Battle of Chaeronea

In 338 BC, the Macedonian army, led by King Philip II (c. 382–336) and his young prince Alexander III, marched against a coalition of Greek city-states led by Athens and Thebes. The site of this clash was near the Boeotian city of Chaeronea, which guarded the entry into the northern plain of Boeotia.

The battle of Chaeronea essentially marks the start of the Macedonian domination in the political affairs of Greece that lasted almost a century. The particular battle is also of great interest from a military point of view, clearly demonstrating the superiority of the Macedonian phalanx against the previous corresponding types of military positioning of other city-states.

This battle was the culmination of Philip’s military campaign during the years 340-338 to build a coalition of loyal Greek cities through various “settlements,” which ultimately led to the League of Corinth (the Hellenic League) against Persia.

The battle was a disaster for Athens, Thebes, and their allies. More than 1,000 Athenians were killed and over 2,000 captured.

Philip’s victory at Chaeronea and his military endeavours throughout Central Greece clearly demonstrated the ingenuity of his leadership and the capability of his army. Philip used the victory and the “settlements” which followed as a means of expanding his influence throughout Greece.

Following the battle of Chaeronea and confined to the conditions of the League of Corinth, it is generally accepted that Athens had a relatively peaceful fifteen-year period. This was certainly so when compared to the turmoil of the Peloponnesian war and its aftermath.
Battle of Chaeronea

Winifred Lamb: Aegean Prehistorian and Museum Curator

Cover image: British School at Athens

My biography of Winifred Lamb is due to be published in September 2018. The study covers her time as a student at the British School at Athens (as well as her preliminary visit to the Mycenae excavations before she was admitted), and her excavations at Mycenae, Sparta, in Macedonia, on Lesbos and on Chios. Her active fieldwork in the Aegean continued into the 1930s when she shifted her interests to Anatolia (through the excavation at Kusura).

Lamb was simultaneously the honorary keeper of Greek Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, where she created a prehistoric gallery displaying finds from British excavations on Crete and on Melos.

Diadochi

Diadochi

Diadochi is the Greek word for “successors” and refers the successors of the empire of Alexander the Great. At first there was initial agreement to the unity of the empire, but this soon turned into wars between rival rulers. These included Macedon, Egypt under Ptolemy as Africa, and the Near East under Seleucus as Asia.

Death of Alexander The Great

Alexander the Great died on June 11, 323 b.c.e., in Babylon. His leading generals met in discussion. Alexander had a half brother, Arridaeus, but he was illegitimate and an epileptic and thought unfit to rule. Perdiccas, general of the cavalry, stated that Alexander’s wife, Roxane, was pregnant.

If a boy was born, then he would become king. Alexander had named Perdiccas successor as regent, until the child was of age. The other generals opposed this idea. Nearchus, commander of the navy, pointed out that Alexander had a three-year-old son, Heracles, with his former concubine Barsine.


The other generals opposed this because Nearchus was married to Barsine’s daughter and related to the young possible king. Ptolemy wanted a joint leadership and deemed that the empire needed firm government and jointly the generals could assure this. Some thought that a collective leadership could lead to a division of the empire.

Meleager, the commander of the pikemen, opposed the idea. He wanted Arridaeus as king to unite the empire. The final decision was to appoint Perdiccas as regent for Arridaeus, who would become Philip III, and if Roxane gave birth to a boy, he would take precedence and become King Alexander IV.

Alexander’s father, Philip of Macedon, had led his armies south and conquered all of Greece. Alexander was king of Macedon and Greece and had left a general there to rule. The Greeks saw that Alexander and his generals had taken on the customs of their hated enemies, the Persians.

The people of Athens and other Greek cities staged revolts as soon as they heard that Alexander had died. Antipater led forces south and battled in what would became the Lamian War.

Craterus arrived with reinforcements. Craterus led the Macedonians to victory against the Greeks at the Battle of Crannon on September 5, 322 b.c.e. As the Macedonians captured Athens, Demosthenes, the leader of the revolt, died by taking poison.

First Diadoch War

Perdiccas ruled as regent, and there was peace for a time. His first war was with Ariarathes, who ruled in Cappadocia in the central part of modern-day Turkey. The First Diadoch War broke out in 322 b.c.e., when Craterus and Antipater in Macedonia refused to follow the orders of Perdiccas. Knowing that war would come, the Macedonians allied with Ptolemy of Egypt.

