Chaeronea is a municipality in the
Boeotia PrefectureBoeotia is one of the prefectures of Greece. It is within the Central Greece periphery, and its area was known in ancient times. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes, and the area has access to the island of Euboea via two bridges : one that runs through Chalcis, and...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
. Population 2,218 (2001). It is located in the Kifisós River valley and NW of Thebes. It is the last city of historical Boeotia before the border with
PhocisPhocis is an ancient district and a modern prefecture of Greece, located in Central Greece, stretching from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth.-Geography:Ancient Phocis was about 1,619 km² in area, bounded on...
.
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First settled in the Prehistoric period at the site now known as Magoula Balomenou (Μαγούλα Μπαλωμένου), Chaeronea was subject to Orchomenus which was, beginning in 600 BCE, a member of the Boeotian League.
Chaeronea is a municipality in the
Boeotia PrefectureBoeotia is one of the prefectures of Greece. It is within the Central Greece periphery, and its area was known in ancient times. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes, and the area has access to the island of Euboea via two bridges : one that runs through Chalcis, and...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
. Population 2,218 (2001). It is located in the Kifisós River valley and NW of Thebes. It is the last city of historical Boeotia before the border with
PhocisPhocis is an ancient district and a modern prefecture of Greece, located in Central Greece, stretching from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth.-Geography:Ancient Phocis was about 1,619 km² in area, bounded on...
.
History
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First settled in the Prehistoric period at the site now known as Magoula Balomenou (Μαγούλα Μπαλωμένου), Chaeronea was subject to Orchomenus which was, beginning in 600 BCE, a member of the Boeotian League. In the late 5th century BCE, Chaironeia belonged to one of the 11 Boeotian districts. In 338 BCE, Chaeronea was the site of a battle fought by
Philip II of MacedonPhilip II of Macedon, Philip II of Macedon, Philip II of Macedon, ( — φίλος = friend + ίππος = horse — transliterated 382 – 336 BC, was an ancient Greek king (basileus) of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip...
against a coalition of Greek states; during the battle, the elite unit of soldiers known as the
Sacred Band of ThebesThe Sacred Band of Thebes was a troop of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 age-structured couples, which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC. It was organised by the Theban commander Gorgidas in 378 BC and played a crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra...
was wiped out completely (See
Battle of ChaeroneaFor the later battle, see Battle of Chaeronea The Battle of Chaeronea 338 BC, fought near Chaeronea, in Boeotia, was the greatest victory of Philip II of Macedon...
). In 1818, the so-called Lion of Chaeronea, a nearly 20-foot tall funerary monument erected in honor of the Sacred Band, was rediscovered by English travellers. The fragmentary monument was reassembled and installed atop a pedestal at the site of its discovery. The ancient biographer and essayist
PlutarchPlutarch, born Plutarchos then, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 – 120, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
was born in Chaeronea, and several times refers to these and other facts about his native place in his writings.
In 86 BCE,
ArchelausArchelaus was a general and possibly a son in law of Mithridates VI of Pontus in the First Mithridatic War...
, a general of
Mithridates VI of Pontus-Early reign:Mithradates VI was the son of Mithradates V , who died when he was a boy. During Eupator's minority, supreme power was exercised by his mother queen Laodice, whom he eventually deposed and committed to prison...
, landed in Boetia. He was met by the Roman general
Lucius Cornelius SullaLucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , or simply Sulla, was a Roman general and politician, holding the office of consul twice as well as the dictatorship....
near Chaeronea and in
the ensuing battleFor the earlier battle, see Battle of Chaeronea The Battle of Chaeronea was the victory of the Roman forces of Lucius Cornelius Sulla over King Mithridates VI of Pontus near Chaeronea, in Boeotia, in 86 BC during the First Mithridatic War. This battle is described in three ancient texts, although...
Archelaus was defeated.
The site of the Theban mass grave was excavated in 1879-80 by P. Stamatakis, and the prehistoric site of Magoula Balamenou 23 years later by the archaeologist G. Soteriadis.