1. Hecataeus of Miletus, Fragments, 2 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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2. Thucydides, The History of The Peloponnesian War, 1.113, 4.76.3 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 4.76.3. The seaport town of Siphae, in the bay of Crisae, in the Thespian territory, was to be betrayed to them by one party; Chaeronea (a dependency of what was formerly called the Minyan, now the Boeotian, Orchomenus ), to be put into their hands by another from that town, whose exiles were very active in the business, hiring men in Peloponnese . Some Phocians also were in the plot, Chaeronea being the frontier town of Boeotia and close to Phanotis in Phocis . |
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3. Xenophon, Agesilaus, 2.9-2.15 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 2.9. I will describe the battle, for there has been none like it in our time. The two armies met in the plain of Coronea , Agesilaus advancing from the Cephisus, the Thebans and their allies from Helicon. Their eyes told them that the opposing lines of battle were exactly matched in strength, and the number of cavalry on both sides was about the same. Agesilaus was on the right wing of his army and had the Orchomenians on his extreme left. On the other side the Thebans themselves were on the right wing and the Argives held the left. 2.10. As they approached both sides for a time maintained complete silence, but when they were about a furlong apart, the Thebans raised the battle-cry and rushed forward at the double. The distance between them was still about one hundred yards when the mercenary troops under Herippidas, consisting of the 2.11. men who had gone with Agesilaus from home and some of the Cyreians, dashed out in turn from their main body, closely followed by Ionians, Aeolians and Hellespontines. All these took part in the dash, and coming within spear-thrust put to flight the force in front of them. As for the Argives, they fled towards Helicon without awaiting the attack of Agesilaus. And now some of the mercenaries were in the act of crowning Agesilaus with a wreath, when a man reported to him that the Thebans had cut their way through the Orchomenians and were among the baggage train. So he immediately wheeled his main body and advanced against them; and the Thebans in their turn, seeing that their allies had sought refuge at the foot of Mt. Helicon, and wanting to break through and join their friends, made a strong move forward. 2.12. At this juncture one may say without fear of contradiction that Agesilaus showed courage; but the course that he adopted was not the safest. For he might have allowed the men who were trying to break through to pass, and then have followed them and annihilated those in the rear. Instead of doing that he made a furious frontal attack on the Thebans. Thrusting shield against shield, they shoved and fought and killed and fell. There was no shouting, nor was there silence, but the strange noise that wrath and battle together will produce. In the end some of the Thebans broke through and reached Helicon, but many fell during the retreat. 2.13. The victory lay with Agesilaus; but he himself had been carried wounded to his battle-line, when some horsemen rode up, and told him that eighty of the enemy retaining their arms had taken cover in the temple, and they asked what they should do. Though wounded in every part of his body with every sort of weapon, he did not forget his duty towards the gods, but gave orders that these men should be suffered to go whithersoever they wished, and would not suffer them to be harmed, and charged his escort of cavalry to conduct them to a place of safety. 2.14. Now that the fighting was at an end, a weird spectacle met the eye, as one surveyed the scene of the conflict — the earth stained with blood, friend and foe lying dead side by side, shields smashed to pieces, spears snapped in two, daggers bared of their sheaths, some on the ground, some embedded in the bodies, some yet gripped by the hand. 2.15. Then, as the day was far spent, having dragged the enemy’s dead In order that the Thebans might not recover them. But some think τῶν πολεμίων corrupt. within their battle line, they supped and slept. Early next morning Agesilaus ordered Gylis, the polemarch, to draw up the army in battle order and to set up a trophy, and to command every man to wear a wreath in honour of the god Apollo. and all the flute-players to play. |
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4. Xenophon, Hellenica, 4.3.16, 4.3.19-4.3.20 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 4.3.16. This, then, was the force on both sides; and I will also describe the battle, and how it proved to be like no other of the battles of our time. They met on the plain of Coronea, those with Agesilaus coming from the Cephisus, and those with the Thebans from Mount Helicon. And Agesilaus occupied the right wing of the army under his command, while the Orchomenians were at the extreme end of his left wing. On the other side, the Thebans themselves were on the right and the Argives occupied their left wing. 4.3.19. At this point one may unquestionably call Agesilaus courageous; at least he certainly did not choose the safest course. For while he might have let the men pass by who were trying to break through and then have followed them and overcome those in the rear, he did not do this, but crashed against the Thebans front to front; and setting shields against shields they shoved, fought, killed, and were killed. Finally, some of the Thebans broke through and reached Mount Helicon, but many were killed while making their way thither. 4.3.20. Now when the victory had fallen to Agesilaus and he himself had been carried, wounded, to the phalanx, some of the horsemen rode up and told him that about eighty of the enemy, still armed, had taken shelter in the temple of Athena, and asked him what they should do. And he, although he had received many wounds, nevertheless did not forget the deity, but ordered them to allow these men to go away whithersoever they wished, and would permit them to commit no wrong. Then—it was already late—they took dinner and lay down to rest. |
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5. Polybius, Histories, 4.25.2 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 4.25.2. The Boeotians accused the Aetolians of having plundered the temple of Athene Itonia in time of peace, the Phocians of having marched upon Ambrysus and Daulium and attempted to seize both cities |
