The two generals on sailing into Chios found that allies had arrived to assist the Chians from Byzantium, Rhodes, and Cos, and also from Mausolus, the tyrant of Caria. They then drew up their forces and began to besiege the city both by land and by sea. Now Chares, who commanded the infantry force, advanced against the walls by land and began a struggle with the enemy who poured out on him from the city; but Chabrias, sailing up to the harbour, fought a severe naval engagement and was worsted when his ship was shattered by a ramming attack. While the men on the other ships withdrew in the nick of time and saved their lives, he, choosing death with glory instead of defeat, fought on for his ship and died of his wounds.
Chares’ mercenaries appear to have held their own for a while at least against the defenders who were sallying from the city. It should be noted that we have no idea what type of mercenary these were (peltasts or hoplites), nor whether they were equipped to undertake a siege. The death of Chabrias effectively ended the siege prematurely. Some of these mercenaries were then recalled to Athens where they were dismissed, although some probably remained with Chares in the Aegean. As noted above, Athens’ financial resources were stretched, to say the least, and the maintenance of a mercenary army was probably beyond her. The troops commanded by Chares were probably expected to support themselves from plundering the former allies, but their defeat at Chios made that impossible, and therefore made their continued employment impossible. After an excursus on Sicily, Diodorus returns to his narrative of the Social War in Greece, and there are no further direct references to mercenary service on either side. Having said this, he does imply it, with regards to the rebels.71
The Chians, Rhodians, and Byzantians together with their allies manned one hundred ships and then sacked Imbros and Lemnos, Athenian islands, and having descended on Samos with a large contingent laid waste the countryside and besieged the city by land and by sea; and by ravaging many other islands that were subject to Athens they collected money for the needs of the war.
Of course, these military expenses could have been for the upkeep of ships, wage payments for national and allied troops, the purchase of provisions and so on. We do not know with certainty one way or another, but mercenaries and mercenary service were by now so ubiquitous that it was less worthy of mention than it had been even just a few decades previously.
The breakup of former alliances was not limited to Athens. Phocis broke away from the Boeotian League. She had fought on the side of the Spartans at Leuctra and had been forced to join the League by the victorious Thebans, but was never a willing member and took the first opportunity to leave. Thebes feared Phocis potentially bringing either Sparta or Athens into a war in Central Greece and looked for a pretext to invade; it was not long in coming. The Phocians had been cultivating land that was claimed by Delphi, and the Delphic Amphictyony imposed a substantial fine on them for their sacrilegious actions. The Phocians refused to pay and elected a tyrant, Philomelus, to organize their resistance.72
Philomelus apparently travelled to Sparta to appeal directly to King Archidamus for assistance against the Thebans. Diodorus reports that Philomelus told Archidamus of his plan to seize Delphi and annul all of the decrees of the Amphictyony. The Spartans were unwilling (or perhaps unable) to assist directly, but they sent sufficient funds to allow the Phocians to hire 1,000 mercenaries from the local area.73 Philomelus used these mercenary forces to capture Delphi and he slew a group of Delphians called the Thracidae. The news of the capture of the shrine spread quickly throughout Greece.74
When news of the seizure of the shrine was noised abroad, the Locrians, who lived nearby, straightway took the field against Philomelus. A battle took place near Delphi and the Locrians, having been defeated with the loss of many of their men, fled to their own territory, and Philomelus, being elated by his victory, hacked from the slabs the pronouncements of the Amphictyons, deleted the letters recording their judgements, and personally caused the report to be circulated that he had resolved not to plunder the oracle nor had he purposed to commit any other lawless deed, but that in support of the ancestral claim to the guardianship and because of his desire to annul the unjust decrees of the Amphictyons, he was vindicating the ancestral laws of the Phocians.
