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The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of ancient Greek city-states, dominated by Sparta and centered on the Peloponnesus, which lasted from c.550 to 366 BC. It is known mainly for being one of the two rivals in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), against the Delian League, which was dominated by Athens.

History

In its early history, Sparta expanded by conquering Laconia and Messenia and reducing their population into slavery (as helots), but the subjugation of Tegea on its northern border failed at the battle of the Fetters. Following this defeat, Spartan adopted a diplomatic strategy, known as the "bones policy", by appropriating the relics of mythical heroes worshipped in the Peloponnese, starting with Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, whose bones were transferred from Tegea to Sparta. This new diplomacy was likely sponsored by Chilon, ephor c.556, who therefore enabled Sparta to present itself as the natural successor of the mythical Achaean kingdom of Agamemnon as described by Homer. Tegea then signed an alliance treaty with Sparta, which became the starting point of the subsequent Peloponnesian League.

Tegea was pushed towards Sparta by its fear of Argos, its eastern neighbour. For the same reason, all the other neighbours of Argos rapidly concluded treaties with Sparta on the Tegean model: Mantinea, Phlieus, Corinth, Epidaurus and the other cities of Argolis. They were followed by Elis, the large city of the western Peloponnesus, and all the Arcadian communities of central Peloponnesus. By 540s, Sparta had concluded alliances with all the Peloponnesian cities, apart from Argos and Achaean cities on the northern shore.

A major change in the organisation of the League took place c.506, when the Spartan king Cleomenes I attempted to capture Athens and place at its head his friend Isagoras as tyrant or as member of an oligarchy. A full army of the League was called and marched on Athens, but the Corinthians returned home when they discovered the purpose of the expedition, also encouraged by the other king Demaratus, who opposed Cleomenes. The campaign therefore failed, and as a result Sparta had to concede the creation of a congress of the League, where members could vote on war and peace.

League organization

The League was organized with Sparta as the hegemon, and was controlled by the council of allies which was composed of two bodies: the assembly of Spartiates and the Congress of Allies. Each allied state had one vote in the Congress, regardless of that state's size or geopolitical power. No tribute was paid except in times of war (mainly against the Delian League), when one third of the military of a state could be requested. Only Sparta could call a Congress of the League. All alliances were made with Sparta only, so if they so wished, member states had to form separate alliances with each other. Wars among the members were possible as well, with Thucydides mentioning a battle between Mantineans and Tegeans (and their respective allies) during the Peloponnesian War. And although each state had one vote, League resolutions were not binding on Sparta. In addition, the "one state, one vote" principle allowed Sparta to often ensure a formal majority through the smaller towns it could dominate directly.

Thus, the Peloponnesian League was not an "alliance" in the strictest sense of the word (nor was it wholly Peloponnesian for the entirety of its existence). The common name used in contemporary documents was "The Lacedemonians and their allies", emphasizing the leadership of Sparta. However, other poleis could hold influence comparable to Sparta herself, especially Corinth, due to its wealth and navy.

The League provided protection and security to its members. It was a conservative alliance which supported oligarchies and opposed tyrannies and democracies.

Later history

During the Persian Wars, the League was expanded into the Hellenic League and included Athens and other states. The Hellenic League was led by Pausanias and, after he was recalled, by Cimon of Athens. After the Persian Wars, Sparta withdrew from the Hellenic League, reforming the Peloponnesian League with its original allies. This might have been caused by Sparta and its allies' unease over Athenian efforts to increase the power of their own Delian League.

Tensions between the two Leagues were key in the outbreak of the First Peloponnesian War in 460 BC. The conflict between two Peloponnesian League members, Corinth and Megara, specifically the latter's defection to the Athenians due to perceived neglect by the Spartans, was a key factor in the outbreak of hostilities between the two Leagues. That war ended with the reintegration of Megara into the League. The two Leagues eventually came into conflict again with each other in the Peloponnesian War. Under Spartan leadership, the League defeated Athens and its allies in 404 BC.

