Phocis

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Location of Phokis in Greece
Phocis in ancient times

Phokis ( ancient Greek Φωκίς ) is a historical mountain landscape in central Greece . It had an area of ​​approx. 1615 km². Since Phocis was not rich in natural resources, its importance in antiquity stemmed mainly from religious factors: the oracle of Delphi and the oracle sanctuary of Apollo in Abai .

The in the late 7th century BC The powerful Phocian city of Krissa , which ruled Delphi, was founded around 590 BC. Destroyed by troops sent by Thessaly , Athens and Sikyon in the First Holy War . In the 6th century BC Annexed by Thessaly in BC, Phocis was able to regain independence at the end of the century. When the Persians invaded under Xerxes , the Phokers belonged to 480 BC. To the Greek states, which opposed the invaders, but then had to cross over to the Persian side. In the Peloponnesian War , the Phocians formally supported Sparta . 371 BC They had to join the Thebans after their victory at Leuktra . During the Third Holy War (356–346 BC) the Phocians fought for their greatest position of power in central Greece, but were ultimately defeated at great sacrifice. Like most of Greece, Phocis fell in 338 BC. After the battle of Chaironeia under the hegemony of Philip II of Macedonia. During the diadoch fights it changed masters several times and joined in 225 BC. BC returned to Macedonia and was affected by the Macedonian-Roman wars . 146 BC Like the rest of Greece, it finally fell under Roman rule . Part of the Byzantine Empire since the 4th century AD , Phocis was ravaged by devastating movements of the Goths and Slavs from the 4th to the 6th centuries . In the 15th century it fell to the Ottoman Empire , in the 1820s it became part of the now independent Greece.

geography

Phocis is located in the middle of the southern mainland of Greece and is bordered in the south by the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth . In the west the landscape bordered on Lokris and Doris , in the north on Ostlokris and in the east on Boiotien . In the northeast towards Eastern Locris the Phokers broke through the natural border early on and annexed an area about 10 km wide with the port city of Daphnus . So they gained access to the Aegean Sea . In addition to Delphi, the more important Phocian cities included Elateia , Abai, Hyampolis , Daulis and, in earlier times, Krissa .

The high mountain range of the Parnassus (Parnassos; altitude 2455 m above sea level) dominates the middle west Phokis. To the south is the Kirphis mountain range (up to about 1500 m high). Its foothills merge into the Helicon in the southeast , and in the south they descend steeply to the coast. This is divided by a protruding peninsula into the Gulf of Krisai to the west with the Delphic port city of Kirrha and the bay of Salona to the east of the peninsula with the port city of Antikyra . The northern part of Phokis is shaped by the middle plain of the Kephissos , which borders the Kallidromos in the north . The south and east of the country are without forest cover and are predominantly stony and rocky in character. The valley, which stretches from the Gulf of Corinth and the small town of Itea north to Amfissa, is used for agriculture throughout. Green and forest areas can be found in Phocis' west, north and central part.

history

Delphi Theater
Apollo Temple in Delphi
Galaxidi Harbor
The Parnassos Mountains (right) and the Giona Mountains (left) seen from the Peloponnese
Diobol from Phocis, bull's head, approx. 450 BC Minted

Early history

Phocis was already settled in prehistoric times, with close cultural ties to Boiotia and Thessaly . Settlements in the plain of the Kifisos are already proven in the Neolithic . In the Early Helladic II the number of settlements increased; in the Middle and Late Helladic periods , palatial places were predominant, which had a relatively low economic prosperity. During the Dark Centuries and the Archaic Era , settlers turned their attention more to the more inland parts of Phocis. In the mountainous regions they lived as shepherds; they also had their retreats here. From the 8th century BC There was an increased development of cities, which were concentrated in the plains and at the foot of the eastern mountains. Homer , according to which the inhabitants of Phokis ( Phoker) are said to have participated in the Trojan War with a contingent led by Schedios , lists nine of their cities in the ship catalog of the Iliad (2, 517-523): Kyparissos, Pytho, Krisa, Daulis, Panopeus, Anemoreia, Hyampolis, Parapotamioi and Lilaia. Both according to ancient tradition and according to archaeological findings, waves of immigration by smaller groups caused an increase in the population of Phocis. There are numerous pre-Greek place names. The Phoker dialect belonged to north-west Greek in the historical era.

In historical times, the Phokers regarded themselves as a uniform ethnic group , who derived their name from the progenitor Phokos (son of Aiakos) or Phokos (son of Ornytos) . They are first mentioned as a tribe in Homer's ship catalog. Early on they belonged to the Delphic Amphictyony as an independent member . They chose common places of worship, such as the federal shrine of Artemis Elaphebolos, and joined forces in the 6th century BC. BC to the Phokischen Bund with common coinage together. The coins, the oldest of which are not yet inscribed, show a bull's head on the obverse, the front part of a boar on the reverse, and the head of a goddess on silver coins.

The first event in the earlier history of Phocis that has been passed down with some certainty was that there between about 600 and 590 BC. Chr. Guided First Holy War . The 7th century BC At that time, the flourishing Phocian city of Krissa controlled the entrances to the important sanctuary of Delphi and made it dependent on it. She demanded high road tolls from the crowds of pilgrims to the oracle of Delphi , which neither Athens nor the tyrant Kleisthenes of Sicyon , who saw themselves economically damaged by Krissa, would accept. So they allied themselves with the Thessalians , who led the Amphictyonia , against Krissa and declared holy war on the city. The military conflicts ended with the conquest and destruction of Krissa around 590 BC. Chr.

