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The Fourth Sacred War or Amphissean War (339-338 BC) was the final step
in Philip II of Macedon's rise to a position of dominance in Greece, and ended
with the defeat of the joint Athenian and Theban army at the battle of
Chaeronea. Background The war came against a background of an existing war
between Athens and Philip II. After the end of the Third Sacred War in 346 BC
Philip had attempted to win over Athenian public opinion, but his supporters
had struggled against the anti-Macedonian faction led by the orator
Demosthenes. They were able to block a Macedonian suggestion of a common peace
in 344. Athenian attitudes hardened further after Philip supported the
collection of the first instalment of the reparation imposed on Phocis after
the Third Sacred War. Supporters of the peace were prosecuted, and Philocrates,
whose name is now associated with it, fled into exile. The flashpoint that
eventually triggered open warfare came in the Chersonese. Here the Athenians
still had some key allies, protecting the grain routes from the Black Sea.
Probably in 343 a new commander, Diopeithes, was sent to the Chersonese to
support the Athenian colonists in this area. The new colonists then clashed
with Cardia, an ally of Philip at the northern end of the Chersonese.
Diopeithes, like so many Athenian commanders, suffered from a lack of funds. He
attempted to solve this problem by plundering shipping in the northern Aegean
and extorting money from coastal communities. In 342 he captured a Macedonian
herald, Nicias, and in the winter of 342/1 the herald was sent to Athens, where
his dispatches were read out in public. Philip responded by sending a small
force of mercenaries to Cardia. Early in 341 Diopeithes raided Thrace and
plundered two towns under Macedonian control. Amphilochus, an envoy sent to ask
for their release was tortured and held to ransom, a clear breach of the
established norms of behaviour. Early in 341 Philip wrote to Athens to protest
about Diopeithes. This caused a debate in Athens in which Demosthenes and the
war party got their way. Diopeithes was given more men and money, while Chares
was sent north to Thasos. Demosthenes went to Byzantium, where he was able to
arrange a renewal of their old alliance (ended 15 years earlier). Other
Athenian envoys went to Abydos, Thrace, Illyria, Chios and Rhodes. There was
also an attempt to forma Panhellenic League, although only Corinth, Megara,
Achaea and Acarnania attended this league's first congress in Athens in 340 BC.
Open war between Athens and Philip was finally triggered by events at Byzantium
and Perinthus. In 340 Philip demanded that these two cities, which were still
officially his allies, should help him against Diopeithes. They refused, and
Philip laid siege to Perinthus. The city held out, despite Philip's impressive
siege train, and received aid from Byzantium and from the Persians. Even the
capture of the main city wall didn't help, as the defenders had already built a
new set of fortifications between the city buildings. In an attempt to remove
one of her allies, Philip then led half of his army to besiege Byzantium, but
he had no more success there. Early in this siege Philip seized 180 Athenian
merchant ships, waiting for their escort home, and claimed that they were
illegally supplying his enemies.
Our sources for this all come from fragments, reported in a later source. As a
result we can't be entirely sure exactly where this event falls into the
timeline of the sieges. Both of our fragments were included in the work of
Didymus, who used extracts from Philochorus and Theopompus. Philochorus gives
us a total of 230 ships, Theopompus only 180. This different is now interpreted
as meaning there were 180 Athenian ships and 50 ships from other powers with
whom Philip had no dispute. Philip took 700 talents from the fleet. The extract
from Philochorus gives us the main details of the event. Chares left his ships
at Hieron (a port and sanctuary on the Asian side of the entrance to the Black
sea) to wait for the cargo ships coming from the Black Sea, while he went to
visit nearby Persian generals. Philip made two attempts to capture the cargo
fleet. The first, which only involved his warships, failed. He then landed some
troops on the far side of Hieron (presumably on the Black Sea coast), and they
were able to capture the fleet. A total of 230 boats were taken, judged to be
prizes of war, broken up and used to build more siege engines. He also gained
supplies of corn, hides and money. Philip's actions and his letter triggered a
debate in Athens. Demosthenes helped convince the people to declare war, while
the column that recorded the existing treaty of peace and alliance with Philip
was demolished. The Athenian fleet now took an active part in the siege, and
drove the Macedonian fleet into the Black Sea. After final assault on Byzantium
in the spring of 339 failed, Philip decided to abandon both sieges. Before he
could do that, he needed to find a way to get his fleet out of the Black Sea.
