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The battle of Coroneia (c.352) was the second in a series of defeats
suffered by the Phocian leader Phayllus during a failed
invasion of Boeotia (Third Sacred War). In
353 BC the Phocian leader
Onomarchus was defeated and killed by
Philip II of Macedon at
the battle of the
Crocus
Field in Thessaly. He was succeeded by his brother Phayllus, who managed to
gather a fresh army. This was a mix of troops from his allies (1,000 from
Sparta, 2,000 from Achaea and 5,000 infantry and 400 cavalry from Athens),
2,000 men led by the defeated Tyrants of Pherae, and mercenaries hired using
the treasure from Delphi. Phayllus led this new army on unsuccessful invasion
of Boeotia. Diodorus lists three defeats in a row. The first came at
Orchomenus, on the north-western shores of Lake Copais. The second was on the
Cephisus River, which flows into the lake from the west, and then runs east and
north from the lake into the sea. Next came the defeat at Coroneia, to the
south of the lake. Diodorus doesn't tell us which stretch of the river the
middle battle was fought on. Given the general Phocian tendancy towards
aggressive behaviour, the most likely course of events is perhaps that they
moved east after the defeat at Orchomenus in an attempt to win a victory
further into Boeotian territory, suffered the defeat on the Cephisus River east
of the lake, and then were caught a third time at Coroneia while attempting to
return home along the southern shore of the lake. As with the previous two
battles, we get very few details of the battle at Coroneia. Diodorus reports
that the Phocians lost 50 dead and 130 prisoners (16.37.6), suggesting that
this was either a more even affair or a smaller battle than the fight on the
Cephisus River, where the Phocians suffered 500 dead and lost 400 prisoners.
These defeats didn't discourage Phayllus. Probably in the same year he invaded
Epicnemidian Locris (on the coast between Thermopylae and the mouth of the
Cephisus River). During this campaign he captured all of the local cities apart
from Naryx. Here he was let into the city by a traitor, but then expelled with
the loss of 200 men.
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