According to late news, around 560 B.C. BC, around the time of the founding of Herakleia Pontike , a victorious incursion into Boiotia. In order to prevent the threat from the Thessaly, the Phokers built a wall on Thermopylae and flooded the passage. Nevertheless, the Thessalians managed to bring Phocis under their control. They appointed their own high administrative officials in the cities of the subjugated countryside and demanded the placement of hostages. However, after they began around 540 BC B.C. had suffered a defeat on a train against Boiotien near Keressos , the Phocians tried the revolt. Although they fought unsuccessfully at first, the general Daiphantos then won a battle against the Thessalians, who were brought up from Lokris, near the town of Kleonai in the area of ​​Hyampolis . The Phokers then set up their own festival, the Elaphebolia , in Hyampolis to commemorate this success that was so important for their independence . Centuries later, at the time of the author Plutarch , who lived in the 2nd century AD , the Phokers remembered their successful liberation struggle from the Thessalian hegemony at this festival.

Around 485 BC There was another Phokisch-Thessalian war. The Phocians withdrew to the plateaus of the Parnassus before the attacking Thessalians . The seer Tellias from Elis is said to have proposed a stratagem that saved the Phokers. He had painted 600 of the bravest Phokers and their shields white and had them deployed at night against the Thessalian infantry. They had been dismayed by the strange sight and easily overwhelmed; the Phokers could have killed 4,000 enemies in this way. The Phokers also defeated the Thessalian cavalry in a battle fought again at Hyampolis. Here they are assigned the use of a different ruse. Before the fight they are said to have buried large empty jugs and covered them lightly with earth; and when the Thessalians attacked, their steeds fell into the vessels and threw off the horsemen, who were now ambushed by the Phokers. In any case, the Thessalians suffered a heavy defeat and the Phokers were able to hold their own.

Role during the Persian Wars

During the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. The inhabitants of Phocis took part in the defense of Greece. They provided a contingent of 1,000 men for the armed forces. They were given the task of covering the steep mountain path Anopaia , which led across the mountains into the rear of the Greek army defending Thermopylae. This was under the supreme command of the Spartan king Leonidas . However, Ephialtes showed this path to a Persian department. The Persians were therefore able to surprise the Phocians and shot a hail of arrows at them, whereupon the Phocians quickly fled. This is how the Persian armed forces managed to defeat and destroy Leonida's troops.

The ancient historian Herodotus claimed that the Phocians that probably only because of their hostility to the Thessalians - which the Persian king Xerxes supported - the Hellas defending nations under the Greeks were connected. The biographer Plutarch strongly contradicts this view. According to Herodotus' report, the Thessalians had a herald tell the Phokers that they could easily initiate a Persian campaign against Phocis because of their influence on Xerxes, but would refrain from doing so in return for a payment of 50 talents . The Phokers had indignantly rejected this demand; and although they were also free to go over to the Persians, they would not become traitors to Hellas.

At the instigation of the angry Thessaly, the Persians now marched through the Doris countryside , which they spared at the intercession of the Thessaly, and invaded Phocis. In the meantime, some of the Phocians had gone to Parnassus, but most of them had fled to Amphissa . The Persians passed through Phokis, scorching and burning, devastating the deserted cities of Drymos , Amphikaia , Elateia and others , located in the plain of the river Kephissos . Hyampolis and Abai and its temple of Apollo were not spared. The Persian army then divided into two parts. The stronger of them turned to Attica , the weaker to Delphi, in order to seize the temple treasures, this Persian army contingent devastating the cities of Panopeus, Daulis and Aiolideis on the way . But Herodotus designed the attack on Delphi with legendary details.

The Phokers were forced to take the side of Xerxes. Thousands of their heavily armed soldiers went to Thebes under the command of Harmokydes to meet the Persian general Mardonios . Nevertheless, the Phokers were still considered anti-Persian. At 479 BC In the Battle of Plataiai in the 4th century BC , the Phocians sent to Mardonios participated on the side of the Persians, but on the other hand, Phocian associations who had fled on the Parnassus attacked Xerxes' forces.

Further story until the end of the Peloponnesian War

After the Persian Wars, the Phocians, who annexed Delphi and its territory, became enemies with the Spartans, as they supported Delphi's efforts to maintain its autonomy and did not recognize Phoci claims to the sanctuary. The Spartan attitude led the Phocians to seek an alliance with Athens.

458 BC Chr. The Phocians were in war Handel with the neighboring Dorians involved the Tetrapolis (Four Cities and Towns) and undertook a campaign against their cities Boion , Kytinion and Erineos from which they also captured one. But now the Spartans came 457 BC. Under their leader Nicomedes , the uncle of the still young king Pleistoanax , the Dorians to help and forced the Dorians to a treaty according to which they had to release the conquered city. Delphi also became autonomous. Athens was at that time with Sparta in the so-called First Peloponnesian War and blocked the possibility of the Spartans to retreat across the Gulf of Corinth , which Nicomedes responded with a train to Boeotia. As a result, he established the hegemony of Thebes over Boeotia and concluded an alliance with the city directed against Athens. Against an Athenian force that had moved into Boeotia, the Spartans remained victorious in the Battle of Tanagra despite heavy losses. After the return of the Spartans to their homeland, the Athenians invaded Boeotia under the command of Myronides and defeated the Boeotian army at the battle of Oinophyta . Phocis joined the Athenians.

