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Antigonus was 80 years old and the ruler of modern day Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, and Judea. He and his son Demetrius had generally had the better of the fighting in the wars running up to this point:The Siege of Rhodes, although an operational failure, was a victory for the Antigonids in that the Rhodians agreed to help them against everyone and anyone except for Ptolemy; Cassander had beenlargely neutralized by Demetrius and the Hellenic League; and Ptolemy was still recovering from the Antigonid invasion of 306. Their overall strategy in this fourth War of the Diadochi was to engage thevarious successors and defeat them in detail, and had so far been successful. Cassander, their only enemy still effectively resisting in 302, was nearly isolated, and his allies had not yet made a moveto support him. Seleucus, especially, would have been a major help to Cassander, as he had recently exchanged some of his most eastern lands for 500 elephants from Chandragupta Maurya;[1] however,seeing the plight of his ally, Lysimachus undertook to invade Asia Minor to distract the Antigonid armies fighting against Cassander, who was soon relieved of Demetrius' pressure as the latter moved hisarmy to Anatolia to fight Lysimachus. Cassander himself soon was able to give assistance, keeping only seventeen thousand men with him to fight Demetrius in Thessaly, and together the two alliesoverran most of western Asia Minor.
[edit]Campaign

Lysimachus, with the contingent from Cassander, was isolated in western Anatolia, on the other side of the Aegean from his base of supply in Europe. Instark opposition, Antigonus and Demetrius were now in their own territory, and their supply lines were far shorter. They also had 75 war elephants with which to support their cavalry and wreak havocupon the allied phalanx. Confronted with far superior numbers, the allies fell back without major engagement. However, Cassander had previously planned a move by Seleucus to bring his vast numbers...