The study analyzes the foreign policy of middle powers - the leagues of the Aetolians and Achaeans, Rhodes, Pergamum - in the Hellenistic period from a systematic point of view. The focus is on ideological aspects of warfare and Alliance diplomacy. These powers, which did not have the resources of the great Diadoch monarchies, but were in constant competition with them, depended heavily on allies and had to ideologize their policies to a very high degree in order to gain the greatest possible acceptance of their actions in dealing with potential allies. Thus, in the sources, there appears the picture of a total contradiction between political ambitions and ideological self-presentation, which were in truth closely connected. |
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