Phalaikos (Phocis)

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Phalaikos († around 342 BC) was a general of the Phocians in the Third Holy War .

Life

Phalaikos was a son of Onomarchus , a leader of the Phocians in the Third Holy War. His uncle Phayllos appointed him in 352 BC. To his successor as Strategós autokrátor (strategist with special powers). But since Phalaikos was still a youth, Phayllos placed him under the tutelage of his friend Mnaseas , who was also a Phoci general. Phayllos died soon afterwards, and Mnaseas also fell as early as 351 BC. During a night raid by the Boioter .

In spite of his youth, Phalaikos took over the command personally. But shortly afterwards he suffered a defeat in an equestrian battle fought near Chaironeia . He then succeeded in taking Chaironeia, but was driven out of Boiotia by an army of Thebans rushing to relieve the city . Thereupon the Boioter undertook a raid on Phocis. 350 BC BC there were only insignificant armed conflicts between the Phokers and Boiotern. 349/348 BC BC Phocians and Thebans fought further battles with varying success.

In the following year 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 several cities in Boiotia and from there devastated the surrounding area, the now exhausted Thebans called on the Macedonian King Philip II for help. Phalaikos received 346 BC Again the high command and torpedoed the connections which the Phocians had established with Athens and Sparta . So he rejected the Spartan King Archidamos III. from who wanted to add 1,000 men to the Phokers as reinforcements. The Athenians also finally refused to help. Philip II appeared at Thermopylae and Phalaikos met him with 8,000 men at Nikaia . Due to the overwhelming power of the Macedonians, Phalaikos did not engage in a fight, but instead, for his own safety, concluded a treaty with Philip II, on the basis of which he and his mercenaries were granted free withdrawal. With this step he surrendered Phocis to the Macedonian king without a fight.

Phalaikos moved with his mercenaries to the Peloponnese and then wanted to sail to Taranto to assist the inhabitants of this city in their fight against the Lucanians . A mutiny among his own troops forced him to give up his company and return to the Peloponnese. He later sailed to Crete as a mercenary leader to support the inhabitants of Knossos against their hostile neighbors of Lyktos . Although he was able to conquer Lyktus, but was then by a Spartan army, which was led by King Archidamos III. was cited, expelled again. Eventually Phalaikos fell around 342 BC. BC with many of his men at the siege of Kydonia .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ So the ancient historian Diodor ( Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 38, 6), who is the main source of the Third Holy War. According to Pausanias ( description of Greece 10, 2, 7), however, Phalaikos was the son of Phayllos , the brother of Onomarchos.
  2. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 38, 6 f.
  3. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 38, 7.
  4. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 39, 8.
  5. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 40, 2.
  6. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 56, 1 f.
  7. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 56, 3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 7.
  8. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 58, 1 f.
  9. ↑ Aischines , Orationes 2, 132 ff .; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 59, 2.
  10. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 59, 2 f .; Demosthenes , Orationes 19, 59.
  11. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 61, 3 - 63, 4; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 7.
personal data
SURNAME Phalaikos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Phocian general
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH around 342 BC Chr.