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The siege of Methone in late 355 - early 354
saw Philip II of Macedon capture the last potential Athenian base on the
Macedonian coast. Methone was a city on the Thermaic Gulf, just to the south of
the Macedonian coast, and very close to the old Macedonian capital of Aegae.
Early in Philip's reign Argaeus, a pretender to the throne, had landed at
Methone with 3,000 Athenian hoplites. The Athenians hadn't taken part in
Argaeus's brief, unsuccessful, attempt to raise a revolt in his favour, but the
presence of an Athenian port close to the heart of his kingdom must have
worried Philip. Athenian power in the north increased when Cersobleptes, son of
Cotys, king of Thrace, handed them most of the cities on the Chersonese. Philip
had been campaigning in Thrace, but for a now lost reason he decided to suspend
this campaign, and attack Methone. The defenders held on for some time, hoping
for Athenian help. The Athenians probably planned to send help, as Demosthenes
mentioned its late arrival, but the city fell before any help arrived. The
citizens were forced to leave the city, and were only allowed to take a single
garment of clothing with them. The city was then razed, and isn't mentioned
again. Philip was wounded during this siege, losing his right eye after it was
hit by an arrow during an attempt to storm the walls. Polyaenus records an
incident from this siege. After some of Philip's men reached the top of the
walls using scaling ladders, Philip had the ladders removed to force his men to
fight more fiercely. The exact dating of the events of this period are unclear.
Diodorus places the fall of Methone in the same year as the battle of Neon (Third Sacred War),
which we have placed in 354. After the fall of Methone Philip campaigned in
Thessaly, fighting against Lycophron, tyrant of Pherae. This brought him into
direct conflict with the Phocians, then defying much of Greece (Third Sacred
War). The Phocians sent an army under Phayllus, brother of their leader
Onomarchus, to aid Lycophron. This army was defeated, so Onomarchus led his
main army into the area. He then inflicted two terribly badly documented
battlefield defeats on Philip,
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