Chaeronea
Chaeronea is a historically significant location in central Greece, situated in the northernmost part of Boeotia. This city is strategically positioned in the Cephisus plain, bordered by Mounts Acontium and Thurium, making it a key site throughout various military conflicts in ancient Greece. Notably, Chaeronea is renowned for three pivotal battles. The first occurred in 338 BC, when Philip II of Macedon decisively defeated a coalition of Thebans and Athenians, marking a significant shift in Greek political power. The site features a notable burial mound for Macedonian soldiers and the Lion of Chaeronea, believed to memorialize the fallen Sacred Band of Thebes. The second significant battle took place in 245 BC, leading to the decline of Boeotian influence. In 86 BC, Chaeronea was the site of a Roman victory against Mithridates VI of Pontus. Additionally, the city was home to the influential philosopher and biographer Plutarch during the Roman imperial period, further enriching its historical legacy. Overall, Chaeronea stands as a reminder of pivotal moments in ancient Greek history and the shifting dynamics of power in the region.
Chaeronea
Chaironeia
The northernmost city of Boeotia (central Greece), strategically located in the narrow Cephisus plain between Mounts Acontium and Thurium, astride the main invasion route from the north. Chaeronea belonged to Orchomenus until at least 424 BC. In the fourth century it was a member of the Boeotian League.
The place is famous for three important battles that were fought on its plain. The first took place in 338, when Philip II of Macedonia totally crushed the Boeotians, Athenians and their allies, thus bringing to an end the classical epoch of truly independent city-states. The site of the battle is marked by the great mound in which the Macedonian dead were buried, and by the marble Lion of Chaeronea (now re-erected) which has been believed, since ancient times, to belong to the funeral monument of the Sacred Band of Thebans who fell to a man (skeletons found on the site have been identified as theirs).
Subsequently, in 245, the Boeotians suffered an equally decisive defeat at Chaeronea, this time at the hands of the Aetolian League, so that they never again played a leading part in Greek politics. And in 86 the hundred-thousand-strong invading army of Mithridates VI of Pontus, under the command of Archelaus, was routed at Chaeronea by the Roman general Sulla. In Roman imperial times, it was the birthplace and home of the philosopher and biographer Plutarch (after AD 50-after 120), whose family had long been established in the city.