According to Frontinus he achieved this by writing a letter to his general
Antipater ordering him to follow Philip into Thrace to deal with a revolt. This
letter was then deliberately allowed to fall into Athenian hands. The Athenians
either dropped their guard, or moved to take advantage of the news, and
Philip's fleet was able to escape. Polyaenus reports the exact same strategy
during the Fourth Sacred War, used when Philip's route into Boeotia was
blocked. While it seems unlikely that Philip's enemies would fall for the same
trick twice, revolts in Thrace were fairly common, so it is at least possible.
However it seems more likely that the details of one or the other of these
events have been lost. As his fleet sailed south past the Chersonese it raided
Athenian territory in the area. Phocion conducted some counter raids on the
Thracian coast in revenge. After abandoning the sieges, Philip decided to
punish Ateas, king of the Scythians in the Dobrudja, the area around the Danube
delta on the Black Sea. Ateas had previous asked for Macedonia help, but then
solved his problem before they arrived, and refused to pay. He also refused to
help against Byzantium. Philip captured vast numbers of slaves during this
campaign, and Ateas was killed in battle, but on their way home the Macedonians
were attacked by the Triballi, a Thracian tribe. Most of the loot was lost and
Philip was badly wounded in the fighting, but the army managed to reach home
safely.
Outbreak of Fourth Sacred War:
When Philip returned to Pella he found that the short-lived peace that followed
the Third Sacred War had already fallen apart. The Fourth Sacred War was
triggered by a dispute within the Delphic Amphictyony, the council responsible
for running the Oracle of Delphi. Probably at some point during the Third
Sacred War, when Athens had been allied with the Phocians and opposed by
Thebes, they had erected a new treasury in which they dedicated some shields
captured during the Persian Wars. These had been re-gilded, and inscribed as
being 'taken from the Persians and Thebans, when they fought against the
Greeks'. At a council meeting either in the autumn of 340 or the spring of 339
the Amphisseans had tabled a motion condemning the Athenian move, and asking
for them to be fined 50 talents. The Athenians had also been denounced as
allies of the sacrilegious Phocians in the Third Sacred War.
If this motion had carried, Athens might have found herself the target of an
attack by a united Amphictyony, a dangerous prospect. That danger was averted
by Aeschines, the Athenian envoy at the council, who tabled a counter motion
condemning the Amphisseans for cultivating the plain around the harbour of
Cirrha, which was sacred to Apollo, and taking the harbour dues for their own
use. The port of Cirrha controlled access to Delphi from the Corinthian Gulf,
and it had been an abuse of that position by her people that had triggered the
First Sacred War (595-585). Aeschines managed to win over the council, and
triggered a riot. A mob from Delphi attacked and sacked the harbour at Cirrha
and some of the surrounding houses, but they were then forced back to Delphi by
the Amphisseans. Cottyphus of Pharsalus, the president of the council, summoned
an extraordinary meeting of the council to be held at Thermopylae. This council
would pass sentence on Amphissa, firstly for the original sacrilege, and
secondly for attacking the councillors involved in the raid on the harbour.
This presented the Athenians with a fresh problem. It was likely that Thebes
would side with Amphissa, while Athens, having made the initial charge, would
have to support the council. Demosthenes was determined to avoid any open
breach between Athens and Thebes, as he believed that an alliance between the
two cities was the only way to defeat Philip II. He managed to convince Athens
not to send a representative to the meeting at Thermopylae. The special meeting
was held early in 339, and war was declared on Amphissa. Cottyphus was
appointed as commander of the League army, but he doesn't seem to have been
able to raise many troops. He did advance from Thermopylae, imposed a fine on
the Amphisseans, and expelling the leaders alleged to be involved in the
sacrilege. Thebes had also avoiding attending the meeting at Thermopylae, but
she now took sides by capturing Nicaea, which dominated the pass at
Thermopylae, expelling a Macedonian garrison in the process. This probably
wasn’t meant as a hostile act against Philip II - after all Thebes and
Macedon were officially allies at this point, but rather as a move to protect
Amphissa. The Amphisseans recalled their exiled leaders, and expelled others,
and defied the League. At the autumn meeting of the council Philip II was asked
to take command of the League army. This gave him a legitimate reason to bring
an army into central Greece, a move that posed an immediate threat to Athens.
