Declaration of war Athens was already preparing for war when the news of
Alexander's death in June 323 BC became known; war started shortly after, probably in the beginning of September. Two Athenian politicians are known to have advised against the war: Phocion and
Demades, who represented the interests of the landed aristocracy. The latter lost his political rights because of his support of Macedonia, and especially for having sponsored the bill that gave Alexander the Great the status of a god. A friend of Antipater,
Aristotle was also condemned on a spurious charge of impiety, and left Athens for
Chalcis in
Euboea. Before his death, Alexander had wanted to settle his Greek mercenaries in
Persis, but many of them (in the tens of thousands) returned to Greece before that could happen. They escaped through a fleet raised by an Athenian mercenary named
Leosthenes, who brought them to the Greek mainland. Secretly in touch with his native city, Leosthenes kept about 8,000 of these mercenaries with him in Cape
Taenarum (a mercenary market on Spartan territory) and carved an alliance with the Aetolians, waiting for the right moment to go to war against Macedonia. The life of Leosthenes before the Lamian War has long been debated by scholars, who describe him as having served either Alexander or
Darius, then acting as either a private mercenary leader or a
strategos (an elected magistrate at Athens). John Walsh also suggests that Leosthenes' achievements were exaggerated by the ancient historian
Diodorus of Sicily.
Belligerents Athens was able to receive the support of many Greek states, principally in northern and central Greece. These states had likely been approached during the
Nemean Games that took place in summer 323, where representatives of most city-states gathered. The Aetolian League was the most natural ally, as its members were equally concerned by the Exiles' Decree. The alliance was possibly concluded in mid-September 323 BC. Other allies from the area joined successively in this chronological order:
Thessaly except
Pelinna,
Oetaea except
Heraklea,
Achaea Phthiotis except
Phthiotic Thebes,
Malis except
Lamia,
Doris,
Locris,
Phokis,
Ainis,
Alyzeia,
Dolopia,
Athamania, the island of
Leukas in the
Ionian Sea, some of the
Molossians in
Epirus. Alliances were also concluded further north with some
Illyrian and
Thracian tribes.
N. G. L. Hammond also mentions that the
Odrysian king
Seuthes III was at war with Macedonia at the same time, but does not connect this revolt to the Lamian War. fortress, with
Corinth and the
Corinthian Gulf behind. In the
Peloponnese,
Argos,
Sicyon, the
Acte peninsula including
Epidaurus and
Troezen,
Phlius,
Elis, and
Messenia joined the Hellenic League. Sparta refused to join, mainly because of their losses during the War of Agis III, but also because the war was led by Athens, which had refused to support Agis. In addition, Sparta did not want to join an alliance that counted its traditional enemies Argos and Messenia. Several leading Spartans were also held hostages by Macedonia in Asia.
Kleonai rejected the alliance with Athens, despite its earlier diplomatic overture during the Nemean Games nearby.
Arcadian states remained neutral, likewise because of their losses during the War of Agis. Although the Arcadians were initially pro-Macedonian, it is possible that
Demosthenes convinced them to withdraw from their alliance with Macedonia while he was in exile in Troezen. Rewarded for his diplomatic help in the Peloponnese, Demosthenes was recalled to Athens during the winter of 323–322 BC. The other islanders probably felt more threatened by the imperialism of Athens than that of Macedonia, and were more sympathetic to the cause of Samos, still occupied by Athens. Although Rhodes expelled its Macedonian garrison at the same time as the war, it might not have joined the Hellenic League. Nevertheless, very few states in Greece remained loyal to Macedonia, apart from the
Euboean League, still resentful at Athens for its recent interventions in the island, and Boeotia. After the destruction of Thebes in 335 BC, its territory was shared between the other Boeotian cities, which now feared that Athens would restore it.
Acarnania still supported Macedonia, because of Oiniadai, which had been taken by the Aetolian League. For an unknown reason, the Acarnanian city of Alyzeia sided alone with the Hellenic League. Macedonia also had garrisons in the
acropoleis of Thebes (
Cadmea) and
Corinth (
Acrocorinth). The occupation of the Acrocorinth ensured the neutrality of Corinth and also prevented the Peloponnesian states from joining their armies with that of northern states, as it blocked the Isthmus. Ioanna Kralli notes that apart Sicyon, "the Peloponnesian participants demonstrated lack of commitment" during the war as a result.