When Myronides 454 BC BC made an unsuccessful attack on Thessaly, Phocian contingents fought at his side. Due to the alliance with Athens, the Phocians were able to bring Delphi back into their possession and Athens defended around 450 BC. BC the plan of the Boioter to seize Delphis. The Athenian-Spartan conflict simmered on. During an expedition led as part of the Second Holy War , the Spartans succeeded in 449 (or 448) BC. The capture of the temple of Apollo and they handed it over to the Delphern. The autonomy status was restored to Delphi. As early as 448 BC After the withdrawal of the Spartan army , an Attic army rushed in under the leadership of Pericles was able to win back Delphi, whereupon the Athenians reassigned it to the territory of the Phocians.

447 BC The Athenian general Tolmides , sent to suppress a Boiotic uprising, lost the battle of Koroneia against the Boiotians. The defeat of Athens resulted in a change of alliance of the Phocians from Athens to Sparta. At the beginning of the Second Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BC) they were therefore on the side of Sparta. The troops they provided consisted mainly of cavalry, which was only involved in the war to a minor extent. Nevertheless, during the war in Phocis there was a pro-Athenian party that wanted to bring about a secession of the country from Sparta. 426 BC During his intended campaign against Boiotia , the Athenian strategist Demosthenes built on the earlier Phoco-Athenian alliance. He expected to be able to invade Phocis without resistance after the downfall of Aetolia. When the Spartan general Eurylochus in the autumn of 426 BC Was sent at the head of a Peloponnesian army to conquer Naupaktos together with the Aitolians , he assembled the combined forces in Delphi to advance from there. In this context, the opposition between Phocis and Amphissa is mentioned for the first time. Two years later, 424 BC. BC, Demosthenes planned to march in association with Hippocrates against Boiotia and also took several Phokers into confidence, one of whom, however, informed the Spartans about it.

The Phokers then opposed the projected declaration of autonomy by Delphi in vain and had 421 BC. To accept the peace of Nikias concluded between the war opponents , although in this the independence of the sanctuary was proclaimed. In the summer of 421 BC The Phocians led a victorious military conflict against the western Lokrians, but no details are known about this. At the Battle of Mantineia was supposed to be 418 BC. A Phoci contingent on the part of Sparta also took part, but arrived too late at the theater of war. When the Spartans in 413 BC When they set up a squadron, the Phokers and Lokrians contributed 15 ships, which were used towards the end of the Peloponnesian War in the Battle of Aigospotamoi (405 BC), which ended with a decisive defeat for Athens . In the following year 404 BC There were negotiations about the future lot of Athens; and the Phokers interceded for the losers of the war.

Corinthian War; forced affiliation with Thebes

Early 395 BC The Corinthian War began due to a border conflict between Phocis and West Locris. This controversy led the Phokers to invade the Lokrian territory. The latter asked the Thebans allied with them for help; the Phokers, on the other hand, sought support from Sparta. An advance of the Thebans into Phocis was unsuccessful. The Spartan general Lysander then went to Phocis and gathered the forces of the Phocians and other north-west Greek allies to invade Boiotia with them. Meanwhile, King Pausanias gathered Peloponnesian troops with whom he was supposed to join Lysander. Lysander did not wait for Pausanias to arrive, but attacked Haliartus and lost his life in the battle that unfolded in front of the city walls . The Phokers also had to complain about high losses. They then returned to their homeland. A little later, Phocian troops supported by Spartan units suffered a defeat at Naryka against a 6,000-strong army led by Ismenias from Theban .

The Athenians, Thebans, Corinthians and Argives, who had formed a war coalition against Sparta, lost 394 BC. In the Peloponnese the battle of Nemea against a Spartan army. In the meantime King Agesilaus , who was fighting against Persia in Asia Minor, had received instructions from Sparta to return to Hellas. Among other things, he also made a stop in Phokis and received military reinforcements here. Then he invaded Boiotia and won in August 394 BC. The battle of Koroneia . While Agesilaus, injured in this battle, was recovering in Delphi, his deputy Gylis was responsible for returning the army to Phocis. From there Gylis marched into Lokris, but fell in a skirmish with many of his men. The Corinthian War finally ended in 387/386 BC. With the conclusion of the King's Peace .

The Phocians remained true to their alliance with Sparta. Their military contingent, together with that of the Lokrians, made up a tenth of the Spartan armed forces. After Thebes 379 BC. BC had succeeded in shaking off the Spartan supremacy, the Phokers got on the defensive against the increasing power of Thebes despite their alliance with Sparta and its assistance. In addition to the incursion made by the Thebans in 372 BC, BC under their general and statesman Pelopidas to Phocis, the Phocians saw themselves embroiled in a war with Jason of Pherai . At their request, the Spartan King Cleombrotus I came to their aid and forced the Thebans to evacuate Phocis. After 371 BC After the peace treaty was concluded, Cleombrotos marched from southern Phocis, where he caught a Theban army under Chaireas in Ambryssos by surprise, along the coastal road to Boiotien and advanced there via Kreusis and Thisbe to Leuktra . Also peltasts the Phocians, participated in the Spartan side at the next battle of Leuctra , without distinguishing himself much. The Thebans won a decisive victory and broke the supremacy of Sparta. Jason of Pherai had arrived at Leuctra too late to support the Thebans. On the way back to Thessaly he destroyed the outworks of Hyampolis in Phocis, but left the rest of Phocis alone. 370 BC He was murdered.

