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The Second Battle of Lamia was fought in 209
BC between the forces of Philip V of Macedon and Pyrrhias, a general of the
Aetolian League. Pyrrhias was once again aided by Pergamene forces and Roman
advisors but again he was defeated. His side suffered heavy casualties.
Opponents:
Macedonia versus Aetolian League - Roman Empire - Republic Pergamum
Commanders and leaders:
Macedon -Philip V of Macedon
Aetolian League - Pyrrhias
Strength:
unknown
Casualties and losses:
Macedon unknown
Aetolian League heavy
Background:
In the spring of 210, Laevinus again sailed from Corcyra with his fleet, and
with the Aetolians, captured Phocian Anticyra. Rome enslaved the inhabitants
and Aetolia took possession of the town. Although there was some fear of Rome
and concern with her methods, the coalition arrayed against Philip continued to
grow. As allowed for by the treaty, Pergamon, Elis and Messenia, followed by
Sparta, all agreed to join the alliance against Macedon.
The Roman fleet, together with the Pergamene fleet, controlled the sea, and
Macedon and her allies were threatened on land by the rest of the coalition.
The Roman strategy of encumbering Philip with a war among Greeks in Greece was
succeeding, so much so that when Laevinus went to Rome to take up his
consulship, he was able to report that the legion deployed against Philip could
be safely withdrawn. However the Eleans, Messenians and Spartans remained
passive throughout 210, and Philip continued to make advances. He invested and
took Echinus, using extensive siege works, having beaten back an attempt to
relieve the town by the Aetolian strategos Dorimachus and the Roman fleet, now
commanded by the proconsul Publius Sulpicius Galba. Moving west Philip probably
also took Phalara the port city of Lamia, in the Maliac Gulf. Sulpicius and
Dorimachus took Aegina, an island in the Saronic Gulf, which the Aetolians sold
to Attalus, the Pergamene king, for thirty talents, and which he was to use as
his base of operations against Macedon in the Aegean Sea. In the spring of 209
BC, Philip received requests for help from his ally the Achaean League in the
Peloponnesus who were being attacked by Sparta and the Aetolians. He also heard
that Attalus had been elected one of the two supreme commanders of the Aetolian
League, and rumours that he intended to crossover the Aegean from Asia Minor.
It was due to this that King Philip decided to march south into Greece. In the
First Battle of Lamia the Aetolian league suffered almost 1,000 casualties.
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