(39) This abandonment came on the heels of Philip's capture and enslavement of
Chalcidice in 349 and Olynthus in mid348 BCE, which became a turning point in Philip's war on Athens.
Although Pericles's strategy essentially remained in play throughout the first decade of the war, there were departures from it as the war expanded into new areas such as Sicily and the
Chalcidice region.
As part of the offensive into Greece, Persian engineers even completed the remarkable engineering feats of bridging the Dardanelles and digging a canal across the Acte peninsula in the
Chalcidice. Today, the Persians would be considered a joint and combined force--that is, different armed services acting in a coordinated way, supplied from a proficient logistical system, utilizing intelligence, working closely with the forces of allied states--executing a strategy to conquer Greece.
The umbra of the moon crossed from the western Atlantic Ocean to the northwestern coast of Morocco, the northern edge of modern Algeria, the southeastern Mediterranean brushing the southern tip of Sardinia and the northwest tip of Sicily, across the Tyrrhenian Sea, across Lucania and ancient Calabria in southern Italy, the Straits of Otranto, over Epirus, Thessaly and
Chalcidice, the northern Aegean, and headed eastward across northern Anatolia.
A general (strategos) and statesman of the Achaean League, he led a revolt against the Romans (146); persuaded Corinth to ignore envoys from Rome, and incited the Achaean League to revolt against Rome, which was busy with the last stages of the Third Punic War; assembled a large army, made alliances with Thebes (Thivai) and
Chalcidice (Khalkidhiki), and attacked Sparta (a Roman ally) by besieging Heraclea in Elis; driven off by a Roman army under Lucius Mummius, he was decisively defeated at Scarphe (near Corinth) (146); disappeared afterward, and presumably killed.
As the play begins, she lies exhausted in front of her tent in
Chalcidice, where the Greek expedition has taken her.