When we study the governments of Ancient Greece
in school, we mostly learn about the inner
workings of the Greek city-state, the poleis,
with much of the emphasis placed on the dominant
powers of the time, Athens and Sparta.
But another kind of political entity was crucial
for the area that characterized western and
northern Greece: the koina, or federations.
In this video, we will look at how the Greek
leagues emerged, how they operated, and the
different aspects they developed.
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Around the eighth century BC, at the start
of what historians call the Archaic Period,
Greece experienced a rise in its population,
which lead to the emergence of numerous cities
and towns, and kickstarted the expeditions
that colonized other areas in the Mediterranean
Sea, such as Illyria, Southern Italy and Cyrenaica.
The cities emerged in a landscape dominated
by tribal groups, subdivided into smaller
tribes.
Modern historians estimate that around one
thousand poleis existed during the Archaic
and Classical periods, and with so many autonomous
centers in relatively close proximity, a number
of procedures for maintaining relations emerged,
such as rules for alliances, ambassadors,
friendship agreements, and other treaties
of economic, trade and religious natures.
From these embryonic arrangements between
different cities and tribes, some forms of
cooperation emerged in the framework of the
tribal states, which held primitive councils
gathering envoys from the regional centers.
Agreements laid the groundworks for the leagues
and federations that would emerge in the following
centuries.
Before we discuss how the leagues were governed
and functioned, we must premise that every
league was unique in its history, formation,
and structure, so not all statements pertain
to all of them, but we will attempt to give
a general idea of how they worked.
The regional or ethnic-leagues, which were
called koinon, meaning “common” or “public”,
or sympoliteia, “common constitution”,
developed from previous confederations in
the different regions of Greece, the most
important being the Thessalian, the Boiotian,
the Achaian and the Aetolian.
When a polis entered a league, they would
continue to keep the same institution and
laws they were previously governed with.
An important background which characterized
all koina was that its members were all part
of the same tribe, or as the Greeks called
it “ethnos”.
The tribes and cities found common ground
through a mix of similar cultures, dialects,
religious sanctuaries, myths, aristocratic
relations, and traditions.
Many of the leagues had a common founding
myth to which all of the members of the koinon
could trace their origins to, and the sanctuaries
important for the inhabitants of the region
encouraged collaboration between local cities
to organize festivities and the protection
of their treasure.
They also at times gave their citizens dual
citizenship, one for the poleis and another
for the league.
When they formed varied greatly between regions.
Some, such as the Thessalian League and the
Phocian League, were established before the
fifth century; others emerged following the
power vacuum caused by the decline of Athens
and Sparta after the Peloponnesian War.
The reason for their creation was different,
either to protect themselves from an expanding
power, such as the Acarnanian league, which
was on the forefront the of struggle against
Philip of Macedon, or to secure their interests
following the fall of the previous rulers,
such as the Achaian League, or simply the
economic benefits coming with them.
To get a grasp on how widespread they were,
it is estimated that around 50% of poleis
were members of a koinon, but not every city
in an area joined the local koinon, for reasons
that could include concerns about losing power
and resources to their rivals.
The government of the koina mirrored the compositions
of the poleis that formed them.
The most important of the institutions was
the federal ekklesia, or assembly.
In most of the leagues, the common assembly
was held in only one city, such as Thebes
for the Beotian League or Olynthus for the
Chalkidian League.
These cities effectively acquired the unofficial
status of capital of the league, especially
if the voting was direct as the inhabitants
of the city held an absolute majority in the
assembly.
To resolve this problem, some leagues held
their assemblies in rotating cities or locations.
The Arkadian League founded a new city, Megalopolis,
where the assembly was held, to stop any attempt
from the various poleis to dominate the league.
During the second century, some leagues adopted
a system of proportional representation, where
cities would send a number of delegates based
on their population.
The idea of representation was also crucial
when dealing with the executive powers, whether
during war or peace.
The executive branch of the koinon was a federal
council called boulē [~bou’lee] or synedrion,
which ran the daily affairs of the league.