Following the disastrous Spartan defeat by Thebes at the Battle of Leuktra in 371 BC, Elis and the Arcadian states seized the opportunity to throw off the yoke of Spartan hegemony; the Arcadians formed themselves into their own league to preserve their independence. The size of the Peloponnesian League was then further reduced by the Theban liberation of Messenia from Spartan control in 369 BC. The states of the north-eastern Peloponnese, including Corinth, Sicyon and Epidauros, adhered to their Spartan allegiance, but as the war continued in the 360s BC, many joined the Thebans or took a neutral position, though Elis and some of the Arcadian states realigned themselves with Sparta. In 338 BC, the Peloponnesian League was disbanded when Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, formed the League of Corinth after defeating Thebes and Athens, incorporating all the Peloponnesian states except Sparta.

List of members

Original members (before the end of the 6th century BC)

• Tegea was the first ally of Sparta of the alliance that evolved into the Peloponnesian League.
• Corinth joined c.550. It was the most important member of the League beside Sparta. In 395, it left the League because of the Corinthian War, but returned to Sparta with the King's Peace in 387. Its departure in 366 following the Spartan defeat against Thebes at Leuctra effectively ended the League.
• Sicyon remained a member without interruption until 369, when it was conquered by Epaminondas.
• Epidaurus joined because it felt threatened by Argos. It remained a member without interruption until 366.
• Phleius joined because of the threat from Argos. Sparta intervened into its internal politics to protect the Phleiasian oligarchs in 384 and 381. The oligarchs then remained loyal to Sparta until 366.
• Halieis probably remained a member until the campaign of Epaminondas in Argolis in 369.
• Megara possibly joined the League thanks to the intervention of king Cleomenes I in c.519. Megara frequently shifted allegiances between Sparta and Athens. It might have left before 511, since an expedition of the Spartan general Anchimolius against Athens did not pass through the isthmus. It was possibly forced to rejoin by Cleomenes in c.510 when he unseated the tyrant Hippias from Athens, after which he also punished Megara by giving the island of Salamis to Athens. Megara left the League again in 461 following a border war against Corinth and joined the Delian League led by Athens, which precipitated the First Peloponnesian War. It rejoined in 448.
• Aegina became member before the end of the 6th century. It left the League in 457 after its capture by Athens, and joined instead the Delian League. The city was destroyed by Athens in 431. Aegina was refounded by Lysander in 405 with the defeat of Athens and returned to the League.
• Troezen left the League to Athens in 457, but rejoined following the Thirty Years' Peace. It remained loyal to Sparta until 366.
• Hermione left the League to Athens c.450, but rejoined following the Thirty Years' Peace. It probably remained a member until the campaign of Epaminondas in Argolis in 369.
• Elis was one of the earliest members of the League; it had already been allied with Sparta for two centuries. Like Sparta, it had many dependent cities of perioecic status. In 420, Elis left the League because Sparta recognised the independence of perioecic Lepreon. Sparta had to wait until the end of the Peloponnesian War to turn against Elis in the Elean War c.400. Victorious, Sparta forced Elis back into the league, as well as to release all its perioecic cities, which presumably formed a federal state and joined the Peloponnesian League as a single unit. Elis defected again in 370 after Leuctra.
• Mantinea defected from the League in 421, but rejoined after its defeat against Sparta in 418. It left again after Leuctra to found the Arcadian League.
• Orchomenus (Arcadian) was forced to temporarily defect in 418 by the coalition of Elis, Mantinea, Argos and Athens, but rejoined after the battle of Mantinea.
• The situation in the rest of Arcadia is difficult to track, with many small communities organised in tribes and leagues of their own. However, all of these communities were members of the Peloponnesian League, which they left in 370 to found the Arcadian League around the city of Megalopolis.

Later additions (after c.504 BC)

• Mycenae joined after the battle of Sepeia in 494, when Argos was defeated by Sparta. However, c.460 Argos took advantage of the Helot Revolt in Sparta to reconquer and destroy Mycenae.
• Tiryns probably joined after Sepeia in 494. It was recaptured some years after 468 and destroyed.
• The Boeotian League was already an ally of Sparta at the end of the 6th century, but apparently not a member of the Peloponnesian League. It more probably joined the League in the years between the Thirty Years' Peace in 446 and the beginning of the Peloponnesian war in 431, "as a single unit".
• The Phocians probably joined the league as a single unit at the same time as the Boeotians, between 446 and 431.
• The Eastern Locrians probably joined the league as a single unit at the same time as the Boeotians, between 446 and 431.
• The Acarnanian cities of Ambracia, Leucas, and Anactorium, possibly joined between 446 and 431. They certainly joined the League in 389/8, after their defeat against Sparta.
• Pellene was the first Achaean city to join the League in 431 (it acted independently several times from its federal structure, the Achaean League). The city was conquered by Epaminondas in 367 and allied with Thebes.
• The Achaean League apparently followed Pellene and joined as a single unit by 429. In 417 Sparta forced the Achaeans to adopt an oligarchic constitution. The Achaeans were conquered by Epaminondas in 366.
• Athens was forced to join the League in 404 following its defeat in the Peloponnesian War. Athens left the League in 395 with the Corinthian War.
• Eleusis became independent from Athens in 403, as a refuge of the Thirty Tyrants, and joined the League until it was recovered by Athens in 401.
• Olynthus joined the League after its defeat against Sparta in 378.

