The Sacred War

by H A CULLEY

  An earthen ramp was constructed at each end to connect the ends of the bridge to the approaches to it so that carts could cross and the planks to form the roadway were nailed into place. At long last the bridge was ready and it had only taken one day longer than Iphitos had estimated. If Philip was pleased with Iphitos’ efforts he didn’t say so, but he did praise his men for their hard work.

  -o0o-

  Paseron wasn’t quite what Iphitos was expecting. He had been used to the cities of Macedon, Chalkidike and Thessaly and he had forgotten how primitive the cities of Illyria, where he was born, could be. Even the temples were mean and small. Most of the houses were little more than hovels and there were midden heaps wherever there was space for one. The streets were unpaved and, because of the recent rains, were ankle deep in mud.

  There didn’t appear to be any water channels running into the city or any fountains to provide water. There were men hawking water along the streets but it was probably only used for drinking and cooking. The people didn’t look as if they had bathed since they’d been born.

  The city was surrounded by a wall but it had expanded since it was built and many houses were built against both sides of the wall so it would be easy for a man to climb into the city over the roofs. Luckily that wasn’t necessary as the gates stood wide open. The sentries stood aside as Philip rode though with his senior officers and a hipparchia of his companions. The rest stayed outside the city and found a suitable camping ground beside a tributary of the River Aractos .

  Philip was relieved to see that the royal palace and the surrounding area seemed to be more like a normal Greek city. The streets broadened out and were paved in flat stones, the houses were built of clay bricks instead of wattle and daub or rough-hewn timber and there were channels to carry away the muck and refuse. They didn’t go anywhere though and the refuse just piled up in the poorer quarters.

  Wells had been dug down to the water table so there was water to drink and for the visitors to wash their faces and hands before they entered the palace. In contrast to Philip’s palace in Pella, it was crudely built. Quite apart from the fact that it was much smaller, the walls were of plain stone and the floor was slabbed. In Pella the floors were tiled, often using coloured mosaic to make a pattern or a picture, and the smooth walls were covered with frescoes painted on the plaster which hid the stone.

  In this palace there was virtually no adornment. Only the statues of the gods in the temples were painted and in the palace it seemed that the severe austere look was almost deliberate. The Macedonians found it depressing and Alexandros seemed to share their view.

  ‘This place is like a mausoleum,’ he whispered to Iphitos, by whose side he was walking as they made their way to the main audience chamber.

  ‘You must ask Philip for the loan of some Macedonian sculptors, masons and artists or you’ll go mad in this place,’ his friend whispered back.

  ‘I think I’ll need some engineers to improve the sanitation and lay on a water supply for the poorer quarters too. Perhaps you’d like a job?’

  Iphitos didn’t get a chance to reply as the doors of the auditorium were opened by two guards and Philip led his officers into a courtyard open to the sky measuring no more than forty yards by twenty that was nearly full of people already. They all bowed low as the Macedonian king made his way through the throng, his officers pushing the crowd back to allow him room as he walked towards the high dais at the far end on which sat King Arybbas and his queen. Two boys, one of about fourteen and another some two years younger, stood behind the king’s throne. Philip correctly assumed these were Arybbas ’ sons, Alcetas and Aeacides .

  Philip stopped before the dais and glared at Arybbas . He said nothing and the silence lengthened. Eventually Arybbas felt compelled to speak.

  ‘Nephew, it is good to see you again, and you too Philip. What brings you to my humble kingdom?’

  ‘I am waiting for you to get up off your fat arse and come down here so I can speak to you properly. I have no intention of standing here whilst you sit above me,’ Philip spat at him.

  When Arybbas made no move to do as Philip asked, he nodded to Parmenion who waved a beckoning hand over the crowd at Antipater, who was standing by the entrance door. Two files of Philip’s companions entered the chamber and marched down the centre until they lined it shoulder to shoulder from the entrance to the dais. Spears were useless at close quarters and so each man carried a drawn sword and his shield. They pushed the crowd back and, in so doing, Arybbas ’ guards who lined the walls, were trapped behind the press of bodies.

  Two more guards stood at the back of the dais and looked at Arybbas , uncertain what to do. They didn’t have to hesitate for long; a tetrarch led five men up to them and disarmed them before taking their places.

  ‘Now, are you going to come down here or do my men have to drag you?’

  Arybbas was apoplectic with rage, but he had no option but to comply. His queen, however, remained sitting on her smaller throne and the boys moved close to her side.

  ‘How dare you humiliate the king of an allied country and the uncle of your queen in this way,’ she raged at Philip.

  ‘Oh, but he’s no longer an ally. He has betrayed me and for that he will pay. Now come down here and join him with your sons, or my men will carry you down here. I suspect that you’d find that a little undignified.’

  The queen sat there for a moment as if she was mulling things over, then she apparently made her mind up and got up quickly, stood defiantly for a few seconds, and then quickly descended with her bemused sons.

  Now that the two thrones had been vacated, Philip mounted the dais and sat on the one previously occupied by Arybbas and Alexandros took the queen’s.

