Third holy war

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Third holy war
date 356 BC Chr. – 346 BC Chr.
place Phocis, Lokris , Doris and Boeotia
output Victory of Amphictyonia
Parties to the conflict

Amphictyonia , Boeotia , Thessaly , Lokris , Doris

Phocis , Pherai , Athens and Sparta

Commander

Pammenes, Philip II (Macedonia)

Philomelus , Onomarchus , Phayllos and Phalaikos


The Third Holy War (356–346 BC) is one of the wars in the history of ancient Greece that was waged in the interests of Delphi by a large part of the Amphictyonic states against groups that in some way represented the interests of the state or the Sanctuary of Delphi. The Phokers were able to maintain their position for almost a decade and achieve greater military successes, supported by a large mercenary army paid out of Delphic temple funds, but finally lost the war after the intervention of the Macedonian King Philip II and had to make peace with heavy sacrifices .

Course of war

outbreak

The old tribal hatred of the Thessalians and the newly inflamed Thebans against the mountain people of the Phocians - there were border disputes on the border between Phocis and Boiotia - gave rise to the Third Holy War. The main source for this war is the 16th book of the Bibliothḗkē historikḗ of the 1st century BC. Living historian Diodorus . In the run-up to the war, the Amphictyons imposed a heavy fine on the Phokers. They were to be punished for using part of the area of ​​the former city of Kirrha , which had already been destroyed in the First Holy War , for agriculture, according to the allegations of the Thebans . The construction of this sacred land area was a punishable offense, which the Phokers ignored. The amount of the fine also appeared to be in excess of their financial resources. The eminent Phoker Philomelus , son of Theotimos, appeared. After he had explained the impossibility of raising the amount of the fine, he advised his compatriots to seize the treasures of the Delphic temple, since the sanctuary actually belonged to the Phokers anyway. This proposal fell on fertile ground and the Phocians, under Philomelos' command, occupied Delphi, stole the treasure of the sanctuary and later even let it melt down.

Because of the occupation of Delphi, the Amphictyons declared in the fall of 356 BC. The holy war. Philomelos won the support of the Spartan King Archidamos III. Athens was also an ally of the Phocians. On the opposing side stood not only Thebans and Thessalians, but also the Perrhaber , Dorians and other Greek peoples. With the gold obtained from the Delphic temple treasures, the Phokers paid their recruited mercenary troops, which they used in the fight against their adversaries. Philomelos fell in the spring of 355 BC. BC in Ostlokris and defeated the Lokrer and Thessaler. In the fall of 355 BC BC he suffered a defeat against the Boioter at Neon and fell into an abyss.

Successes of the Phoker

Onomarchus successfully urged the Phocians to continue the war, was elected to succeed Philomelos and ordered the manufacture of weapons and the recruitment of new mercenaries. 354 BC He undertook an offensive against the Lokrians, conquered Thronion and Amphissa and devastated the area of Doris . After his invasion of Boiotia, he seized Orchomenus , but could not take Chaironeia and turned back. The Macedonian King Philip II moved to Thessaly around this time and attacked the tyrant Lycophron of Pherai , who then turned to the Phocians for support. Phayllos , a brother of Onomarchus, came to Lycophron's aid with 7,000 men, but was defeated by Philip. Now Onomarchus himself intervened with a mighty army in Thessaly, defeated the Macedonian king in two skirmishes and forced him to retreat.

Beginning of 353 BC BC Onomarchus invaded Boiotien, defeated the Boioter in a battle and conquered Koroneia . The Phokers were then at the height of their power. One of the recipes for success was that their leaders overcame internal contradictions and formed the people into a cohesive unit. As the only Phocian city, Abai did not participate in the war. As strategoi autokratores, the leaders of the Phoker had great powers and had their names struck on coins. By implementing constitutional amendments in several cities, they were able to help their partisans to govern. The mercenary army recruited from the temple treasures provided them with great military strength. Even the Delphic votive gifts were confiscated in order to raise funds for warfare.

Checkered further battles

353 or 352 BC BC Onomarchus marched with 20,000 infantrymen and 500 horsemen to Thessaly to again provide military support to Lycophron of Pherai, since Philip II attacked Lycophron for the second time in association with strong Thessalian aristocratic troops. The Macedonian king defeated the Phocians in the decisive battle on the crocus field ; Onomarchus and many of his warriors fell. As a punishment, Philip had 3,000 prisoners thrown into the sea as temple robbers.

