The battle of Chaeronea was fought in 338 B.C. around what is now the first week of August. The battle stamped out the last sparks of Greek resistance to Macedonian hegemony and bestowed upon young Alexander the Great a reputation as a capable battlefield commander.
In 371 B.C., the Thebans of Boeotia had broken the back of Spartan power in Greece at the battle of Leuctra, ending the dominance that Sparta had enjoyed since the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C. For the next few decades, the Thebans enjoyed leadership of the Greek world under its democratic statesman Epaminondas, the architect of the victory of Leuctra.
Alliances were made with many neighboring states, including Athens, though some states were required to hand over hostages to Thebes, including the rising state of Macedon just north of Greece. Philip, the son of the king of Macedon, became a hostage, and the young man was educated largely by Epaminondas, learning the arts of warfare and diplomacy. Epaminondas had built up an incredible Boeotian military machine, based upon the principles of Greek hoplite warfare, and had proved himself a master tactician.
In the book “The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny,” historian Victor Davis Hanson wrote: “A young Philip II of Macedon was a hostage in Thebes, absorbing the very tactical manifesto of the Theban army that Epaminondas had created to destroy autocracy. But whereas the Macedonian youth during his brief internment would learn of Epaminondas's massed phalanxes and the proper way to invade Laconia (Sparta), he had very different ideas of ultimately what such military power was for.”
Philip returned to his native Macedon in 364 B.C. After the premature deaths of his father and two older brothers, Philip's nephew Amyntas IV, a toddler, became king. Philip was appointed regent to his nephew, but soon convinced Macedon's aristocrats to follow his rule, and he soon became king in his own right. Macedon was a land blessed with natural resources and, unlike Greece proper, was a vast grazing ground for horses. These resources became the foundation for Macedon's military machine, based upon the principles Philip learned from Epaminondas.
Many Greeks were critical of Philip's brutal behavior and bullying, and none more than the Athenian statesman Demosthenes. The Athenian's oratorical attacks upon Philip, called the Philippics, can be compared with Winston Churchill's dramatic warnings against the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Indeed, so effective and persuasive were Demosthenes' speeches that 300 years later the Roman statesman Cicero called his attacks upon Mark Antony “Philippics” as well.
The 350s B.C. and 340s B.C. saw several wars between Macedon and various Greek states. After the death of Epaminondas in 362 B.C., Theban power began to wane, and various states struggled to maintain alliances and effective military measures to counter the Macedonians. The destruction following the Peloponnesian War of the previous century, followed by the brutal Spartan hegemony, had left Greek political fractured, and a truly united front against the Macedonians never emerged.
By 340 B.C., Philip appeared to enjoy an hegemony over Greece and began besieging cities along the Marmara Sea, including Byzantium (the future Constantinople). When these sieges failed, several Greek states stood up to Macedon. The following year Thebes began to take territories the Macedonians had conquered years before. Athens, acting under the leadership of Demosthenes, created an alliance with its old rival Thebes. Together, they hoped to stand up against the expanding power from the north.
The armies of Philip met those of the Athenians and Thebans in 338 B.C. around the first week of what is now August, to decide the issue. Many details of the battle are sketchy, with Diodorus of Sicily being the primary source. Both sides boasted forces perhaps of around 30,000 men, mostly hoplite infantry, though the Macedonian army also contained a sizable number of horses, the celebrated Companion Cavalry.
The Theban army boasted its elite force, the Sacred Band. Three hundred men strong, the Sacred Band was based upon a principle that today is called small unit cohesion. It's essentially the idea that when men fight in battle it is not for a cause or for glory, but rather to protect the men fighting with them. The Thebans took this to an extreme. The Sacred Band was made up of 150 homosexual couples. The Thebans believed these men would fight as hard as they could to protect their lovers in battle. The Sacred Band had been instrumental in the Theban victory at Leuctra and had been the backbone of the Theban army ever since.
In traditional hoplite warfare, the standard practice was to place an army's striking power on its right, while a strong defending force was placed on the left to protect the line from the enemy's strike. Often, this led to the lines behaving like revolving doors. The Athenians held the Greek left, while the Thebans took the right, with their Sacred Band ready to strike.
Philip took the traditional place for an army's leader on the Macedonian right, facing the Athenians. His son, the 16-year-old and as-yet-untried Alexander, commanded the Macedonian right, opposite the Sacred Band.
Details of the actual flow of the battle are murky, and there are some differences between accounts from Diodorus and a later account from Polyaenus. Sometime during the battle, it appears, Philip engaged with the Athenians, only to pull back, perhaps feigning retreat, causing the Athenians to pursue him. On the Macedonian left, Alexander, most likely commanding the Companion Cavalry, struck out at both the exposed Athenian right and at the Sacred Band directly ahead.
Alexander's strike, whether part of a coordinated strategy with his father or merely the result of his battlefield instincts, won the day. The Athenians were unprepared for the unexpected blow on their flank, and the Thebans, perhaps perplexed and stunned at the fatal audacity of their advancing allies, were soon overrun. The Sacred Band, the victor over the Spartans at Leuctra, was completely wiped out.
The battle had significant implications for the Greek world. In his book, “Alexander the Great,” biographer Paul Cartledge wrote: “The Boeotian federal state the Thebes had dominated since 378 was perhaps now dissolved, but certainly the anti-Macedonian leaders were killed or banished. A Macedonian garrison was placed on the Theban acropolis (the Cadmeia), and a supposedly tamed and quiescent Thebes was enrolled along with most other cities of mainland Greece south of Macedonia in Philip's new League of Corinth.”
Despite that Thebes had taken up arms against him, Philip honored the fallen of his former host country. He erected a large stone lion as a memorial to the extinguished Sacred Band. The lion supposedly marks the spot where the elite force met its end, and it remains standing to this day over 2,300 years later.
The battle had significance for Alexander as well. Since the decision was struck on the Macedonian left, the young man covered himself with glory, an important necessity for any future king.
In the book, “The Mask of Command,” historian John Keegan wrote: “Alexander's achievement at Chareonea was important for his future in more ways than one: Not only did it demonstrate his power of command, it also thereby validated his claim to the succession. That claim rested on his position as the eldest son of the king's acknowledged wife; but a battle-shy crown prince would have found himself edged aside.”
The Battle of Chaeronea cemented Alexander's right of succession by impressing Macedon's nobles with his martial prowess. When Philip was assassinated three years later, Alexander faced no serious opposition. As king of Macedon and de facto ruler of the Greek world, Alexander toppled the Persian empire and expanded Greek culture throughout central Asia and northern Africa. No man, save Genghis Kahn, conquered more in his lifetime.
For Alexander, it all started at Chaeronea.
Cody K. Carlson holds a master's in history from the University of Utah and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. An avid player of board games, he blogs at thediscriminatinggamer.com. Email: ckcarlson76@gmail.com