Athenian general Callistratus has supported Spartan interests at Athens, recognizing that Thebes poses the greater threat to Athens.

He had been one of the crafters of the peace treaty in 371 BCE between Athens and Sparta which recognized the hegemony of Athens on the sea and that of Sparta on land.

On account of the refusal of the Thebans to surrender Oropus, which on his advice they had been allowed to occupy temporarily, Callistratus had been impeached in 366 because of the failure of his policy to check Theban expansion.

He employs brilliant oratory to save himself from a death sentence.

Callistratus’ magnificent defense speech inspires a young spectator, Demosthenes—orphaned in 378 at age seven and given over to guardians who have misused his inheritance—to study the art of advocacy.

Demosthenes has practiced his delivery—according to legend, by putting pebbles in his mouth—and studied the masters of Athenian prose to perfect his skills.

Employing the exciting and explosive style he develops, he takes his guardians to court in 363 and wins his case.

Callistratus, impeached again in 361 BCE, escapes to Methone in Macedonia, where he is accommodated by King Perdiccas III, who draws on his financial expertise.

Philip, having restored order in Macedon, proclaims himself King Philip II in 356 BCE, and moves on to conquer …

…Pydna on the Thermaic Gulf and …

…the west Thracian mining city of Krenides, or Daton, in the foothills south of Mount Orbelos (modern Lekani), a place newly founded (360) by Callistratus, together with a group of colonists from Thasos, on an old Thasian settlement to exploit new finds of silver and gold in Mount Pangaion, whose famed wealth the Thracians have heretofore exploited, trading their metals for goods supplied by the Amphipolitans and Neapolitans.

The small colony, threatened by Thracian tribes, had called on Philip II for aid in 356, leading to the refoundation of the city as Philippi.

After the takeover of the area by Philip, Callistratus takes refuge in Byzantium. (Upon his return to Athens later in the 350s, he will be executed.)