Chaeronea, 2 August 338 BC:
A day that changed the world

Τhe new exhibition ‘Chaeronea, 2 August, 338 BC: A day that changed the world’ organized by the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, is part of the new series of archaeological exhibitions ‘Human Histories’ and is presented at the Stathatos Mansion and the Neophytou Douka Wing, under the supervision of the Scientific Directors of the Museum Dr. Panagiotis Iossif, Professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands, and Dr. Ioannis Fappas, Assistant Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The exhibition highlights the importance the Battle of Chaeronea had in ancient times, at the transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic period. The latter became an era in which Greek civilization was dominant for centuries and laid the foundations of what we call the Western world. The theme is the battle that opposed the Macedonian army of Philip II against that of the allied Greek cities of southern Greece – and in particular the Sacred Band of Thebes and the army of Athens – a conflict that for the first time brought the eighteen-year-old Alexander to the front line of history: Alexander who was soon to conquer the world with his great campaigns in Asia.

In addition to introducing the two worlds that collided, the exhibition presents the burial practices of the two armies: the Polyandrion (mass grave) of the 254 Theban members of the Sacred Band with their guardian monument of the Lion of Chaeronea, and the Tumulus of the Macedonians. Special emphasis is placed on the archaeological recovery of the aftermath of battle, highlighting the work of two pioneers of Greek archaeology at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th, namely Panagiotis Stamatakis and Georgios Sotiriadis.

The exhibition ‘Chaeronea, 2 August, 338 BC: A day that changed the world’ is the first of a new series of exhibitions of the Museum of Cycladic Art with the title ‘Human Histories. Stories, that is, about the life, manners and works of mortals, which influenced the life, perceptions and thinking of later generations. This exhibition is going to tell such a story, based on the testimonies of the ancient sources, and the remains left by its protagonists.

Finally, as part of the exhibition, there will be organized guided tours for the public, while the Department of Education and Social Programs of the Museum will offer educational tours for Secondary Education students as well as guided tours in sign language.

The printed version counting approximately 400 pages includes 19 original essays written by leading experts on the region, the battle and the periods covered by the Exhibition, accompanied by rich and often unpublished photographic material. The essays are written in Greek and English.

The Museum innovates as this volume is also published in the form of an e-book in which, in addition to the 19 essays, two Appendices are included: one with the English translation of the excavation diaries of Panagiotis Stamatakis and a second with the transcription of letters and reports by Georgios Sotiriadis.

The catalogue is not only addressed to the academic community, since it analyses in an accessible way the circumstances of the battle, the monuments that accompany it, but also the perspectives that it opens in the extended Hellenistic world.

The catalogue presents the battle of Chaeronea, the one that pitted the Macedonians against the allied Hellenic cities and emphasizes its importance in shaping the new Hellenistic world. It consists of 453 pages and includes all the objects of the exhibition per section, with detailed explanatory texts in Greek and English and rich photographic material.

Through the texts of the curators, as well as some of the leading scholars in the field, an attempt is made to highlight the specific battle as the event that finally brought the Macedonians to the position of the dominant power, decisively influencing the entire ancient world. More than 240 objects from numerous museums and collections in Greece and abroad are presented, some of which are published for the first time, highlighting a historical event that was destined to change the world.

Edited by Panagiotis P. Iossif – Ioannis D. Fappas