The year 306 BC and following the victory at Salamis, Antigonid control in the Eastern
Mediterranean is now supreme.
Yet almost immediately, new obstacles would arise for this new-found dominance, no more
so than on a small island in the South Aegean: The Island of Rhodes.
News of Demetrius’ victory reached Antigonus in Syria.
He realised his power in the Eastern Mediterranean was now unmatched.
So, Antigonus made an audacious proclamation to his Macedonians, assuming the title of
king and naming his son Demetrius both as joint-king and successor.
With the death of Alexander the Great’s last direct heir back in 309 BC, Antigonus
was making a bold statement to his rivals: The Antigonids, he implied were now the rightful
heirs to his empire.
His rivals however had no intention of accepting this.
Very soon, Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus and Seleucus all made similar proclamations,
accepting their own regal status.
However, following the Cyprus debacle Ptolemy’s power was a shadow of its former-self.
Antigonus knew that this was his opportunity to invade Egypt.
Gathering a grand army of almost 90,000, Antigonus, now nearly 80, advanced towards Egypt.
Adjacent to his father’s army, Demetrius commanded the Antigonid fleet along the coast.
Having passed his frontier at Gaza, Antigonus attempted a quick-march towards the Nile Delta.
The march was difficult however, with his army having to traverse a waterless desert
and under constant threat from hostile Nabatean raiders.
Attrition was endured and soon enough, the army reached the most-eastern branch of the
Nile Delta, near Pelusium.
Their relief would be short-lived; across the river, Ptolemy’s army were entrenched
and fully prepared to thwart any attempt to cross.
Yet Antigonus had a plan.
He ordered Demetrius to lead the fleet and attempt a landing on the nearby coast, thereby
creating a bridgehead for his forces.
Demetrius duly obeyed and prepared his best troops for the task.
First at Pseudostonum and then at Phatniticum, the young Antigonid attempted to breach Ptolemy’s
defences, but to no avail.
Ptolemy’s defenders resisted formidably, and Demetrius was forced to return to his
father.
Antigonus now considered what to do next.
His attempt to divert Ptolemy’s defences had failed and he knew that any frontal crossing
had no guarantee of victory – he only had to look back at the fate of Perdiccas to realise
that.
Not wanting to take the risk, Antigonus gathered his army and ordered a retreat.
The invasion was abandoned; Ptolemy had survived once again.
At the beginning of 305 BC Antigonus returned to Antigonia, but that was not the end of
Antigonid expansion however.
Under the command of Demetrius, a new campaign was soon launched, this time against a very
different foe: the Island of Rhodes.
Previously the Rhodians had refused to aid the Antigonid cause, claiming neutrality.
Their friendly relations to Ptolemy was well-known, so worried that the Rhodians could act against
him in the future and seeing their fleet as the last stumbling block before uncontested
Antigonid naval supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean, Antigonus ordered Demetrius to take the island.
A large Antigonid force was gathered for the expedition At Loryma.
Its navy would consist of 200 warships, many equipped with artillery.
It also had 170 transport and supply ships to carry 40,000 strong land force.
Demetrius also enlisted the aid of a small group of pirates - skilled raiders and able
sailors and brought with him a large amount of siege equipment and provisions; He was
experienced and well-prepared for a siege.
With this huge armada, Demetrius set sail for Rhodes, landing his army near its namesake
capital.
He placed his camp on a plain to the southwest of the city while his navy set up a blockade
of the Rhodian harbour.
Fortifying his position Demetrius dispatched his pirates to raid and pillage the island,
much to the dismay of the trapped Rhodians.
After realising that any attempts to negotiate were fruitless the 7,000 strong Rhodian garrison,
readied the defences.
The siege had begun.
The first engagement soon occurred.
Hoping to surprise the blockaders three Rhodian vessels sailed out from the harbour, catching
Demetrius’ navy off guard and sinking many of supply ships before returning to Rhodes.
First blood to the Rhodians.
Undeterred, Demetrius began preparations for an attack on the Rhodian harbour.
He placed two large penthouses on top of two strapped-together cargo-ships, with ballistae
and catapults stationed inside the raised platforms, designed to batter the Rhodian
defences.
At the same time, Demetrius constructed two four-story siege towers, once again superbly-mounted
on cargo ships and filled many of his smaller ships with specialised Cretan archers and
artillery.
The Rhodians, in response, placed artillery around the harbour, on their ships, wall,
and on the mole that protruded from the harbour.
With his preparations complete Demetrius commenced the assault.
At night he landed a small force of men at the farthest-end of the mole, capturing it
and creating a beachhead for his forces some 500 feet from the city wall.
400 men were placed to defend this bridgehead.
Early the next day Demetrius had his amphibious siege-engines towed into the harbour.
