From 356 B. C. to 346 B. C. the Phocian or First Sacred War was waged
between the Thebans and the Phocians, with allies on each side, the
origin of the war being a dispute about a bit of ground devoted for
religious reasons to lying perpetually fallow. Philip of Macedon was
called in to settle matters, and thereby his ambition secured a firm
foothold in Greece. He possessed himself by force of the Athenian cities
Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidæa, and Olynthus, being vigorously opposed
throughout by the great Athenian orator and patriot Demosthenes, who
strove to rouse his countrymen against Philip’s dangerous encroachments,
in the famous speeches known as the Olynthiac and Philippic orations.