In 338 BC the land of Greece was ruled by many different city states. The people of Amphissa had begun cultivating sacred land on the Crisaean plain south of Delphi. As a result the Amphictyonic council decided to declare the 4th Sacred War against Amphissa. A Thessalian delegate proposed that Philip II should lead the Amphictyonic forces against Amphissa. Philip II was an extremely powerful man in Ancient Greece; he had gained a great deal of power and influence in the 3rd Sacred War which he had ended in 346 bc. As a result Philip lead the attack into southern Greece. As he marched forward Philip went to the Phocians whom he had defeated in the 3rd Sacred War. Despite the fact that they had been on separate sides after the war Philip II had not been overly harsh with the Phocians after he defeated them. As a result he now had loyal allies in the Phocians along with a strong base of operations in central Greece.

When the people of Athens heard that Philip II was in Elatea, three days march away, there was a general panic. Demosthenes, a powerful Greek statesman was the only one who did not despair. He suggested that Athens go to the Thebans, their ancient enemy, and form an alliance against Philip. His council was headed there and the people sent Demosthenes out as an ambassador in order to form the alliance. Although the Thebans had already seized the town of Nicaea near Thermopylae, which Philip had garrisoned in 346 BC, Philip did not see this as an official declaration of war. As a result he too sent an ambassador to the Thebans. Despite the fact that the Thebans had not officially declared war, and despite their natural enmity with the people of Athens, they still decided to ally themselves with Athens against Philip in the name of liberty for Greece.

The two forces faced off, the Macedonian army consisted of 30,000 infantry soldiers, and 2,000 cavalry. Philip II took charge of the right wing of the army while his 18 year old son Alexander (soon to be Alaxander the Great, conqueror of the Persian Empire) in command of the left wing. The opposing forces consisted of contingents from Achaea, Corinth, Chalcis, Epidaurus, Megara, and Troezen, but the majority of the force came from Athens and Thebes. The strength of the two forces were relatively equal in numbers. The Athenians took up positions in the left wing, commanded by generals Chares and Lysicles, and the Thebans took up positions on the right wing commanded by Theagenes. The rest of the forces opposing Philip positioned themselves in the center.

The united forces of Athens and Thebes took up their position near Chaeronea, astride the main road. The people of Athens on the left flank positioned themselves across the foothills of Mount Thurion, blocking the side-road that led to Lebedea, while the right flank backed up against the Kephisos River near the base of the Mount Aktion. All in all the defensive line was 2.5 miles long and positioned north-eastwards. The reason for this was that the line did not have to face the direction of Macedonian advance full on. Now Philip could not concentrate all his forces on the right flank because the forward positioned left flank would then bare down on his right and possibly surround him. On the other hand while he could attempt to attack the left flank they were mounted at the base of Mount Thurion and thus held the high ground, such an attack would be very difficult. Because the southern Greeks needed only to defend against Philip II’s attack their position was very strategically and tactically strong.

1,684 years ago on August 2, 338 BC the battle between Philip II and the combined forces of all southern Greece began. The Macedonian army crashed into the line of defense and the two forces struggled in a long line spanning the distance of 2.5 miles. Both sides fought fiercely and due to their equal numbers neither side gained any ground for quite some time. At one point Alexander "his heart set on showing his father his prowess" as recounted by Diodorus Siculus rushed into the battle and with the help of his companions forced the right wing into flight. At the same time Philip II himself attacked the left flank and after a fierce battle he and his force turned in flight.

At this point the whole line of battle turned on its axis, the right side being forced back by Alexander, and the left side in retreat before the Athenian forces. But suddenly as soon as he reached the higher ground Philip, along with his force turned about and charged back at his pursuers. The Athenian soldiers now were faced by the full force of the Macedonians right flank, charging fast down hill upon them. On top of this, as Philip had predicted, the soldiers of Athens, while spirited, did not have the same experience or stamina as Philip's forces. Philip's veterans charged toward the wearied Athens' soldiers and completely routed them. By the end of the battle 1,000 Athenians had died with another 2,000 being taken prisoner; the Thebans faired about the same.

The Battle of Chaeronea is generally considered one of the most decisive battles in all of history. Because there was no army left to stand in his way, virtually all of southern Greece was now under the command of Philip II, and because he already had control of northern Greece he had thus gained command of all of Greece. But despite the fact that he had indeed conquered all of Greece, he did not wish to rule it. Philip II marched into southern Greece with the goal of making the southern Greeks into allies for his upcoming invasion of Persia. Philip II moved quickly, first he went to Thebes and expelled the leaders there and replaced them with pro-Macedonian leaders. He also made the Thebans pay not only for the return of the prisoners, but also for the right to bury their dead. He then marched to Athens, but He treated them much better because he needed their fleet. The Macedonian fleet was relatively weak.