Heavy catapult, ballista and archer-fire were exchanged on either side and great damage
was inflicted on the Rhodian defences.
Eventually however, Demetrius sounded the retreat.
Seeing the engines withdrawing, the Rhodians attempted to destroy them with fire ships,
but the pursuit failed, and the ships were engulfed harmlessly.
A second attack on the Rhodian harbour soon followed.
Once again, Demetrius’ siege-engines were towed inside and his artillery battered the
Rhodian fortifications, with a portion of Demetrius’ troops managing to gain control
of a section of the Rhodian defences.
At the same time Demetrius’ army on land scaled ladders at various locations along
the city walls and heavy fighting ensued on multiple fronts.
Casualties were high on either side but eventually the Rhodians emerged victorious and Demetrius’
army withdrew.
Despite failed assaults, Demetrius remained determined to capture the harbour.
As soon as his ships were repaired, he ordered a third assault; and this time, Demetrius
had a plan he believed could not fail.
He ordered his lighter ships, manned with archers, to rain fire arrows on the opposing
Rhodian vessels to set them alight.
In the meantime, 3 of his formidable amphibious siege-engines bombarded the harbour defences
– the ballistae targeting the wall itself and the catapults aiming at the defenders
on the ramparts.
It was a terrifying assault and soon the Rhodian defences began to waiver.
The Rhodians were desperate.
Yet despite heavy arrow-fire, their sailors managed to extinguish the fires on their ships
and seeing the perilous situation, they proposed a desperate strategy.
3 of their most agile ships were manned by the best Rhodian sailors and were sent through
heavy fire, right towards Demetrius’ siege engines and rammed them.
This suicide attack managed to destroy 2 of these formidable engines.
Soon the Rhodian ships were surrounded, and destroyed, while the third engine escaped.
Yet in this daring act, the Rhodians had saved the harbour from the capture.
Demetrius once again was forced to retreat.
Not long after, a great storm occurred off the Rhodian coastline.
Any attempts to launch a new attack were temporarily thwarted; the Rhodians sensed an opportunity.
The far-end of the mole was still in Demetrius’ hands but now it was unable to be aided by
the fleet.
Launching a wave of attacks, the Rhodians soon overwhelmed the small outpost.
More bad news was to follow for Demetrius.
As the storm subsided, reinforcements amounting to 650 troops sent from Ptolemy managed to
sneak into the harbour, reinforcing the jubilant Rhodians.
Demetrius’ attempts to take the harbour had backfired completely and in the beginning
of 304 BC, he changed his tactics, turning his attention to a land-assault.
To that end, another great siege tower a helepolis was constructed.
This siege tower was even bigger than his previous one at Salamis and he had learnt
from his past mistakes, placing iron plates over the wooden frame to prevent it from catching
fire.
Indeed, so large and heavily fortified was this tower that 3,400 men were needed to move
it.
It was then that Demetrius earned the nickname Poliorcetes, meaning, ‘the besieger of cities.’
Alarmed, the Rhodians began constructing a secondary wall.
With their harbour also now free from constant assault, Rhodian ships made frequent sallies
hoping to disrupt the enemy’s supplies.
In the meantime, Demetrius had ordered sappers to undermine the Rhodian walls; yet the Rhodians,
learning of this threat, constructed tunnels of their own and a desperate fight ensued
underground.
Eventually however, with aid from the helepolis, manned with numerous ballistae and catapults,
and his other artillery, a breach was created in the Rhodian wall and the Rhodian forces
retreated.
To Demetrius’ dismay however, his forces broke through only to see a hastily-completed
second wall now standing in their way.
Demetrius was now running out of patience: a daring assault was needed.
Picking his best men and placing them under the command of his most-experienced general,
Alcimus, Demetrius ordered a quick night assault on the city.
Alcimus’ force quickly broke through the second wall’s
defences, reaching as far as the theatre.
There a vicious fight ensued between the attackers and the Rhodian defenders.
Many fell on either side but eventually the Rhodians, fighting zealously for their homeland,
overcame Demetrius’ forces.
Of the 1500 men that had reached the theatre, all were either captured or killed, among
them Alcimus.
The assault had failed and Demetrius returned to the siege.
However, news reached him that father ordered him to break-off the siege.
The year-long siege was lifted, Demetrius reached the agreement with the Rhodians and
sailed away.
It was the finest hour For the Rhodians – they successfully defended against the superpower
of the time.
In honour of their achievement they ordered the construction of a monument that would
go down in history as one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World: The Colossus of Rhodes.
As for Demetrius, he was needed in Greece; Cassander had once again become a threat.
Little did he know however, that the great climax to the Wars of the Successors was fast
approaching, and we will cover it in the next episode of this series, so subscribe and press
the alarm bell to learn about Alexander’s army in our future videos.
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