it, for the first time, Ptolemy is given full pharaonic honours in the Greek as well as the Egyptian texts; subsequently this became the norm. [As on the Rosetta stone. F.W.Walbank, "The Hellenistic World" 1981:119.]

Notes