For the next year Philip II moved to and fro in southern Greece placing garrisons, making shows of strength, collecting money, and destroying land around Sparta (who had not joined in the conflict and still had an army to oppose him.) By the time he was done he had formed the League of Corinth and all states joined except Sparta.

Although Philip II never succeeded in attacking the Persian Empire, his son Alexander succeeded him and proved to be a greater military tactician than even his father. With the strength of Greece at his back Alexander the Great brought the Persian Empire to its knees in a three year war.

By Josiah Patrick

After walking down the road a little while we came to a large fork in the road. Davian turn to the left fork. "Race ya to the square," he shouted as he shot off running. I hurried after him. Soon I was right behind him and could have passed him but I didn't know the way. We ran along the road straight into town. Storefronts lined the street as we raced by. Then I saw in front of us a stone courtyard. A wooden post stood in the middle with a bell hanging from it. Around the edges of the courtyard people were selling things. "That's the square," Davian said panting. I nodded, having already assumed that. Then having saved my strength, I burst ahead of Davian. I ran full speed the rest of the way to the square and arrived half a block ahead of him.

I turned, grinning. “I beat you fair and square, I win!”

“I suppose you won.” He said as he caught up, out of breath. “You’re really fast, for a girl. I was just going easy on you. I’ll leave you in the dust next time.”

“I doubt that.” I responded. He wasn’t a great runner and I was hardly out of breath.

"I'll meet ya at the bell pole when you're done with your shopping." He pointed at the pole in the middle of the courtyard and walked off.

I looked around. I had no idea where to go or what to do. I searched the crowd until I spotted Davian. He was talking to a middle aged man with a kind face, greying beard, and wagon full of food. I walked up behind them and stood there while they finished. Davian handed the man the list and coins his mother had given him. The man read the list and grabbed several items from his wagon. He gave the food to Davian along with a few small coins and bid him gooday.

Davian wandered in a different direction and I approached the man. "Howdy little miss, how can I be of assistance to you today?" he asked. I handed him the bag of coins. "Ah, you want to buy somethin' do ya. Well, what would you like?"

I shrugged. "Just some food please."

"Do you care what kind of food?"

"Nope, but I like berries and bread and fresh caught trout."

"Let's see what we can get for you. How much food do you need? And do you need it just for you or are you sharin' with someone?"

"Umm... I'll be back next week. And it's just me I think."

He turned around and proceded to rummmage through his wagon and pull things out. Turning his head he asked "Do you know how to cook beans, rice, or anything of the sort?" I shook my head vigorously having never even heard of those. "Hmm..." he said and turned his attention back to the wagon. After a few minutes he presented me with the fruits of his search. "Here we have a loaf of my wife's hearty brown bread, a dozen biscuits. You'll want to eat those first as they'll go bad before the bread, a quart jar of mixed berry jam, it's very good, some beef jerky that my son smoked and dried himself, some hard cheese, and an assortment of fruits and veggies. I'll wrap it up into a sack of sorts so you can carry it easily.” He produced some fabric that looked suspiciously like a shawl and deftly wrapped it around the food in such away that it was all snuggly secured and two corners came together to form a handle or strap. I stared in amazement at the neatly wrapped package.

“How’d you do that? Can you teach me?” I asked eagerly

“Not today. But if you bring this back next week I’ll be glad to show you how. Here is your change,” he said handing me several coins, “you still have a good bit left. It looks like you could maybe use a new dress. On left side of Main Street,” he said, pointing, “a nice lady has a milliners shop. She sells fabric, patterns, and all that kind of stuff. But she also makes dresses on occasion and usually has some ready made. You could go in there and tell her Farmer Herst sent you and you need a new dress. She’ll get you fixed right up.”

I looked at my dress, it was basically made of rags. I would like a new dress but what would my guardian say? Well, I thought, I might as well have a look.

I looked back up at the man. “I think I’ll do that. Thanks. And thanks for the food.”

“You’re mighty welcome, anytime little miss.” he said.

And with that I turn and walked toward the dress shop.

By Susanna Patrick

Philipians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Our Lord wants to guide us to follow this verse. He sets guidelines and this verse shows us those guidelines that we need to follow in order to live a godly life. I think that these guidelines tell us what to do and not what not to do. There are verses that show us what not to do but I will let you look at those yourself. If you want things that give examples of what happens when you follow God and when you do not would suggest to just read James 1 for your daily Bible.

By Seth Patrick.