Achaean League
（
Achaĭcum Foedus;
τὸ
Ἀχαϊκόν). The league or confederation of a number of towns on the northwest
coast of Peloponnesus. In speaking of it we must distinguish between two periods. The former,
though formed for mutual protection, was mainly of a religious character, whereas the latter
was a political confederation to protect the towns against the domination of Macedonia.
1. The Earlier League.
When the Heraclidae took possession of Peloponnesus, a portion of the Achaeans, under
Tisamenos, turned northwards and took possession of the northern coast of the peninsula,
which was called
Αἰγιαλός: the Ionians, who had hitherto
occupied that country, sought refuge in Attica and on the west coast of Asia Minor. The
country thus occupied by the Achaeans, from whom it derived its name of Achaia, contained
twelve towns which had been leagued together even in the time of their Ionian inhabitants.
They were governed by the descendants of Tisamenus, until, after the death of King Ogyges,
they abolished the kingly rule and established democratic institutions. The time when this
happened is not known. In the time of Herodotus (
i. 145)
the twelve towns of which the league consisted were: Pellene, Aegeira, Aegae, Bura,
Helicé, Aegion, Rhypes, Patrae, Pharae, Olenos, Dymé, and Tritaea.
After the time of Herodotus, Rhypes and Aegae disappear from the number of the confederate
towns, as they had decayed and become deserted (
Paus.
vii.23.25;
Strab. viii. p. 387), and Leontion and
Cerynea stepped into their place (Polyb. ii. 41). Helicé appears to have been
their common place of meeting; but this town, together with Bura, was swallowed up by the sea
during an earthquake in B.C. 373, whereupon Aegion was chosen as the place of meeting for the
confederates (
Strab. viii. p. 384). Of the constitution of this
league very little is known; but it is clear that the bond which united the different towns
was very loose, and less a political than a religious one. The looseness of the connection
among the towns in a political point of view is evident from the fact that some of them acted
occasionally quite independent of the rest (
Thuc.ii. 9). The
confederation generally kept aloof from the troubles of other parts of Greece, on which
accordingly it exercised no particular influence down to the time when the league was broken
up by the Macedonians. But they were nevertheless highly respected by the other Greek states
on account of their honesty, sincerity, and wise moderation. Hence after the battle of
Leuctra they were chosen to arbitrate between the Thebans and Lacedaemonians (Polyb. ii. 39).
Demetrius, Cassander, and Antigonus Gonatas placed garrisons in some of their towns, while in
others they favoured the rising of tyrants. The towns were thus separated from one another,
and the whole confederation was gradually destroyed.
2. The Later League.
The ancient confederacy had thus ceased to exist for some time when events took place which
in some towns roused the ancient spirit of independence. When in B.C. 281 Antigonus Gonatas
attempted to drive Ptolemaeus Ceraunus from the throne of Macedonia, the Achaeans availed
themselves of the opportunity of shaking off the Macedonian yoke, and renewing the old
confederation. The object, however, was no longer a common worship, but a real political
union among the towns. The places which first shook off the yoke of the oppressors were
Dymé and Patrae, and the alliance concluded between them was speedily joined by
the towns of Tritaea and Pharae (Polyb. ii. 41). One town after another expelled the
Macedonian garrisons and tyrants; and when in B.C. 275, Aegion, the head of the ancient
league, followed the example of the other towns, the foundation of the new confederation was
complete, and the main principles of its constitution were settled, though afterwards many
changes and modifications were introduced. The fundamental laws were that henceforth the
confederacy should form one inseparable state; that every town which should join it should
have equal rights with the others; and that all members in regard to foreign countries should
be regarded as dependent, and be bound in every respect to obey the federal government and
those officers who were intrusted with the executive (Polyb. ii. 37 foll.). No town,
therefore, was allowed to treat with any foreign power without the sanction of the others.
Aegion, for religious reasons, was appointed the seat of the government. At Aegion,
therefore, the citizens of the various towns met at stated and regular times
to deliberate upon the common affairs of the confederation, and if necessary upon those of
any separate town or even of individuals, and to elect the officers of the league. After
having thus established a firm union among themselves, the Achaeans zealously exerted
themselves in delivering other towns also from their tyrants and oppressors. The league,
however, did not acquire any great strength until B.C. 251, when Aratus united Sicyon, his
native place, with it, and some years later also gained Corinth for it. Megara, Troezen, and
Epidaurus soon followed their example. Afterwards Aratus prevailed upon all the more
important towns of Peloponnesus to join the confederacy, and Megalopolis, Argos,
Hermioné, Phlius, and others were added to it. In a short time the league thus
reached its highest power, for it embraced Athens, Aegina, Salamis, and the whole of
Peloponnesus, with the exception of Sparta, Tegea, Orchomenus, Mantinea, and Elis. Greece
seemed to revive, and promised to become stronger and more united than ever, but it soon
showed that its new power was employed only in self-destruction and its own ruin. The Achaean
League might at one time have become a great power, and might have united at least the whole
of Peloponnesus into one State; but the original objects of the league were in the course of
time so far forgotten that it sought the protection of those against whom it had been formed;
and the perpetual discord among its members, the hostility of Sparta, the intrigues of the
Romans, and the folly and rashness of the last strategy brought about not only the
dissolution and destruction of the confederacy, but the political annihilation of the whole
of Greece in the year B.C. 146. (Cf. Schorn,
Gesch. Griechenlands von der Entstehung
des aetol. u. achaeischen Bundes, p. 49 foll. and p. 60 foll.; Drumann,
Ideen
zur Gesch. des Verfalls der griech. Staaten; Thirlwall,
Hist. of
Greece, vol. viii p. 86 foll.; Hertzberg,
Gesch. Griechenlands unter den
Römern, vol. i. [Halle, 1875].)