The Boeotians voted in an assembly meeting to march to the aid of the oracle, and began to gather appropriate forces. Philomelus expected an attack and built a wall around the already very defensible shrine. The Phocians then used the last of their resources to raise another 4,000 troops from amongst the bravest of the Phocians (their status may have been as mercenaries, but this is far from certain). Rather than waiting for the Thebans, Philomelus launched an attack on the territory of the Locrians, pillaging as they went.75
As he was master of the open country, he sacked a large portion of Locris and returned to Delphi, having given his soldiers their fill of the spoils of war.
By now this was an expected form of payment for a mercenary army. The presence of mercenaries fuelled the cycle of violence that was overtaking Greek warfare. In 355/4 Diodorus tells us that the Locrians and Thebans made an alliance with the intent of waging war on ‘behalf of the god upon the Phocians.’76 Despite this treaty, however, the Thebans were not quick to act against the Phocians, but the Locrians again attempted to dislodge them from Delphi. The battle was fought near the cliffs called Phaedriades, a semi-circular range of rocks on Mount Parnassus facing south. The Locrians were soundly beaten in a bloody and brutal encounter, in which few of them were taken prisoner. Many threw themselves off the cliffs to avoid capture and the consequences at the hands of the Phocians.77
The remnants of the Locrian force retreated to Locris and appealed to Thebes for assistance according to the treaty that they had signed. The Thebans again delayed their military response, sending embassies to Thessaly and the other Amphyctyons, demanding that they make war collectively against the Phocians.78
But when the Amphictyons voted the war against the Phocians much confusion and disagreement reigned throughout the length and breadth of Greece. For some decided to stand by the god and punish the Phocians as temple-robbers, while others inclined toward giving the Phocians assistance. As tribes and cities were divided in their choice, the Boeotians, Locrians, Thessalians, and Perrhaebians decided to aid the shrine, and in addition the Dorians and Dolopians, likewise the Athamanians, Achaeans of Phthiotis, and the Magnesians, also the Aenianians and some others; while the Athenians, Lacedaemonians, and some others of the Peloponnesians fought on the side of the Phocians.
Eventually, after seemingly great delay, during which time the Locrians were the only state willing to act against the sacrilege performed by Phocis, the Boeotians began to muster for war. The Phocians, realizing what was happening, decided that a larger force was required, specifically a larger mercenary army. Philomelus increased the basic pay of his mercenaries by 50 per cent and very quickly recruited a large army of mercenaries from the local area and beyond. The fact that the mercenaries were not overly concerned whence their wages came is interesting, although they may have had some minor reservations, hence the need to raise their wages to a suitable level.79
Now no men of honourable character enrolled for the campaign because of their reverence for the gods, but the worst knaves, and those who despised the gods, because of their own greed, eagerly gathered about Philomelus and quickly a strong army was formed out of those whose object it was to plunder the shrine.
Philomelus used his newly raised army to again invade the territory of the Locrians, totalling more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry. They were met by the Locrians and an advance force of Thebans and a fierce cavalry battle ensued, which was ultimately indecisive. The two sides broke away and further reinforcements were received by each: 6,000 Thessalians arrived to aid the Locrians and 1,500 Achaeans arrived to support the Phocians. The Locrians and their allies were camped within the city, and the Phocians close by. The brutality of feeling and action during the Sacred War is illustrated by the actions of the Boeo
tians.80
After this the Boeotians, who had taken captive on foraging parties a good many mercenaries, brought them out in front of the city and made an announcement by heralds that the Amphictyons were punishing with death these men present who had enlisted with the temple-robbers; and immediately, making the deed follow the word, shot them all down.
The mercenaries in Philomelus’ employ were enraged and demanded vengeance in kind. Philomelus ordered detachments of his mercenaries to raid the countryside and take as many Boeotian and Locrian prisoners as possible. These were lined up in sight of the Boeotians and were shot. Both sides eventually came to battle in a nearby forest, with the Phocians heavily outnumbered and defeated with heavy loses to their native and mercenary contingents. Philomelus himself, fearing capture and torture, threw himself off a cliff.81 Philomelus’ successor, Onomarchus, gathered together the survivors and retreated to Delphi. During the winter of 354/3 the Phocians made overtures of peace towards their Locrian and Boeotian enemies. The overtures were convincing, and it looked for a time as if the Scared War would come to an end. In the spring, the Boeotians sent their mercenary army to Asia Minor to fight alongside the rebel satrap, Artabazus. They never would have contemplated such a move if they had any doubt over the likelihood of a peaceful resolution in the near future.
