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The battle of Argolas in Spring 354 was a
Phocian victory over a Thessalian army early in the Third Sacred War, fought at
an otherwise unknown hill somewhere in Locris. Our account of this battle comes
from Diodorus (16.30). In 355 the Phocians seized the Oracle of Delphi, and
then defeated a Locrian army at Phaedriades, near to the Oracle. This setback
for the Amphictyonic Council may have helped convince the Thessalians and
Thebans to join the conflict to support the League, while Sparta and Athens
sided with the Phocians. In 355 the Phocian leader Philomelus had made a point
of not looting the treasures of the oracle, but in 354 he decided that he
needed the money to raise a more powerful army. He used the extra funds to hire
more mercenaries. This gave him an army of over 10,000 men, which he led into
Locris. The first clash of the new campaign was a cavalry battle between the
Phocians on one side and the Locrians and Boeotians on the other. This ended in
a Phocian victory, but the location isn't recorded.
The second battle of the campaign came near a hill called Argolas, which isn't
mentioned in other ancient sources. This time the Phocians faced 6,000
Thessalians and allies, suggesting that this battle was somewhere to the north.
Diodorus provides us with very little detail of this battle, other than the
unknown name of its location, and the fact that the Thessalians were defeated.
Philomelus's run of luck finally came to an end later in the year. The
Boeotians finally appeared on the scene, and defeated the Phocians at
Neon (north of Mount Parnassus). In order to
avoid capture, Philomelus threw himself off a cliff.
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