Lamian War in the context of "Athens (polis)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Lamian War

The Lamian War or the Hellenic War (323–322 BC), was an unsuccessful attempt by Athens and a large coalition of Greek states to end the hegemony of Macedonia over Greece just after the death of Alexander the Great. It was the last time Athens played a significant role as an independent power.

War was simmering in Greece after Alexander the Great issued the Exiles' Decree (in 324 BC), which ordered the Greek states to return all the people they had forced into exile. This decree meant that Athens had to surrender the island of Samos, colonised by Athenian clerurchs since 365 BC, while the Aetolian League had to leave Oiniadai, taken c.330 BC. Once the death of Alexander became known in June 323 BC, most states in mainland Greece revolted and founded the Hellenic League, recalling the alliance forged during the Persian Wars; this time with Macedonia in the role of the foreign invader. The Greeks were initially successful under their Athenian commander in chief Leosthenes, who managed to besiege Antipater, the Macedonian general in Europe, in the city of Lamia, which gave its name to the war. At this point however, the arrival of a large Macedonian fleet commanded by Cleitus the White from the Levant turned the tide in favour of Macedonia. Even though Athens had more ships than Macedonia, it did not have enough crews to man them all and its overextended navy was defeated off the Echinades island and Amorgos.

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Lamian War in the context of Classical Athens

Classical Athens, known contemporaneously simply as Athens (Ancient Greek: Ἀθῆναι, Athênai [atʰɛ̂ːnai̯]; Modern Greek: Αθήναι, Athine [aˈθine]), was the major urban centre of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name during the classical period (480–323 BC) of ancient Greece, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions, it remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (amid the aftermath of the Lamian War). The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved during the Age of Pericles in the 440s and 430s BC.

In the classical period, Athens was a centre for the arts, learning, and philosophy, and it was the home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and many other prominent philosophers, writers, and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and as the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then-known European continent.

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Lamian War in the context of Leosthenes

Leosthenes (Ancient Greek: Λεωσθένης Λεωσθένους Κεφαλῆθεν, romanizedLeōsthenēs Leōsthenous Kephalēthen; died 323 BC) was an Athenian who was commander of the combined Greek army in the Lamian War. Leosthenes was the son of his namesake father Leosthenes who had suffered exile in 362/1 BC and who had fled to the court of Philip II. It is unknown by what means he had obtained the high reputation he had when he first makes his appearance in history. It has been inferred from a passage in Strabo, that he had first served under Alexander the Great in Asia; but it now seems certain that this is a mistake, and rather the reference should have been to Leonnatus.

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Lamian War in the context of Battle of the Echinades (322 BC)

The Battle of the Echinades was one of the naval battles of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), fought between the Macedonian navy under Cleitus the White and the Athenian navy.

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Lamian War in the context of Battle of Amorgos

The Battle of Amorgos was one of the naval battles of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), fought between the Macedonian navy under Cleitus the White and the Athenian navy under Euetion. Although few details are known, it was a clear Athenian defeat, although the Athenians seem to have suffered few losses. Regarded as the decisive naval battle of the war, it signalled the end of Athenian thalassocracy and political independence.

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Lamian War in the context of Achaia Phthiotis

Achaea Phthiotis (Ancient Greek: Ἀχαΐα Φθιῶτις, lit.'Achaea of Phthia') or simply Phthiotis (Φθιῶτις) was a historical region of Thessaly, in ancient Greece.

It lay in southeastern Thessaly, between Mount Othrys and the northern shore of the Pagasetic Gulf. Inhabited by perioikoi, it was originally formally not a part of Thessaly proper but a Thessalian dependency, and had a seat of its own in the Delphic Amphictyony. From 363 BC it came under Boeotian control, but split away during the Lamian War. In the 3rd century BC it became a member of the Aetolian League, until declared free and autonomous by the Roman Republic in 196 BC, following the Second Macedonian War, and re-incorporated into Thessaly.

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Lamian War in the context of Nomothetai

Nomothetai (νομοθέται, singular: νομοθέτης, nomothetēs, "lawgivers") were lawmaking panels in classical Athens that approved or repealed laws (nomoi). They were established after the restoration of democracy in 403 BCE to separate the passing by the citizen Assembly (Ekklesia) of temporary decrees from the making of permanent laws.

They continued through the fourth century BCE but ended with the end of democracy after Athens lost its independence following the Lamian War (322 BCE).

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