A great effort to free Greece from the Macedonian supremacy was headed
by Athens in 323 B. C. The renowned Athenian orators Demosthenes and
Hyperides were its political heroes, opposed by Phocion, a man of pure
character, but who despaired of a successful rising against Antipater,
ruler of Macedonia before and after Alexander the Great’s death. Athens
was joined by most of the states in Central and Northern Greece; and the
war derives its name from Lamia in Thessaly, where Antipater, after
being defeated by the confederates, was besieged for some months. The
war ended in 322 B. C., by Antipater’s complete victory at the battle of
Crannon in Thessaly. Demosthenes ended his life by poison in the same
year; Hyperides was killed by Antipater’s orders; Phocion died by the
hemlock at Athens, in 317 B. C., on a charge of treason.