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The Second Battle of Lamia was fought in 209
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 and Roman Republic and Pergamum
Commanders and leaders:
Philip V of Macedon
Pyrrhias
Strength:
unknown unknown
Casualties and losses:
unknown
Pyrrhias -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report that the legion deployed against Philip could be safely withdrawn.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, 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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