Chaeronea

Chaeronea, ancient town of Boeotia, Greece, now named Chaironeia. It was the scene of two important battles. In 338 bc King Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great crushed the Athenians and Thebans, so bringing mainland Greece under Macedonian domination. A well-preserved Greek theatre has been uncovered on the site, and an enormous statue of a lion, which the Thebans erected to honour soldiers lost in the battle, also stands here.

In 86 bc the forces of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, fought the Roman forces of Sulla here, but were defeated. The Pontic forces were finally ejected from Greece in the ensuing Roman victory at Orchomenus. The Greek essayist and biographer Plutarch was a native of Chaeronea.