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6. Livy, History, 36.20.3 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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7. Strabo, Geography, 9.2.29 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 9.2.29. Next Homer names Coroneia, Haliartus, Plataeae, and Glissas. Now Coroneia is situated on a height near Helicon. The Boeotians took possession of it on their return from the Thessalian Arne after the Trojan War, at which time they also occupied Orchomenus. And when they got the mastery of Coroneia, they built in the plain before the city the sanctuary of the Itonian Athena, bearing the same name as the Thessalian sanctuary; and they called the river which flowed past it Cuarius, giving it the same name as the Thessalian river. But Alcaeus calls it Coralius, when he says, Athena, warrior queen, who dost keep watch o'er the cornfields of Coroneia before thy temple on the banks of the Coralius River. Here, too, the Pamboeotian Festival used to be celebrated. And for some mystic reason, as they say, a statue of Hades was dedicated along with that of Athena. Now the people in Coroneia are called Coronii, whereas those in the Messenian Coroneia are called Coronaeis. |
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8. Plutarch, Agesilaus, 14.2, 19.1, 19.3, 30.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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9. Plutarch, Comparison of Pompey With Agesilaus, 1.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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10. Plutarch, On The Obsolescence of Oracles, 412c, 412d, 412b (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 412b. took up a large stone and smote him on the head. All this was in harmony, as it were, with events to come; for Mardonius was vanquished while the Greeks were led, not by a king, but by a guardian and deputy of a king; and he fell, struck by a stone just as the Lydian dreamed that he was struck in his sleep. "That time, too, was the most flourishing period of the oracle at Tegyrae, which place also by tradition is the birthplace of the god; and of the two streams of water that flow past it, the inhabitants even to this day call the one 'Palm' and the other 'Olive.' Now in the Persian Wars, when Echecrates was the prophetic priest, the god prophesied for the Greeks victory and might in war; |
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11. Plutarch, On The Glory of The Athenians, 345d (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 345d. and Nicias's valiant deeds at Cythera and Megara and Corinth, Demosthenes' Pylos, and Cleon's four hundred captives, Tolmides' circumnavigation of the Peloponnesus, and Myronides' victory over the Boeotians at Oenophyta â take these away and Thucydides is stricken from your list of writers. Take away Alcibiades' spirited exploits in the Hellespontine region, and those of Thrasyllus by Lesbos, and the overthrow by Theramenes of the oligarchy, Thrasybulus and Archinus and the uprising of the Seventy from Phylê against the Spartan hegemony, and Conon's restoration of Athens to her power on the sea â |
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12. Plutarch, Lycurgus, 5.4, 7.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 5.4. Thus encouraged, he tried to bring the chief men of Sparta over to his side, and exhorted them to put their hands to the work with him, explaining his designs secretly to his friends at first, then little by little engaging more and uniting them to attempt the task. And when the time for action came, he ordered thirty of the chief men to go armed into the market-place at break of day, to strike consternation and terror into those of the opposite party. The names of twenty of the most eminent among them have been recorded by Hermippus; but the man who had the largest share in all the undertakings of Lycurgus and cooperated with him in the enactment of his laws, bore the name of Arthmiadas. |
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13. Plutarch, Lysander, 8.4-8.5, 12.1, 19.3, 20.6, 20.8 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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14. Plutarch, Pericles, 18.2-18.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 18.2. So when he saw that Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus, all on account of his previous good-fortune and of the exceeding great honor bestowed upon him for his wars, was getting ready, quite inopportunely, to make an incursion into Boeotia, and that he had persuaded the bravest and most ambitious men of military age to volunteer for the campaign,—as many as a thousand of them, aside from the rest of his forces,—he tried to restrain and dissuade him in the popular assembly, uttering then that well remembered saying, to wit, that if he would not listen to Pericles, he would yet do full well to wait for that wisest of all counsellors, Time. 18.3. This saying brought him only moderate repute at the time; but a few days afterwards, when word was brought that Tolmides himself was dead after defeat in battle near Coroneia, 447 B.C. and that many brave citizens were dead likewise, then it brought Pericles great repute as well as goodwill, for that he was a man of discretion and patriotism. |
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15. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.27.5, 9.34.1 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 1.27.5. On the pedestal are also statues of Theaenetus, who was seer to Tolmides, and of Tolmides himself, who when in command of the Athenian fleet inflicted severe damage upon the enemy, especially upon the Peloponnesians who dwell along the coast, burnt the dock-yards at Gythium and captured Boeae, belonging to the “provincials,” and the island of Cythera . He made a descent on Sicyonia, and, attacked by the citizens as he was laying waste the country, he put them to flight and chased them to the city. Returning afterwards to Athens, he conducted Athenian colonists to Euboea and Naxos and invaded Boeotia with an army. Having ravaged the greater part of the land and reduced Chaeronea by a siege, he advanced into the territory of Haliartus,where he was killed in battle and all his army worsted. 447 B.C. Such was the history of Tolmides that I learnt. 9.34.1. Before reaching Coroneia from Alalcomenae we come to the sanctuary of Itonian Athena. It is named after Itonius the son of Amphictyon, and here the Boeotians gather for their general assembly. In the temple are bronze images of Itonian Athena and Zeus; the artist was Agoracritus, pupil and loved one of Pheidias. In my time they dedicated too images of the Graces. |
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16. Polyaenus, Stratagems, 7.43 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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17. Epigraphy, Ig I , 310
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18. Epigraphy, Ig I , 310
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19. Epigraphy, Ig Ii2, 33
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20. Epigraphy, Ig Vii, 2858-2869, 2871, 3087, 3172, 3426, 2711
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21. Epigraphy, Seg, 3.354, 18.24
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22. Various, Anthologia Palatina, 9.743
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