Macedonian Succession Wars
After the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great the Plunder was divided up. According to legend our rather Ax Crazy Young Conqueror declared that his empire should go to the strongest. Alexander's chief commanders took him quite literally and spent the next few generations trying to decide this important question. As they could not reach a decision they ended up in a state of mutual stalemate, which allowed the entry of The Roman Republic.
This era was noted for the spread of Greek culture and its mingling with other cultures. While most of the old fashioned Greek City-state's were reduced into insignificance, the Balance of Power allowed them to live after a fashion. Militarily this was a time of elaboration of Greek and Macedonian techniques. As every army was descended from Alexander's Badass Army they could gain no tactical advantage over one another though they tried all kinds of techniques including the use of elephants. The result was simply a tie between the powers involved.
- Asskicking Equals Authority
- Badass Navy: The little Merchant City of Rhodes kept the peace in the Eastern Mediterranean and protected commerce from Pirates and the various warlords around.
- Balance of Power
- Beast of Battle: Elephants
- Crowning Moment of Awesome: The Siege of Rhodes by prince Demetrius whose nickname ironically means "the besieger" despite the fact that this was his most famous siege. Rhodes successfully beat him off and the famous Colossus of Rhodes was erected as a memorial.
- Eyepatch of Power: The one-eyed warlord Antigonus.
- Gambit Pileup
- Impossibly Cool Weapon : There was a "contest" at the time to build the biggest and most ridiculous warships. Nobody won except the AdventurerArchaeologists who got to explore them later.
- Proud Merchant Race: Rhodes
- Over the Wine Dark Sea and sequel novels.