Perdiccas invaded Egypt and tried to cross the Nile, but many of his men were swept away. When Perdiccas called together his commanders Peithon, Antigenes, and Seleucus for a new war strategy, they instead killed him and ended the civil war. They offered to make Ptolemy the regent of the empire, but he was content with Egypt and declined.

Ptolemy suggested that Peithon be regent, which annoyed Antipater of Macedon. Negotiations were held and succession was finally decided: Antipater became regent; Roxane’s son, who had just been born, was named Alexander IV. They would live in Macedonia, where Antipater would rule the empire.


His ally Lysimachus would rule Thrace, and Ptolemy would remain satrap of Egypt. Of Perdiccas’s commanders, Seleucus would become satrap of Babylonia, and Peithon would rule Media. Antigonus, in charge of the army of Perdiccas, was in control of Asia Minor.

Second Diadoch War

War was again initiated when Antipater died in 319 b.c.e. He had appointed a general called Polyperchon to succeed him as regent. At this, his son, Cassander, organized a rebellion against Polyperchon.

With war breaking out Ptolemy had his eye on Syria, which had historically belonged to Egypt. There was an alliance between Cassander, Ptolemy, and Antigonus of Asia Minor, who had designs against the new ruler Polyperchon. Ptolemy then attacked Syria.

Polyperchon, desperate for allies, offered the Greek cities the possibility of autonomy, but this did not gain him many troops. Cassander invaded Macedonia but was defeated. During this fighting the mother of Alexander, Olympias, was executed in 316 b.c.e.

Polyperchon had the support of Eumenes, an important Macedonian general. Polyperchon attempted to ally with Seleucus of Babylon. Seleucus refused, and the satraps of the eastern provinces decided not to be involved.

Antigonus, in June 316 b.c.e., moved into Persia and engaged the forces of Eumenes at the Battle of Paraitacene, which was indecisive. Another battle near Gabae, where the fighting was also indecisive, led to the murder of Eumenes at the end of the fighting.

This left Antigonus in control of all of the Asian part of the former empire. To cement his hold over the empire, he invited Peithon of Media and then had him executed. Seleucus, seeing that he would no longer have control over Babylon, fled to Egypt.

Third Diadoch War

Antigonus Monophthalmus was now powerful and had control of Asia. Worried about an invasion of Egypt, Ptolemy started plotting with Lysimachus of Thrace and Cassander of Macedonia. Together they demanded that Antigonus hand over the royal treasury he had seized and hand back many of his lands.

He refused, and in 314 b.c.e. war broke out. Antigonus attacked Syria and tried to capture Phoenicia. He lay siege to the city of Tyre for 15 months. Meanwhile, Seleucus took Cyprus.

On the diplomatic front Antigonus demanded that Cassander explain how Olympias had died and what had happened to Alexander IV and his mother, in whose name Cassander held rule. Antigonus made an alliance with Polyperchon, who held southern Greece.

Demetrius’ Agema fighting Ptolemy’s Companions at Gaza, 312 BC

Ptolemy sent his navy to attack Cilicia, the south coast of what is now Turkey, in the summer of 312 b.c.e. With his forces in Syria, Ptolemy worried that Egypt might be attacked and retreated.

Seleucus, who was a commander in the Ptolemaic army, marched to Babylon and was recognized as satrap in mid-311 b.c.e.; the previous satrap, Peithon, was killed at Gaza.

Antigonus realized that he could not defeat Ptolemy and his allies. A truce was agreed to in December 311 b.c.e. Cassander held Macedonia until Alexander IV came of age six years later; Lysimachus kept Thrace and the Chersonese (modern-day Gallipoli); Ptolemy had Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus; Antigonus held Asia Minor; and Seleucus gained everything east of the river Euphrates to India. The following year (310 b.c.e.), Cassander murdered both the young Alexander IV and his mother, Roxane.

Peace lasted until 308 b.c.e. when Demetrius, a son of Antigonus, attacked Cyprus at the Battle of Salamis. He then attacked Greece, where he captured Athens and many other cities and then marched on Ptolemy. Antigonus sent Nicanor against Bablyon, but Seleucus defeated him.

Seleucus used this opportunity to capture Ecbatana, the capital of Nicanor. Antigonus then sent Demetrius against Seleucus, and he besieged Babylon. Eventually, the forces of Antigonus and Seleucus met on the battlefield.

Seleucus ordered a predawn attack and forced Antigonus to retreat to Syria. Seleucus sent troops ahead, but with little threat from the West he attacked Bactria and northern India. When Antigonus attacked Syria and headed to Egypt, his column was attacked by the troops sent by Seleucus.