In the further course the Phocians had to submit to the hegemony of Thebes. Troops from Phocis took part in the military expeditions of the Thebans under Epaminondas to the Peloponnese. A few years later the Phocians tried to regain their independence from Thebes. When it was 363 BC When there was a riot in Delphi, one party, supported by Thebes, managed to banish the leaders of the opposing party, allied with Phocis. At the decisive battle of Mantineia in 362 BC. Therefore, the Phokers did not participate, but refused military aid for Epaminondas. As a result of the undecided battle, Thebes lost its hegemony over Greece.

From the Third Holy War to the conquest of Greece by Philip II of Macedonia

The Thebans threw the phokers in 356 BC. BC the illegal agricultural use of part of the sacred area of ​​the city of Krissa, which was destroyed in the First Holy War. There had also been border disputes between Boiotia and Phocis. At the urging of the Thebans, the Amphictyonic League dealt with the allegations against the Phokers and sentenced them to pay a heavy fine. Because of the subsequent occupation of Delphis by the Phocians, the Amphictyons decided to wage the Third Holy War against the Phocians.

The Phocians, who were in league with Athens and Sparta, recruited a strong mercenary army from the Delphic temple treasures they had robbed and were initially able to achieve considerable military success. After the death of their general Philomelus , his able successor Onomarchus undertook an offensive against Boiotia. Thessaly too was attacked by a Phocian army under the command of Onomarchus. On this battlefield, Onomarchus succeeded in inflicting two defeats on the Macedonian king Philip II and forcing him to retreat. In a new military clash in Thessaly, Philip and the Thessalian units won in 352 BC. BC in the battle on the crocus field a significant victory against Onomarchus, who fell. Nevertheless, the Phokers were able to maintain their independence for six more years under the subsequent strategists Phayllos and Phalaikos . After exhaustion of the financial reserves Phalaikos was able to 346 BC. BC no longer to oppose the troops of Philip II, who had appeared at Thermopylae, concluded a treaty with him and withdrew with his mercenaries to the Peloponnese ; and the Phocians submitted to Macedonian rule. As a punishment, the Amphictyons decided, among other things, that the Phocians had to repay the stolen temple treasures of Delphi in the amount of 10,000 talents, that all Phocian cities apart from Abai should be destroyed and that their population had to move to small villages. The Phocians' place in the Amphictyonic League was lost, and the Macedonians were included in this instead of the Phocers. Macedonian and Theban occupation forces remained stationed in Phocis for a while.

The conditions imposed by the amphictyons were soon softened. Many cities were quickly rebuilt, including that of Elateia as early as 344/343 BC. Because the news spread in Athens that the Macedonian king wanted to fortify this Phocian city. However, some cities like Ledon and Parapotamioi were no longer rebuilt and have since been abandoned. The Phocian League was re-established in a different form; this now stood before four archons . A preserved inscription dates back to 342/341 BC. One of these archons.

Shortly afterwards Philip II of Macedonia tried to make Thebes an enemy with Athens in order to be able to take military action against Athens. The Athenians reached 339 BC BC that the Amphictyon Assembly decided the Fourth Holy War against Amphissa ( Amfissa ), because its inhabitants had illegally used the sacred area of ​​the former city of Krissa in a godless manner. Subsequently, however, Philip II was charged with leading this war. The Macedonian king was able to advance quickly to central Greece, occupied Kytinion and Elateia, located north of Phocis, and immediately fortified this city. After this surprising and threatening advance of Philip, the former opponents Athens and Thebes allied against Macedonia and advanced together in the south of Phocis, where they mainly fortified Ambryssus. Philip controlled one part of Phocis and his Greek opponents controlled the other. The decision in this struggle for hegemony in Greece was made in 338 BC. At the battle of Chaeronea . Phocian contingents fought in this important battle. Philip II achieved victory on the battlefield, so that Phocis, like most of Greece, de facto came under the suzerainty of the Kingdom of Macedonia .

Hellenistic era

Now Phocis became a member of the Corinthian League . It only had to pay 10 talents a year to Delphi. In August 335 BC Chr. Rehearsed Thebes the rebellion against Alexander the Great . During this conflict, which resulted in the Battle of Thebes , Phocis supported the Macedonian king and took the opportunity to take revenge on his old adversary. When Alexander convened a federal assembly after his victory to decide on the further fate of Thebes, the Phokers represented in this body also filed lawsuits and supported the decision to destroy the city. At the Asia campaign of Alexander also a cavalry contingent of Phokians involved; its use during the battle of Gaugamela (331 BC) is documented.

After the death of Alexander the Great (June 323 BC), the Phocians took part in the Lamian War , through which an alliance of Greek city-states sought to free themselves from Macedonian hegemony. So the Phocians joined the general Leosthenes and entered the alliance with Athens at the end of October 323 BC. Chr. At. Their contingents took part in the siege of Lamia , also in August 322 BC. At the battle of Krannon against the Macedonian governor Antipater supported by Krateros . The uprising of the Greeks was ultimately unsuccessful.

