Elis: Internal Politics and External Policy in Ancient Greece

Abstract

This book is a political history of both the north-western region of the Peloponnese, known in early times as 'Elis', and the Classical and later city of the same name located within that region. Far from summarising earlier scholarship, it seeks to reconsider particular aspects of this history in the light of both recent scholarly developments and further observations. Scholars, for example, recognising the significance of pastoralism among the ancient Eleians, have often assumed that the various forms of constitution which they adopted throughout their history consistently reflected the moderate politics of an almost exclusively rural society. The existence of a thriving pastoral industry, however, need not entail that other economic activities were neglected, and there is reason to believe that goods of various kinds were produced for both local markets and export, either by sea to the wider Mediterranean world or by land into the interior of the Peloponnese. The city of Elis, too, experienced ongoing growth from the time of the synoikism of 471 bc until the Roman period. It has also been assumed that an Eleian polis beside the River Peneios expanded by peaceful means or other throughout the Archaic and early Classical periods until by the mid-fifth century bc it had absorbed or subjected the remaining communities of the region in a manner analogous to the Spartan acquisition of Lakonia and Messenia. This conclusion, however, is based upon the questionable premise that the early remains beside the Peneios and a document found among them belong to an Archaic 'polis' called 'Elis' which had existed before the synoikism of 471 bc, so we need to consider alternative narratives.