Its members, the archons and stratēgoi, were
again sent by the constituents of the leagues,
and it was here the negotiations between the
members took place to decide the policies
the koinon should take, although it is not
clear if the members were represented proportionally
or if they got one vote each.
Some leagues, instead, opted to elect the
highest magistrates in a federal assembly,
disregarding their place of origin.
The koina also had federal law courts called
dikastēria, the boards of which were again
staffed by delegates sent by the members.
To help organize the league’s resources
and the votes, several leagues divided their
territories into subdivisions, with the most
common denotations being meros or telos, meaning
division and district.
The telos was an autonomous subdivision with
its own organs, which had previously been
another small centre later integrated into
the league.
The meros instead was much more common and
was artificially created by the leagues, and
were used to calculate taxation and economic
contributions due to the league.
They were also used for recruitment for the
federal army; each district would send a contingent,
the size of which was based on the population
of the meros.
The poleis usually restricted the right to
own land to its citizens and few other benefactors,
and taxes were levied on both imports and
exports.
With the rise of the koina, we find an attempt
to integrate the many fractured local economies,
by expanding the rights of citizens of the
federation to own land in their territory,
and by easing commerce between the members,
granting them easier access to the judiciary.
There were a few attempts at introducing a
common taxation policy, but most important
was the introduction of common weights, measures,
and coins for exchanges.
We find numerous examples of common coinage:
in some leagues each city had its own mint,
producing coins with the cities name on, but
following the guidelines set by agreements,
while in the more centralized leagues such
as the Beotian under Thebes, all coins came
from the same mint.
This gave the leagues the advantage of choosing
the money supply in its region, and it encouraged
commerce within its border, easing tax collection
and the payment of troops.
Some of them also had the right to limit exports
and imports on certain goods, such as grain
and iron.
One of the most important forms of revenue
for the koina were the customs duties imposed
at harbours and ports, which were collected
by the league and not the poleis since they
were the most lucrative, and would have disproportionately
favoured the maritime cities over the landlocked
ones.
A proportional tax based on the population
was also levied, probably to keep the smaller
poleis loyal to the federation.
We do not have hard evidence on how the funds
were used, but from the historian Polybius
we know that in some instances they were used
to hire mercenaries.
With the colonization of different parts of
the Mediterranean Sea, the Greek poleis also
exported the idea of the koinon to other regions,
such as Asia Minor, Cyrenaica, and most importantly,
Magna Grecia.
Here the Italiote League was formed, which
included most of the Greek city-states of
the area.
It was not uncommon for a league to have one
of its major members reach a prominent position.
When it could exercise its power through military,
diplomatic, or economic means over other members,
we have the hegemony of that city over the
rest of the league.
The word comes from “hēgemonía”, meaning
authority, and we find numerous examples in
history such as Sparta, Athens, and Thebes.
When the league was strong enough, this could
translate to hegemony over most of the Greek
world.
Another type of federation which had a stronger
emphasis on religion was the Amphiktyonies.
These were associations of poleis and tribes
that were located around a sanctuary, which
originated festivals and common cults, and
required protection and management of common
concerns, although it did not oblige its members
to defend each other.
The most important amphiktyony was the Pylaia-Delphic,
centred around the two sanctuaries of Demeter
at Anthela and of Apollo at Delphi.
The responsibility of the members was the
protection of the sanctuaries, supervision
of its administration, caretaking of the structures,
and the organization of festivals such as
the Pythian games held every four years.
The famous oracle in Delphi had itself an
important role, managing to become independent
from the city of Krissa during the First Sacred
War, which ended with the destruction of the
latter.
When it managed to keep its autonomy, the
oracle promoted peace between the members
and gave advice on colonization matters, but
various Greek cities attempted to gain influence
over it, and the struggle for influence would
intermittently spark the Sacred Wars.
Another Amphiktyonies was the original Delian
league, based on the oracle of Apollo on the
island of Delos.
The sanctuary had great importance for the
Ionians inhabiting the islands of the Aegean
Sea.
Following the First Persian War, Athens established
the famous Delian League using the pre-existing
religious network as a frame for it, with
the goal of fending off Persian influence.