During the subsequent Diadoch Wars, Phocis was subordinate to different masters. As an antipater in 319 BC Died, Polyperchon became ruler in Greece. In order to remove the power base of his opponent Cassander , Polyperchon supported democratic movements in the Greek cities where Antipater had established oligarchic regimes. But Kassander subjugated 317/316 BC BC Macedonia and Greece and installed garrisons in the Poleis . Ptolemy , a nephew of the Diadoch ruler Antigonos Monophthalmos , succeeded in 313 BC. The conquest of Euboea. As a result, he marched in 312 BC. BC also to Phocis, won many cities there and drove out Kassander's garrisons. Through the Diadoch Peace of 311 BC The Greeks should be granted greater freedom and Cassander should only keep Macedonia. Kassander now came to an understanding with Polyperchon and was again master of Phocis. When he in 304 BC When he attacked Athens, Demetrios Poliorketes, who appeared with considerable forces, forced him to break off this offensive and drove him back to Thermopylae ; all of central Greece slipped out of Cassander's rule.

301 BC In BC Antigonus and Demetrios were defeated in the battle of Ipsos by the coalition of the Diadochi Seleucus I , Lysimachus and Kassander, whereupon Phocis proclaimed his independence. Cassander therefore invaded Phocis and proceeded to the siege of Elateia, but the general Xanthippos managed to defend the city until auxiliary troops arrived, which the Attic strategist Olympiodoros brought to liberate Elateias. However, Phocis will soon have come under the rule of Cassander again, since his son Philip , who succeeded him in the government of Macedonia, 296 BC. Died in Elateia. 293 BC BC Demetrios asserted himself as ruler of Macedonia and then subjugated Thessaly and Boiotia. At that time, in the course of this policy of conquest, he also seems to have taken possession of part of Phocis. At the same time, however, West Phocis fell to the already around 370 BC. Aetolian League founded in BC . This allied itself in 291 BC. BC with the Boiotern against Demetrios and thwarted the visit of Delphi planned by Demetrios for the purpose of leading the Pythian Games in the following year . Through a new opposing coalition consisting of Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy and Pyrrhus , Demetrios lost 287 BC. BC the rule over Macedonia, whereupon Lysimachus Phocis won through subsidies for an alliance.

At that time, Xanthippos was in charge of Phocis' political affairs and was elected strategist ten times. In alliance with Lysimachus he liberated in 285 BC Chr. His land from the armed forces of the later Macedonian king Antigonos Gonatas . West Phocis and Delphi continued to be under the control of the Aitolians. After the death of Lysimachus and Seleukos I, the Spartan king Areus I attacked as a general of allied Greek cities in 280 BC. The Aitolians allied with Antigonus on the charge that they occupied the land of Kirrha , which was dedicated to the Delphic Apollo . The Spartans conquered some villages and devastated many fields of the Aitolians, but were subsequently defeated in a battle near Anemoreia and had to retreat.

279 BC The Celts first undertook an incursion into Macedonia, in whose defense attempt King Ptolemy Keraunos was killed, and then moved on against central Greece. In particular, the Perieget Pausanias describes the course of this invasion in detail. The Phokers, in league with other Greeks, defended the Thermopylae pass against the Celts led by Brennus and Akichorios . The contingent that the Phocians contributed to repelling the invaders comprised 3,000 infantrymen and 500 horsemen, who were commanded by Critobulus and Antiochus. Brennus and his troops bypassed Thermopylae and attacked Delphi, but were defeated. The Phokers made a major contribution to the defense of Greece and lost many lives. Above all, Aleximachus excelled in battle; he fell and his countrymen erect a statue for him in Delphi. In recognition of their contribution, the Phocians were again allowed to become a member of the Amphictyony . From 277 B.C. Accordingly, two representatives of Phocis are recorded in preserved inscriptions of the amphictyony.

Around this time Antigonus Gonatas became king of Macedon and apparently had friendly relations with Phocis. He had taken the Phoker Ameinias into his service as a general who, on his behalf, helped the Spartans oppressed by Pyrrhus in 272 BC. Came to the rescue with a mercenary army. Since 263/262 BC All of Phocis or large parts of the country was under the rule of the Aitolian League. Around 225 BC BC or a little earlier, Phocis fell away from Aitolia and joined in 224 BC. BC by Antigonos Doson founded the Hellenic League to which the Achaeans and Boiotians belonged. The Aitolians still had Delphi and its surroundings under their control and carried out raids into the rest of Phocis. Their advance against Daulis and Ambrysos was unsuccessful.

Finally, the Aitolians also visited the Peloponnese, whereupon the Achaeans decided, besides the Macedonians also other allies, such as the Phocians, to ask for support. 220 BC Chr. The Federal meeting in Corinth declared Aitolians the war . In the course of this military conflict there was an enterprise against Knossos in the same year , for which Phokis made a hundred soldiers available. Apparently, however, the relations between Phocis and King Philip V were not free of tension, and Philip had Macedonian garrisons stationed in some Phocian cities. He appointed Alexandros commander in chief in Phocis, who in 217 BC. By means of a ruse, the attempt of the Aitolian strategist Agetas to take the castle of the Phocian city Phanoteus by surprise by betrayal, foiled.

