Battle of Athens

The Battle of Athens
Part of the Macedonian-Hellenistic War.
Date
308 BC
Location
Outside the walls of Athens
Result
Macedonian victory
<TR> Combatants</TR>
<TR>
<TD>Kingdom of Macedon</TD>
<TD>Hellenic League</TD>
</TR>
<TR>Commanders</TR>
<TR>
<TD>Cassander</TD>
<TD>Thucydides†</TD>
</TR>
<TR>Strength</TR>
<TR>
<TD>30,000 infantry<BR>7,000 cavalry</TD>
<TD>35,000 infantry<BR>1,000 cavalry</TD>
</TR>
<TR>Casualties</TR>
<TR>
<TD>2,300 wounded<BR>1,200 dead</TD>
<TD>4,000 wounded<BR>3,000 dead<BR>4,000 captured</TD>
</TR>
<TR>Macedonian-Hellenistic War</TR>
<TR>
<TD>Battle of Athens</TD>
<TD>Marathon</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>Attica</TD>
<TD>Siege of Athens</TD>
</TR>
==Battle of Athens==
===Background===
In 308 BC the city of Athens revolted against its Macedonian garrison. The leaders of Athens, among them Agathocles and Thucydides, had planned the revolt together with Kratesipolis, the Queen of Corinth. Shortly afterwards, Cassander marched out from Pella with his army to defeat the greeks in battle and take back the city of Athens.
Cassander's march was timed with Antigonus, who reigned over Asia Minor. The plan was for Antigonus to attack the southern greek cities by sea while Cassander attacked by land. Between them, they would carve up the independent greek city states.
===Prelude===
Cassander's army arrived on the field outside of Athens a few days later. The Greeks awaited his arrival with a force of hoplites from all over Greece who had arrived to fight for the independence of their country. Thucydides was the military leader who was in charge of the greek army, whereas Cassander, the king of Macedon, commanded the macedonian army.
The armies were roughly in equal strength. The Macedonians had roughly 30,000 infantry, including around 15,000 phalangites and 3,000 Hypaspistai. The infantry also included celtic and cretan mercenaries. Their cavalry numbered around 7,000 about half of which was either Hetairoi or Thessalian heavy cavalry. The greeks on the other hand had roughly 35,000 infantry, about half of which were hoplites. Among these were mostly Athenian but there were also a few soldiers from many other cities, such as Argos, Patras, Delphi and Sparta. However, a large number of the Athenian hoplites were rather ill-equipped and ill-disciplined. The greek cavalry, compared to the Macedonian, was weak. Approximetly 1,000 men at most, including a few celts.
The armies formed up on the Attican plains outside Athens. The Macedonian formation was as such: On the far right 1,000 hypaspists of the Agema were positioned, as greek tradition was to place the most elite units on the right flank. After these came the veteran phalangites, who had better equipment and more experience than the rest. In the center, another unit of hypaspists was placed, armed with sarissas. Another band of veteran phalangites had been handpicked to hold the center along with these hypaspists. Left of the center were the fresh and poorly equipped phalangites. They had training in phalanx warfare but they had seen few, if any, battles. These recruits were flanked by hoplites of varying equipment and training. These hoplites were not very numerous, and many of them were voulenteers from Boetia. On the far left was another unit of hypaspists. These were not armed with sarissas, but javelins, swords and heavier shields. These soldiers were meant not to engage the enemy directly, but to provide a more mobile element. On both sides Cassander's phalangite army was flanked by thracian, epirote, illyrian and celtic mercenaries. The Thessalian cavalry, lead by Achilles was protecting the left flank, while the Companions protected the right.
The greeks, led by Thucydides, was not as disciplined. Most of the troops were made up of Athenian militia. However Thucydides followed greek tradition and sent his most elite troops to the right flank, with one exception. He would command the army from the center, surrounded by the Pericles squadron of elite and well equipped hoplites. The 300 spartans that had joined the battle protected the rearguard, but were not commanded by Thucydides but rather Leonida who was watching the battle from the walls of Athens. The greek cavalry was kept in reserve, mostly due to the fact that Thucydides did not trust them.
Thucydides was a strong conservative and believed that courage and desire to win alone could win battles. However he had devised a single owl to be released by a slave once the Macedonians had started their march. Thucydides this false religious sign would be enough to boost the morale of the greeks. Cassander, on the other hand, was schooled during the campaigns of Alexander the Great and had learned how to use tactics to his advantage, however his tactics were too rather simple. He would rain arrows on the greeks from afar and then close in. His phalangites would pin the greek infantry while cavalry would round and at the same time attack both the right and left flank. For this to happen at the same time required extreme discipline, but the result would be that both the right and left flanks would buckle at the same time and thus cause a mass route for the cavalry to ride down.
===The Battle===
Cassander initiated the battle by letting his cretan mercenaries open fire on the greeks. The heavily armoured greeks took little damage from this, due to their large hoplon shields. However, this provoked Thucydides to order a charge. The slave designated to release the owl accidently killed the creature and thus the greek morale was not further increased. The question remains wether this would have been enough to win the battle or not.
The Greeks clashed with the Macedonians and in the center the greeks actually managed to force the phalangites back a few feet. Cassander ordered a few of the hetairoi, led by Memnon to dismount and attack the greeks and with their help, the Macedonians pushed back the Greeks. On the flanks the Greeks were not as succesfull however, and the heavy cavalry struck the flanks at the same time, causing widespread chaos and which soon erupted into a rout. Thucydides and his Pericles squadron began an orderly retreat from the center and back to the city gates. Were it not for the fact that Achilles, the leader of the Thessalians, switched sides in the middle of the battle along with some of his men, Thucydides might have been cut down in the rout. However Achilles saved many greeks as he attacked the Hetairoi and kept them busy from pursuing. In the ensuing fight, Achilles was slain.
Many of the routing Greeks were saved by the Celtic cavalry, led by Athelstan, that charged and stalled many of the pursuing Macedonians. The Spartan rearguard also entered the battle at this point, advancing in phalanx formation and pushing back many of the Macedonian forces. It was during this time that a few of the Hypaspistoi and Spartans engaged in duels that pitted the best Greek infantry against the best Macedonian infantry.
Near the city gates, Thucydides was attacked by Hypaspistoi and managed to fight a few of them off before an arrow struck him in the throat. A Hypastpist finished the dying Greek general off.
===Aftermath===
The Greeks suffered a devestating 8,000 casualties, including 3,000 dead. Another 4,000 greeks were captured. The Macedonians suffered around 3,500 casualties, including 1,200 dead. All in all it was a crushing but somewhat costly victory for Cassander. Many things had stopped him from causing more casualties to the greeks. The 300 spartans, the betrayal of Achilles and the arrival of the charge of the Celts had all stalled his troops from chasing down routers.
This battle would eventually lead to the Siege of Athens.
Category:Battles