Early Athenian successes (autumn 323 BC) Once the war became official, Athens sent 50 talents to Leosthenes to pay his mercenaries and the allied Greeks made him "General of the Greeks". From Taenarum, he moved to Aetolia, where he received the command of 7,000 Aetolians, then to Boeotia in order to join his troops with that of Athens, which had sent 5,000 hoplites, 2,000 mercenaries, and 500 cavalry. Leosthenes defeated an army of Boeotians, Euboeans, and Macedonians (the garrison from the Cadmea), near
Plataea. This early success won the adhesion of most other states of central Greece. With an army of about 30,000 men, Leosthenes moved to the north and defended the
Thermopylae pass, while waiting for the Macedonian response. In order to prevent the revolt from spreading to
Thessaly, Antipater moved south with the Macedonian army of 13,000 phalangites and 600 cavalry, while his navy of 110
triremes followed him with supplies along the coast. In Thessaly, he recruited about 2,000 cavalry, then advanced towards the Greek army at the Thermopylae. However, the Thessalian cavalry betrayed Antipater and destroyed his Macedonian cavalry in the process. Antipater managed to turn back with his phalanx still intact and entered in Lamia (15km north of the Thermopylae), the only city of the area that had remained faithful to Macedonia. Antipater nonetheless suffered the first Macedonian defeat on Greek soil in 30 years, ever since the
Third Sacred War. At the same time, the Athenian
strategos Phaidros led an expedition that destroyed the Euboean city of
Styra, which belonged to
Eretria. Euboean cities were on the Macedonian side, except Karystos, which northern border was near Styra, and was likely helped by Athens against its neighbour. The goal of the expedition was perhaps to intimidate the Euboean cities, or the price demanded by Karystos for its alliance with Athens.
The war at sea At the start of the war, Athens had a massive navy of more than 410 warships: 360 triremes, 50
quadriremes, and 7 quinqueremes. It could nevertheless only man about 200 ships; a number that still outnumbered the available Macedonian fleet in the Aegean Sea. Initially, Antipater could only rely on the 110 ships that had escorted the treasure Alexander sent with Harpalus. However, in 322 BC, the situation was reversed with the decisive arrival of the Macedonian admiral
Cleitus the White, at the head of a large navy of 240 ships. These ships came from a navy of 1,000 vessels commissioned by Alexander before he died. Although Alexander's grandiose plans were abandoned after his death, some of the ships had already been built in the Levant. This passage has been widely discussed among modern scholars. In 1924, T. Walek set the standard view for the rest of the 20th century, that the Echinades islands cannot be those located off Acarnania in the Ionian Sea, but some islands in the
Malian Gulf off the city of
Echinus, not far from Lamia where Antipater was still besieged. In 2001, Brian Bosworth rejected Walek's view, and instead considered that Diodorus must be correct, as the Echinades islands are just off the city of Oiniadai, which was the city captured by the Aetolian League c.330 BC and one of the main causes of the war. Bosworth's theory has since shifted the majority view towards his explanation of the events. The Macedonian fleet commanded by Cleitus must have passed through the
Diolkos to sail that fast to Acarnania. Corinth and the Diolkos had remained firmly under Macedonian control thanks to the very strong fortress of the Acrocorinth nearby. The Macedonian navy was likely supporting a land offensive of the Acarnanians towards Oiniadai in an operation to retake this city from the Aetolian League. It would explain why the Aetolians suddenly left the siege of Lamia to return home. Grainger supposes it was to hold their elections, but Bosworth suggests that the Aetolians had to defend their territory attacked by the Acarnanians in late 323 BC. The two victories of Cleitus against Euetion apparently resulted in the evacuation of Oiniadai by the Aetolians, because in the next mention in the sources, this city was in Acarnanian hands. This side of the conflict prevented the Aetolians from helping the other Greeks against Antipater, as they were missing from the remaining battles of the war. The defeats off the Echinades island had not been decisive, and the Athenians still had several hundreds of ships. However, in the attempt to match the number of Macedonian ships, they overextended their limited amount of rowers, and their ships were undermanned. The Athenian war effort was still considerable as the sailors must been about 30,000, a number not seen since the
invasion of Greece by
Xerxes in 480. In the late summer 322 BC, the
largest battle of the Lamian war took place off the island of
Amorgos in the Cyclades, located not far from Samos, as Cleitus was by now challenging the Athenian hold of this island. Undermanned and outnumbered, the Athenian navy was soundly defeated. Another Athenian defeat might have taken place near the
Hellespont (now called the Dardanelles), as Athens had to bring corn supplies from the Black Sea through these narrow straights, which shores were controlled by Macedonia. At an unknown date, an Athenian army commanded by Phocion repelled an amphibious Macedonian raid led by Mikion on the town of
Rhamnous in Attica. This raid had possibly been launched from Chalcis while the Athenian navy was away.