Now Phayllos followed his slain brother Onomarchus as a strategist. With the ample funds available to him, he recruited new mercenaries and received auxiliary troops, which he sent to Athens and Sparta, among others. His subsequent invasion of Boiotia, however, failed. He lost three battles, but they didn't seem to be that decisive. First he suffered a setback at Orchomenos and then suffered a defeat in a battle fought on the River Kephissos , in which he lost 500 men. A few days later, the Boioter finally won a battle near Koroneia against the Phokers. During a campaign against the Epicnemid Lokrians, Phayllos succeeded in conquering several cities, but was then attacked by the Boioters near Abai, killing many of his soldiers. The Boiotians advanced to Phocis, carried out raids there and in their retreat came to the aid of the inhabitants of the Locrian city of Naryka , which was still under siege by the Phokers. Phayllos was able to drive out the Boioter and conquer Naryka. For a long time he suffered from a painful illness that he suffered from in 351 BC. Chr. Succumbed.

Now Phalaikos , a son of Onomarchus, succeeded Phayllos as a Phocian strategist. Since he was still a youth, he was initially under the tutelage of the general Mnaseas , who was soon killed in a nightly attack by the Boioter. Phalaikos, who is now in high command. took over, suffered a defeat in a cavalry battle that took place near Chaironeia . He then succeeded in taking Chaironeia, but he had to withdraw from the city in front of an army of Thebans who had rushed up, whereupon the Boiotians undertook a raid to Phocis. Meanwhile, Phocian troops, drawn to the Peloponnese, took part in the fighting between Sparta and Megalopolis , which took place in a battle near the city of Orneai .

350 BC BC there were only insignificant armed conflicts between the Phokers and Boiotern. In the next two years, the two warring parties fought further battles with varying degrees of success. So the Boioter first devastated the territory of Hyampolis , but then lost a battle against the Phocians near Koroneia. The Phokers seized several Boiotic cities shortly afterwards, while the Boiotians burned themselves down when they invaded Phoki's fields, but suffered a defeat on the way back.

End of the war through the intervention of Philip II of Macedonia

347 BC BC Phalaikos was accused of embezzling the temple treasures of Delphi and deposed. Three generals, Deinocrates, Callias and Sophanes, now took his place. Since the Phocians occupied the Boiotic cities of Orchomenos, Koroneia and Korsiai and from there devastated the surrounding area, the now exhausted Thebans, who could not recapture the cities mentioned, called on King Philip II for help. Financial difficulties of the Phocians, whose funds were already quite exhausted, and the intervention of Philip quickly brought Phocis down and ended his supremacy in central Greece, which had been achieved in the Third Holy War.

This final phase of the war began with the fact that Phalaikos in the beginning of 346 BC. BC again received the high command. He torpedoed the connections which the Phocians had established with Athens and Sparta. So he directed the spartan king Archidamos III, who was going to help. and the Athenians finally refused to help. Philip II appeared at Thermopylae and Phalaikos met him with 8,000 men at Nikaia . But since he noticed the superiority of the Macedonian armed forces, Phalaikos did not get involved in a fight, but concluded a treaty with Philip, on the basis of which he and his mercenaries were granted free withdrawal. So Philip became master of Phocis without a fight.

Peace treaty

The 346 BC For Phocis, peace that was established initially only meant that it had to cede a small part of its territory to Thebes, perhaps also to return the city of Daphnus , located about 30 km east of Thermopylae, to Lokris. However, Philip II ordered that the Amphictyon Assembly should pass judgment on the Phokers. The Amphictyons saw temple robbers in the Phokers and voted for a severe punishment. Thus the Phocians were expelled from the Delphic Temple and the League of Amphictyons; the two votes that they had in the latter institution went to Philipp. All the cities of Phocis were destroyed, and their walls were torn down. Only Abai was spared, as she had taken no part in the temple looting and the war. Phokers and their allies who had fled the temple robbery and were directly involved in the temple robbery were now considered cursed and outlawed.

