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The so-called Battle of Crocus Field in 353 or 352 was a battle in the
Third Sacred War, fought between the armies
of Phocis, under Onomarchos, and the combined Thessalian and Macedonian army
under Philip II of Macedon. In the bloodiest battle recorded in Ancient Greek
history, the Phocians were decisively defeated by Philip's forces. Philip's
victory secured his appointment as ruler of Thessaly, marking an important step
in the rise of Macedon to political ascendancy in Ancient Greece. Opinion
amongst historians is divided as to the year of the battle; some favour 353 BC,
and others 352 BC.
Opponents:
Macedon and Thessalian Confederation versus Phocis and Athens
Commanders and leaders:
Philip II of Macedon
Onomarchos †, Chares
Strength:
Macedon 20,000 foot 3,000 horse
Allies 20,000 foot 500 horse
Casualties and losses:
Allies - up to 9,000 dead
Background:
'The Third Sacred War began in 356, and would present Philip with his first
real opportunity to expand his influence into the affairs of central and
southern Greece.The war was caused by the refusal of the Phocian Confederation
to pay a fine imposed on them in 357 BC by the Amphictyonic League, a pan-Greek
religious organisation which governed the most sacred site in Ancient Greece,
the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.[12] Behind the religious element, there
probably lay a display of realpolitik in bringing charges against the Phocians,
instigated by the Thebans. At this time, Thebes controlled a majority of the
votes in the council, and at the autumn meeting in 357 BC, the Thebans were
able to have both the Phocians (for the cultivation of the sacred land) and the
Spartans (for occupying Thebes some 25 years previously) denounced and
fined.[13] Since the fines for both parties were "unjustifiably
harsh",[12] the Thebans probably expected neither party to pay, and thus
to be able to declare a "sacred war" on either.[14] The ruins of
ancient Delphi In response, the Phocians, under the leadership of Philomelos,
seized Delphi (which was situated within the boundaries of Phocis), and
asserted the ancient claim of Phocis to the presidency of the Amphictyonic
League,[14] intending to annul the judgment against themselves.[15] There seems
to have been some sympathy in Greece for the Phocians, since other states could
see that "the Thebans...had used the Amphictyony to pursue petty and
destructive vendettas".[14][16] The Phocians were supported by Athens
(perennial enemies of Thebes) and unsurprisingly Sparta, who hoped to see their
own fine wiped out when the Phocians seized Delphi.[17] However, Philomelos
plundered the treasury of Apollo to pay for mercenaries, thus raising a
powerful army, but drastically altering the opinion of the other Greek
states.[18] In winter 356/355 BC, a "sacred war" was declared against
the Phocians by the Amphictyonic council, with the Thebans being the major
protagonists.[14] The war started relatively well for the Phocians, but a
severe defeat was inflicted on the Phocians at Neon by the Thebans in either
355 or 354 BC and Philomelos was killed. Undeterred, Onomarchos took over the
Phocian effort, and raised new mercenaries to carry on the fight.[11]
The Sacred War appears to have paved the way for renewed conflict within
Thessaly. The Thessalian Confederation were in general staunch supporters of
the Amphictyonic League, and had an ancient hatred of the Phocians.[19]
Conversely, the-city state of Pherae had allied itself with the Phocians.[20]
In either 354 or 353 BC, the nobility of the Thessalian city of Larissa
appealed to Philip to help them defeat the Pheraeans. Philip thus brought an
army into Thessaly, probably with the intention of attacking Pherae.[24] Under
the terms of their alliance, Lycophron of Pherae requested aid from the
Phocians, and Onomarchos dispatched his brother, Phayllos, with 7,000 men;[21]
however, Philip repulsed this force before it could join up with the
Pheraeans.[25] Onomarchos then abandoned the siege he was prosecuting, and
brought his whole force into Thessaly to attack Philip.[21] The exact details
of the campaign that followed are unclear, but Onomarchos seems to have
inflicted two defeats on Philip, with many Macedonians killed in the
process.[26][27] After these defeats, Philip retreated to Macedon for the
winter.[27] He is said to have commented that he "did not run away but,
like a ram, I pulled back to butt again harder".[28] Philip returned to
Thessaly the next summer (either 353 or 352 BC, depending on the chronology
followed), having gathered a new army in Macedon.[26] Philip formally requested
that the Thessalians join him in the war against the Phocians.[29][30] Philip
now mustered all the Thessalian opponents of Pherae that he could, and
according to Diodorus, his final army numbered 20,000 infantry and 3,000
cavalry.