To make things worse, Philip bypassed Thermopylae, and instead crossed the
mountains of Oetaea from Thessaly, and moved to Cytinium in Doris, on the
northern side of Mount Parnassus. From here he could easily move south-west to
Amphissa. Probably in early September he moved east from Cytinium to Elatea in
Phocis, which he fortified. Philip now paused to try and make sure that Thebes
was still on his side. He sent an embassy to Thebes, with two demands. The
first was to surrender Nicaea, and thus open up the pass of Thermopylaea. The
second was to either take part in his invasion of Attica, or at least allow him
free passage through Boeotia. At least according to our sources, he didn't
mention Amphissa, the official reason for his presence in central Greece.
Philip was in theory only three days march from Athens and two days from
Attica. This caused an unsurprising panic in the city, where a joint Theban and
Macedonian attack was expected any day. This finally gave Demosthenes the
chance he wanted to form anti-Macedonian alliance with Thebes. Demosthenes
suggested that Athens should send its full military levy to Eleusis, on the
road to Boeotia, while he led an embassy to Thebes. This suggestion was
accepted. Once he was in Thebes, Demosthenes made a very generous offer. Athens
would accept Theban supremacy over Boeotia, thus abandoning her old allies at
Plataea and Thespiae. Thebes would command the land war, and contribute one
third of the costs. Athens would fund the entire naval war and two thirds of
the land war. The war would be led from Thebes. This offer was too good to
resist, and Thebes abandoned their Macedonian alliance to side with Athens.
Surprisingly, given the rapid start to his campaign, Philip now paused,
allowing the new allies to plan their defences. Philip spent the winter
attempting to avoid a major battle and if possible to break up the alliance.
Neither side had much luck with their diplomatic efforts. Philip had the
support of Thessaly and some members of the Amphictyonic Council. Athens and
Thebes gained the support of Euboea, Achaea, Megara, Acarnania, Leucas and
Corcyra. Most of the Peloponnesian states stayed neutral, partly because many
of them were officially allies of both side and partly because those who were
tempted to aid Philip couldn't get to him. This gave the Allies time to mount
an effective defence of Boeotia. One force, of 10,000 mercenaries, was placed
in the Gravia Pass, blocking the route south to Amphissa and the Corinthian
Gulf. Another force was placed at Parapotamii, well to the west of Lake Copais,
where the Cephisus Valley narrowed. The Athenian Chares and Theban Proxenus
were given command of these forces. Other smaller forces blocked the passes
across Mount Parnassus. Two minor battles followed over the winter (or were at
least mentioned by Demosthenes) - the 'winter battle' and the 'battle by the
river'. These caused great jubilation in Athens, but were probably only defeats
of minor probing attacks by Philip. He used some of the winter to secure his
control of the Amphictyonic Council, and to restore Phocis after the
punishments from the Third War.
Early in 338 Philip managed to trick his way past the defenders of the Gravia
Pass, repeating the trick he had earlier used to get his fleet out of the Black
Sea. A message was sent to Antipater announcing that Philip was planning to
return to Thrace to deal with a revolt. This message was allowed to fall into
the hands of the Allied commanders. Philip then feigned a movement from
Cytinium. Once Chares relaxed his guard, Philip struck. The Macedonians
attacked at night, defeated the defenders, and broke through to Amphissa. Once
there the city walls were destroyed and its leaders exiled. Philip then moved
to Naupactus, on the Corinthian Gulf, opening up communication with the
Peloponnese. Naupactus was then handed over to his Aetolian allies, and Philip
then returned to Elatea. This success broke the Allied defensive line. The
defenders of Parapotamii and Mount Parnassus were now in danger of being
attacked from the rear, and the Allies were forced to retreat back down the
Cephisus Valley to Chaeronea. Once again Philip paused and attempted to use
diplomacy, and once again this failed. This continued for four months, before
finally Philip advanced to force a battle. The battle of Chaeronea took place
on the Attic date 7th of Metageitnion, but such is the obscurity of ancient
Greek calendars that we can't be entirely sure what modern date that would fall
on, with 2 August or 1 September 338 suggested. The battle ended as a major
Macedonian victory. The young Alexander commanded on the Macedonian left, and
his cavalry attack might have been the decisive factor in the battle. The
Athenians lost 1,000 dead and 2,000 captives. The Thebans suffered very heavy
losses, including their entire Sacred Band, which fought ot the last man.
