Following the defeat and destruction of Thebes in 335 BC the Athenians had sent an embassy to Alexander stressing their loyalty and support. He demanded the surrender of Demosthenes, Lycurgus (c.390-c.324 BC) and other leading advocates of war. Phocion wanted to submit to Alexander’s demands, but Hyperides urged that they be rejected. In the end the Assembly voted to send a delegation headed by Demades; the mission was successful and Alexander later relented. Demades, together with Phocion, ruled Athens during Alexander’s campaign in the East and saved the city from joining Agis III in his war against Macedonia (331 BC).
When Agis was killed (331 BC), the new peace brought prosperity back to Greece; most of the states, however, continued with their pro- and anti-Macedonian factions. At Athens the radicals under Hyperides were anti-Macedonians, but their influence was balanced by the rich, who followed Phocion and Demades. But the real power lay with Lycurgus, who had come to prominence after Chaeronea (338 BC)
Lycurgus supported Demosthenes in his opposition to Macedonia. As controller of state finances (338-326 BC) Lycurgus was an efficient administrator and vigorously prosecuted corrupt officials. He reconstituted the army, remodelled the fleet, carried out a major building programme, and worked to restore Athenian cults and festivals.
Alexander’s return to Persia in 324 BC precipitated a crisis in Greece, as many people expected that he would be killed in India. Harpalus, the empire’s treasurer, arrived in Greece with an enormous amount of money. On Demosthenes’ suggestion he was jailed and his money was placed in the Parthenon.
When Harpalus escaped, a check of his money showed that a good deal of it was missing. Demosthenes was tried and convicted of taking a bribe and was forced into exile at Calauria. His prosecution was due to a resurgence of Hyperides and the anti-Macedonian party at Athens: anti-Macedonian feeling was increasing all over Greece because of the destabilising effect of the returning mercenaries and of Alexander’s decree concerning the return of exiles.
When Alexander’s death was confirmed, many Greeks began to think about returning to their autonomy. Athens withdrew from the League of Corinth and, largely thanks to Lycurgus’ skilful management of Athenian finances, the city was well placed to wage war against Antipater. Backed by Demosthenes, who was allowed to return from exile, Hyperides and the radicals overrode the moderates under Phocion and Demades, and persuaded the people to vote for war.
Lamian War (323-321 BC)
| Battle of Plataea | Athens/Boeotia | 323 |
| Battle of Thermopylae | Greeks/Antipater | 323 |
| Siege of Lamia | v. Greeks (f) | 323-322 |
| Sea Battle off Amorgos | Macedonians/Athens | 06.322 |
| Battle of Rhamnus | Greeks/Leonnatus | 322 |
| Battle of Crannon | Antipater/Greeks | 05.09.322 |
The Athenian general Leosthenes (2) (d.323 BC), who had won fame as a leader of a mercenary force, was chosen to command the army. Alliances were made: Phocis, Locris and Aetolia, and Argolis, Elis and Messenia in the Peloponnese, gave their support, but Sparta, Corinth and Boeotia declined.
Leosthenes began by taking a force of eight thousand men by sea to Aetolia, where he was joined by an army of seven thousand Aetolians. He then marched the combined force to Thermopylae, where he occupied the pass without encountering any opposition. Boeotia as an ally of Macedonia now positioned a force near Plataea to obstruct seven thousand troops coming from Athens. The Athenians were held until Leosthenes came south with part of his army, defeated the enemy and thus enabled the Athenian troops to reach Thermopylae.
Antipater sent to Asia for help then moved down the coast to Thessaly. He met Leosthenes on the plain north of Thermopylae and south of Lamia (which gives the conflict its name). The Thessalians went over to the Athenians and left Antipater short of troops. He was driven from the field; those that survived took refuge with him inside Lamia. A Thracian rebellion under Odrysian king Seuthes III (r.c.331-c.300 BC) prevented Lysimachus, the satrap of Thrace, from sending aid though he was able to maintain both the control of Thrace and open lines of communication.
Leosthenes blockaded Lamia. He had no siege-train with him and failed to storm the fortress, but hoped to starve the defenders out. The siege continued through the winter 323/2 BC, but when Leosthenes was killed in a skirmish his replacement the Athenian Antiphilus proved less capable of holding the allied forces together.
Meanwhile at sea, the Athenians planned to defend their grain route from the Black Sea and do what they could to hamper the movement of enemy reinforcements coming from Asia. The Athenians sent a large fleet to destroy Antipater’s Hellespontine fleet, but when Cleitus the White (d.318 BC) arrived with his fleet and joined Antipater’s the combined fleet defeated the Athenians twice in June, off Abydos in the Hellespont and off Amorgos in the Cyclades.
In the early summer of 322 BC Leonnatus arrived with massive reinforcements. The Greeks attacked before Leonnatus could join up with Antipater in Lamia. The Thessalian cavalry overwhelmed the Macedonian cavalry and killed Leonnatus, but the next day his infantry forced their way through into Lamia and Antipater was saved.
In September Craterus crossed to Thessaly from Asia and placed his troops under Antipater’s command. Now with an enormous majority, he confronted the Greeks at Crannon in Thessaly. Antiphilus placed his cavalry in front of his infantry hoping to defeat the enemy cavalry and reach their infantry, but while the two cavalries fought each other the Macedonian infantry charged the Greek infantry and won the battle.
Antipater refused to negotiate with the coalition as a whole, and Antiphilus broke off negotiations. Antipater proceeded to capture the cities in Thessaly and made peace with state after state until only Athens and Aetolia were left at war. The Aetolians went home to defend their country. Athens was forced to submit to an unconditional surrender.
Many Athenians expected that their city would be razed and the final terms were scarcely less harsh. The Athenians were to replace their democratic constitution by a limited franchise; to accept a Macedonian garrison at Munychia in Piraeus to control the city’s lifeline to the sea; to pay a huge indemnity and not to replace their lost warships. The border town of Oropus was to be handed over to the Boeotians, and the Athenian cleruchs on Samos were to leave the island.
The orators responsible for the war were to be surrendered to Antipater. Demosthenes took his own life, while Hyperides was hunted down and executed. Phocion together with Demades, a longtime supporter of Macedonian interests, was to administer the state.
The League of Corinth was dissolved and garrisons imposed on all the critical cities, which were to be governed by pro-Macedonian oligarchies or tyrannies. This defeat marked the end of the polis as the dominant political institution in the Greek world.
Antipater went from Athens to the Peloponnese, where pro-Macedonian parties took power in the states. An Athenian orator Dinarchus (c.361-c.291 BC) was installed at Corinth as governor with authority over the Peloponnese on behalf of the Macedonian state.
The Aetolians refused to negotiate. Their citizen army of ten thousand men withdrew into the mountains and fought off an army thrice their size. Antipater decided to starve them out during the winter of 322/1 BC, but the movements of Perdiccas in Asia distracted him. He granted moderate terms to the Aetolian League and brought the Lamian War to an end.
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