References

1. Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia, p. 118.
2. Forrest, History of Sparta, pp. 75, 76.
3. Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia, pp. 119, 120, summarises this shift as "‘Helotization’ to diplomatic subordination".
4. Huxley, Early Sparta, pp. 69; Chilon may have been of Achaean descent, p. 138 (note 496).
5. Ste. Croix, "Herodotus and King Cleomenes", pp. 96, 97.
6. Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia, p. 120
7. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 97.
8. ^ Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 333.
9. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, pp. 606, 607, 613.
10. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 339.
11. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 109.
12. L. G. Pechatnova, A History of Sparta (Archaic and Classic Periods)
13. Kagan, Donald (2005). The Peloponnesian War : Athens and Sparta in savage conflict, 431-404 BC. London. p. 16. ISBN 0-00-711506-7. OCLC 60370044.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
14. Thucydides 1.103
15. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 96, 97.
16. Salmon, Wealthy Corinth, p. 240.
17. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 466.
18. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 97 (note 22).
19. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 469.
20. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, pp. 606, 607.
21. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 613.
22. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, pp. 608, 609.
23. L. H. Jefery, "Greece before the Persian Invasion", in Boardman et al., Cambridge Ancient History, vol. IV, p. 360.
24. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 100, 187, 188, 212.
25. Salmon, Wealthy Corinth, p. 262.
26. ^ Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 123.
27. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 463.
28. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 333–335.
29. ^ Salmon, Wealthy Corinth, p. 265.
30. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 621, however writes that "Subsequent Aiginetan membership in the Peloponnesian League is unlikely."
31. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 616.
32. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 610, mention the possibility that Hermione left instead in c.425.
33. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 610.
34. Capreedy, "A League within a League", pp. 491–493.
35. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 495.
36. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 490.
37. Capreedy, "A League within a League", pp. 493–496.
38. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, pp. 490, 542.
39. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 495.
40. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, pp. 518, 519.
41. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 524.
42. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 612.
43. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 615.
44. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 123, 124, 335–337.
45. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 124, 338.
46. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 124, 338.
47. ^ Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 124.
48. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 107.
49. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 474.
50. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 484.
51. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 478.
52. Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, pp. 145, 146.
53. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 627.
54. Hansen & Nielsen (eds.), Inventory, p. 637.

Bibliography

• John Boardman et al., The Cambridge Ancient History, volume IV, Persia Greece, and the Eastern Mediterranean, from c. 525 to 479 B.C., Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-521-22804-2
• Jim Capreedy, "A League within a League: The Preservation of the Elean Symmachy", The Classical World, Vol. 101, No. 4 (Summer, 2008), pp. 485–503.
• Paul Cartledge, Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-7156-3032-7
• ——, Sparta and Lakonia, A Regional History 1300–362 BC, London, Routledge, 2002 (originally published in 1979). ISBN 0-415-26276-3
• W. G. Forrest, A History of Sparta, New York, Norton, 1986. SBN 393004813
• Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen, An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• G. L. Huxley, Early Sparta, London, Faber & Faber, 1962. ISBN 0-389-02040-0
• J. B. Salmon, Wealthy Corinth, A History of the City to 338 BC, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1984. ISBN 0-19-814833-X
• G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, London, Duckworth, 1972. ISBN 0-7156-0640-9

• 6th-century BC establishments in Greece
• Ancient Greece
• Sparta
• Peloponnesian War
• Ancient Greek hegemonic leagues
• Spartan hegemony
• 6th-century BC military alliances
• 5th-century BC military alliances
• 4th-century BC military alliances
• Greek city-state federations