Peace of Philocrates

346 BC peace treaty between Athens and Macedon

Peace of Philocrates is the name of the peace treaty concluded in 346 BC between Athens and Macedon under Philip II. Philocrates was the name of the main Athenian negotiator of the Treaty.

Athens and Macedon had been at war since 356 BC, after Philip's capture of the Athenian colonies of Pydna and Potidea. The Third Sacred War began shortly after the Phocian seizure of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. Athens allied herself with Phocis, against the other members of the Amphictyonic League. In 354 or 353 BCE, the Thessalians, having been defeated by the Phocians, requested that Philip become archon of Thessaly, to which Philip assented, drawing Macedon into the Sacred War. In 352 BC, Philip's erstwhile ally, the Chalkidian League (led by Olynthos), alarmed by Philip's growing power, sought to ally themselves with Athens, in clear breach of their alliance with Philip. In response, Philip attacked Chalkidiki in 349 BC, and by 348 BC, had completely destroyed the Chalkidian League, razing Olynthos in the process. The prominent Athenian politician Philocrates had suggested offering Philip peace in 348 BC, during the Olynthian war. The war between Athens and Philip thus continued through 347 BC, as did the Sacred War.

In early 346 BC, Philip let it be known that he intended to march south with the Thessalians, though not where or why. When the Athenians received this news, they rapidly changed policy. If Thermopylae could no longer be defended, then Athenian security could no longer be guaranteed. During this meeting, Aeschines made the case that Philip should hand the former Athenian colony of Amphipolis back to Athens in return for peace.

The embassy then returned to Athens to present the proposed terms to the Ecclesia, along with a Macedonian embassy to Athens, empowered by Philip to finalize an agreement. The Athenians debated the peace treaty in April and tried to propose that the peace take the form of a "common peace" in which all Greek states could partake (including Phocis). However, Demosthenes (at this point a strong proponent of peace) persuaded the Ecclesia that Philip would never agree to such a peace, and that Athens's vulnerable position meant that they had little choice but to accept Philip's terms. When they arrived, the Athenians (again including Demosthenes and Aeschines) were rather surprised to find embassies from all the principal combatants in the Sacred War were also present, in order to discuss a settlement to the war. Demosthenes became very anxious about these delays, and proposed that an Athenian delegation should sail without delay to any place where they might learn that Philip was to be found, and there receive from him the oath of ratification. Demosthenes later claimed that he was trying to prevent Philip seizing any more Thracian towns, When Philip returned from Thrace, he received both the Athenian and other embassies. Military preparations were ongoing in Pella during this period, but Philip told the ambassadors that they were for a campaign against Halus, a small Thessalian city which held out against him. All of central and southern Greece was now at Philip's mercy, However, the Athenians were still ignorant of this turn of events when Phocian ambassadors came to Athens to plead for military aid around 9 July. Over the next few years, Demosthenes became leader of the "war party" in Athens, and at every opportunity he sought to undermine the peace: "His method was simple and effective. He kept hammering away at untruths until enough Athenians came to believe them." Demosthenes believed that all Philip's successes were due to his bribery and corruption of the Greeks, a view which, although there is little evidence for it, became commonplace until re examined by modern historians. Conversely, there was also a substantial body of feeling in Athens, led by Aeschines, that the peace should be maintained and developed. The political trials of the time can be used to gauge sentiment in Athens; in 345 BC, Aeschines prosecuted Demosthenes's ally Timarchus, who was duly convicted; conversely, in 343 BC, Demosthenes prosecuted Aeschines, who was acquitted by the barest of margins. Until 343 BC therefore, the majority of the Athenian assembly therefore favoured maintaining the peace, even though they disliked it. Between 344 and 342 BC, Philip tried to strengthen the peace, by converting it into a 'common peace', that all Greek states could join. In 344 BC, the orator Python was sent by Philip to Athens to defend Philip against the attacks of the war party, and to propose possible changes to the peace. In response, Demosthenes delivered one of his most effective and famous speeches, the so called Second Philippic, attacking Philip and all his works. For instance, in 342 BC, when Philip campaigned against the Cassopaeans, they declared that Philip was campaigning against Ambracia, and an Athenian expedition was duly dispatched—but to Acarnania, not Ambracia. Finally, in 341 BC, matters began to come to a head. Athens sent out new settlers to the cleruchs on the Chersonsese under the command of Diopeithes, who proceeded to ravage the territory of Cardia, an ally of Philip. Philip therefore wrote to the Athenians to demand that they desist, but in his speech "On the Chersonese", Demosthenes persuaded the Athenians that since Athens was effectively at war with Philip anyway, there was no need to do what Philip asked; Diopeithes therefore continued to cause trouble in Thrace. Callias of Chalcis now emerged as a potential ally of the Athenians; still intent on unifying the cities of Euboea under his leadership, he had been disturbed by the number of Euboean cities, particularly Eretrea and Oreus, adopting a pro Macedonian stance. In June 341 BC, Athens and Chalcis allied themselves, and proceeded to attack Eritrea and Oreus and install suitable governance in those cities. Callias then proceeded to harass the cities and shipping on the Gulf of Pagasae. After his victory at the Battle of Chaeronea, Philip as the absolute ruler of ancient Greece imposed a new peace treaty, whose terms were very favorable for the defeated party but not as favorable as in the Peace of Philocrates.