#chaeronea

[2seeitall]

The Lion of Chaeronea (Boeotia), Greece

Height: 5,5 meters

The lion was erected by the Thebans after the battle of the same name to commemorate their fallen. Under the monument, archaeologists unearthed a mass grave of 254 people, now identified as members of the elite military unit known as “The Sacred Band of Thebes.  

The monument was found in pieces, and restored to its full height in the early 20th century. The lion is one of the oldest standing war memorials of Greece.

[homerstroystory]

Lion of Chaeronea (Χαιρώνεια; Boeotia, Greece)

This lion commemorates the defeat of Thebes by Philip II of Macedon in 338 BCE at the Battle of Chaeronea. This monument (a modern reconstruction; parts of the original reside in the British Museum and the Louvre) sits atop the site of a fourth-century mass grave, believed to be the fallen of the Sacred Band of Thebes.

[thoodevious]

Ancient Greece’s Army of Lovers

Comprising a hundred and fifty male couples, Thebes’s Sacred Band was undefeated until it was wiped out in 338 B.C. In the nineteenth century, the mass grave of the men was found.

“Others might find the story interesting for different reasons. Not the least of these is that the Band was composed entirely of lovers: precisely a hundred and fifty couples, whose valor, so the Greeks thought, was due to the fact that no man would ever exhibit cowardice or act dishonorably in front of his beloved. In Plato’s Symposium, a dialogue about love, a character remarks that an army made up of such lovers would “conquer all mankind.””

[ukdamo]

Ancient Greece’s Army of Lovers

Comprising a hundred and fifty male couples, Thebes’s Sacred Band was undefeated until it was wiped out in 338 B.C. In the nineteenth centur

In lieu of a poem, today I post a link to this short piece about the Scared Band of Thebes.

This was well before the era of "Don't ask; don't tell" in military recruitment.

The Sacred Band had a prominent role in the defeat of the Spartans at Leuctra (371 BCE) and, hence, in the foundation of Messene.

This unit, comprised of 150 pairs of lovers, fought bravely in every engagement it participated in until it was practically exterminated at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE), which brought Philip II of Macedon, and his son - known to history as Alexander the Great - to undisputed primacy in Greece.

[lost-and-found-in-greece]

The Lion of Chaeronea

The monument was found in pieces, and restored to its full height in the early 20th century. The lion is one of the oldest standing war memorials of Greece.

[acheronprince]

Do you ever cry about the Battle of Chaeronea and the decimation of the entirety of the Sacred Band of Thebes because I know I do

[2seeitall]

The Lion of Chaeronea (Boeotia), Greece

Height: 5,5 meters

The lion was erected by the Thebans after the battle of the same name to commemorate their fallen. Under the monument, archaeologists unearthed a mass grave of 254 people, now identified as members of the elite military unit known as “The Sacred Band of Thebes.  

The monument was found in pieces, and restored to its full height in the early 20th century. The lion is one of the oldest standing war memorials of Greece.

[2seeitall]

The Lion of Chaeronea in Boeotia, Greece. 

Chaeronea is a village located in Boeotia, Greece. It was the site of several historical battles. Best known is that of 338 BCE, between Philip II Of Macedon and a coalition of various South Greek states, mainly Thebes and Athens. Alexander the Great fought here his first battle.

During the battle, the elite unit of Theban soldiers known as the Sacred Band of Thebes was wiped out completely. The burial monument was erected to mark their communal grave. The excavations revealed the skeletons of 254 men and a part of their weaponry.

The lion symbolizes the heroism of the soldiers of Thebes, which had been acknowledged even by Philip II himself. The statue was found in 1818, in five pieces, which were reconstructed and placed on a 3 meter tall pedestal next to the Archaeological Museum of Chaeronea.