Control of the Oracle of Delphi in Ancient Greece was a coveted prize that rival cities and coalitions fiercely contested during the Sacred Wars, spanning from the 6th to the 3rd century BC.
The famed oracle, housed in the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, held immense importance throughout the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods, prompting Greek kingdoms and city-states to vie for its influence and control.
The Sanctuary, also known as Pythian Apollo, was celebrated early on in antiquity for its prophetic oracle, believed to reveal the truth about the future. The following excerpt from the “Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo,” a poetic work by an unknown writer in the style of Homer, captures the divine significance of the site:
“And thence you went speeding swiftly to the mountain ridge, and came to Crissa beneath snowy Parnassus, a foothill turned towards the west: a cliff hangs over if from above, and a hollow, rugged glade runs under. There the lord Phoebus Apollo resolved to make his lovely temple, and thus he said: ‘In this place I am minded to build a glorious temple to be an oracle for men, and here they will always bring perfect hecatombs, both they who dwell in rich Peloponnesus and the men of Europe and from all the wave-washed isles, coming to question me. And I will deliver to them all counsel that cannot fail, answering them in my rich temple.'”
The Sacred Wars of Ancient Greece consisted of five conflicts, beginning in 595 BC and concluding in 280 BC. The alliances and combatants shifted throughout these wars, reflecting the evolving political and military landscape of the time. Each war was characteristic of the balance of power in the region at the time it was fought.
First Sacred War and the use of chemicals
At the end of the 7th century BC, the Oracle of Delphi had gained such a renowned reputation that various cities and coalitions sought to bring it under their control. It is believed that, prior to the war, the oracle had been under Dorian control.
The First Sacred War originated when the inhabitants of Kirrha (also referred to as Crissa by historians) started assaulting and robbing worshipers on their way to Delphi and encroaching onto Delphic land. The Amphictyonic League, an alliance established to protect the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, decided to punish the people of Kirrha by laying siege to the city. This was led by two Thessalians, Eurylochus and Hippias. The Athenians sent troops under the leadership of Alcmaeon, while Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, blockaded Kirrha from the sea. The war took place between 595 and 585 BC.
According to the 5th century medical writer Thessalos, the allied forces discovered a secret water pipe supplying the besieged city and poisoned it with hellebore. The poisoned Kirrhaeans were unable to defend themselves, leading to the city’s fall. As per various accounts, the inhabitants were either slaughtered, sold into slavery, or fled to the nearby mountain Kirphe.
Following the war, the Amphictyonic League determined that the lands around Kirrha would be consecrated to Apollo, Artemis, Leto, and Athena Pronaea and designated for the pasturage of sacrificial animals. Archaeological evidence shows increased influence of Athens and other Ionian cities at Delphi. The Pythian Games, which had originally been confined to musical contests, gained Panhellenic significance during this period.
Second Sacred War: The indirect Sparta-Athens conflict of Ancient Greece
According to the Greek historian Philochorus, the Spartans expelled the Phocians from Delphi and restored Dorian control around 449 BC to 448 BC. This Spartan intervention followed the Athenian-backed Phocians’ capture of three towns in Doris, the Spartan homeland. In response, a Spartan army marched into Doris, defeated the Phocians, and reestablished Dorian rule over Delphi.
However, shortly after the Spartans withdrew, an Athenian force led by Pericles seized the city and reinstated Phocis’s sovereign rights over the Oracle of Delphi. Some historians interpret the Second Sacred War as an indirect confrontation between Athens and Sparta during the early stages of the First Peloponnesian War.
While in control of the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, the Phocians minted coins on behalf of the Delphic Amphictyony (or Amphictyonic League of Delphi)—one of the most important religious and political alliances in Ancient Greece— featuring the head of Apollo alongside a lyre or laurel. They maintained control until 421 BC, when Delphi was finally declared independent under the terms of the Peace of Nikias.