Onomarchus had other ideas, however. He had evidently used his envoys to buy time to ensure his own position (he was elected as sole commander of the Phocian forces) and to reconstitute his mercenary army, again using the temple treasuries to pay his troops. Onomarchus may have justified this action to himself and the Phocians by promising to repay what he took once the national crisis had passed, but his political opponents denounced him.
Along with the war in central Greece, there was also difficulty in the north. There was a popular uprising in Thessaly, supported by Philip of Macedon, against the tyrant of Pherae. The latter appealed for help to his ally Onomarchus at Delphi. Onomarchus, grateful that the Thessalians had kept Philip out of central Greek politics, sent his brother Phayllus and 6,000 mercenaries to prop up the Thessalian regime, but these were quickly and heavily defeated by the growing power that was Philip. Onomarchus marched north with the whole of his army and met Philip twice in Thessaly, defeating him both times and driving the Macedonians out of Thessaly.82
When Onomarchus was deploying against the Macedonians, he put a crescent-shaped mountain in his rear, concealing men on the peaks at both ends with rocks and rock throwing engines, and led his forces forward into the plain below. When the Macedonians came out against them and threw their javelins, the Phocians pretended to flee into the hollow middle of the mountain. As the Macedonians, pursuing with an eager rush, pressed them, the men on the peaks threw rocks and crushed the Macedonian phalanx. Then indeed Onomarchus signalled the Phocians to turn and attack the enemy. The Macedonians, under attack from behind while those up above continued to throw rocks, retreated rapidly in great distress. They say that during this flight the king of the Macedonians, Philip, said ‘I do not flee, but retreat like rams do, in order to attack again more violently.’
This is also the first recorded example of catapults being used in a set-piece battle. After the victories against Philip, Onomarchus was riding high. He followed up the victories with the capture, through betrayal, of Coronea, although Aristotle tells us that the citizenry were not happy with their betrayal by a minority of Phocian sympathizers. The capture of Coronea represented the high point of Phocian power and influence, supported as it was by a mercenary army. This was Onomarchus’ last real success, however.
In the following summer of 353, Philip again invaded Thessaly and engaged the Phocians in a battle that has been called the Battle of the Crocus Field. Onomarchus commanded 25,000 infantry, many of them mercenaries, and 500 cavalry. Philip, having persuaded the Thessalians to ally with him against the common enemy, fielded an army of 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.83
A severe battle took place and since the Thessalian cavalry were superior in numbers and valour, Philip won. Because Onomarchus had fled toward the sea and Chares the Athenian was by chance sailing by with many triremes, a great slaughter of the Phocians took place, for the men in their effort to escape would strip off their armour and try to swim out to the triremes, and among them was Onomarchus. Finally more than six thousand of the Phocians and mercenaries were slain, and among them the general himself; and no less than three thousand were taken captives. Philip hanged Onomarchus; the rest he threw into the sea as temple-robbers.
The Sacred War seemed to be at an end; Onomarchus was dead and his mercenary army dispersed and destroyed.84 The Athenians, fearful of the rising influence and power of Macedonia, had formed an alliance with Phocis and now marched north to block the pass at Thermopylae and prevent Philip from following up his victory in central Greece. With Athenian help, the Sacred War dragged on. Phayllus, the brother of Onomarchus, was elected as his successor, and he managed to reform the mercenary army of his brother. Phayllus was also joined by Lycophron and Peitholaus of Pherae, whom Philip had expelled. These brought a further 2,000 mercenaries.85 Sparta also sent 1,000 and the Achaeans 2,000; the sacrilege that the Phocians had committed was evidently less of a concern to the southern Greeks than the rise of Philip.