Amongst the minor allies the Achaeans suffered very heavily. Aftermath In the
aftermath of the battle Thebes was punished harshly, as a former ally that had
betrayed Philip. She had to play a ransom before she could bury her dead, the
leaders involved in the decision to support Athens were exiled or executed. An
oligarchy of 300 trusted men was put in power. Macedonian forces took over the
citadel on the Cadmea. Plataea, Thespiae and Orchomenus, all Boeotian cities
weakened or destroyed by Thebes, were restored Philip was keen to win the
support, or at least the co-operation of Athens. He took advantage of the
presence of the orator and politician Demades amongst the prisoners to make
first contact with Athens. Demades was followed by Alexander, Antipater and
Alcimachus, who returned the Athenian dead and offered to return the 2,000
Athenian captives without a ransom. Philip was probably motivated by his desire
to lead an invasion of Persia, something that would have required both the use
of the Athenian fleet, and a peaceful and stable Greece. In the aftermath of
the battle Athens had been gripped by panic. A siege was expected at any
moment.
Command of the military was given to Charidemus, a long term enemy of Philip,
and Demosthenes, who had escaped from the battlefield, also played a part in
the defence. The arrival of Demades with good news, followed by Alexander,
changed the mood in the city. A delegation made up of Phocion (who had replaced
Charidemus as military commander, Demades and Aeschines was sent to the
Macedonian camp to open negotiations. Philip's terms were very generous. Athens
was to dissolve her League, but since the Social War that had been a fading
power anyway, and lost her possessions in the Chesonese. She was allowed to
keep the key Aegean islands of Lemnos, Imbros, Delos, Scyros and Samos. She
also regained Oropus on the Boeotian border. Philip promised not to invade
Athens by land or sea, she kept her place in the Amphictyony, and was to remain
free and independent, with no Macedonian garrison. This Peace of Demades was
greeted with initial enthusiasm in Athens. Philip and Alexander were both made
citizens of the city, and a statue of Philip was raised in the agora. However
there was still a strong anti-Macedonian faction, still led by Demosthenes. The
refuges expelled from Thebes by Philip were granted Athenian citizenship, and
Demosthenes was chosen to give the public funeral oration for the dead of
Chaeronea. Over the next few years most of the public figures involved in
negotiating the peace were hounded in the law courts (Demosthenes was also
prosecuted, but was always found not guilty). Philip placed further garrisons
in Chalcis and Ambracia. He forced the Acarnanians to expel their
anti-Maccedonian leaders. He then went to the Peloponnese, and was greeted at
Megara and Corinth in his way. He reorganised the Arcadian Confederacy, adding
Mantinea to it. Although Sparta had stayed neutral, he gave the Arcadians,
Argives and Messenians areas they claimed from the Spartans, and invade Laconia
when the Spartans refused to accept these changes. Late in 338 Philip summoned
a Congress of all Greek states at Corinth. All attended apart from Sparta. At
this meeting he set up the League of Corinth. This was a defensive and
offensive alliance of all Greek states, designed partly to preserve the peace
of Greece and partly to support Philip's planned invasion of Persia. Philip was
the hegemon of the league. A synod was set up, with representatives from every
member. No garrisons were to imposed, no tribute taken, and the autonomy and
independence of the Greek states was guaranteed. One key difference between
this peace and earlier examples, such as the King's Peace, was that it
attempted to preserve the existing situation, rather than restore some earlier
position or impose a new settlement. Philip then announced that the first task
of the league would be an invasion of Persia, punishment for the invasions of
Greece under Xerxes and Darius. Philip didn't survive long to enjoy his great
success. In 336 he was assassinated, and succeeded by his son Alexander. His
reign began with great uncertainty, and a revolt in parts of Greece. Alexander
quickly demonstrated that he was not as lenient as his father. In 335 he
captured Thebes, destroyed the city, and sold the majority of the population
into slavery. The battle of Chaeronea is often said to have ended the freedom
of the Greek cities, but that probably came about under Alexander and his
successors.
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