It was the scene of an historic battle at 338 BC, in which Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great decisively overcame the last bid of the free Greek city-states (led by Athens and Thebes) for independence, which states were then merged into his empire and that of his successors. Among the troops defeated by Alexander was also the famous Sacred Band of Thebes, as described by Plato.
In 86 BC, Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla won the battle against Mithridates VI of Pontus near Chaeronea.
The ancient biographer and essayist Plutarch was born there, and several times refers to these and other facts about his native place in his writings.