Third Sacred War: Philip II of Macedon enters
Pausanias writes that the Phocians had previously been compelled to join the Persians when Xerxes crossed the Hellespont (Description of Greece, 2.1–3.4). Although they subsequently allied themselves with the Greeks at the Battle of Plataea, a substantial fine was levied on the Phocians by other members of the Delphic Amphictyony. Resenting the heavy penalty, General Philomelus persuaded his countrymen to seize the Sanctuary of Apollo, arguing that “the amount of the sum to be paid was beyond their resources.”
The Phocians seized the sanctuary in 357 BC and were quickly joined by Greek mercenaries, who were paid from the treasury of the temple. Offerings and dedications, including the famed golden tripod, were melted down and distributed (Description of Greece, 13.9). When Thebes, the dominate power of the Delphic Amphictyony—a major city in Boeotia influential in central Greece—learned of this sacrilege, it waged war against the Phocians in 356 BC.
After the Amphictyony defeated the Phocians in battle in 354 BC, Philomelus took his own life and was succeeded by Onomarchus, who attempted to flee but was killed by his own troops, resentful of his failed leadership. Command then passed to his brother and later to his nephew, who was “accused of appropriating to his own use the sacred treasures” (Description of Greece, 10.8) of the temple. Both also died in turn.
The war ended in 346 BC, when Philip II, King of Macedon, intervened and put an end to the war. The cities of Phocis were razed, and the Phocians were expelled from the Delphic Amphictyony, deprived of both of their share in the sanctuary at Delphi and their voice in the Greek assembly. The Macedonians assumed the Phocians’ votes, marking the beginning of Philip II’s dominance in mainland Greece.
Fourth Sacred War: Philip leads the Delphic Amphictyony
The Fourth Sacred War in Ancient Greece was declared against the city of Amphissa in the region of Locris. This conflict provided Philip II of Macedon with the opportunity to take up the mantle as champion of the Amphictyonic cause, and he led his troops further into central Greece, expanding his influence and consolidating his power in the region.
After the Sanctuary of Apollo was restored, following the Third Sacred War, the Athenians re-erected the votive offering they had originally dedicated after the Persian Wars. The inscription on the votive accused the Thebans of supporting the Persians during the second Greco-Persian War.
The Locrians of Amphissa, influenced by Thebans who supported Philip II, submitted a proposal during the Amphictyonic Convention of 340 BC demanding that the Athenians pay a fine for what they deemed a sacrilegious inscription. The Athenians, however, responded with a speech by the orator Aeschines, accusing the inhabitants of Amphissa of illegally cultivating the sacred fields of Delphi and arguing that they were the ones who should be punished.
The Amphictyonic Council held a special session in 339 BC in which neither the Athenians nor the Thebans sent envoys. The Council decided to organize a military campaign against Amphissa and appointed Philip II of Macedon as its leader. Philip successfully conquered the city and faced a coalition of southern Greek city-states formed to resist his advance. The decisive battle was fought at Chaeronea and ended with Philip II’s victory, marking the beginning of Macedonian supremacy across Greece.
The Fifth Sacred War follows the Diadochi Wars
After the Diadochi Wars (war of successors) ended with the deaths of Lysimachus, king of Macedonia, and Seleucus, founder of the Seleucid Empire, many cities in Ancient Greece saw an opportunity to regain their independence from the new Macedonian king, Antigonos Gonatas.
Sparta, under King Areus, chose not to confront the Macedonians directly. Instead, it targeted their weaker ally, the Aetolian League, which had taken control of the Panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi a few years earlier. Having assumed the role of protector of Delphi, Sparta denounced the Aetolians for desecrating the sacred land in 281 BC.
King Areus formed a coalition with four Achaean cities, along with several others from the Peloponnese, Boeotia, and Athens. Once the coalition army of an estimated 3,000 men entered the Kirrha plain, Areus allowed his troops to disperse and plunder the area. The Aitolians easily defeated the scattered invading forces, leaving the survivors of Areus’ army to bury their dead on the battlefield. Following Areus’ resounding defeat, his alliance collapsed in 280 BC.
It should be noted that most modern scholars refer to this particular conflict as the “Fifth Sacred War” in ancient Greece, due to its focus on control of the Oracle of Delphi. It is unrelated to the wars between the Diadochi.
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