Battle of Embata

Battle of Embata
	Part of the Social War (357-355 BC)
Date	Autumn 356 BC
Location	Chios, Greece
Result	Chian victory
Belligerents
Athenians	Chians
Commanders and leaders
	Chares of Athens ; Iphicrates ; Timotheos
Strength
120 naval vessels	100 triremes

Last updated March 13, 2019

The Battle of Embata was a naval battle fought in 356 BC between the Chians and the Athenians led by Chares.

Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) off the Anatolian coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic gum and its nickname is the Mastic Island. Tourist attractions include its medieval villages and the 11th-century monastery of Nea Moni, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Chares of Athens and was an Athenian general, who for a number of years was a key commander of Athenian forces.

Battle

The Athenians possessed a fleet of 120 naval vessels while the Chians possessed 100 galleys. This specific naval battle was fought within the straits between the island of Chios and the Anatolian mainland. The arrival of stormy weather compelled Chares's collaborators, Iphicrates and Timotheos (or Timoleon), to abandon the overall expedition. Chares, left with only one-third of his fleet, attacked the Chians and suffered defeat with heavy losses.^[1]

Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, the Anatolian peninsula, or the Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Armenian Highlands to the east, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland.

Iphicrates was an Athenian general, the son of a shoemaker of the deme of Rhamnous, who flourished in the earlier half of the 4th century BC. He is credited with important infantry reforms that revolutionized ancient Greek warfare by regularizing light-armed peltasts. He was married to the daughter of the Thracian King Cotys and had a son with her. His son was named Menestheus, after the legendary King of Athens during the Trojan War. Iphicrates' other son, who was also called Iphicrates, was sent as the Athenian ambassador to the Persian court sometime before 335 BC. He was captured by the Macedonian army along with the Persian court in the aftermath of the Battle of Issus. When Iphicrates the younger died from an unknown disease, Alexander the Great paid for the transportation of his body to his homeland, as an homage to his father.

Timotheus was a Greek statesman and general who sought to revive Athenian imperial ambitions by making Athens dominant in a Second Athenian League. He was the son of the Athenian general, Conon. Isocrates considered that Timotheus was superior to the other commanders of his time and showed all the requisites and abilities of a good general.

Aftermath

On a more specific note, Iphicrates and Timotheos both commanded a supplementary force of 60 naval vessels and joined up with Chares's fleet in the summer of 356 BC. After Chares suffered defeat in the autumn expedition, he ultimately established a lawsuit against both Timotheos and Iphicrates.^[2] Timotheos faced impeachment in the aftermath of the lawsuit, which led to his ruination. As a result, Isocrates developed a personal hatred for Chares since Timotheos was one of his closest pupils.^[3]

Isocrates, an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works.

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References

Citations

↑ Harbottle, p. 85. "Embata (Social War). Fought 356 BC, when an Athenian fleet of 120 sail, under Chares, designed to attack the Chians, with 100 galleys, in the straits between Chios and the mainland. The day providing stormy, however, his colleagues Iphicrates and Timoleon declined the enterprise as too hazardous, and Chares attacking alone, with a third of the fleet, was defeated with heavy loss."
↑ Mossé, p. 41. "Early that summer a supplementary fleet of sixty ships commanded by Timotheos and Iphikrates came to join Chares' fleet, and the famous battle of Embata took place off Chios in the autumn of 356, following which Chares, who had joined battle alone and been defeated, brought a lawsuit against Iphikrates and Timotheos. The war lasted one year longer, and was notable essentially for the operations undertaken by Chares in Asia."
↑ Flower, p. 128. [Footnote] "Isocrates had a very personal reason for hating Chares, in that Chares had ruined Timotheus, the pupil dearest to Isocrates, by impeaching him after the battle of Embata in 356 BC."

Sources

Harbottle, Thomas Benfield. Dictionary of Battles from the Earliest Date to the Present Time. S. Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., 1904 (Original from Harvard University).
Mossé, Claude (translated by Jean Stewart). Athens in Decline, 404-86 B.C. Routledge, 1973. ISBN 0-7100-7649-5
Flower, Michael Attyah. Theopompus of Chios: History and Rhetoric in the Fourth Century BC. Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-19-815243-4

Claude Mossé is a French historian specialising in the history of Ancient Greece.

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[1] Harbottle, p. 85. "Embata (Social War). Fought 356 BC, when an Athenian fleet of 120 sail, under Chares, designed to attack the Chians, with 100 galleys, in the straits between Chios and the mainland. The day providing stormy, however, his colleagues Iphicrates and Timoleon declined the enterprise as too hazardous, and Chares attacking alone, with a third of the fleet, was defeated with heavy loss."

[2] Mossé, p. 41. "Early that summer a supplementary fleet of sixty ships commanded by Timotheos and Iphikrates came to join Chares' fleet, and the famous battle of Embata took place off Chios in the autumn of 356, following which Chares, who had joined battle alone and been defeated, brought a lawsuit against Iphikrates and Timotheos. The war lasted one year longer, and was notable essentially for the operations undertaken by Chares in Asia."

[3] Flower, p. 128. [Footnote] "Isocrates had a very personal reason for hating Chares, in that Chares had ruined Timotheus, the pupil dearest to Isocrates, by impeaching him after the battle of Embata in 356 BC."