The importance of the league was based on
its naval power, which was used to measure
the contribution of a member, which each had
a vote in the common assembly.
It would however not take long before Athens
would exercise its hegemonic power over the
other members of the League, moving the treasury
from Delos to Athens in 454 BC, and using
the league’s resources to wage war against
Sparta, using its powers to coerce others
to join them even if they did not wish to
do so, as the famous episode of the Siege
of Melos recounted by Thucydides demonstrates.
The league would be disbanded after Athens’
loss in the Peloponnesian war, while Delos
continued to keep its importance as a sanctuary.
Speaking of Athens, using its power, this
city-state managed to create something similar
to what we would call a nation-state.
In 508 BC legislator Cleisthenes gave all
free men of the region of Attica Athenian
citizenship, and this region was incorporated
into one polis by means of sophisticated political
and territorial organization.
The myth tells us that it was the hero-founder
of Athens Theseus who performed synoikism,
which can be translated from Greek as “dwelling
together in the same house” and unified
Attica, but the historical records attribute
the creation of “a fully integrated region-state”,
as Greg Anderson calls it, to Cleisthenes.
Another type of relationship we find was the
military alliance, the symmachiai.
The most famous of these was the Peloponnesian
League led by Sparta.
In its early history, the city of Sparta had
subjugated most of its neighbours, such as
the Messenia, holding them in a state of slavery.
After helping to instate an oligarchic government
in Corinth and a defeat to Tegea in the first
half of the fifth century, the Spartans shifted
from a policy of conquest to one of bilateral
agreements.
These loose alliances would develop into a
League composed both of many, but not all,
poleis in the Peloponnese, and a number of
external cities such as Megara and Aegina.
The alliances were considered perpetual and
they were not obliged to help each other,
although micro alliances between the members
did form at times.
By the Peloponnese War, the Spartans, being
the strongest city in the League, held hegemony
over its other members.
The structure of command was by the time formalized:
in a council with representatives of the allies,
the Spartans would listen to the concern of
its members and discuss the actions to take.
These were voted by the Spartan assembly and
the results were forwarded again to the members
which would confirm the actions by vote.
In military affairs, the members would send
contingents to accompany the Spartan army,
but all operations were commanded by a commander
of the hegemonic city.
At the start of the fourth century and following
the Peloponnesian war, Sparta would become
more obsessed with controlling its allies
as the shrinking population threatened its
hegemony, which sparked challenges to its
leadership, and caused the collapse of the
League by 365 BC.
Another example of symmachiai was the Second
Delian League, established by Athens in the
380s to contrast Spartan hegemony in Greece.
In this league, we find proof of a synedrion
with magistrates from all the members of the
alliance and independent from the Athenian
government.
The league would quickly disappear, as the
rise of Thebes overshadowed Athens, who instead
allied with Sparta, rendering the league obsolete.
Following the expansion of Philip the Second
of Macedon into Greece, the Macedonians created
the Corinthian League to tap the resources
and military capabilities of the Greek city-states.
To keep the members under control, the position
of hēgemōn was created, giving the Macedonian
rulers the right to rule the Greek city-states.
After the death of Alexander the Great, the
league disestablished but continued to be
a framework for the relations between Macedon
and the other Greek states.
The ethnic-federations would continue to be
relevant until the conquest of the Romans.
During the third and second century, the Aetolian
League expanded its influence to most of central
Greece and the Achaian League dominated most
of Peloponnese.
The historian Polybius was a son of a strategos
of the Achaian League and participated himself
in its administration, leaving information
about the system of the koinon in his works
which have been crucial to understanding how
the federations worked.
In the aftermath of the first two Macedonian
Wars, Rome became the hegemonic force in Greece,
rivalling that of Macedon, establishing alliances
with some of the local leagues and city-states.
Greek autonomy came to an end after the annexation
of Macedon and the destruction of Corinth
in 148 BC, where the Roman Republic took over
mainland Greece.
Following this annexation, the leagues lost
their functions and slowly faded away from
history.
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