Delphi
In 356 BC the Phocians under Philomelos captured and sacked Delphi, leading to the Third Sacred War (356–346 BC), which ended with the defeat of the former and the rise of Macedon under the reign of Philip II. This led to the Fourth Sacred War (339 BC), which culminated in the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) and the establishment of Macedonian rule over Greece.
In Delphi, Macedonian rule was superseded by the Aetolians in 279 BC, when a Gallic invasion was repelled, and by the Romans in 191 BC. The site was sacked by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 86 BC, during the Mithridatic Wars, and by Nero in 66 AD. Although subsequent Roman emperors of the Flavian dynasty contributed towards to the restoration of the site, it gradually lost importance. In the course of the 3rd century mystery cults became more popular than the traditional Greek pantheon. Christianity, which started as yet one more mystery cult, soon gained ground, and this eventually resulted in the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. The anti-pagan legislation of the Flavian dynasty deprived ancient sanctuaries of their assets. The emperor Julian attempted to reverse this religious climate, yet his "pagan revival" was particularly short-lived. When the doctor Oreibasius visited the oracle of Delphi, in order to question the fate of paganism,he received a pessimistic answer:
Middle-earth wars and battles
The War of the Dwarves and Dragons was fought from the year 2570 to 2589 of the Third Age between the Dwarves of the Grey Mountains and the great fire-drakes that came down from the Northern Waste. After the Fall of Khazad-Dûm in T.A. 1981, the majority of those Dwarves who fled their downfallen kingdom escaped through the East Gate of Moria and into the vast lands of Rhovanion. These Dwarven refugees were under the leadership of Thráin I, grandson of Durin VI who had been killed the year earlier. The Dwarves of Khazad-Dûm had already had many well established mining colonies scattered throughout the lands east of the Misty Mountains, which included the colony of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, as well as the rich mines and delvings in the "Ered Mithrin" to the far north. Thus it was that in the centuries that followed the greater part of the Dwarves relocated to their many halls in the Grey Mountains, which were rich in many ores, and they prospered and grew powerful in relative peace.