Using all available evidence - literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological - this study offers a new analysis of the early Hellenistic Peloponnese. The conventional picture of the Macedonian kings as oppressors, and of the Peloponnese as ruined by warfare and tyranny, must be revised. The kings did not suppress freedom or exploit the peninsula economically, but generally presented themselves as patrons of Greek identity. Most of the regimes characterised as 'tyrannies' were probably, in reality, civic governorships, and the Macedonians did not seek to overturn tradition or build a new imperial order. Contrary to previous analyses, the evidence of field survey and architectural remains points to an active, even thriving civic culture and a healthy trading economy under elite patronage. Despite the rise of federalism, particularly in the form of the Achaean league, regional identity was never as strong as loyalty to one's city-state (polis).

Examines developments in the heartland of Greece after the reign of Alexander the Great, and rejects the usual pessimistic picture.

Existing treatments of Peloponnesian history are fragmented by poleis and period. This book offers a comprehensive narrative of the political history of the entire Peloponnese from 371 to 146 BC, using both literary and epigraphic evidence. In the Hellenistic Peloponnese a long shadow was cast by the geo-political changes of the 4th century. Many continuities trace back to the forty years after Leuktra (371-330). Internal divisions and alliances are interwoven with the interventions of external powers: Thebans, Macedonian rulers, and finally the Romans. The author's findings reveal remarkable consistencies in the history of the Peloponnese. After Sparta's long-invincible army was defeated at the battle of Leuktra, there was much in Sparta's influence which was far from crushed. Not only did Sparta's confidence persist, as she agitated for centuries to renew her power; other states of the Peloponnese conducted their own foreign policies in reaction either to Sparta's decline or, especially, to her resurgence - and to the prospect of further resurgence still. The book reveals continuity as regards Sparta in the foreign policies of Elis, most of Arkadia, Messenia, and the Achaian Confederacy. These definite patterns formed Peloponnesian history far beyond the narrow relation of each community to Sparta: they also shaped the relation of most major Peloponnesian powers to each other.

This book traces the origins of the religious system of the Peloponnese to identify the factors behind its subsequent development from the Geometric to the Classical period. Through a presentation of cult places, the deities worshipped, and the epithets used, the book explores preferences for particular deities and the reasons for this.

A Spartan lifestyle proverbially describes austerity; ancient Greek luxury was associated with Ionia and the oriental world. The contributions to this book, first presented at a conference held by the University of Nottingham's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, reverse the stereotype and explore the role of luxury and wealth at Sparta and among its Peloponnesian neighbors from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period. Using literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence, an international team of specialists investigates the definition and changing meanings of the term luxury and its nearest ancient Greek equivalents, providing new insights into Sparta's supposed abstention from luxury, and the way that this was portrayed by ancient writers. They analyse wealth production and private and public spending, emphasising features that were distinctive to Sparta and the Peloponnese compared with other parts of ancient Greece. Other chapters investigate issues still familiar in the contemporary world: economic crisis and debt, austerity measures, and relief provisions for the poor.

"This book does genuinely fill a significant gap . . . and will serve as a reliable guide to the sources and scholarship on Greece in the third century."—Stanley Burstein "The Aetolians of the 3rd cent. BCE (even more than the Macedonians, if not quite at the level of the Gauls) were the bogey-men and whipping-boys for every Greek state, from Athens to Achaea, that considered itself more civilized. Polybius in particular couldn't stand them. Primitive, treacherous, murderous, piratical—the epithets pile up like snow on Helicon. Yet, paradoxically, these sub-Homeric ruffians also instituted a remarkably modern-sounding democratic federation, which even (despite Greek ethnic exclusiveness) offered membership to non-Aetolian groups. Resolving the paradox has stimulated Scholten to produce a really wonderful book. He has reinforced the scanty literary sources with some of the most thorough epigraphical and numismatic work I have ever seen in a work of scholarship. Best of all, he has walked every inch of Aetolia and knows its geography backwards. His research (while not palliating the Aetiolians' "predatory economic self-service," a nice phrase) sets their federation in its political context as never before, and, what's more, does so in elegant and drily ironic prose. The Politics of Plunder invites comparison with N.G.L. Hammond's Epirus, and will, I suspect, in the long run prove a more durable and substantial achievement."—Peter Green

The diplomatic tool known as isopolity is a testament to Greek ingenuity and is attested all over the Mediterranean from the 4th to 1st century B.C., mainly epigraphically. “Isopoliteia” was a popular way to establish new relashionships, reinforce old ones or to regulate difficult situations among communities in the Hellenistic Period. This book offers close scrutiny of potential citizenship between communities as well as a fresh examination of new evidence which has emerged since the publication of the only monograph written on the topic by Wilfried Gawantka in 1975. The book brings together all the evidence for isopolity in the Hellenistic world and demonstrates that communities used this diplomatic tool across different kinds of agreements and through a range of different ways.