Battle of Chaeronea

Battle of Chaeronea, (August 338 bce), battle in Boeotia, central Greece, in which Philip II of Macedonia defeated a coalition of Greek city-states led by Thebes and Athens. The victory, partly credited to Philip’s 18-year-old son Alexander the Great, cemented the Macedonian hegemony in Greece and ended effective military resistance to Philip in the region.

By 338 bce Philip was well into the second decade of his methodical conquest of Greece. The Athenian orator Demosthenes had perceived the threat posed by Macedonian ambitions at a relatively early date, but Philip used diplomacy and the threat of force to isolate Athens and play rival Greek city-states against each other. Thebes, previously a supporter of Philip, was won to the Athenian cause and dispatched troops to supplement the Athenian army and its allies in their efforts to check the Macedonian advance. The Greeks had placed a blocking force at the pass at Thermopylae, so Philip maneuvered his army south toward Boeotia, north of Thebes.

Philip led a force of about 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. The combined Greek host numbered about 35,000 men. Philip placed Alexander on the left, opposite the Thebans and their elite Sacred Band. The Macedonian phalanx occupied the centre, facing the allied Greek infantry. Philip took positions on the right, across from the Athenians.

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There are two dominating interpretations of the events at Chaeronea. The first, firmly established by historian Nicholas G. Hammond in the 1930s and supported by Ian Worthington in the early 21st century, relies on combining the various fragments of ancient texts to provide a complex set of maneuvers used by Philip to secure victory. In that account, Philip drew the inexperienced Athenian militia out of position with a feigned retreat. As the Athenians sought to exploit their perceived advantage, the troops at the Greek centre moved left in an attempt to preserve the line. That opened a gap between the Greek centre and the Thebans, and Alexander, at the head of Philip’s hetairoi (“companion”) cavalry, charged through. The Thebans and allied Greeks were taken from the rear, while the Macedonians routed the Athenians.

The second interpretation dismisses many of the later, often anecdotal, ancient texts and instead focuses on the account of Diodorus, which presents a traditional phalanx-on-phalanx battle. In that description, the veteran Macedonians simply overpowered the Greeks, in part because of the Macedonians’ use of the sarissa, a 13- to 21-foot (4- to 6.5-metre) spear that was roughly twice the length of the pikes used by the Greeks.

In both accounts of the battle, the superior discipline of the Sacred Band resulted in its annihilation. Surrounded and unwilling to surrender, the Sacred Band fought nobly, but they were cut down by the Macedonians. Archaeological excavations near the city of Chaeronea (now Khairónia) have uncovered a mound containing the ashes of Macedonian troops, clearly built as a monument to Philip’s victory. In addition, 254 skeletons found buried beneath a funerary marker are believed to be the remains of the Sacred Band, buried in pairs. The battle marked the end of effective military opposition to Philip in Greece and heralded the beginning of Macedonian domination in the region.