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The siege of Olynthus in 348 saw Philip II
of Macedon complete his conquest of the Chalcidic League, one of his more
powerful immediate neighbours, and an ally for several years. At the start of
his reign Philip had agreed an alliance with Athens, and protected by this
alliance had dealt with problems on his northern and western borders. However
in 357, after the outbreak of the
Social War (357-355 BC),
a revolt against Athens by some members of her League, he besieged and
captured Amphipolis in 357, a city that
Athens had founded, but soon lost. This triggered a war with Athens, and so
Philip needed a new ally on the Aegean coast. He won over Olynthus and the
Clalcidic League by promising to capture Potidaea, a former league member then
held by Athens. Olynthus accepted the offer and agreed to an alliance. Potidaea
fell in 356 and was restored to the League.
Over the next few years Philip's power in Thrace greatly increased. Olynthus
began to make overtures towards Athens, a breach of the spirit of the alliance
with Philip. Late in 351, while returning from the successful siege of Heraeum,
Philip marched his army through Chalcidice, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate
his allies. This didn't work. Olynthus gave refuge to Philip's half brothers
Arrhidaeus and Menelaus, perhaps as part of plan to replace Philip on the
Macedonian throne.
In the third quarter of 349 Philip invaded League territory. He besieged and
captured the otherwise unknown town of Zeira (or
Zereia), and after its fall destroyed it. The League began to fall apart as its
members surrendered to Philip to avoid the same fate. Stagirus, the birthplace
of Aristotle, was amongst the places taken razed to the ground.
Olynthus sent envoys to Athens to beg for assistance, and under pressure from
Demosthenes (this was when he produced his First Olynthiac Oration) the
Athenian Assembly dispatched a token force north. This first contribution
consisted of 2,000 peltasts and thirty triremes commanded by
Chares.
This first period of command ended when Chares was recalled to Athens and
prosecuted for misconduct. Olynthus was given some breathing room by affairs in
Thessaly. Philip had expelled the tyrants of Pherae, but one of them,
Peitholaus, had managed to regain control of the city. This was more important
than the campaign against Olynthus, and so Philip left for Thessaly and
expelled Peitholaus once again. This gave the Athenians time to dispatch a
second force, consisting of 4,000 peltasts, 150 cavalry and 18 triremes,
commanded by Charidemus. He cooperated with the Olynthians and advanced into
Pallene (the westernmost peninsula of Chalcide) and Bottiaea, ravaging the
country.
Part of this raid recovered areas that had already fallen to Philip, forcing
him to reconquer them. Probably in March 348 Philip resumed his campaign
against Olynthus. Her port, at Mecyberna, was captured, as was the nearby town
of Torone. Olynthus was then besieged, although the defenders did manage to get
another message through to Athens. Athens sent a third force in response to
this embassy from Olynthus, calling for a force of Athenian citizens. A force
of 2,000 hoplites, 300 cavalry and 17 triremes, commanded by Chares, who had
now been pardoned, was dispatched, but it probably arrived too late, delayed
once again by the Etesian Wind, a seasonal north wind. Diodorus gives a very
brief account of the siege. Philip captured Mecyberna (the port of Olynthus)
and Torone (at the tip of Sithonia, the middle of the three peninsulas of
Chalcidice) with the aid of traitors within the city.
He then defeated the Olynthians in two battles, and forced them back into the
city. He made a series of assault on the walls in which he lost many men. The
city was finally betrayed by Euthycrates and Lasthenes, the chief magistrates
of Olynthus, who accepted bribes from Philip. According to Demosthenes the two
men didn’t benefit from their actions, and instead 'met the most
ignominious fate of all'. He also gives some details of the bribes - Lasthenes
roofed his house with a gift of Macedonian timber, Euthycrates received a large
herd of cattle. Philip was known to have said that he expanded his kingdom more
with gold than with his army, and this was a good example of that trend.
One of these two battles might have involved the incident mentioned by
Demosthenes (On the False Embassy, Dem.19 267) in which 500 cavalry with all of
their equipment were betrayed by their officers and captured by the
Macedonians. The city fell in the autumn of 348. Any captured Athenians were
imprisoned, while the locals were sold into slavery. Chalcidice became part of
Macedonia.
Some of the money taken in loot here was used to bribe potential allies in
other Greek cities. Arrhidaeus and Menelaus, who had remained in the city, were
captured and killed. Demosthenes gives us overall totals for the Athenian
contribution to the war - 10,000 mercenaries, 4,000 citizen soldiers and 50 war
galleys. He also gives the Olynthians 10,000 men with 1,000 cavalry. He also
claimed that 32 towns in Chalcidice were wiped out.
Even as this siege was coming to its end, Philip began to hint that he wanted
peace with Athens. This eventually led to the Peace of Philocrates in 346, the
agreement that ended the ten year long 'War of Amphipolis' between Athens and
Philip, and helped clear the ground for Philip to end the Third Sacred War.
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