DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4326#0145
PATARA. 79
accompanied along the shore by a body of infantry under Perilaus. Polycleitus sailed therefore
from Aphrodisias towards the Lycian coast. Having landed some troops near a pass which the
enemy could not fail to traverse, he concealed his fleet at the same time behind a promontory, and
thus surprising the enemy both by land and sea, gained a double victory over them. Theodotus,
Perilaus, all the ships, and a great number of the land forces were taken, and Theodotus died soon
afterwards of the wound which he had received in the action. The historian has not named the
place where this event occurred, but it was probably on the coast of Lycia not far from Patara.*
Eleven years afterwards, in the first year of the 119th Olympiad, when Rhodes was besieged by
Demetrius Poliorcetes, the Rhodians sent out nine ships in three divisions to act against the
enemy.+ Menedemus one of the commanders, though his three triremes were of the inferior
class, named r^tiudkkt, was very successful; entering the harbour of Patara he burnt one of the
Demetrian ships of which the crew was on shore, and in the course of his cruise captured many
transports laden with provisions, as well as a quadrireme from Cilicia bearing the royal robes and
other effects, which had been sent to the king by his wife Phila.^
The next notice of Patara occurring in history is after a lapse of nearly 130 years, in the year
b. c. 196, when Antiochus having broken off a negotiation, in which he was engaged with the
Roman generals at Selymbria, on the subject of his encroachments in Thrace, sailed towards
Egypt, with the intention of taking advantage of the supposed death of Ptolemy Epiphanes, of
which a report had reached the negotiators at Selymbria. On arriving at Patara he learned that
the rumour was false, upon which he determined to proceed against Cyprus, but having been
delayed near the Eurymedon by some mutinous proceedings among the rowers, and afterwards
assailed at the entrance of the gulf of Issus by a tempest, which destroyed a great part of his
fleet, he was content to seek refuge with the remaining ships in his port of Seleucia at the mouth
of the Orontes.§
Six years afterwards occurred that eventful campaign which terminated in the battle of Magnesia,
and substituted the Roman power for that of Antiochus throughout Asia within Taurus. Patara
was at this time the best harbour, which the king possessed between Syria and Ephesus, and it
was the more important to him, as the chief Carian cities were in alliance with the Romans.
The praetor Lucius jEmilius Regillus having superseded C. Livius in the command of the Roman
fleet at Samos, held a council with Eumenes of Pergamus and the Rhodian commanders, at which
it was resolved that while Polyxenidas and Regillus observed the main fleet of the king at Ephesus,
G. Livius should proceed against Patara, having first communicated with the government of
Rhodes.|| His squadron consisted of two Roman quinqueremes, four Rhodian quadriremes, and
two open vessels of Smyrna. The cities which he passed in his way, Miletus, Myndus, Halicar-
nassus, Cnidus, and Cos, cheerfully obeyed his orders, and the Rhodians supplied him with three
additional quadriremes. From Rhodes the combined fleet proceeded to Patara. In approaching
* Diod. Sic. XIX, 64. f Id. XX, 93. § Polyb. XVIII, 32.—Liv. XXXIII, 41.
t Diodor. ibid. || Liv. XXXVII, 14, 15.
accompanied along the shore by a body of infantry under Perilaus. Polycleitus sailed therefore
from Aphrodisias towards the Lycian coast. Having landed some troops near a pass which the
enemy could not fail to traverse, he concealed his fleet at the same time behind a promontory, and
thus surprising the enemy both by land and sea, gained a double victory over them. Theodotus,
Perilaus, all the ships, and a great number of the land forces were taken, and Theodotus died soon
afterwards of the wound which he had received in the action. The historian has not named the
place where this event occurred, but it was probably on the coast of Lycia not far from Patara.*
Eleven years afterwards, in the first year of the 119th Olympiad, when Rhodes was besieged by
Demetrius Poliorcetes, the Rhodians sent out nine ships in three divisions to act against the
enemy.+ Menedemus one of the commanders, though his three triremes were of the inferior
class, named r^tiudkkt, was very successful; entering the harbour of Patara he burnt one of the
Demetrian ships of which the crew was on shore, and in the course of his cruise captured many
transports laden with provisions, as well as a quadrireme from Cilicia bearing the royal robes and
other effects, which had been sent to the king by his wife Phila.^
The next notice of Patara occurring in history is after a lapse of nearly 130 years, in the year
b. c. 196, when Antiochus having broken off a negotiation, in which he was engaged with the
Roman generals at Selymbria, on the subject of his encroachments in Thrace, sailed towards
Egypt, with the intention of taking advantage of the supposed death of Ptolemy Epiphanes, of
which a report had reached the negotiators at Selymbria. On arriving at Patara he learned that
the rumour was false, upon which he determined to proceed against Cyprus, but having been
delayed near the Eurymedon by some mutinous proceedings among the rowers, and afterwards
assailed at the entrance of the gulf of Issus by a tempest, which destroyed a great part of his
fleet, he was content to seek refuge with the remaining ships in his port of Seleucia at the mouth
of the Orontes.§
Six years afterwards occurred that eventful campaign which terminated in the battle of Magnesia,
and substituted the Roman power for that of Antiochus throughout Asia within Taurus. Patara
was at this time the best harbour, which the king possessed between Syria and Ephesus, and it
was the more important to him, as the chief Carian cities were in alliance with the Romans.
The praetor Lucius jEmilius Regillus having superseded C. Livius in the command of the Roman
fleet at Samos, held a council with Eumenes of Pergamus and the Rhodian commanders, at which
it was resolved that while Polyxenidas and Regillus observed the main fleet of the king at Ephesus,
G. Livius should proceed against Patara, having first communicated with the government of
Rhodes.|| His squadron consisted of two Roman quinqueremes, four Rhodian quadriremes, and
two open vessels of Smyrna. The cities which he passed in his way, Miletus, Myndus, Halicar-
nassus, Cnidus, and Cos, cheerfully obeyed his orders, and the Rhodians supplied him with three
additional quadriremes. From Rhodes the combined fleet proceeded to Patara. In approaching
* Diod. Sic. XIX, 64. f Id. XX, 93. § Polyb. XVIII, 32.—Liv. XXXIII, 41.
t Diodor. ibid. || Liv. XXXVII, 14, 15.