Diodorus records a series of small border engagements between Philip on the one hand and Phocis and her allies on the other, but gives little detail. The nature of small-scale skirmishing or guerrilla warfare was perfectly suited to this type of combat, but it tended to produce indecisive results. Thebes was also engaged with Phocis frequently down to 350 (and again we know little); the drain upon her resources and population was excessive. This drain led to her recruiting more and more mercenaries to take up the slack. The result in central Greece was a continuous state of warfare conducted by mercenaries and fuelled partly by their need for plunder.
In 346, the Thebans invited Philip to march south once more and complete the reduction of Phocis. Phalaecus, the Phocian general, was holding the pass of Thermopylae with 8,000 mercenaries. He refused, however, to attempt to hold the pass against Philip, and he made an arrangement with the Macedonian that he and his mercenaries would surrender their arms and be allowed to withdraw in safety to the Peloponnese.86 Once the Athenians realized that Thermopylae was lost, they sent a delegation to Philip to sue for peace, and the Peace of Philocrates resulted, although this was not the end of Philip’s ambitions in central and southern Greece.
Chapter 6
The Rise of Macedon
The Peace of Philocrates between Athens and Macedonia left Phocis high and dry. The cities under Phocian control were broken up by Philip into their constituent villages. They were also forced to repay what they had taken from Delphi at a rate of 60 talents a year, and Philip took the Phocian seats on the Amphyctyonic council. Philip did not enact any other revenge upon the Phocians, belying the reputation of Macedonians as barbarians from the fringes of Greece. Despite this, the Athenians had felt the peace would protect the Phocians, but Phocis was not formally allied to Athens, and therefore was not included in the peace; the Athenians felt cheated. From Philip’s perspective, however, the alliance, he concluded, was between himself and Athens and her allies, and as noted Phocis was not formally allied to Athens, and was therefore fair game.1
The peace also meant that the large mercenary armies that had been employed by the Phocians, as well as some employed by Thebes, Sparta and others, were released onto the Greek world without the safety of organized employment. Of some of these mercenaries, Diodorus tells us:2
And the last of all, Phalaecus, who had gathered the remnants of the pillaged property, passed his life for a considerable length of time wandering about in great fear and danger, though it was not Heaven’s intent that he should be happier than those who participated with him in the sacrilege, but that by being tortured longer and by becoming known to many for his misfortunes, his sad fate might become notorious. For when he had taken flight with his mercenari
es following the agreement, he first sojourned in the Peloponnese, supporting his men on the last remnants of the pillaging, but later he hired in Corinth some large freighters and with four light vessels prepared for the voyage to Italy and Sicily, thinking that in these regions he would either seize some city or obtain service for pay, for a war was in progress, as it chanced, between the Lucanians and the Tarentines. To his fellow passengers he said that he was making the voyage because he had been summoned by the people of Italy and Sicily.
Before they got far by sea, however, there was something of a mutiny, for these men apparently feared the prospect of campaigning overseas:3
Finally drawing their swords and menacing Phalaecus and the pilot they forced them to reverse their course. And when those who were sailing in the other boats also did the same, they put in again at a Peloponnesian harbour. Then they gathered at the Malean promontory in Laconia and there found Cnossian envoys who had sailed in from Crete to enlist mercenaries. After these envoys had conversed with Phalaecus and the commanders and had offered rather high pay, they all sailed off with them. Having made port at Cnossus in Crete, they immediately took by storm the city called Lyctus. But to the Lyctians, who had been expelled from their native land, there appeared a miraculous and sudden reinforcement. For at about the same time the people of Tarentum were engaged in prosecuting a war against the Lucanians and had sent to the Lacedaemonians, who were the stock of their ancestors, envoys soliciting help, whereupon the Spartans, who were willing to join them because of their relationship, quickly assembled an army and navy and as general in command of it appointed King Archidamus. But as they were about to set sail for Italy, a request came from the Lyctians to help them first. Consenting to this, the Lacedaemonians sailed to Crete, defeated the mercenaries and restored to the Lyctians their native land.
Mercenaries in the Classical World- To the Death of Alexander Page 18