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The Social War (357-355) was a conflict between Athens and a number of
key members of the Athenian League. The war significantly weakened Athens, and
also meant that she was unable to intervene as
Philip II of
Macedon expanded his kingdom. The period of Theban hegemony ended after the
battle of Mantineia (362). Although the
Thebans won this battle, their inspirational leader Epaminondas was killed. He
had no successor, and an uneasy peace descended on parts of Greece. The wars of
the last few years had greatly reduced the power of Sparta, which had lost the
Peloponnesian League and much of its mainland empire and was now more concerned
with the dangers of a helot revolt. Athens appeared to be more powerful, at the
head of a revived Athenian League with over seventy members, but she also faced
a series of threats. The main threats to Athens were in the north. They were
engaged in a small scale war with Cotys, king of Thrace, at least until his
murder in 359.
Alexander of Pherae in Thessaly was another threat, with a reasonably
powerful fleet. Behind them all was Macedonia, which protected the new
Chalcidice League, and with it the city of Amphipolis, which Athens had founded
but almost immediately lost, and now coveted. In the west Corcyra on Corfu left
the league in 361. A more dangerous threat came in 357 when the Thebans stirred
up a revolt on the island of Euboea, north of Attica. Control of this island
was essential for Athens, as it sat across their supply lines from the Black
Sea. The revolt on Euboea was quickly put down, but the Athenians then
attempted to tighten their control over the Athenian League. This triggered a
wider crisis, the Social War. One of the reasons for the collapse of the first
Athenian Empire was the increasing arrogance of the Athenians, which undermined
the basis of the league. The rules of the new Athenian League had been designed
to try and prevent the same happening again, but the league members must have
been watching for any backsliding. In 365 Athens had taken Samos into the
league, and placed colonists there. Soon afterwards Ceos and Naxos lost their
judicial independence and became subject to the Athenian courts. In the autumn
of 357 Chios refused to pay its contribution to the league treasury. Chios then
formed an alliance with Rhodes and Byzantium, and gained the support of
Mausolus, the semi-independent satrap of Caria. Cos also quickly joined the
revolt, which thus involved powers spread out along the entire western coast of
Asia Minor, as well as the vitally important route into the Black Sea. Mausolus
was an ambitious ruler, who had his eyes on the Greek islands near his
coastline. Demosthenes considered him to have been the prime mover behind the
revolt (On the Liberty of the Rhodians). The first actions of the war took
place at Chios, about half way up the western coast of Asia Minor, and the
closest of the rebel powers to Athens. The rebels concentrated their forces at
Chios. The Athenian forces, led by
Chares and
Chabrias, also made for
Chios. The resulting battle of Chios (357 or
356 BC) was a joint land and sea attack on the town of Chios. Both attacks
failed, and Chabrias, who commanded the naval part of the attack, was killed in
the battle.
In the aftermath of this defeat Sestos and other towns joined the revolt. A
rebel fleet of 100 ships attacked Lemnos and Imbros, two key Athenian
possessions in the northern Aegean. They then moved south to besiege Samos.
Chares, who only had sixty ships, was unable to intervene. In 356
Iphicrates and
Timotheus were given a
fleet, partly funded by a new war tax, and were sent to deal with the rebels.
They took their fleet towards Byzantium, in an attempt to lift the siege of
Samos. They succeeded in that aim, but then suffered a defeat at sea (battle
of Embata).
In the aftermath of this battle Chares prosecuted Iphicrates and Timotheus,
blaming them for the defeat. Iphicrates was acquitted (at least according to
Cornelius Nepos), but never given another command. Timotheus was fined 100
talents, and went into exile. This just left Chares, but he was short of
supplies and money. In an attempt to gain both he offered his support to
Artabazus, satrap of
Hellespontine
Phrygia, who was then involved in a revolt against
Artaxerxes III (Satrap's Revolt).
Chares won a victory for Artabazus, and was rewarded with more than enough
money to pay his troops, as well as Sigeum and possibly Lampsacus.
The war was ended by Artaxerxes III, the last really influential Persian
monarch. He sent an ultimatum to Athens, demanding that they recalled Chares.
Athens was now exhausted, and had little choice other than to comply,
especially once news arrived that Artaxerxes was preparing a large fleet. The
war was ended by a second King's Peace. Athens had to recognise the
independence of Byzantium, Chios, Rhodes, Cos and Corcyra. Mytilene, Perinthus,
Selymbria and Methymna took advantage of the peace to leave the League. Athens
retained some islands in the Cyclades, a few northern harbours, and freedom of
navigation in the Aegean. Cos and Rhodes probably soon regretted their actions.
With Athenian protection gone, their democratic governments were vulnerable,
and they were soon replaced with oligarchies imposed by Mausolus. Another
oligarchy came into power at Chios. Soon after the death of Mausolus in 353 the
exiled Rhodian democrats asked Athens for help, but unsurprisingly the request
was turned down.
The Social War was very quickly followed by the Third Sacred War (355-346),
which saw the start of the rise of Macedonia to a dominant position in the
Greek world. Philip II had already taken advantage of Athens's focus on the
Social War to take Amphipolis in 357, and then to capture Potidaea in 356 in
order to secure a short term alliance with Olynthus.
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