Chaironeia - Town & Lion of Chaironeia Attractions Khairónia
The monumental Lion of Chaironeia, 5.5m/18ft high, rears up against a backdrop of cypress trees by the roadside 14 km/8.5mi north of Livadiá. It commemorates a battle in 338 B.C. in which the allied Greek city states were defeated by Philip II of Macedon and his 18-year-old son Alexander. The battle marked the beginning of the Macedonian domination of Greece. The fallen Macedonians were buried in an earth mound on the battlefield (2 km/1.25mi east of the Lion), and Philip sent the ashes of the dead Athenians to Athens, while Thebes raised a tomb for its dead which was enclosed by a low wall and marked by the figure of the lion.
This is a village of great archeological interest and Plutarch's birthplace.
This is a village of great archeological interest and Plutarch's birthplace.
Old Town
Of the ancient city of Chaironeia (1.5km/1mi west) there remains only a small theater hewn from the rock on the slopes of the acropolis hill, now called Mt Petrakhos. This was the birthplace of the philosopher and biographer Plutarch, a priest of Apollo at Delphi (A.D. ca. 45 - ca. 120), who returned to Chaironeia in his old age.
