Hegemon: Philip of Macedonia

The Battle of Khaironea (Chaironea)

by Thomas K. Sundell

And so it is today, the day of battle, and with the dawn the king's forces are in position and he orders their advance.

Rather than attack across the entire Allied line at once, the Makedones' advance at an oblique angle. The Makedones right, under Philippos, will strike the Athenians on the Allied left before the centers or Allied right are engaged.

This maneuver, perfected long ago by the Thebans under Epaminondas, allows the attacker to weight a portion of his line to crush the enemy flank. Another advantage derives from the tendency of hoplite formations to drift as each man tries to protect his neighbor's flank with his hoplon (the distinctive large round shields of the hoplite warriors). By attacking one end of the defensive line, the attackers hope to create a gap between the enemy formations as the defenders shift in response to the attack.

At first the Makedones under the king push the Athenians hard. The close order of the hoplites withstands the pressure of the sarissa (pike) armed phalangists. So long as the Athenian shield wall holds the Makedones make no progress.

The howling din of screaming men and the clash of iron spear or pike heads against bronze-faced shields is nearly overwhelming. Above that noise comes the high-pitched pipes, as they play their commands. Whatever dew lay over the field at dawn is soon lost to the churning feet, and dust rises to cling and choke. Only blood will settle the dust. The men are stifling from their exertions within the close confines of their ranks and files, and with heads enveloped in their metal helmets.

Behind the first rank, the remaining ranks press. To be first in the file is to be the head of an eight or more man auger, gouging the enemys ranks. lf a man falls, his mate in the file steps over him to keep the cutting edge pressing forward.

The Makedone hypaspists and Athenian hoplites carry the burden of battle alone for some time. Losses are not heavy yet, but both sides are leaking men: killed, wounded, or exhausted. How long they fought at this stage is uncertain - a half-hour or more?

Then the Makedones begin to yield ground. Excitement climbs among the Athenians. Their leading general for the day, Stratokles, urges the ranks forward, "Don't stop pressing them until you shove them back to Makedonis!" His colleagues, Lysikles and Chares, urge the men on.

At the far end of the field, the Boiotians and Makedones have yet to clash, while the Athenians already taste victory.

The Makedones under Philippos withdraw step by step as the Athenians press forward. Back stepping slowly they ascend the slight rise of the low dike that channels one of the several stream that cross the field of battle to feed the River Kephissos.

Then, with advantage of the rise, Philippos orders his men forward again, to embrace the Athenians and lock them in place.

The contingents from the small Allied states link the Athenians and Boiotians. With the Athenian advance, they too must advance. But each group - Korinthians, Megarans, Akhaians and others - is its own formation, and they do not advance evenly, smoothly. A gap opens between the Akhaians and the right, where stand the Boiotians and Thebans.

That break in the Allied line is what the Makedones are seeking.

As the Makedones center under Antipatros crunches forward to hit the small state contingents, Alexandros leads his heavyarmed horsemen through the gap and around the Boiotian flank.

On the Makedones right, Philippos' royal bodyguard and the hypaspists become a driving force the Athenians cannot withstand.

The fighting is fierce and sustained. The battle is now three or more actions:

    1. Philippos against the Athenians in a head-on collision where the professionalism and unique armaments of the Makedones are defeating the traditional Athenian levy and hoplite formation.

    2. Antipatros with the 14 phalanxes against the right flank of the Athenians and the full line of the disparate Allied small states.

    3. Alexandros against the left flank and rear of the Boiotian line, soon reinforced by an attack of the Makedones light horse and light foot against the opposite Theban flank, following their defeat of the opposing Boiotian light foot.

The Allied left and center gives way. Antipatros can now shift a portion of the Makedones phalanxes to support Alexandros. On the Allied left the great killing begins. With the Athenian shield wall down, men die in clumps or, worse, in flight taken from behind. The faster the Allied left and center disintegrates, the sooner the Makedones can move on the stubborn unyielding Boiotians and Thebans.

What else can the Thebans do? Surrounded, with surrender not an option, they can only call on their patron gods and heroes, and fight on. The Sacred Band, the heart of Theban strength, goes down, man by man. The Sacred Band, which under Pelopidas had spearheaded the Theban victory over the Spartiates at Leuktra 32 years earlier, died at Khaironea. Each couple in their ranks mated lovers or friends - fights as if there is no tomorrow. And for them, there is none.

After something like three hours of fighting, the killing ends at Khaironea, although the dying goes on as wounded men succumb. The center stream that crosses the small plain gains a new name this day, the River Haemon - Blood River.

Athenian dead number a thousand, and two thousand are prisoners - 30% of their force, with the rest fugitives fleeing through the Kerata pass, running towards Attika. The Akhaians also took heavy losses, and the other small Allied states losses in lower proportions. Thebai and the Boiotians have suffered horrendous losses, well over those of Athenai. Of the Theban Sacred Band - the Theban elite - at least 254 of the 300 died on the field.

The Makedones and their allies were lightly blooded. The losses taken in the push of the pike were not a tenth of the losses the Allies experienced when their lines were broken and they turned and fled.

Historians disagree on whether the initial withdrawal of the Makedones right under Philippos was feigned. Polyainos, in his Stratagems 4.2.2, is the only ancient source for this subterfuge. Yet Philippos was famed for his cunning and his ruses.

After setting up a trophy of captured arms, the traditional declaration of victory, the king sacrificed to the gods - his progenitors Zeus and Herakles, and to Apollo on whose behalf he fought for the Amphiktyony - and awarded those of his men who'd shown conspicuous bravery. The Makedones dead were cremated and a mound raised over their ashes.

Another story from an ancient source critical to the king claims that during the celebration Philippos became drunk and led a parade through the corpses, chanting the opening lines of Demosthenes' decrees as a jingle, "Son of Demosthenes, Demosthenes, Of Paian deme, proposes these..."

An Athenian prisoner, the orator Demades, admonished Philippos for his display. Philippos reacted with shame, tearing off his victory wreath. He released Demades from captivity and honored him.

As for Demosthenes, the Athenian hoplite and politician fled the field, and worse, discarded his shield to run the faster.

Philippos is reported to have wept at the sight of the Theban dead. He must have personally known many members of the Sacred Band from his years in his youth as a hostage in Thebai. In any event, he ordered the raising of a monument for the Sacred Band, now known as the Lion of Khaironea.

Hegemon: Philip of Macedonia

Back to Table of Contents -- Against the Odds vol. 1 no. 1
Back to Against the Odds List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2002 by LPS.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com
* Buy this back issue or subscribe to Against the Odds direct from LPS.