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League of Corinth

Historic federation of Greek states

  • 7 min read
  • 5 chapters

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Through Federation

King Philip was initially urged by Isocrates in 346 BC to unify Greece against the Persians. After the Battle of Chaeronea, the League of Corinth was formed, controlled and led by Philip. Alexander the Great utilized his father's league when planning his pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to expand Macedon and take revenge on the Persian Empire. During the Hellenistic period, some Antigonid rulers of Macedon shortly revived the league, also known as the 'Hellenic Alliance'.

The title 'League of Corinth' was invented by modern historians because the first council of the League took place in Corinth, though the Greek word synedrion is better translated as congress. The adjective Hellenic derives from Hellenikos meaning "pertaining to Greece and Greeks". The League was the first time in history that the Greek city-states (except Sparta, who by then was deprived of Messenia and long since in terminal decline as a military power) would unify under a single political entity.

Philip II of Macedon and the ideas of Panhellenic unity

From the mid-fourth century BC, the system of city-states (poleis) was gradually challenged by the ideas of pan-Hellenic unity, forwarded by some writers and orators, including Isocrates, who urged king Philip (in Isocrates' Philippus oration) to unify Greek powers against the Persians. Isocrates had unwillingly provided Philip with the propaganda tool he needed. Philip used it as a pretext to veil his Macedonian ambitions in Asia as a Panhellenic project. Pan-Hellenic unity was only achieved with the rise of Macedon.

Following his victory at the Battle of Chaeronea (337 BC), Philip was able to impose a settlement upon southern Greece, which all states accepted, with the exception of Sparta. Philip had no intention of besieging any city, nor indeed of conquering it, but rather he wanted the southern Greeks as his allies for his planned campaign against the Persians. In the months after the battle, he moved around Greece making peace with the states that opposed him, dealing with the Spartans, and installing garrisons. In mid 337 BC, he seems to have camped near Corinth and began the work to establish a league of the city-states, which would guarantee peace in Greece and provide Philip with military assistance against Persia. The principal terms of the concord were that all members became allied to each other, and to Macedon, and that all members were guaranteed freedom from attack, freedom of navigation, and freedom from interference in internal affairs. The council then declared war on Persia and voted Philip as strategos for the forthcoming campaign.

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