Name Battle Amorgos | ||
The Battle of Amorgos was one of the naval battles of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), fought between the Macedonian navy under Cleitus the White and the Athenian navy under Euetion. Although few details are known, it was a clear Athenian defeat, although the Athenians seem to have suffered few losses. Regarded as the decisive naval battle of the war, it signalled the end of Athenian thalassocracy and political independence.
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Background
The Lamian War or Hellenic War was a large-scale revolt of the Greek city-states of the League of Corinth against Macedonian authority following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. The Greek city-states had never fully acquiesced to Macedonian hegemony, imposed through force of arms, but it was one of Alexander's last acts, the Exiles Decree of 324 BC that provoked open resentment, especially in Athens, where preparations for war began even before Alexander's death. The Exiles Decree, which stipulated the return of all exiles and the restoration of their citizenship and property was perceived as a direct violation of the Greek city-states' autonomy by Alexander. To the Athenians in particular, the decree was anathema as it meant that the island of Samos, an Athenian possession since 366 BC and settled with Athenian cleruchs, was to be restored to the exiled Samians. Instead of complying with it, they arrested the arriving Samian oligarchs and sent them prisoner to Athens.
Although fallen from the height of its power during the Golden Age of Pericles in the 5th century, Athens still had extensive financial resources at its disposal and a fleet numbering 240 or perhaps even 400 warships. Following the news of Alexander's death, the Athenians played a leading role in assembling a Greek league to fight for the restoration of the city-states' autonomy. The Greek allies first defeated the pro-Macedonian Boeotians and then—aided by the defection of the Thessalian cavalry—the Macedonian viceroy of Greece, Antipater, forcing him to retreat to the fortified city of Lamia, where the allies laid siege to him. Antipater called for military and naval reinforcements from the rest of the Macedonian empire. As a result, while Antipater remained besieged in Lamia, a naval campaign was fought in the Aegean Sea between the Macedonians under Cleitus the White and the Athenians under Euetion, who initially attempted to stop the Macedonian reinforcements to cross from Asia Minor into Europe at the Hellespont.
Aftermath
Although the bulk of the Athenian navy had escaped unscathed from Amorgos, it suffered heavy losses at the subsequent battle of Echinades, which most scholars place between Amorgos and the defeat of the Greek allies on land at the Battle of Crannon in August. These successive defeats led the Athenians to seek peace. The terms saw the disenfranchisement and expulsion of 12,000 of the city's poorest citizens (the thetes) and the restriction of voting rights to the richer citizens, putting an end to Athenian democracy. In addition, Antipater installed a Macedonian garrison on the Munychia hill in Piraeus, marking an end to Athenian naval power and political independence.
The Battle of Amorgos is proposed by modern scholars as one of three possible naval battles—along with the Battle of Salamis (306 BC) and the Battle of Cos (261/255 BC)—that provided the occasion for the erection of the statue of the Nike of Samothrace.