Fourth Diadoch War

In 307 b.c.e. the Fourth Diadoch War broke out. Antigonus was facing a powerful Seleucus to his east and Ptolemy to the south. Egypt was secure with the protection of a large navy. Ptolemy attacked Greece, motivated largely by a desire to ensure that Athens and other cities did not support Antigonus.

Demetrius in a diversion attacked Cyprus and continued with his siege of Salamis. This pulled Ptolemy out of Greece, and his navy headed to Cyprus. Ptolemy lost many of his men and ships. Menelaus surrendered Cyprus in 306 b.c.e., once again giving Antigonus control of the city.

Antigonus proclaimed himself successor to Alexander the Great. Antigonus did not view Seleucus as a threat, so instead marched against Ptolemy. His army ran out of supplies and was forced to withdraw. Demetrius had attacked the island of Rhodes, held by Ptolemy.

Ptolemy was able to supply Rhodes from the sea, and so Demetrius withdrew. Cassander, then attacked Athens. In 301 b.c.e. Cassander, aided by Lysimachus, invaded Asia Minor, fighting the army of Antigonus and Demetrius, with Cassander capturing Sardis and Ephesus.

Hearing that Antigonus was leading an army, Cassander withdrew to Ipsus, near Phrygia, and asked Ptolemy and Seleucus for support. Ptolemy heard a rumor that Cassander had been defeated and withdrew to Egypt.

Seleucus realized that this might be the opportunity to destroy Antigonus. Earlier he had concluded a peace agreement with King Chandragupta II, in the Indus Valley, and had been given a large number of war elephants. Seleucus marched to support Cassander.

Hearing of his approach, Antigonus sent an army to Babylon hoping to divert Seleucus. Seleucus marched his men to Ipsus and joined Lysimachus. There, in 301 b.c.e., a large battle ensued. Seleucus, with his elephants, launched a massive attack that won the battle.

Antigonus was killed on the battlefield, but Demetrius escaped. This left Seleucus and Lysimachus in control of the whole of Asia Minor. Seleucus and Lysimachus agreed that Cassander would be king of Macedonia, but he died the following year.

Demetrius had escaped to Greece, attacking Macedonia and, seven years later, killed a son of Cassander. A new ruler had emerged, Pyrrhus of Epirus, an ally of Ptolemy. He attacked Macedonia and the forces of Demetrius.

Demetrius repelled the attack and was nominated as king of Macedonia but had to give up Cilicia and Cyprus. Ptolemy urged on Pyrrhus, who attacked Macedonia in 286 b.c.e. and drove Demetrius from the kingdom, aided by an internal revolt.

Demetrius fled from Europe in 286 b.c.e. With his men he attacked Sardis again. Lysimachus and Seleucus attacked him, and Demetrius surrendered and was taken prisoner by Seleucus. He later died in prison.

This left Lysimachus and Pyrrhus fighting for possession of Europe, while Ptolemy and Seleucus owned rest of the former empire. Ptolemy abdicated to his son Ptolemy Philadelphus. An older son, Ptolemy Keraunos, sought help from Seleucus to try to take over Egypt. Ptolemy died in January 282 b.c.e. In 281 b.c.e.

Ptolemy Keraunos, decided that it would be easier to take Macedonia rather than to attack Egypt. He and Seleucus attacked Lysimachus, killing him at the Battle of Corus in February 281 b.c.e. Ptolemy Keraunos then returned to Asia, and prior to leaving for Macedonia again in 280 b.c.e., he murdered Seleucus.

By the end of the Diadochi wars, Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius, ruled Greece; Ptolemy II Philadelphus was king of Egypt; and Antiochus I, son of Seleucus, ruled much of western Asia. Ptolemy Keraunos held the lands of Lysander in Thrace. The Diadochi wars came to an end with the death of Seleucus, but wars between the kingdoms continued.

Philip of Macedon

King Philip II, expansionist ruler of Macedonia from 359 to 336 b.c.e., paved the way for his son Alexander the Great’s conquests. Philip was born in Pella in 382 b.c.e., the third son of King Amyntas III and his first wife, Queen Eurydice. After Amyntas died in 370 b.c.e.

Macedonia disintegrated because Philip’s brothers King Alexander II, assassinated in 367 b.c.e., and King Perdiccas III, who died in battle in 359 b.c.e., were unable to stop the overwhelming foreign attacks. The Thracians already possessed eastern Macedonia. Thebes, capital of Illyria, which bordered western Macedonia, occupied northwest Macedonia.

