First Sacred War

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First Sacred War
Date595–585 BC
Location
Mainland Greece
Result Destruction of
Kirrha and liberation of Delphi
Belligerents
Amphictyonic League of Delphi,
Sicyon
Kirrha
Commanders and leaders
Cleisthenes of Sicyon

The First Sacred War, or Cirraean War,

Siege of Kirrha, in the form of hellebore being used to poison the city's water supply. The war's end was marked by the organization of the first Pythian Games
.

Siege of Kirrha

The leader of the attack was the

asclepiad named Nebros advised the allies to poison the water with hellebore which soon rendered the defenders so weak with diarrhea that they were unable to resist the assault. Kirrha was captured and the entire population was slaughtered.[2] Nebros was considered an ancestor of Hippocrates, 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 the Hippocratic Oath.[3]

Later historians told different stories. According to

Anticyra, where it was abundant.[5] The stories of Frontinus and Polyaenus both have the same result as Thessalos's tale: the defeat of Kirrha.[3]

The last major historian to advance a new story of the siege was

River Pleistos to avoid through Kirrha 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.[3]

Outcome of the War

The First Sacred War ended with the victory of the allies of the Amphictyony. Kirrha was destroyed and its lands were dedicated to Apollo, Leto and Artemis and it was forbidden to cultivate them or let animals graze on them. Its inhabitants fled to mountain Kirphe. Cleisthenes was generously rewarded with one third of the booty. In order to celebrate the end of the fighting the first Pythian Games were organized with Cleisthenes playing a major part in them. However, modern scholarship is very skeptical on the exact events and on the long duration of the war.

See also

References

  1. ^ An Epitome of the Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece. By Henry Fynes Clinton. Pg 92
  2. ^ Ep. 27.4 English translation in Pseudepigraphic Writings: Letters - Embassy - Speech from the Altar - Decree p. 115. Greek text and French translation in Hippocrate - Œuvres complètes, traduction Littré, 1839 volume 9 p. 412-413
  3. ^
    ISBN 1-58567-348-X
    . pages 100–101
  4. ^ Frontinus, Stratagems 3.7.6
  5. ^ Polyaenus, Stratagems 6.13

Bibliography

  • Forrest, G. G., “The first Sacred War”, BCH 80 (1956), 33-52.
  • Jannoray, J., “Krisa, Kirrha et la première guerre sacrée“, BCH 61 (1937), 33-43.
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