The Fall of Olynthus (348 BC)
After his march through Thracia in 351 BC, Philip had given the Olynthians a serious warning, avoiding a direct attack, maybe because they had granted asylum to his half-brothers, Menelaus and Arrhidaeus, and to Machatas, the exiled brother of Phila, Philip’s first wife. But now it seems that even ten years after being crowned king of Macedonia, Philip still felt the need to eliminate possible pretenders to the throne when Olynthus, at the head of a league of about 32 cities, refused bluntly to surrender the possible pretenders to the throne and a full-scale Macedonian invasion was launched in the summer of 349 BC.
Marching in from the north, Philip’s strategy was to isolate Olynthus and for that purpose he attacked the cities around it, picking one after another. He besieged and razed Stagira to the ground as a main warning. Other towns like Stratonicia, Acanthus, Apollonia, and Arethusa got the message and surrendered immediately but not Olynthus, which called for Athens’ help. It took Athens a while to make up its mind and when it did, Philip had taken his army away on a short campaign to settle matters with rebellious Pherae in Thessaly. But he returned to Chalcidice a few months later and a new Athenian force was sent to Olynthus’ rescue; it failed. Philip took Apollonia, then Torone, and shortly thereafter Mecyberna, the port of Olynthus. Now that reinforcements couldn’t reach Olynthus from the sea anymore, Philip was in a position to sack the city. A last support attempt was made by Athens, sending a huge fleet that was seriously hampered by the Etesian Winds (which blew between May and September) and arrived too late. Olynthus had been taken and leveled entirely, not without putting up a serious fight as proven by the bolt-heads from catapults that were found carrying Philip’s name. His two half-brothers were executed and the Athenians present in the city were taken to Pella as prisoners to be negotiated over later on. After Olynthus fell, Philip went to Dion to celebrate the festival in honor of Zeus Olympus with lavish sacrifices, extensive symposia as only he could organize, and spectacular competitions.
It is interesting to see how the sack of Olynthus by Philip because of their sheltering pretenders to the throne can be compared to Alexander when razing Thebes to the ground about a decade later for the same reason since they harbored Amyntas, the legal heir in 359 BC – as suggested by some inscriptional evidence. Alexander has walked further in his father’s footsteps than we may think at first sight.
This meant the end of the Chalcidian League and with it Athens’ chances to recover Amphipolis. Philip now had full control over the peninsula’s rich timber and minerals (gold and silver), and he replaced the local coins with Macedonian coinage, especially the silver tetradrachme and later the gold staters that eventually circulated all over the ancient world.
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