Prelude:
Both Buckler and Cawkwell suggest that Philip besieged the strategic port of
Pagasae (effectively the harbour of Pherae) before the Battle of Crocus
Field.[8][23] By taking Pagasae, it is probable that Philip intended to prevent
it being reinforced by sea; Buckler suggests that Philip had learnt his lesson
from the previous campaign, and wanted to cut Pherae off from outside help
before attacking it.[23][31] Meanwhile, Onomarchos returned to Thessaly to try
to preserve the Phocian ascendancy there, with approximately the same force as
during the previous year.[26][32] Furthermore, the Athenians dispatched Chares
with a substantial fleet to help their Phocian allies, seeing the opportunity
to strike a decisive blow against Philip.[31] The Phocians and Athenians
probably intended to rendezvous at Pagasae, since it was the only harbour the
Athenian fleet could use, and since Philip was there anyway.
Battle:
Subsequent events are unclear, but a battle was fought between the Macedonians
and the Phocians, probably as Philip tried to prevent the Phocians joining
forces with the Pheraeans, and crucially, before the Athenians had arrived.[31]
No ancient source names the battlefield, but according to Diodorus the two
armies met near the sea. The Krokion/Krokoton Pedion or 'Crocus Plain' (around
modern Almyros in Magnesia, Thessaly region) seems the most suitable location,
and the battle is therefore known to modern scholars as the Battle of Crocus
Field; however, firmly identifying the battle-site has proved impossible.[33]
Philip sent his men into battle wearing crowns of laurel, the symbol of Apollo,
"as if he was the avenger...of sacrilege, and he proceeded to battle under
the leadership, as it were, of the god".[34][35] Some of the Phocian
mercenaries supposedly threw down their arms, troubled by their guilty
consciences.[35] In the ensuing battle, the bloodiest recorded in ancient Greek
history, Philip won a decisive victory over the Phocians. The battle seems to
have been won by superior numbers and by the valour of Philip's
cavalry.[26][29] Fleeing from defeat, the Phocians ran to the sea, where
Chares' fleet had arrived during the battle, but many men were killed during
the pursuit, or drowned as they tried to reach the ships.[27][33] In total,
6,000 Phocian troops had been killed, including Onomarchos, and another 3,000
taken prisoner.[27] Onomarchos was either hanged or crucified and the other
prisoners drowned, as ritual demanded for temple-robbers.[26] These punishments
were designed to deny the defeated an honourable burial; Philip thus continued
to present himself as the pious avenger of the sacrilege committed by the
Phocians.[33] Buckler states that: "Nor should one automatically assume
that a mass-drowning...would shock the Greek world. Even the mild-tempered
Isocrates felt that the Phocian mercenaries were better off dead than
alive...Dreadful indeed was the punishment, but it was entirely consistent with
Philip's role as Apollo's champion".
