Chaeronea

Chaeronea (/ˌkaɪrəˈniːə/ or /ˌkɛrəˈniːə/;Greek: Χαιρώνεια, Chaironeia, Ancient Greek: [kʰai̯rɔ̌ːneːa]) is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 80 kilometers east of Delphi. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 2,218 (2001). It is located by the mountain Thourion and in the Kifisós river valley, NW of Thebes.

History

First settled in the Prehistoric period at the site now known as Magoula Balomenou (Μαγούλα Μπαλωμένου), its older name was Arne. 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 along with Acraephnium and Copia.

Chaeronea was the site of several historical battles. Best known is that of 338 BCE, between Philip II of Macedon and a coalition of various Greek states, mainly Thebes and Athens. During the battle, the elite unit of Theban soldiers known as the Sacred Band of Thebes was wiped out completely (See Battle of Chaeronea). In 1818, the so-called Lion of Chaeronea, a nearly 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) funerary monument erected in honor of the Sacred Band, was rediscovered by English travellers. The fragmentary monument was reassembled and installed in 1902 by an organisation called the Order of Chaeronea atop a pedestal at the site of its discovery. The ancient biographer and essayist Plutarch was born in Chaeronea, and several times refers to these and other facts about his native place in his writings.