a town of Chalcidice, stood at the head of the Toronaeic Gulf, between the headlands of Sithonia and Pallene, about 60 stadia from Potidea. The early part of its history is not marked by much prosperity. During the second Persian invasion of Greece, Artabazus, the general of Xerxes, captured the town, slaughtered its Bottiaean inhabitants, and gave it to the Chalcidians. It next came under the yoke of Athens; and not until the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, when the Spartan general Brasidas crushed the Athenian power in Chalcidice, did it assert its independence. At that time, however, the Olynthians began to play an important part in history. The maritime situation of their city, and its central position among the neighbouring independent towns, were the natural advantages with which they started. One of their first deeds was to exact from Amyntas, the embarrassed king of Macedonia, some additional territory. Then, on the broad principle of a common participation in all civil rights and privileges, they established a confederacy with the other Chalcidian and several of the Macedonian cities. In 383 B.C. their strength had become so formidable that they refused to restore the land previously conceded to them by the Macedonian monarch, and threatened to punish the towns of Acanthus and Apollonia for not joining the league. Yet it was the assumption of this bold attitude that led to the overthrow of Olynthus. The aid of Sparta was immediately solicited to punish the arrogant Olynthians, and after a stout resistance, they were forced to surrender to Polybiades in 379 B.C. Their federation was forthwith broken up; the seizure of Pydna, Methone, and Potidea, not long afterwards, deprived them of all hope of ever reorganizing it; and they were left alone to cope with the rising destiny of Macedonia. They warded off their fate for some time by forming a league with Philip, the king of that country. At length their alliance with the Athenians, in 352 B.C., led to an open war with the Macedonian monarch in 350 B.C. All the eloquence of Demosthenes could not incite his countrymen to send adequate succour to their struggling allies; all the resistance of the besieged citizens themselves could not keep out the bribes of the intriguing Philip. In 347 B.C. Lasthenes and Entychrates betrayed the city; all the inhabitants were sold for slaves; and every building was razed to the ground.