Role during the Roman-Macedonian Wars

Phocis was also affected by the effects of the First Macedonian-Roman War , which the Roman Republic waged against King Philip V of Macedon. The Roman general Marcus Valerius Laevinus sailed in 211 BC. BC with a squadron to Antikyra , took this city and placed it under the rule of the Aitolians. But within two years it fell back to Phocis. In response to complaints from the citizens of Abai that the Macedonian commander Herakleidas had obliged the holy land of Apollon to pay taxes, Philip V promised them exemption from such taxes. 208 BC At the command of the Macedonian king, Polyphantos went to Phocis with auxiliary troops.

After King Attalus I of Pergamum and the Roman general Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus had succeeded in capturing Oreos on Euboea more by betrayal than by storming , the approaching Philip V was able to almost capture Attalus at Opus in Lokris, and then went after Elateia and conquered the cities of Drymos and Teithronion , which were then owned by the Aitolians . Lilaia also received a Macedonian garrison, which was soon driven out by the inhabitants of the city. The Macedonian king stayed in Elateia for a while longer to negotiate with emissaries from neutral powers. He then marched on the Peloponnese, since the Spartan tyrant Machanidas was threatening Olympia , but soon went back to Phocis and gathered a naval power in Antikyra. As of 205 BC The peace of Phoinike was concluded, through which Philip V retained his position as the hegemon of Greece, Phokis remained formally independent in the opinion of Friedrich Schober.

The consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus advanced as part of the Second Macedonian-Roman War in 198 BC. In Phocis because he wanted to set up his winter quarters in the Antikyra area. However, he first had to drive out the Macedonian garrisons previously sent to Phocis. First he stormed Panopeus , then Antikyra, Ambrysos , Hyampolis and the seemingly impregnable Daulis. Other cities then submitted without offering any resistance. However, Elateia, in which a significant Macedonian force was stationed, did not want to surrender for a long time. After unsuccessful negotiations, the consul set about the siege of the city, which he finally conquered; the remnants of the Macedonian garrison were allowed to withdraw. So he controlled almost all of Phocis, but there were still individual Macedonian troops in the country, which Philip V due to the end of 198 BC. Chr. Promised to withdraw the armistice. The Roman army contingents wintered scattered in Phocis and Lokris; Flamininus chose Elateia as his residence.

After the battle of Kynoskephalai in June 197 BC. BC, which had ended with the crushing defeat of the Macedonians against the Romans supported by the Aetolian League, Flamininus moved in the autumn of 197 BC. BC again winter quarters in Phokis and lived in Elateia. From here he undertook a punitive expedition against the Boioter. Early 196 BC A senate commission consisting of ten men came to Elateia to carry out the political reorganization of Hellas with Flamininus. Flamininus traveled with the commissioners to Corinth, in whose stadium he had the freedom of the Greek states, including Phocis, proclaimed as part of the Isthmian Games . Nevertheless, Phocis was now made to the Aetolian League. The winter of 196/195 BC Flamininus stayed again in Elateia.

When Rome launched the Syrian War against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III, who was allied with the Aitolians . Phocis first belonged to Antiochus' allies because it was part of Aitolia. Early 191 BC The Seleucid king set out from his winter quarters in Chalkis , marched through Phocis to Chaironeia to gather his army there, and then made a sacrifice to Apollo in Delphi. In the summer of 191 BC. BC he lost the battle of Thermopylae against the consul Manius Acilius Glabrio and escaped with only a small force via Elateia to Chalkis. Thereupon the consul marched into Phokis, proceeded here mildly and stayed in Elateia in the following cold season. He also succeeded in breaking Delphi out of Aitolian hegemony. As a result of the peace of 189 BC BC Phocis definitely gained its independence from the Aitolians. The Phocian League led by a strategist was re-established. Later the Phokians became members of the amphictyony again .

Roman rule

Due to numerous wars and billeting, Phokis was in the first half of the 2nd century BC. Impoverished and could 148 BC Do nothing to oppose an invasion of the Thebans. The Phocians asked the Roman praetor Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus for help, who imposed a fine on the Thebans. Shortly afterwards there was a reconciliation between the two Greek states and they took part in 146 BC. BC together in the fight against the threatening occupation of Hellas by the Romans . However, the Phokers achieved relatively little in this last struggle for independence. It is true that they offered a group of Arcaders who had come to the aid of the Achaean general Critolaus to billet in Elateia; but when they learned of the defeat of the Greek army in the battle of Skarpheia in Lokris, they asked the Arcadian warriors to evacuate Elateia again. Metellus pursued the Arcadians to Chaironeia , but apparently did not bother the Phocians. After the destruction of Corinth , however, the consul Lucius Mummius took action against the allies of the Achaeans and, among other things, dissolved the Phocian alliance.

Like the rest of Greece, Phocis now came to the Roman province of Macedonia . After a while, the Phocian League was allowed to revive, but was now politically ineffective. When Sulla 86 BC Against Mithridates VI. Waged war and advanced against the general Taxiles , who had passed through Boiotia and Phokis with his troops and took a firm position near Elateia, and besieged this city himself, the Elateier vigorously opposed him, so that he was unable to achieve anything until Sulla's arrival. That is why the inhabitants of this city received their freedom and atelie from the Romans . Under Emperor Augustus , Phocis became 27 BC. Part of the Roman province of Achaea . At that time residents of small towns were phokischer after founded by Augustus Nicopolis moved. The last evidence of the existence of the Phocic League dates back to the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan .

