Lamian War
Lamian War: the anti-Macedonian insurrection of the Greek city states after the death of Alexander the Great (323/322).
In the final years of Alexander, he had intervened in the domestic policies of the Greek city states, for example by demanding divine honors and ordering the return of the exiles. These interferences violated the terms League of Corinth.
On hearing the news of Alexander's death in faraway Babylon (11 June 322 BCE), the Greek city states (Athens, the Aetolian League, Argos, Thessaly...) attempted to liberate themselves from the Macedonian yoke (July 323). At first, they were successful and isolated Alexander's viceroy Antipater in the fortress of Lamia, just north of Thermopylae.
In the spring of 322, Leonnatus, the Macedonian satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, was able to relieve Antipater, although he died in action and the war continued. In the summer Craterus arrived with the 11,500 veterans and a navy that he had built in Cilicia. This meant the end of the war. Using these reinforcements, Antipater was able to defeat the Greeks at Crannon (5 September 322).
Their towns, which had been free allies during Alexander's reign, were from now on treated as Macedonian subjects. It also meant the end the Athenian democracy. Demosthenes, one of the politicians who had organized the revolt, committed suicide.
Literature
- A.B. Bosworth, "Why did Athens lose the Lamian War?", in: O. Palagia & S.V. Tracy, The Macedonians in Athens 322-229 BC. (2003) 14-22
- O. Schmitt, Der Lamische Krieg 1992)