Hellenic League Kοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 338 BC/337 BC–322 BC | |||||||||||
 The Hellenic League after the death of Philip II | |||||||||||
| Capital | Pella | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Ancient Greek | ||||||||||
| Religion | Ancient Greek religion | ||||||||||
| Government | Hegemony | ||||||||||
| Hegemon, Strategos, Autokrator of Greece | |||||||||||
• 338 BC/337 BC | Philip II | ||||||||||
• 336 BC | Alexander III, the Great | ||||||||||
• 304 BC | Demetrius I Poliorcetes | ||||||||||
• 224 BC | Antigonus III Doson | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Synedrion | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 338 BC/337 BC | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 322 BC | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The League of Corinth, also referred to as the Hellenic League (Greek: κοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, koinòn tõn Hellḗnōn;[a] or simply οἱ Ἕλληνες, the Héllēnes),[3] was a federation of Greek states created by Philip II[4] in 338–337 BC. The League was created in order to unify Greek military forces under Macedonian leadership (hegemony) in their combined conquest of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.[5][6][7]
King Philip was initially urged by Isocrates in 346 BC to unify Greece against the Persians.[8][9] After the Battle of Chaeronea, the League of Corinth was formed and controlled by Philip. Alexander utilized his father's league when planning his pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to expand Macedon and take revenge on the Persian Empire.[10] During the Hellenistic period, some Antigonid rulers of Macedon shortly revived the league, also known as the 'Hellenic Alliance'.[11]
The title 'League of Corinth' was invented by modern historians because the first council of the League took place in Corinth, albeit the Greek word synedrion is better translated as congress or conference rather than league. The adjective Hellenic derives from Hellenikos meaning "pertaining to Greece and Greeks".[12][13][14] The organization was the first time in history that the Greek city-states (with the notable exception of Sparta, which would join only later under Alexander's terms) would unify under a single political entity.[15]
- ^ Grant 2017, p. 24 :"...the League of Corinth, a federation that represented to koinon ton Hellenon, the community of the Greeks and their Defenders of their Peace.".
- ^ Yates 2019, p. 207.
- ^ Cawkwell 1978, p. 171 :"The League of Corinth' is a modern name. It was properly styled 'the Hellenes', the somewhat ambiguous title used for earlier leagues from the Persian Wars onwards, suggesting a large measure of continuity".
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Book 16, 89.[3] «διόπερ ἐν Κορίνθῳ τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου συναχθέντος διαλεχθεὶς περὶ τοῦ πρὸς Πέρσας πολέμου καὶ μεγάλας ἐλπίδας ὑποθεὶς προετρέψατο τοὺς συνέδρους εἰς πόλεμον. τέλος δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἑλομένων αὐτὸν στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῆς Ἑλλάδος μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας στρατείαν...καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Φίλιππον ἐν τούτοις ἦν»
- ^ Arrian, Alexander Anabasis, [4.11.7.] «καὶ ἐγὼ τῆς Ἑλλάδος μεμνῆσθαί σε ἀξιῶ, ὦ Ἀλέξανδρε, ἧς ἕνεκα ὁ πᾶς στόλος σοι ἐγένετο, προσθεῖναι τὴν Ἀσίαν τῇ Ἑλλάδι»
- ^ Kinzl 2010, p. 553 :"He [Philip] also recognized the power of pan-Hellenic sentiment when arranging Greek affairs after his victory at Chaironeia: a pan-Hellenic expedition against Persia ostensibly was one of the main goals of the League of Corinth".
- ^ Davis Hanson 2012, p. 119.
- ^ Philip [16]: «μέλλω γάρ σοι συμβουλεύειν προστῆναι τῆς τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁμονοίας καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους στρατείας: ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν πείθειν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας συμφέρον, τὸ δὲ βιάζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους χρήσιμον. ἡ μὲν οὖν περιβολὴ παντὸς τοῦ λόγου τοιαύτη τίς ἐστιν» [1]
- ^ Harle 1998, p. 24 :"The idea of the city-state was first challenged by the ideal of pan-Hellenic unity supported by some writers and orators, among which the Athenian Isocrates became a leading proponent with his Panegyrics of 380 suggesting a Greek holy war against Persia. However, only the rise of Macedonia made the realization of pan-Hellenic unity possible".
- ^ Davis Hanson 2012, p. 119 :"Afterwards he [Alexander] revived his father's League of Corinth, and with it his plan for a pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to punish the Persians for the suffering of the Greeks, especially the Athenians, in the Greco-Persian Wars and to liberate the Greek cities of Asia Minor".
- ^ Erskine 2009, p. 155 :"Following the footsteps of Philip II and his own great-grandfather (and namesake), Antigonos organized yet another 'League of Corinth', although this third version is better known as the 'Hellenic Alliance'".
- ^ Ἑλληνικός, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Book 16, 64.[3]: «Φίλιππος ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος τὸ τελευταῖον διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσέβειαν ἡγεμὼν ἀπεδείχθη τῆς Ἑλλάδος πάσης καὶ μεγίστην βασιλείαν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην περιεποιήσατο»
- ^ The reason Arrian wrote about Alexander: «ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις ἄλλος εἷς ἀνὴρ τοσαῦτα ἢ τηλικαῦτα ἔργα κατὰ πλῆθος ἢ μέγεθος ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἢ βαρβάροις ἀπεδείξατο» Arrian, Alexander Anabasis [1.12.4.]
- ^ Pohlenz 1966, p. 20.
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