From 368 to 365 b.c.e. Philip was a political hostage in Thebes and lived in the house of Pammenes. The learned Epaminondas taught him Greek lifestyle, customs, military tactics, and diplomacy. Upon his return to Macedonia Philip helped reform the Macedonian army.


Despite the reforms Macedonia suffered 4,000 casualties, Perdiccas among them, in a battle against Illyrian king Bardylas in 359 b.c.e. The energetic, diplomatic, yet ruthless Philip ascended the throne at age 21, overthrowing his nephew Amyntas IV, the infant son of Perdiccas.

Philip sought to advance in his political and military pursuits by reorganizing the Macedonian army, which was patterned after the Greek-style phalanx. His uniquely Macedonian phalanx gave each hoplite a longer, 18-foot spear called a sarissa. The eight to 16 rows of the phalanx moved toward the enemy, easily killing them from a distance of 20 feet.

Another of Philip’s innovations was the creation of a professional army with financial support that enticed enlistment. The newly organized Macedonian army instilled pride and strong loyalty toward Philip. Philip freed the northwest from the Illyrians by decisively defeating them in 358 b.c.e.

Philip used numerous marriages to cement political alliances. Among his wives were Illyrian princess Audata, Phila, and Princess Olympias of Epirus, daughter of Neoptolemus, who gave him a son, Alexander, in 356 b.c.e.

Philip decided he wanted the strategically important city-state of Amphipolis returned to Macedonia and captured it in 357 b.c.e., giving him access to the forests and ownership of the gold mine of Mount Pangeus.

Map of the Kingdom of Macedon at the death of Philip II in 336 BC

Philip captured the town of Crenides, which had been occupied by Thracians in 356 b.c.e., renaming it Phillipi and eliminating Thrace as a threat. The Greek cities of Potidaea and Paydna were captured in 356 b.c.e. He exiled non-Macedonians and sold them into slavery.

An arrow cost Philip his right eye at the Battle for Methone in 354 b.c.e. where he defeated his enemy Argaeus. Philip was in control of Thessaly by 352 b.c.e. Demosthenes delivered three speeches from 351 to 349 b.c.e. denouncing Philip. He also conquered Olynthus in 348 b.c.e. and sold the Greeks into slavery. Within a few years he defeated 34 Greek city-states, including Stageira, the birthplace of Aristotle.

In 346 b.c.e. the Thebans asked his support in their "Sacred War" with the Phocians. Philip destroyed the Phocian city at the Battle of Crocus Field. He made peace with Athens in 346 b.c.e. but six years later waged war by besieging Byzantium and Perinthus.


Greek resistance emerged against the "barbarian" Philip who had ruthlessly suppressed Illyrian, Thracian, Greek, and Epirote rebellions. By 339 b.c.e. he defeated the Scythians near the Danube River and took 20,000 Scythian women and children as slaves. During this battle Philip was injured in his upper leg causing him to become permanently lame.

In order to conquer Greece Philip amassed a large Macedonian army and sent his 18-year-old son Alexander to command the left wing of the phalanx as a general. The Battle of Chaeronea was fought on August 2, 338 b.c.e. The Greeks had 35,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry on the field, opposed by 30,000 Macedonian infantry, leaving Philip outnumbered.

However, with outstanding military tactics Philip defeated the Greeks. He had Macedonian garrisons built at Chalcis, Thebes, and Corinth. In 337 b.c.e. Philip organized the Greek city-states into the League of Corinth, which he headed, becoming de facto king of Greece.

Philip married a noblewoman, Cleopatra, niece of his general Attalus. This act caused a fissure with Alexander, who fled with his mother to Epirus, her home country. Philip and Cleopatra had a son named Caranus. In 336 b.c.e. Philip began his invasion of Persia but stayed behind to attend the wedding celebration of his daughter Cleopatra to Alexander of Epirus, the brother of Olympias.

The Macedonian nobleman Pausanius assassinated Philip during the wedding and was immediately executed. Cleopatra and Caranus were later murdered. It was the legacy of Alexander III to destroy Persia and create the largest kingdom of antiquity. Alexander would not have been as spectacularly successful had Philip not made Macedonia a superpower.

Excavating under Gunfire

I will be contributing "Excavating under Gunfire: Archaeologists in the Aegean during the First World War" to the day workshop "Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection in Wartime: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives" in Swansea. It develops Chapter 13 of Sifting the Soil of Greece, "Students at War".