During the Roman Empire , the number of settlements steadily decreased, the population decreased more and more. The cities were impoverished; some wealthy families and the emperor owned large estates. Like the rest of Greece, Phocis was part of the Byzantine Empire from the 4th century AD . But since the 4th century AD, barbarian invasions also accelerated the decline of the landscape. The Goths under Alaric devastated this region, as did the Slavs in the years 539-540 . In the 6th century only Daulis is documented as a bishopric.

Middle Ages and Modern Times

In the course of the late Middle Ages Phocis, like Boeotia, Lokris, Doris and Thessaly, was not only devastated several times by the approaching Turks, but also troubled by other peoples. Nikephoros Gregoras tells how the Katelanians came here and achieved a victory over the army set up by the Greeks through a ruse. Laonikos Chalkokondyles reports of an occupation of the landscape by Italian peoples who had come to Boeotia and Phocis from Florence in particular through Rainerios. Like the rest of Greece, Phocis finally fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the first half of the 15th century and remained under Ottoman control until the outbreak of the Greek struggle for independence in 1821.

Today the area forms one of the 51 Greek prefectures (modern Greek Fokida ).

literature

  • John M. Fossey: The Ancient Topography of Eastern Phokis. JC Gieben, Amsterdam 1986, ISBN 90-70265-87-7 .
  • Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496.
  • Giovanna.Daverio Rocchi: Phokis, Phokeis. In: Der Neue Pauly Vol. 9, 2000, Col. 944-947. (with literature)
  • Jeremy MacInerney: The Folds of Parnassos: land and ethnicity in ancient Phokis. Austin, Tex. 2000, ISBN 0-292-75229-6 .
  • Mogens Herman Hansen, Thomas Heine Nielsen: An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-814099-1 .
  • Annamarie Felsch-Klotz: Early Travelers in Phokis and Lokris. Reports from central Greece from the 12th to the 19th centuries. Göttingen, Göttinger Universitätsverlag 2009, ISBN 978-3-941875-00-5 (online) (PDF; 5.1 MB).

