|
The Battle of Crocus Field was a battle in the Third Sacred War, fought between the armies of Phocis, under Onomarchos, and the combined Thessalian and Macedonian army under Philip II of Macedon. In the bloodiest battle recorded in Ancient Greek history, the Phocians were decisively defeated by Philip's forces. Philip's victory secured his appointment as ruler of Thessaly, marking an important step in the rise of Macedon to political ascendancy in Ancient Greece. Opinion amongst historians is divided as to the year of the battle; some favour 353 BC, and others 352 BC. ==Sources and Chronology== :''For further information on this topic, see Third Sacred War (section 'Chronology")'' The ancient sources for the Third Sacred War are scant, and generally lacking in firm chronological information.〔Buckler, p. ''xiv''.〕〔Buckler, p. 148.〕 The main source for the period is Diodorus Siculus's ''Bibliotheca historica'', written in the 1st century BC, which is therefore very much a secondary source.〔Green, ''Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age''. p. ''xxiv''.〕 Diodorus is often derided by modern historians for his style and inaccuracies, but he preserves many details of the ancient period found nowhere else.〔Green, ''Greek History 480–431 BC'', pp. 1–13.〕〔Cawkwell, p. 31.〕 Diodorus worked primarily be epitomizing the works of other historians, omitting many details where they did not suit his purpose, which was to illustrate moral lessons from history; his account of the Third Sacred War therefore contains many gaps.〔 Beyond Diodorus, further details of the Sacred War can be found in the orations of Athenian statesmen, primarily Demosthenes and Aeschines, which have survived intact.〔 Since these speeches were never intended to be historical material, they must be treated with circumspection; Demosthenes and Aeschines have been described as "a couple of liars, neither of whom can be trusted to have told the truth in any matter in which it was remotely in his interest to lie".〔Cawkwell, p. 92.〕 Nevertheless, their allusions to contemporary or past events indicates some of the gaps in Diodorus's account, and helps with the arrangement of the chronology. The accounts of Diodorus, Demosthenes and Aeschines can be further supplemented by fragments of otherwise lost histories (such as that by Theopompus) and by contemporary epigraphic sources.〔〔 Modern historians' dates for the war have been hotly debated, and there is no clear consensus.〔Buckler, pp. 148–195.〕 It is generally accepted that the war lasted 10 years, and ended in summer 346 BC (one of the only firm dates), which yields a date of 356 BC for the beginning of the war, with Philomelos's seizure of Delphi.〔 After Philomelos's defeat at Neon, the Thebans thought it safe to send the general Pammenes to Asia with 5000 hoplites. A combination of evidence suggests that Pammenes met with Philip at Maroneia in Thrace, in 355 BC, presumably on his outward journey to Asia.〔 Buckler, the only historian to produce a systematic study of the sacred war, therefore places Neon earlier in 355 BC.〔 Other historians have placed Neon in 354 BC, since Diodorus says that the battle took place while Philip besieged Methone, which Diodorus (at one point) places in 354 BC.〔 However, Diodorus's chronology for the sacred war is very confused – he dates the start and end of the war a year too late, variously says the war lasted 9, 10 or 11 years, and included the siege of Methone twice under different dates – and his dates cannot therefore be relied upon.〔 Disregarding the dates, most historians agree upon the same sequence of events for this part of the Sacred War. The principal question is therefore when that sequence started. Thus, Buckler (as well as Beloch and Cloche) dates Neon to 355 BC, Methone to 355–354 BC, Philip's first Thessalian campaign to 354 BC, and his second to 353 BC.〔 Conversely, Cawkwell, Sealey, Hammond and others lower all these dates by one year, beginning with Neon in 354 BC.〔〔Cawkwell, p. 185.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Crocus Field」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|