Chaeronea

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Chaeronea Χαιρώνεια
Location
Chaeronea
Coordinates	38°31′N 22°51′E / 38.517°N 22.85°E / 38.517; 22.85Coordinates: 38°31′N 22°51′E / 38.517°N 22.85°E / 38.517; 22.85
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Government
Country:	Greece
Periphery:	Central Greece
Prefecture:	Boeotia
Population statistics (as of 2001[1])
City
- Population:	2,218
Codes
Auto:	ΒΙ

Chaeronea (Greek: Χαιρώνεια) is a municipality in the Boeotia Prefecture, Greece. Population 2,218 (2001). It is located in the Kifisós River valley and NW of Thebes. It is the last city of historical Boeotia before the border with Phocis.

History

The Lion of Chaeronea in Chaeronea as it appeared circa 1914 . It was erected by the Thebans in memory of their dead after the battle of Chaeronea. Excavation of the tomb brought to light 254 skeletons, laid out in seven rows

First settled in the Prehistoric period at the site now known as Magoula Balomenou (Μαγούλα Μπαλωμένου), 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. In 338 BCE, Chaeronea was the site of a battle fought by Philip II of Macedon against a coalition of Greek states; during the battle, the elite unit of 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 funerary monument erected in honor of the Sacred Band, was rediscovered by English travellers. The fragmentary monument was reassembled and installed 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.

In 86 BCE, Archelaus, a general of Mithridates VI of Pontus, landed in Boetia. He was met by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla near Chaeronea and in the ensuing battle Archelaus was defeated.

The site of the Theban mass grave was excavated in 1879-80 by P. Stamatakis, and the prehistoric site of Magoula Balamenou 23 years later by the archaeologist G. Soteriadis.

References