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He was an Athenian who was
commander of the combined Greek army in theLamian War. Leosthenes was
the son of Leosthenes who had suffered exile in 362/1 and who had fled to the
court of Philip II. He may have served then underAlexander the Great
but he later was a strong opponent of Macedon and advocate for Greek
independence. Shortly before the death of Alexander, Leosthenes collected and
brought over to Cape Taenarum near Athens many of the Greek mercenaries who had
been disbanded by the various satraps in Asia, following Alexander's orders.
Upon Alexander's death he went to Taenarus and hired 8,000 mercenaries. He then
was able to encourage many Greek cities including in Aetolia to join a revolt
for independence. In this he was strongly aided by the oratory of Demosthenes,
who had always opposed Macedon. But Leosthenes was elected to command the
allied forces. which he moved to Thermopylae, the key access pass from Macedon
into Greece. But the Boeotians, remained allied to Macedon and assembled their
army to prevent the Athenians from joining. Leosthenes then shifted part of his
army to defeat these Boeotians and open the way for the Athenians. Meanwhile
Antipater, the Macedonian
commander, brought his smaller army south. Leosthenes defeated him at
Plataea
in 323 and then and forced the Macdonians to withdraw to
Lamia which he
besieged. Leosthenes knew he had to win quickly before more of Alexander's
generals brought overwhelming power so began to besiege Lamia by blockade.
While supervising the siege lines he was struck by a stone and died. This
sapped the Greek's morale. But they didn't stand much chance in the long run
anyway. Historians do considered that Leosthenes demonstrated great courage and
leadership while he lasted. But Antipater won the war.
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