Whilst Pyrrhus was triumphing in Sicily, events in the lands of the North and East would move apace. The Bosporan breaking of the Scythians and their forced migration west into lands currently occupied by the Goths had made the Bosporan Kingdom the natural hegemon of the various Greek Cities of the Northern Euxine. With a dominion stretching north to the former Scythian Capital at Kamianka on the River Borysthenes, East to the eastern shore of the Meotis Lake and Tanais, South to the border of Pityus near Colchis, along with the shores of the Euxine, and West to the Cities of Olbia and Borysthenes, the Bosporan Kingdom was fast becoming a Major Power.
Accordingly, a number of minor Greek Cities on the Shore of the Euxine Sea were drawn into its Orbit, and by two-eighty, the Cities of Nikonion and Tyras on the Western Shore of the Euxine along with the City of Pityus on the border of Colchis had fallen into the orbit of the Bosporan Kingdom. At the same time, Paerisades the Second was also courting Colchis, as the recent death of Kuji, the King of Colchis, left a question of succession, as Kuji had too many heirs and none were able to gain primacy over the other. King Paerisades the Second offered his support to Kartam of Colchis, one of Kuji's older sons, and in so doing, gained immense influence over Colchis.
This drew the eye of two other Kings in the Northeast. The first was Antiokos I Asianos of the Seleucid Empire. Antiokos had planned to eventually attack the Bosporans in order to reap the rewards that the Bosporans had sown on the Pontic Steppe for himself. Now, however, his hopes of a short war with a swift and victorious conclusion seemed far away. The sudden rise of the Bosporan Kingdom, which had been aided by the copying of certain technologies from Epirus, such as the stirrup, the hard tree saddle, the horse collar, and the heavy plow, along with the importation of large amounts of Epirote weapons, meant that the swift victory Antiokos wished for would not be forthcoming.
The other King whose eye was drawn to the region was Bolgios of the Treverii. His Empire was just as vast as the other two, and his Army was likewise equipped with imported Epirote Weapons and technology. King Bolgios had conquered tribes and territories along the length and breadth of the North, from the Border of Dardania and Thrace in the South to the Kingdom of Noricum in the Northwest, the Adriatic Shore in the West, the vast embattled lands where the Scythians and Goths fought in the North, and the borders of Istros in the East. However, in all that conquering, Bolgios had yet to conquer a proper city that could act as a center of commerce. He'd conquered plenty of towns, hillforts, and villages, but no actual cities.
That was why Bolgios' eye had been drawn to the Bosporans. Their advance along the shores of the Euxine meant that Bolgios' odds of taking any of the Greek Cities on the Euxine to act as the center of trade he wanted were dropping by the day. His window for obtaining a quickly and easily conquered City was fast closing, and he knew he would need to strike soon if he was to gain the center of trade he wished for, and that would make the economy of his Empire far less reliant on Plunder to pay for Epirote Weapons.
Both Antiokos I Asianos and Bolgios of the Treverii would solve these issues in different ways. Antiokos I Asianos would seek alliance rather than conquest with the suddenly too powerful to conquer easily Bosporans, marrying his Daughter Apama to Paerisades the Second's son and heir, Spartikos. In this way, Antiokos would tie the Bosporan Kingdom to his own Empire and dynasty, and also ensure a favorable balance of power on the shores of the Euxine Sea. Antiokos also managed to negotiate a lucrative trade deal to go along with his new alliance, gaining some of the copied Epirote technology for his Kingdom, namely the copied stirrups and hard tree saddles.
Bolgios of the Treverii on the other hand, sought his solution by the sword. He moved a force of some fifty-thousand men into the territory of Istros, seeking to capture the city with overwhelming force. By the end of Two-Eighty, Bolgios' force had not only decisively defeated the Army of Istros at the battle of Ibida, but also dug into siege lines around Istros itself, as his fifty-thousand troops surrounded the town of Ibida and forced the thirty-thousand troops of Istros to fight on unfavorable terms in order to relieve the town. The Army of Istros was routed and chased all the way back to Istros itself.
Fortunately, Istros was a port, and Bolgios of the Treverii had no fleet with which to blockade the harbor. That meant that his chances of victory rested entirely on an assault. That meant battering down a section of the Walls or forcing the gates. Bolgios opted for both, to maximize his odds of a victorious assault. That gave the Archon of Istros, Theophrastos, time to send a messenger to Panticapaeon by ship to plead for the aid of King Paerisades the Second of the Bosporan Kingdom. In exchange, the Archon pledged Istros would acknowledge the Bosporan Kingdom as Hegemon. The messenger set sail just in time to avoid Istros' fall to Bolgios' Army.
As spring dawned on two-seventy-nine, the walls of Istros were breached thanks to Bolgios' experience in the Epirote Army during the war with Macedon. At the same time, the gates were battered down via ram, and the Army of Bolgios assaulted the City. The Archos of Istros would be slain leading the defense, and the city captured and subjected to rule by Bolgios, who swiftly moved to make Istros his new Capital. However, he would only be able to enjoy his new conquest for less than a year, as when the Summer of Two-Seventy-Nine dawned, it would do so with the arrival of a Bosporan Fleet, sailing to retake Istros.
The Bosporan Fleet sailed right up to the shore and disgorged an Army of Sixty-Thousand men, who moved to besiege Bolgios in his new capital, all while the Bosporan Fleet blockaded the port. Bolgios, trapped inside with his eldest sons and most prominent nobles, could only watch helplessly as the Bosporans began setting up their siege lines and erecting their ballistae. A flurry of messenger birds went out from Istros to Bolgios' nearest forces, but it would not be until the fall of Two-Seventy-Nine that aid would arrive.
When it did, it barely succeeded in breaching the Bosporan Siege lines long enough for Bolgios to escape with some of his nobles and his younger son before being driven off. Istros would fall shortly after, with Bolgios' older son and heir, Ariogeisos, and several of his nobles. Now, Bolgios' second son, Accomaros, would be his heir. For his part, Bolgios was enraged the Bosporans would slay his heir rather than capture him. That, plus the capture of his new Capital, what was supposed to be the crown jewel of his Empire, demanded a response.
The Istriote War had just spiraled into a larger conflict, one which would plant the seeds for conflict to come. . .
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AN: Surprise update. As you can probably tell, this war will influence future migrations from Bolgios' Empire down into Greece. Especially if Bolgios eats it against the Bosporans. Sorry about the rushed update, I don't have a lot of time this week.
At any rate, we'll be back with Pyrrhus next update, whenever I can get that out.
Stay tuned. . .