- First Sacred War
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First Sacred War
date=c.595 BC –585 BC
place=Mainland Greece
result=Destruction ofKirrha and liberation ofDelphi .
combatant1=Amphictyonic League of Delphi,Sicyon
combatant2=Kirrha
commander1=Cleisthenes of Sicyon
commander2=The First Sacred War (595 BC -585 BC ) was fought between theAmphictyonic League ofDelphi and the city ofKirrha . The conflict arose due to Kirrha's frequentrobbery and mistreatment ofpilgrims going to Delphi and their encroachments upon Delphicland . The war resulted in the defeat and destruction of Kirrha. The war is notable for the use ofchemical warfare at thesiege of Kirrha, in the form ofhellebore being used topoison the city's water supply.Justifications of war
In ancient Greece, Kirrha was a heavily fortified city which controlled access to
Delphi from theCorinthian Gulf . Kirrha took advantage of its location to rob and mistreat pilgrims to theDelphic Oracle , to tax Delphi, and to steal land from Delphi, land considered sacred toApollo . This behavior prompted many of the otherGreek city-states to form theAmphictionic League , a military alliance dedicated to protecting Delphi, circa600 BC . The League consulted the oracle for advice on dealing with Kirrha, and the reply was a call fortotal war . The members of the league vowed to completely destroy Kirrha and ravage the surrounding areas. To this they added a curse in the name of Apollo: that the soil should bring forth no crops, that the children of the women and livestock should be deformed, and that the entire ethnic group that inhabited the city should be eradicated.Mayor, Andrienne. "Greek fire, poison arrows, and scorpion bombs: Biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world." The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-58567-348-X. pages 100–101]iege of Kirrha
The leader of the attack was the
Tyrant Cleisthenes ofSicyon , who used his powerful navy to blockade the city's port before using an allied Amphictionic army to besiege Kirrha. What transpired after this is a matter of debate. The earliest, and therefore probably most reliable, account is that of the medical writerThessalos . He wrote, in the fifth century BC, that the attackers discovered a secret water-pipe leading into the city after it was broken by a horse's hoof. An "asclepiad" namedNebros advised the allies topoison the water withhellebore . The hellebore soon rendered the defenders so weak withdiarrhea that they were unable to continue resisting the assault. Kirrha was captured and the entirepopulation was slaughtered. Nebros was an ancestor ofHippocrates , so this story has caused many to wonder whether it might not have been guilt over his ancestor's use of poison that drove Hippocrates to establish theHippocratic Oath .Mayor, Andrienne. "Greek fire, poison arrows, and scorpion bombs: Biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world." The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-58567-348-X. pages 100–101]Later historians told different stories. According to
Frontinus , who wrote in the1st century AD , that after discovering the pipe, the Amphictionic League cut it, leading to great thirst within the city. After a while, they restored the pipe, allowing water to flow into the city. The desperate Kirrhans immediately began drinking the water, unaware that Kleisthenes had poisoned it with hellebore. According toPolyaenus , a writer of the second century AD, after the pipe was discovered, the attackers added the hellebore to the spring from which the water came, without ever actually depriving the Kirrhans of water. Polyaenus also gave credit for the strategy not to Kleisthenes but toGeneral Eurylochus , who he claimed advised his allies to gather a large amount of hellebore fromAnticyra , where it was abundant. The stories of Frontinus and Polyaenus both have the same result as Thessalos's tale: the defeat of Kirrha.Mayor, Andrienne. "Greek fire, poison arrows, and scorpion bombs: Biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world." The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-58567-348-X. pages 100–101]The last major historian to advance a new story of the siege was Pausanias, who was active in the
2nd century AD . In his version of events,Solon ofAthens diverted the course of theRiver Pleistos so that it didn't run through Kirrha. Solon had hoped to thus defeat the Kirrhans by thirst, but the enemy was able to get enough water from their wells and rainwater collection. Solon then added a great quantity of hellebore to the water of the Pleistos and let it flow into Kirrha. The poisoning then allowed the allies to destroy the city.Mayor, Andrienne. "Greek fire, poison arrows, and scorpion bombs: Biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world." The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-58567-348-X. pages 100–101]References
Footnotes
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