Macedonian counter-offensive on land Antipater remained besieged in Lamia for most of the winter 323–322 BC, but he did not stay inactive. The Macedonian army made sorties, during one of which Leosthenes was killed, perhaps by a slinger. Antipater waited for reinforcement from
Lysimachus, the Macedonian commander in Thrace, but he was too facing a revolt from Seuthes, king of the Odrysians. He also requested help from
Leonnatus, who was in
Phrygia, and
Craterus in
Cilicia, whom Antipater also promised the hand of two of his available daughters; likely
Eurydice for Leonnatus and
Phila for Craterus. Leonnatus was the first to arrive; he could cross the Hellespont after the Athenian navy was defeated there. His help was not disinterested, as he intended to marry
Cleopatra, the sister of Alexander, who had offered herself in marriage to him with the support of Alexander's mother,
Olympias, who disliked Antipater. With such strong and symbolic supports, Leonnatus coveted the Macedonian throne. Leonnatus had an army of 20,000 foot soldiers and 1,500 cavalry. He arrived in Thessaly in early Spring 322 BC, but did not coordinate with Antipater. The new commander of the Greeks Antiphilus lifted the siege of Lamia to fight Leonnatus. The
following battle was only fought between the respective cavalries, of whom the very strong Thessalian cavalry commanded by
Menon of Pharsalus (also appointed commander of the Greeks) had the upper hand and even killed Leonnatus, but the Macedonian infantry could retreat on higher grounds. The location of the battle is not known; Yardley places it was at
Melitaea, in the north of Lamia, while Hammond just mentions "the open plain of Thessaly", and Westlake suggests it was "perhaps in the south of the Pelasgiotid plain". Antipater merged his army with that of Leonnatus and that of Craterus, who had just arrived from Cilicia with 10,000 hoplites (including 6,000 veterans), 1,500 cavalry, and 1,000 Persian archers and slingers. Antipater thus commanded a very large army of 40,000 soldiers, 3,000 archers and slingers, and 5,000 cavalry, which was much bigger than the 25,000 hoplites and 3,500 horses of Antiphilus. The
final battle took place at
Crannon on 6 August 322 BC. Although the Thessalian cavalry had the upper hand in the horse battle, the Greek infantry was pushed back and disengaged. Casualties were limited, with 500 dead for the Greeks (including 200 Athenians) and 130 for the Macedonians, but the outcome was decisive enough to compel the Athenians and their allies to sue for peace.
Brian Bosworth suggests that initially, the Macedonian armies commanded by Antipater and Leonnatus were mostly composed of Asian levies and mercenaries. It is only with the arrival of Craterus with his army only made of Macedonians soldiers that the Greeks lost their momentum on land. The generals of the Greek Antiphilus and Menon first wished to negotiate for the entire alliance, but Antipater only wanted to deal with each city individually. He then conquered Thessalian cities one by one, which made all the Greek states apart from Athens and the Aetolians to surrender individually. Greek states thereafter competed with each other to have the best terms possible from Antipater. ==Aftermath==