Alexander A. Kleymeonov

Doctor of Sciences (History), Senior Researcher of the Department of History and Archaeology

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2024-3-8-23

Abstract. The article examines the actions of the Macedonian king Philip II’s army and the antiMacedonian coa-lition troops of the in Central Greece during the time immediately preceding the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. The author states that military activity began in the autumn of 339 BC, when, as part of the Expansion of Macedonia, Philip invaded the region and unexpectedly captured the city of Elatea, which was of great strategic importance. The result was the rapid advance of the Athenian army into Boeotia and the formation of the Athenian-Theban coalition, which some other policies joined a little later. The Greek forces took up two defensive positions separated by Mount Parnassus. The first was at the Amphissa in the Gravia Pass. The first was located at Amphissa in the Gravian Mountain Pass, where 10,000 mercenaries led by Hares and Proxenus were stationed. The civilian militia of the Greek polis occupied an area convenient for defence on the banks of the river Kefissus near Parapotamia. It was a defensive strategy that corresponded to the attitudes of the Greek military of the 4th century BC and took into account the earlier experience of opposing Philip. In the winter of 339 – 338 BC, there were presumably no large-scale military operations. As part of the spring-summer campaign, Philip managed, thanks to disinformation, to carry out a surprise attack and clear Gravia Pass, defeating a ten-thousandth corps of Greek mercenaries. The author indicates that this forced the civil militia of the anti-Macedonian union to leave their positions at the Parapotamii, and Philip had the opportunity to meet with the already somewhat weakened Greek forces in more favorable conditions at Chaeronea.
Keywords: Philip II, Athens, Thebes, Amphissa, Battle of Chaeronea, mercenaries, Demosthenes.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Kleymeonov, AA 2024, ‘Shortly Before Chaeronea: about the Greek-Macedonian Military Confrontation in 339 – 338 BC’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 3 (19), pp. 8–23, http://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2024-3-8-23 (in Russ.)

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