Second Sacred War
Part of the First Peloponnesian War
Date440s BC
Location
Temple of Apollo at Delphi
Result Brief Spartan-installed Delphian rule
Belligerents
 Phocis

The Second Sacred War was the Spartan defeat of the Phocians at Delphi and the restoration of Delphian self-government.

Background

In 458 or 457 BC, the Phocians captured three towns in the Spartan metropolis of Doris. A Spartan army marched on Doris, defeated the Phocians, and restored Dorian rule. On their way back to Peloponnese, an Athenian force attacked the Spartan army but were repelled, and the Spartans returned home. After the Five Years' Truce, Sparta embarked on a campaign of truncating "Athens' imperialistic ambitions in Central Greece".[1]

Conflict

The Second Sacred War (Ancient Greek: ἱερὸς πόλεμος)[1] was a conflict over the occupation of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.[2] The Spartans quickly removed the Athenian-backed Phocians and returned stewardship to the Delphians.[3] After the Spartans left, however, an Athenian army led by Pericles took the city and re-installed Phocian rule.[4]

Dating of Conflict

Accepting the writings of the Greek historian Philochorus, a group of historians led by Karl Julius Beloch, Benjamin Dean Meritt, Theodore Wade-Gery and Malcolm Francis McGregor argued that the Spartan ejection of the Phocians occurred in 449 BC, and that the Athenians re-installed them in 447 BC.[5][6] An alternative view was put forward by historians led by Arnold Wycombe Gomme and Felix Jacoby who rejected Philochorus' chronology. Instead, they asserted that both marches on Delphi happened in 448 BC.[7][8][9][10][11]

Comment

This Sacred War and the Third were the only two to be referred to as such in classical antiquity.[1] As of 1997, there was no extant evidence that these changes in Delphian governance had any effect on pilgrims to Pythia.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Skoczylas, Frances Anne (August 1987). The concept of sacred war in Ancient Greece (Thesis). Vancouver: University of British Columbia. doi:10.14288/1.0097277. hdl:2429/26920.
  2. ↑ Thucydides (1910) [5th century BC], ΙΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ Α [HISTORY A.], Ιστορία του Πελοποννησιακού Πολέμου [History of the Peloponnesian War] (in Ancient Greek), translated by Crawley, Richard, p. 112, VIAF 182669534
  3. 1 2 Dillon, Matthew (1997). "The Sanctity of Greek Pilgrims". Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece. Milton Park: Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 0-415-12775-0.
  4. ↑ Plutarch (1859) [2nd century], Περικλής [Pericles], Βίοι Παράλληλοι [Parallel Lives] (in Ancient Greek), translated by Dryden, John; Clough, Arthur Hugh, p. XXI
  5. ↑ Beloch, Karl Julius (1912). Griechische Geschichte [Greek History] (in German). Vol. 1 (second redesigned ed.). Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner. p. 213. OCLC 697776390. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  6. ↑ Meritt, Benjamin Dean; Wade-Gery, H. T.; McGregor, Malcolm Francis (1950). "The Chronological Background of the Fifty Years". The Athenian Tribute Lists. Vol. III. Princeton, New Jersey: American School of Classical Studies at Athens. pp. 178–179. OCLC 25343903.
  7. ↑ Gomme, A. W. (1956). A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: The Ten Years' War. Vol. II. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 337 & 409. LCCN 45004190.
  8. ↑ Cloché, Paul (1946). "La Politique Extèrieure d'Athènes de 454–453 á 446–5 avant J.–C" [The Foreign Policy of Athens from 454–453 to 446–5 BC]. Les Études Classiques (in French). Namur. 14: 23–25. ISSN 0014-200X. OCLC 1568337.
  9. ↑ Jacoby, Felix, ed. (1954–1964). Fragmente der griechischen Historiker [Fragments of the Greek Historians] (in German). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  10. ↑ Meiggs, Russell (1972). "Epilogue". The Athenian Empire. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 404–412. ISBN 0-19-814296-X.
  11. ↑ de Ste. Croix, G. E. M. (1972). The Origins of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 189. London: Gerald Duckworth and Company.
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