Battle of Crocus Field
The Third Sacred War (often just called 'the' Sacred War) broke out in 356 BC, and would present Philip with his first real opportunity to expand his influence into the affairs of central and southern Greece. The war was caused by the refusal of the Phocian Confederation to pay a fine imposed on them in 357 BC by the Amphictyonic League, a pan-Greek religious organisation which governed the most sacred site in Ancient Greece, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Behind the religious element, there probably lay a display of "realpolitik" in bringing charges against the Phocians, instigated by the Thebans. At this time, Thebes controlled a majority of the votes in the council, and at the autumn meeting in 357 BC, the Thebans were able to have both the Phocians (for the cultivation of the sacred land) and the Spartans (for occupying Thebes some 25 years previously) denounced and fined. Since the fines for both parties were "unjustifiably harsh", the Thebans probably expected neither party to pay, and thus to be able to declare a "sacred war" on either.
Ottoman Army (15th-19th centuries)
The Sacred Standard of Muhammad (Sancak-ı Şerif, literally translates as the Noble Banner) is said to be the banner of Muhammad himself or at least to originate from his era. The banner was first used in a battle against the Austrian Habsburgs in 1593 and again for a war in Hungary in 1594. After Mehmed III took the banner and won the Siege of Eger in 1596, the banner became a victory symbol for the Ottoman forces. Sancak-I Serif arouses great interest and emotion. Yet, misunderstanding and confusion surround it, as in the belief, for instance, that it was captured by Christians at the Battle of’ Vienna on September 12, 1683.