Web links

Commons : Phokis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Giovanna Daverio Rocchi: Phokis. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 9, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01479-7 , Sp. 944-947 (here: Sp. 944 f.).
  2. ↑ a b Ernst Meyer : Phokis. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 804-806 (here: Col. 804).
  3. ^ Pausanias , Description of Greece 10, 37, 5 ff .; Thessalus of Kos , Presbeutikos 6–20; Plutarch , Solon 11; among others; Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: Col. 481 f.). and George Forrest: The First Sacred War. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Volume 80, 1956, pp. 33-52 ( online ).
  4. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: Col. 482).
  5. ↑ Plutarch, Moralia , p. 244 B.
  6. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 1, 5.
  7. ↑ Plutarch, Moralia , p. 244 E, 558 B and 1099 E; His report, like that of Pausanias, could go back to Ephoros ( Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen : Daiphantos 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Sp. 2012 f. (here: Sp. 2013 ).).
  8. ↑ Herodotus , Historien 8, 27 f .; then Polyainos , Strategemata 6, 18, 1f. and Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 1, 3 and 10, 1, 11.
  9. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 7, 203 and 7, 217; Diodor , Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 11, 4, 7.
  10. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 7, 213-218.
  11. ^ Herodotus, Histories 8, 30.
  12. ^ Plutarch, De malignitate Herodoti 35.
  13. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 8, 29 f.
  14. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 31 f .; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 11, 14, 1.
  15. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 33–35.
  16. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 36–39; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 11, 14, 2 ff .; Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: Col. 483).
  17. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 9, 17 f.
  18. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 9, 31.
  19. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: Col. 484).
  20. ^ Thucydides , Peloponnesian War 1, 107, 2–108, 1; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 11, 79, 5 - 81, 3.
  21. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 1, 111, 1.
  22. ↑ Philochoros , Fragment 88, in: Karl Müller et al. (Ed.): Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum (FHG), Vol. 1, p. 398.
  23. ↑ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 1, 112; Aristodemos , FGrH No. 104, F 14; Plutarch, Pericles 21; Strabon , Geographika 9, 3, 15, p. 423.
  24. ↑ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 1, 112, 5; Plutarch, Pericles 21.
  25. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 1, 113; Plutarch, Pericles 18; among others
  26. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 2, 9, 2 f .; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 12, 42, 4.
  27. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 2, 95, 1.
  28. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 2, 101, 1 f.
  29. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 4, 76, 3 and 4, 89, 1.
  30. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 5, 18, 2; Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: Col. 485).
  31. ↑ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 5, 32, 2; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 12, 80, 4.
  32. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War 5, 64, 4, cf. 5, 67.
  33. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 9, 10; Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: Col. 485).
  34. ↑ Xenophon , Hellenika 6, 3, 1; Plutarch, Lysias 15; Demosthenes , Orationes 19, 65 with Scholia; Pausanias, Description of Greece 3, 10, 3.
  35. ↑ Hellenika Oxyrhynchia 13, 2; slightly different Xenophon, Hellenika 3, 5, 3 f.
  36. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 3, 5, 6; Pausanias, description of Greece 3, 5, 3.
  37. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 14, 81.
  38. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 3, 5, 21.
  39. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 14, 82, 7 ff.
  40. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 4, 3, 15; Plutarch, Agesilaus 17.
  41. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 4, 3, 16 ff .; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 14, 84, 1 f .; Plutarch, Agesilaos 18 f .; among others
  42. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 4, 3, 21 f. and Agesilaus 2:15 ; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 14, 84, 2.
  43. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 5, 4, 60; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 15, 31, 2.
  44. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 6, 1, 1 and 6, 4, 21.
  45. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 6, 4, 3; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 15, 53, 1; Pausanias, Description of Greece 9, 13, 3.
  46. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 6, 4, 9; Pausanias, Description of Greece 9, 13, 9.
  47. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 6, 4, 27.
  48. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 6, 5, 23; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 15, 62, 4.
  49. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger : Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum , 3rd edition 1915-24, 176.
  50. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 7, 5, 4.
  51. ↑ Diodor , Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 23, 3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 2, 1.
  52. ↑ Scholion to Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 20; Iustinus , Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 8, 1, 5.
  53. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 23, 3.
  54. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 28, 4.
  55. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 487 f.).
  56. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 33, 4.
  57. ↑ 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.
  58. ↑ 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.
  59. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 59, 2 ff .; Demosthenes, Orationes 19, 59.
  60. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 60, 1 ff .; among others
  61. ↑ Demosthenes, Orationes 6:14 .
  62. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 33, 1 and 10, 33, 8.
  63. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger: Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum , 3rd edition 1915-24, 231.
  64. ^ Hermann Bengtson: Philipp and Alexander the Great , p. 100 f.
  65. ↑ Aischines, Orationes 3, 107 ff .; Demosthenes, Orationes 18, 149 ff.
  66. ↑ Didymos , Commentary on Demosthenes, Orationes 11, 40 ff .; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 16, 84, 1; Plutarch, Demosthenes 18; among others
  67. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 36, 3.
  68. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 490).
  69. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 3, 4.
  70. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) II 2 236.
  71. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger: Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum , 3rd edition 1915-24, 230 C.
  72. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 1, 8, 8.
  73. ↑ Plutarch, Alexander 11; Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 11, 3.
  74. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 17, 57, 3 f.
  75. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 18, 9, 5; Pausanias, Description of Greece 1, 25, 4.
  76. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) II 2 367.
  77. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 3, 4.
  78. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 18, 55 ff.
  79. ^ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 19, 78.
  80. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 19, 105, 1.
  81. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 20, 100, 5 f .; Plutarch, Demetrios 23.
  82. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 34, 3.
  83. ↑ Porphyrios in Eusebius of Caesarea , Chronik 1, 231 ed. Schöne.
  84. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 491).
  85. ↑ Plutarch, Demetrios 40.
  86. ↑ a b Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 492).
  87. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger: Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum , 3rd edition 1915-24, 361 BC.
  88. ^ Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 24, 1, 1-7.
  89. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 19-23; see. also Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 24, 6 ff.
  90. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 23, 3 and 1, 4, 4.
  91. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 23, 3.
  92. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 8, 3.
  93. ↑ Plutarch, Pyrrhos 29: 6; see. also Polyainos , Strategemata 4, 6, 18.
  94. ↑ Polybios , Histories 4, 9, 4.
  95. ↑ Polybios, Histories 4, 25, 2.
  96. ^ Polybios, Histories 4, 15, 1.
  97. ↑ Polybios, Historien 4, 55, 2.
  98. ↑ Polybios, Historien 5, 96, 4–8.
  99. ↑ Polybios, Historien 9, 39; Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 26, 26, 1ff. (who erroneously speaks of Antikyra in Lokris, according to Friedrich Schober, RE XX, 1, column 494).
  100. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) IX 1 1 , 78.
  101. ↑ Polybios, Historien 10, 42, 4; Livy, Ab urbe condita 28, 11.
  102. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 28, 7, 3 and 28, 7, 13.
  103. ^ Pausanias , Description of Greece 10, 33, 3.
  104. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 28, 7, 9 ff.
  105. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 28, 8, 7.
  106. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 494).
  107. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 32, 18.
  108. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita 32, 24, 1-7; Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 34, 4.
  109. ↑ Polybios, Histories 18, 10, 4; Livy, Ab urbe condita 32, 36, 9; Appian , Macedonike 8.
  110. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 32, 32, 1 and 32, 39, 1–4.
  111. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita 33, 29.
  112. ↑ Polybios, Histories 18, 45, 7; Livy, Ab urbe condita 33, 31, 7.
  113. ↑ Polybios, Historien 18, 46, 5; Livy, Ab urbe condita 33, 32, 5; Plutarch . Flamininus 10, .4.
  114. ↑ Polybios, Historien 18, 47, 9; Livy, Ab urbe condita 33, 34, 8.
  115. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 34, 25, 1 and 34, 41, 7.
  116. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 36, 11.
  117. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 36, 19, 9; Appian, Syriaka 20.
  118. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita 36, 20; Appian, Syriaka 21.
  119. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 37, 4, 10.
  120. ↑ Friedrich Schober: Phokis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XX, 1, Stuttgart 1941, Col. 474-496 (here: 495).
  121. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 7, 14, 7.
  122. ↑ Polybius, Histories 38, 5, 8.
  123. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 7, 15, 5.
  124. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 7, 16, 9.
  125. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 7, 16, 10.
  126. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10, 34, 2.
  127. ^ Zosimos , Historia nea 5, 5, 6 ff.
  128. ^ Prokop , De bello Persico 2, 4, 10 ff.