One of the topics will be the work of British and French archaeologists to record the archaeological remains and to preserve the finds during the campaign in Macedonia. French archaeologists formed part of the Service Archéologique de l'Armée d'Orient. They had gained expertise working on the site of Elaious at Gallipoli, a site that attracted gunfire from the Turkish forces.

The British work in Macedonia was initially led by Lt-Commander Ernest Gardner RNVR, a former director of the BSA and also Yates Professor Archaeology in the University of London. Gardner was one of several former BSA students operating with Naval Intelligence in Salonica (EMSIB).

For further details about Sifting the Soil of Greece see here.

We Will Remember Them

It is the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Seven former students of the BSA were killed: two at Gallipoli and five on the Western Front.

Stanley Casson served on the Western Front in the East Lancashire Regiment; he was wounded in May 1915. In 1916 he joined the General Staff in Salonica and served on the Allied Control Commission in Thessaly (1917). At the end of the war he served in Constantinople and Turkestan until he was demobilised in 1919. He was Assistant Director of the BSA under Alan Wace (1920-22), and Reader in Classical Archaeology at Oxford. He re-enlisted in the Intelligence Corps at the outbreak of the Second World War and served in Holland and Greece rising to the rank of Lt.-Colonel. He was killed on active service in a flying accident on 17 April 1944 and was buried in Newquay.

Macedonian Exploration Fund

The Macedonian Exploration Fund was announced in March 1911:

Preliminary journeys in Macedonia have shown that local conditions are exceptionally favourable to more systematic work; and it has been decided to form a committee of Oxford and Cambridge scholars to conduct research in the history, archaeology, and anthropology of these Balkan lands.

The initial support had come, in part, from Liverpool where Myres had held a chair (until 1910 when he moved back to Oxford). As money did not seem to be forthcoming a further announcement was made. The Times (July 31, 1911) reported:

Macedonia, as well as Thrace, has hitherto has been a terra incognita, though afford a most promising field for research in prehistoric, classical, Byzantine, and medieval archaeology.

Alan J.B. Wace and Maurice S. Thompson had just completed their research in Thessaly and were engaged for the work in Macedonia.

The outbreak of the First Balkan War in October 1912 (and the capture of Salonica in November) disrupted further work. As war broke out throughout Europe Wace explored the possibility of excavating at Olynthos (though this was in fact conducted by the American D.M. Robinson after the First World War). The trench warfare in Macedonia brought to light numerous archaeologial sites and the British School conducted further excavations during the 1920s.

The Committee

• Dr Arthur John Evans (1851-1941) (chairman)
• David George Hogarth (1862-1927)
• Sir William Ramsay (1851-1939)
• ProfessorJohn Bagnell Bury (1861-1927)
• Walter Leaf (1852-1927)
• Professor William Ridgeway (1858-1926)
• George Leonard Cheesman (1884-1915)
• Maurice S. Thompson
• Alan John Bayard Wace (1879-1957)
• Professor John Linton Myres (1869-1954) (secretary)
• Vincent W. Yorke (treasurer)
  

Donors to the Macedonian Exploration Fund

• Dr Arthur John Evans: £25
• Robert Carr Bosanquet: £2.2.0
• Professor John Linton Myres: £5
• Professor William Ridgeway: £2.2.0
• Leonard Whibley: £2.2.0
• Alan John Bayard Wace: £5
• Cambridge Classical Society: £5.5.0
• David George Hogarth: £2.2.0
• ProfessorJohn Bagnell Bury: £2.2.0
• Maurice S. Thompson: £5

References
Casson, S., and E. A. Gardner. 1918/19. "Macedonia. II. Antiquities found in the British Zone, 1915-1919." Annual of the British School at Athens 23: 10-43, pls. i-xiii.
Heurtley, W. A. 1939. Prehistoric Macedonia: an archaeological reconnaissance of Greek Macedonia (west of the Struma) in the Neolithic, Bronze, and early Iron ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wace, A. J. B. 1914/16. "The site of Olynthus." Annual of the British School at Athens 21: 11-15.
Wace, A. J. B., and M. S. Thompson. 1911. "The Distribution of Early Civilization in Northern Greece." Geographical Journal 37: 631-36.
Wace, A. J. B., and A. M. Woodward. 1911/12. "Inscriptions from Upper Macedonia." Annual of the British School at Athens 18: 166-88.
Woodward, A. M. 1911/12. "Inscriptions from Beroea in Macedonia." Annual of the British School at Athens 18: 133-65.