Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

72 PHILIP AND ALEXANDER AT WAR
Diodorus’ version seems to be based on Ephorus, 17 while Justin’s
story summarizes Pompeius Trogus and is based on Theopompus. 18
Even if they were later rearranged, Ephorus and Theopompus’ works,
in terms of the Sacred War, advanced the vengeance theme, making
Philip the instrument used by the god Apollo to punish the Phocians
for their sacrilege. One aspect of Diodorus’ narrative demonstrates
this ideologization: his account of the death of Onomarchus. Pausanias
ascribed the killing of Onomarchus to his own men, 19 while
Philo of Alexandria presented it as an accident. 20 Ephorus, instead,
emphasized Philip’s decision to have Onomarchus hanged or crucifi
ed after the victory at Crocus Field, but also to let the Phocians
drown ( katapontismos), 21 thus giving Philip the credit for executing
Onomarchus by means of a punishment traditionally reserved for
impious men. 22 By these details, the historian reinforced his interpretation
of the confl ict as a sacred, religious war, of vengeance, and
corroborated the image of Philip as the “avenger of the god” and
“punisher of the sacrilege.”
By emphasizing this idea of a sacred war, Ephorus and Theopompus
were not only celebrating Philip’s fi gure and his achievements, but
also responding to Demosthenes’ repeated attacks on the king. The
orator’s critics should be seen as part of the background in the general
clash of interests between Philip and Athens which would lead
to the battle of Chaeronea. 23 In particular, in 349 B.C., with regard to
the war against Olynthus, the orator accused the king of dismissing
the best men and surrounding himself with sycophants and thieves, 24
reducing Olynthus to slavery, establishing tyrannical regimes, 25
being an enemy of Athens and a barbarian, 26 and selling as slaves
the citizens of the Greek towns. 27 Furthermore, in his speech to the
Athenians against the Macedonian king, Demosthenes recalled the
glorious past of Athens, quoting Aristides, Nicias, Demosthenes, and
Pericles 28 and recalling its hegemony over the Greek world and over
Macedonia, a barbarian country, in the fi fth century. 29 Picking up and
reconfi rming Herodotus’ tradition, 30 Demosthenes also referred to
Alexander I, Philip’s ancestor, as a traitor to the Greeks during the
Persian Wars 31 and underlined the hatred of the people of Athens
against those, like Arthmios of Zeleia, who betrayed the Greek cause
in favor of the Persians. 32
Against these accusations, not only did Ephorus and Theopompus
excuse the king’s actions by means of the vengeance theme, but they
also, as a riposte to the orator, attacked Athens and its traditions. They
both based their accusations on a fact which was deliberately omitted
by Demosthenes: Athens’ involvement in the Sacred War on the side
of the impious Phocians. 33 Ephorus argued that, on this occasion, both