As a result, the Phokers were only allowed to live in small towns with a maximum of 50 houses and had to have their weapons destroyed. Their horses were also to be sold. They were also ordered to pay taxes to Delphi until the 10,000 talents stolen from Delphi's temple were replaced. The sum to be raised was to be paid in six-month installments for 30 talents. The sympathizers of the tyrants went into exile in Athens. Military units of Philip II and the Thebans also remained for a while as an occupying power in Phocis and occasionally plundered.

The peace conditions and the associated end of the Third Holy War were sealed in the Peace of Philocrates . Athens had to recognize all of Philip's expansion successes and thus also lost its claim to its former polis Amphipolis . In addition, Philip put the Athenians on a defensive alliance.

Consequences of the third holy war

Philip II was able to establish his supremacy in northern and central Greece through his interaction in the Third Holy War. His image in the Greek world improved significantly. While Philip was considered a barbarian before the war, his self-image changed after the Peace of Philocrates. Since he had received the two votes of the Phocians excluded from the Amphictyon Council, he was now a legitimate member of this body. From this point on he presided over the Panhellenic Games. Macedonians were now also allowed to take part in the games, which was previously not possible as they were not recognized as full Greeks. Through these symbolic acts of recognition, Philip managed to get more allies on his side.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chronology of Delphi - 6000 years of history ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.delphic.org
  2. ↑ Scholion to Demosthenes , Orationes 19, 20; Iustinus , Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 8, 1, 5.
  3. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 23, 3; Pausanias , Description of Greece 10, 2, 1.
  4. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 14, 4 f. and 16, 23, 4-24, 3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 2 f .; Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 8, 1, 7 ff.
  5. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 28, 4.
  6. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 24, 1 f.
  7. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 29, 1.
  8. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 25, 2 f. and 16, 30, 3 f.
  9. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 31, 1–4; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 4; Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 8, 1, 12 f.
  10. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 32, 3 f .; Ephoros von Kyme , FGrH 70, no.96.
  11. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 33, 3 f.
  12. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 35, 1 f .; Polyainos , Strategemata 2, 38, 2; on this Hermann Bengtson , Philipp and Alexander the Great , Diederichs, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-424-01358-7 , p. 59 f.
  13. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 35, 3; Ephoros, FGrH 70, no.90.
  14. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 487 f.).
  15. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 35, 3–6 and 16, 61, 2; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 5; Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 8, 2, 1-6.
  16. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 36, 1 and 16, 37, 1–6.
  17. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 38, 3 f.
  18. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 38, 4 ff .; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 6.
  19. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 38, 5 ff.
  20. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 39, 8.
  21. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 39, 3 ff.
  22. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 40, 2.
  23. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 56, 1 f.
  24. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 56, 3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 7.
  25. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 58, 1 f.
  26. ↑ Demosthenes, Orationes 3, 8.
  27. ↑ Ernst Meyer : Phokis. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 805.
  28. ↑ Aischines , Orationes 2, 132 ff .; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 59, 2.
  29. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 59, 2 ff .; Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 59.
  30. ↑ Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 141.
  31. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 489).
  32. ^ A b Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 60, 1.
  33. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 3, 1 f. (with explicit mention of 20 destroyed cities); Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 60, 2; Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 325.
  34. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 60, 2 f.
  35. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 56, 6.
  36. ↑ Some accounts of the taxes to be paid by the phokers can still be found on inscriptions, e.g. B. Wilhelm Dittenberger : Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum , 3rd edition 1915-24, 230-235.
  37. ↑ Demosthenes, Orationes 5, 19 and 19, 80; Aeschines, Orationes 2, 142.
  38. ↑ Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 65; 19, 81; 19, 100.
  39. ^ Among other things, Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 47.
  40. ^ A b Hermann Bengtson, Philipp and Alexander the Great , p. 67.

literature

In addition to the relevant general descriptions of the history of ancient Greece in the 4th century (see list of literature ):

  • Ian Worthington: Demosthenes of Athens and the Fall of Classical Greece. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013.
  • Iris Samotta : Demosthenes. Francke, Tübingen 2010.
  • George L. Cawkwell: The peace of Philocrates again. In: The Classical Quarterly . Volume 28, 1978, pp. 93-104.
  • John R. Ellis: Philip and the Peace of Philocrates. In: W. Lindsay Adams, Eugene N. Borza (Eds.): Philip II, Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Heritage. University Press of America, Washington DC 1982, pp. 43-59.