  ‘Arybbas has been fermenting trouble for me in Thessaly, turning one city against another with the aim of depriving me of a valuable ally in the sacred war against Phocis and Athens. I could have him executed for betraying me, but it is really a matter for the council of Epirus, who chose him over his predecessor’s son, Alexandros, ten years ago. As you can see, Alexandros has grown up to be a fine young man and he is ready and willing to inherit his father’s throne. Of course, you don’t have to depose Arybbas and elect Alexandros. The choice is yours, as is the choice between peace with Macedon and Thessaly or war. I leave it up to you, but in the meantime Arybbas and his family will accompany me to my camp and remain with us as my guests until you can assemble your council and reach your decision.’

  With that, his companions surrounded him, Alexandros and Arybbas and escorted them and the latter’s family out of the palace, down through the town at a canter, scattering people out of the way as they went, and out to the camp by the small river. The city gates clanged shut behind them.

  The next day saw the welcome sight of Philip’s infantry, his artillery and his baggage train arrive. The delay of nearly a week building the bridge had allowed the remainder of his army to catch them up. At noon the city gates opened and a delegation rode out.

  ‘We have little option but to agree your conditions, basileus. However, you should know that, had you not come here to bully us into deposing Arybbas , we were close to doing so anyway. He has impoverished the country through neglect and, as you have seen, the majority of our people live in squalor and poverty. It wasn’t so in his brother’s day. That is why the militia refused to take the field against you. So we agree to your conditions and happily accept Alexandros as our king. However, you have behaved arrogantly, almost as if you were our conqueror and lost a great deal of good will unnecessarily.’

  ‘I’m sorry you think so but I’m glad that you have seen sense. If you were really going to depose Arybbas and replace him with Alexandros, you have had plenty of time to do so. It’s over four years since he came of age. Now I have certain other conditions before I leave you in peace. I don’t trust Arybbas ’ guards to serve Alexandros, so they will join my army and some of my men will replace them to guard the palace until Alexandros can choose his own me
n. ‘

  ‘That is sensible. What about Arybbas ? Will you execute him?’

  ‘Not if he behaves. I’ll make arrangements for him to go into exile in Athens with his wife. He can stir up as much trouble as he likes there. However, his sons will join my School of Pages as hostages for his good behaviour.’

  The leader of the council of Epirus nodded before turning his horse back to the city. Two days later the only trace left behind by the Macedonian army was the usual detritus of a vacated camp.

  -o0o-

  Arybbas had stirred up more trouble in northern Thessaly than Philip’s agents had reported. War had broken out between several cities as the dispute over land between two of them escalated. Eritium and Azorus had quarrelled over ownership of an important junction between the River Peineios , on which both cities lay, and a tributary, which led to the city of Pithium . Many other cities lay on the Peineios and whoever controlled the river junction controlled the taxes levied on traders using the river.

  Azorus had owned the junction but had sold it to Eritium . Unfortunately Eritium had only paid part of the purchase price and Azorus was demanding it back. Pithium and other cities on the tributary had sided with Azorus as their taxes had been less that those now been levied by Eritium but cities like Mylae further south on the main river supported Eritium as they had threatened to put a boom across the river and levy more taxes to allow boats though if they didn’t.

  Philip had little patience with this sort of quarrel. It put him in mind of the land dispute which had led to the Sacred War and he wasn’t about to see his ally, Thessaly, tear itself apart over it. His solution was to force Eritium to pay the debt to Azorus and to abandon any idea of a boom across the Peineios near the city.

  Not only was this a fair solution, it was a pragmatic one. Eritium’s allies had supported the city because they were coerced into doing so and that support would fade away once the threat of a boom was removed.

  Philip’s first problem was to cross the Peineios as Eritium lay on the far side. He set up camp on the east bank near the disputed junction and sent a delegation across in a trader’s boat that he commandeered to the Azorian fort on the spit of land where the two rivers met. Once he had assured them that he had come to support them he sent for Iphitos to discuss how best to bridge the main river. Two hours later he returned to report.

  ‘Well, basileus it is wide but relatively shallow near the banks. It must be too deep in the centre to ford though, as that’s used by the trading craft. A permanent bridge isn’t an option as that would make the river unnavigable. The choice seems to be between a ferry and a pontoon bridge which we can remove as soon as the problem has been resolved.’

  ‘A ferry isn’t practicable as it would take far too long for the army to cross over and a bridge that would have to be removed means that Eritium would be cut off again from Macedon as soon as we left.’

  ‘Is there a pass through the Pindus Mountains?’

  The Pindus range divided Epirus and Thessaly until the mountains petered out and dropped down to the coastal plain at Heracleum , which is where Philip had crossed the border.

  ‘I don’t know. I’ll send a patrol to follow the Peineios up to its source to see if they can find a way over the top. Even if they can, it’s probably not feasible in the winter.’

  ‘Then we could leave the ferry in place after we leave, basileus. It might take time to get a punitive force across in winter but perhaps you could use the militia from other cities once you had crossed if you needed to?’

  ‘Very well. That seems best. We’ll remove the bridge when we’ve finished with it. Hopefully I won’t need to return after I’ve dealt with Eritium .’

