Aratus of Sicyon Strategos of the Achaean League, Founder and Saviour of Sicyon | |
|---|---|
 Aratus of Sicyon, as depicted in the Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum (1553) | |
| Native name | Ἄρατος |
| Born | 271 BC Sicyon |
| Died | 213 BC Aegium |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | Achaean League |
| Rank | Strategos |
| Service number | 245-213 BC (with intervals) |
| Battles / wars | Cleomenean War Battle of Sellasia Social War |
| Other work | Advisor of Philip V of Macedon |
Aratus of Sicyon (Ancient Greek: Ἄρατος ὁ Σικυώνιος; 271–213 BC) was a politician and military commander of Hellenistic Greece. He was elected strategos of the Achaean League 17 times, leading the League through numerous military campaigns including the Cleomenean War and the Social War.
Aratus was exiled to Argos at the age of seven, after his father, the magistrate of Sicyon, was killed in a coup. In 251 BC, he led an expedition composed of other exiles which freed Sicyon from tyranny, and assumed power in the city. Sicyon joined the Achaean League, in which Aratus would later be elected strategos. In his first major campaign as strategos, he seized the Macedonian-held citadel of Acrocorinth, previously believed impregnable.
After conquering the Acrocorinth, Aratus pursued the Achaean League's expansion. When the Spartan king Cleomenes III conquered the Achaean cities of Argos and Corinth, Aratus succeeded in securing an alliance with his erstwhile enemy, Macedon. Cleomenes III was defeated at the Battle of Sellasia by the joint forces of the Achaean League and Antigonus III Doson, the regent of Macedon. During the Social War against the Aetolian League, Aratus became one of the prime advisors of the new king of Macedon, Philip V. Aratus died in 213 BC, allegedly poisoned by Philip.