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The Battle of Lysimachia was
fought in 277 between the Gallic tribes settled in Thrace and a Greek army of Antigonus at
Lysimachia, Thracian Chersonese. After their defeat at Battle of Thermopylae,
the Gauls retreated out of Greece and moved through Thrace and finally into
Asia. Antigonus father,
Demetrius
Poliorcetes, had been driven from the Macedonian throne by Pyrrhus of
Epirus and Lysimachus in 288. Tired of war, Demetrius surrendered himself to
Seleucus I Nicator in 285, leaving Antigonus as the Antigonid heir to the
Macedonian throne. In 277 Antigonus organized an expedition to take Macedon
from Sosthenes of Macedon. He sailed to the Hellespont, landing near Lysimachia
at the neck of the Thracian Chersonese. The site of the landing was the
territory of wild Gallic tribes, who had settled the place after being driven
out of Greece. When an army of Gauls under the command of Cerethrius(a
Gaulicking of Thrace) appeared, Antigonus laid an ambush. He abandoned his camp
and beached his ships, then concealed his men. The Gauls looted the camp, but
when they started to attack the ships, Antigonus's army appeared, trapping them
with the sea to their rear. In this way, Antigonus was able to inflict a
crushing defeat on them and claim the Macedonian throne. It was around this
time, under these favorable omens, that his son and successor, Demetrius II
Aetolicus was born by his niece-wife Phila.
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