  Iphitos started work on both the ferry and a pontoon bridge whilst the patrol searched for a way through the mountains. This time it was easy to get ropes over the river using the commandeered boat. Once the booms either side of the crossing were in place to prevent an unwary trader crashing into the works, Iphitos started work on the bridge. He didn’t bother with proper boats on which to carry the road but merely constructed rafts and anchored them in place. By the time the patrol had returned the bridge was completed and the army had crossed.

  Thankfully they had found a drovers’ road used by the locals to herd their animals from Epirus to market in Thessaly, where the prices were better. It was usually impassable between early December and late February or early March due to snow and ice, but was usable for the rest of the year. However, parts were only wide enough to take three horses abreast so it would take time for the complete army to traverse the mountains.

  The following day Philip appeared before Eritium and one of his officers rode up to the closed main gates and invited the city to send out a delegation to negotiate. At first there was no response, but when the Macedonians started to unload their lithoboloi from the carts in which they had been transported and to set them up, the gates swung open and a dozen horsemen rode out.

  The Macedonian king left the delegation in the middle of the ground between his camp and the city. They had obviously expected him to ride out to meet them halfway, but he had no intention of doing so. They were on the point of returning to the city when a tetrarch of the companions rode up to tell them that Philip was waiting impatiently for them in his tent.

  The twelve elders from Eritium rode though the silent, watchful eyes of the Macedonian army as they lined the route to the king’s tent. Philip stood outside it with his arms folded, Parmenion on one side of him and Antigonus on the other.

  It would have taken a strong man not to be intimidated by the reception they had received and none of the Thessalian elders were strong characters. They followed the king and his two strategoi into the tent.

  ‘Why are you here, balieus ?’ the chief elder asked nervously.

  ‘To settle the dispute over customs duties on the Peineios and the ownership of the land surrounding the junction of the two rivers. Now, my understanding is that you arranged to buy it from Azorus and then refused to pay the full sum agreed. Is that correct?’

  ‘Well, not quite. They misled us as to the amount of customs duties we could expect to collect.’

  ‘So you increased the duties payable to try and make up the shortfall?’

  ‘Yes, we had no option or our investment would not have been worth it.’

  ‘But you didn’t make that investment did you?’

  ‘We paid what we thought was fair in the circumstances.’

  ‘And how much was that exactly? I’m told it was less than half.’

  ‘Yes, that’s what we thought it was worth.’

  ‘But it wasn’t what you had agreed, was it?’

  ‘No, but..’

  ‘It wasn’t what you had agreed was it? So you are cheats, aren’t you?’

  The elders looked uncomfortably at each other but no-one said anything.

  ‘Good. It seems were are agreed about something.’ Philip fixed them with a steely stare before continuing. ‘So, you have a choice. Either you pay the balance of what you owe Azorus or you return the land and the right to the customs dues to them.’

  ‘And they pay back to us what we paid them?’

  ‘Oh no; you are the defaulters and it isn’t fair for Azorus to have to find money they have already spent. Perhaps it will teach you to be more honest in your dealings.’

  ‘And if we don’t accept your ruling? After all, we were encouraged by the King of Epirus to whom we turned for advice.’ an elder who hadn’t spoken before asked belligerently.

  ‘It was bad advice and he is no longer King of Epirus, my brother-in-law Alexandros is. If you don’t accept my judgement, then we are at war. I’ll sack your city and erase it from the face of the earth as I have Potidaea and Olynthus as a lesson to others. Is that what you want?’

  ‘We accept your judgement, basileus.’ The chief elder said hastily.

  ‘I haven’t finished yet. It has cost me a great deal in terms of time and money to bring my army here to resolve
this dispute, so you will pay me all the customs duties you levy for the next two years. I will leave a scribe and a detachment here to make sure that you don’t try to cheat me.’

  Chapter Twelve – The Gates of Fire

  347 to 346 BC

  For several years the Sacred War had continued in a desultory fashion. In 349 the Phocians had invaded Boeotia but had been repulsed by Thebes and the other Boeotian cities. They had followed up this success by invading Phocis but they, in turn, were defeated. The same thing had happened the following year. By this time both sides were nearing exhaustion, both in terms of money and manpower.

  Phocis finally removed their strategos, Phalaikos , in 347 BC and appointed a new commander who was more effective. He captured several Boeotian cities but he had nearly run out of money to pay his mercenaries. It was at that point that Thebes appealed to Philip of Macedon for aid.

  ‘What will you do?’

  Philip was in conference with Parmenion, Attalus, Iphitos and Antigonus at the palace in Pella. Iphitos felt slightly out of place in the company of the three strategoi but he presumed that Philp had a reason for summoning him.

  ‘What would you do?’ Philip threw the question back at Parmenion. His most experienced strategos was now fifty three but he hadn’t lost any of his energy or military flair.

  ‘Well, we know that Athens is beginning to weaken. Philocrates went so far as to propose seeking a truce with you last year and the motion was only narrowly defeated. It would be easy to march south with our armies; with the levies from the Chalkidikeans and the Thessalians we could probably field fifty thousand, five thousand of them cavalry. No-one could match those numbers.’