Aftermath:
It was probably in the aftermath of his victory (if not before) that the
Thessalians appointed Philip archon of Thessaly.[29][36] This was an
appointment for life, and gave Philip control over all the revenues of the
Thessalian Confederation, and furthermore made Philip leader of the united
Thessalian army.[29] The tyrants of Pherae, rather than suffer the fate of
Onomarchos, struck a bargain with Philip and, in return for handing Pherae over
to Philip, were allowed, along with 2,000 of their mercenaries, to go to
Phocis.[37] Philip spent some time reorganising Thessaly, and once satisfied he
marched south to the pass of Thermopylae, the gateway to central
Greece.[27][35][38] He probably intended to follow up his victory over the
Phocians by invading Phocis itself,[38] a prospect which greatly alarmed the
Athenians, since once he was past Thermopylae he could also march on
Athens.[27] The Athenians therefore dispatched a force to Thermopylae and
occupied the pass; there is some debate as to whether other contingents may
have joined the Athenians at Thermopylae.[38] Although it might have proved
possible to force the pass, Philip did not attempt to do so, preferring not to
risk a defeat after his great successes in Thessaly.[27][39] Meanwhile, the
Phocians regrouped under Onomarchos's brother, Phayllos. After the huge Phocian
defeats at Neon and Crocus Field, Phayllos had to resort to doubling the pay
for mercenaries, in order to attract enough to replenish his army.[40] Despite
their defeats however, the majority of the Phocians were still in favour of
continuing the war.[40] Over the winter of that year, Phayllos engaged in
diplomatic efforts to gather more support from Phocian allies, and succeeding
in widening the theatre of conflict in the next campaigning season.[40]
Uniquely in Greek history, the Phocians were able to absorb huge losses in
manpower, thanks to their pillaging of Temple of Apollo, a factor which was to
contribute to the war dragging on indecisively until 346 BC.[40]
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Sources and Chronology
For further information on this topic, see Third Sacred War (section
'Chronology") The ancient sources for the Third Sacred War are scant, and
generally lacking in firm chronological information.[2][3] The main source for
the period is Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica, written in the 1st
century BC, which is therefore very much a secondary source.[4] Diodorus is
often derided by modern historians for his style and inaccuracies, but he
preserves many details of the ancient period found nowhere else.[5][6] Diodorus
worked primarily by epitomizing the works of other historians, omitting many
details where they did not suit his purpose, which was to illustrate moral
lessons from history; his account of the Third Sacred War therefore contains
many gaps.[2] Beyond Diodorus, further details of the Sacred War can be found
in the orations of Athenian statesmen, primarily Demosthenes and Aeschines,
which have survived intact.[2] Since these speeches were never intended to be
historical material, they must be treated with circumspection; Demosthenes and
Aeschines have been described as "a couple of liars, neither of whom can
be trusted to have told the truth in any matter in which it was remotely in his
interest to lie".[7] Nevertheless, their allusions to contemporary or past
events indicates some of the gaps in Diodorus's account, and helps with the
arrangement of the chronology. The accounts of Diodorus, Demosthenes and
Aeschines can be further supplemented by fragments of otherwise lost histories
(such as that by Theopompus) and by contemporary epigraphic sources.[2][3]
Modern historians' dates for the war have been hotly debated, and there is no
clear consensus.[8] It is generally accepted that the war lasted 10 years, and
ended in summer 346 BC (one of the only firm dates), which yields a date of 356
BC for the beginning of the war, with Philomelos's seizure of Delphi.[8] After
Philomelos's defeat at Neon, the Thebans thought it safe to send the general
Pammenes to Asia with 5,000 hoplites. A combination of evidence suggests that
Pammenes met with Philip at Maroneia in Thrace, in 355 BC, presumably on his
outward journey to Asia.[8] Buckler, the only historian to produce a systematic
study of the sacred war, therefore places Neon earlier in 355 BC.[8] Other
historians have placed Neon in 354 BC, since Diodorus says that the battle took
place while Philip besieged Methone, which Diodorus (at one point) places in
354 BC.[8] However, Diodorus's chronology for the sacred war is very confused
– he dates the start and end of the war a year too late, variously says
the war lasted 9, 10 or 11 years, and included the siege of Methone twice under
different dates – and his dates cannot therefore be relied upon.[8]
Disregarding the dates, most historians agree upon the same sequence of events
for this part of the Sacred War. The principal question is therefore when that
sequence started. Thus, Buckler (as well as Beloch and Cloche) dates Neon to
355 BC, Methone to 355–354 BC, Philip's first Thessalian campaign to 354
BC, and his second to 353 BC.[8] Conversely, Cawkwell, Sealey, Hammond and
others lower all these dates by one year, beginning with Neon in 354 BC.[8][9]
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