hstry

338 BCEChaeronea

2,363 years ago

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Chaeronea

A place in this history (Pleiades 540701). 2 posts and events, oldest first.

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340–⁠322 BCE: Macedon, Alexander, Aristotle

, Chaeronea

Philip of Macedon defeats Athens and Thebes at Chaeronea

Philip II's army beats the allied Greeks. His son Alexander, then a young man, fights in the battle.

He was also present at Chaeroneia and took part in the battle against the Greeks, and he is said to have been the first to break the ranks of the Sacred Band of the Thebans.

Plutarch, Life of Alexander 9.2Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1919)Read the full passage (Plutarch, Life of Alexander 9.2, opens scaife.perseus.org)

Background: Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)

Around this event

Diogenes, Philip's camp, after Chaeronea

Before Philip, in one story

What was going on: Diogenes Laertius, writing centuries later, passes on a story from Dionysius the Stoic. In 338 BCE Philip of Macedon had just beaten Athens and Thebes at Chaeronea, and Diogenes the Cynic was brought before him as a captive.

Why it matters: The battle has been called one of the most decisive of the ancient world. In its wake the League of Corinth made the Greek states allies of Macedon and of each other, with Philip as guarantor of the peace.

One story, from Dionysius the Stoic: seized and brought to Philip, he was asked who he was. A spy on your endless greed, he said, and was set free.

Dionysius the Stoic says that after Chaeronea he was seized and dragged off to Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, A spy upon your insatiable greed. For this he was admired and set free.

As Diogenes Laertius tells it, centuries later. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 6.43, translated by R. D. Hicks (1925)