NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI' Allies For All Times? A Study on the Disintegration of Greek Interstate Alliances in the Classical Period Connie Galatas Department of History McGiIl University, Montreal August 2008 A thesis submitted to McGiIl University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts © Connie Galatas 2008 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et ?F? Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1 A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your nia Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66993-8 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66993-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Acknowledgements First I would like to thank my family for their constant support. To my parents, especially my mother, thank you for your wise words and for providing me with the means to complete my masters. I would also like to thank my brother Christos, who assisted me in putting my thesis in its final form. Though he is studying Medicine, we still share a similar passion and interest for ancient history. To my friends, I appreciated your words of encouragement and I would like to thank Sarah Limoges in particular for editing a small part of my paper. I am also grateful to Karen Connors and the other ladies in McGiIFs History department for helping me submit the final product. I would like to thank Professor Michael Fronda for offering his seminar on interstate relations and foreign policy in the ancient Mediterranean. It was partially this course that influenced me to focus on Greek diplomacy. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Hans Beck, not only for his time and effort, but for providing me with the tools and guidance throughout my university education to be able to write my thesis. His work on federalism is another factor that inspired me to write my thesis on the disintegration of Greek interstate alliances. Truly, I want to thank you all. Sa? e??a??st? p??a p???. Connie Galatas Abstract The following offers a new perspective to explain the disintegration of the Peloponnesian League and the Boeotian Federation in the early half of the fourth century B.C. Members of both these alliances had legal and conventional expectations regarding what they had to give and what they could receive from their associations. Tensions and conflicts arose within an alliance once an individual polis did not fulfill its duties and obligations. There were two factors that persuaded a member not to meet their expected responsibilities: one was the role of a polis' factions and the other was the intervention in the association's affairs by a third party. It was primarily the failure of an alliance's members to meet each others expectations that inevitably led to the dissolution of these interstate organizations. La suivante offre une nouvelle perspective sur la dissolution de la Ligue Péloponnésienne, ainsi que de la Fédération Béotienne durant la première moitié du quatrième siècle av. J.-C. Les membres de ces deux alliances avaient des attentes envers ce qu'ils devaient à leurs associations, ainsi que ce à quoi ils devaient s'attendre de celles- ci, et ce légalement et traditionnellement. Tensions et conflits se mirent de la partie lorsqu'un polis refusait de remplir ses devoirs et ses obligations. Ceci était dû à deux facteurs distincts: l'un fût le rôle des partis internes du polis, et l'autre de l'intervention d'un tierce parti dans les affaires internes de l'association. C'était surtout dû à l'incapacité des membres de se rejoindre quant à leurs attentes envers l'un et l'autre qui mena inévitablement à la dissolution de ces organisations. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Methodology 4 Section 1 : The Peloponnesian League 9 I) Sparta's and her Allies' Expectations 11 II) From the Peace of Nicias to the Early Fourth Century 18 III) Domestic Politics 27 a. Sparta's Political Factions 29 b. The Allies and Their Factions 42 rV) Third Party Intervention 45 V) Summary 49 Section 2: The Boeotian Federation 51 I) Differences between the Peloponnesian League and the Boeotian Federation 52 II) The Expectations of the Members in the Boeotian Federation 54 III) Events from the Fifth and early Fourth Centuries 61 G/) Domestic Politics 75 V) Third Party Intervention 83 VI) Summary 87 Conclusion 89 Bibliography 94 Galatas 1 Introduction The study of Greek interstate alliances in the classical period is a topic that has been discussed by both ancient and modern authors. For the most part, these discussions have centered on why an individual polis would want to create and be a part of a multistate association. It seems that some poleis thought that they would have a greater chance to preserve their independence against an already present or potential threat if they combined their military resources with one another. As such, alliances, like the Hellenic League of the fifth century, were designed to ensure the collective security and defence of its members.1 Other Greek interstate alliances, however, were formed to facilitate the communication and interaction between a group oí poleis who shared the same cultural and ethnic background. The Delphic Amphictyony, for instance, was an alliance between twelve tribes that were responsible for the maintenance and organization of all religious affairs surrounding Apollo's sanctuary. Whether military, political or social in nature, all these alliances have one common characteristic: they helped govern the relationship and interaction between small and great poleis. Thus, another reason why many scholars have studied these associations is because of the prominent role that they played in terms of shaping and influencing Greek interstate relations; especially concerning issues of war and peace. However, to fully understand the impact that these alliances had on Greek diplomacy, one has to consider both the causes for their integration as well as their disintegration. In the past, many scholars explained the collapse of these Greek alliances by focusing on one single 1 According to Bennett and Oliver collective defence and collective security differ from one another. The former was designed to offer a group of states mutual protection against an outside attacker. The latter, meant that the alliance could also attack others to ensure the security of its members. See Bennett & Oliver 2002: 147. For a discussion on the Hellenic League see Larsen 1933: 267. Galatas 2 event. For example, there seems to be a general consensus that the Peloponnesian League fell apart in 371 B.C. after Sparta was defeated by Thebes in the Battle of Leuktra." In addition, most authors point towards the introduction of the Kings' Peace in 386 to describe the dissolution of the Boeotian League. These types of explanations are problematic because they tend to look at internal and external factors separately instead of collectively. Greek interstate relations was a complex system where a multiple of variables worked together and against one another; consequently, it is insufficient and misleading to look at a single episode to explain the disintegration of an alliance. This problem can be avoided by focusing on the local and foreign factors that shaped the type of relationship that individual members had with one another. In other words, the successes and failures of an alliance primarily depended on whether there was a favourable or unfavourable relationship between the allies. One way to determine the relations between a group of poleis is by examining their expectations concerning their duties and obligations. When these expectations were met, there seems to have been a fairly 'good' relationship between the members of an alliance; which meant that conflict was kept at a minimum and there was no desire to break up the union. On the other hand, tensions arose when the alliance failed to meet the expectations of its members. As the allies became more and more disgruntled with one another, their desire to abandon or disband the alliance also increased. The following will discuss how the disintegration of Greek interstate alliances in the Classical period can be explained by examining whether or not an alliance met the expectations of its members.