Modern treatments of Peloponnesian history are often 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 great changes of the 4th century. After Sparta’s long-invincible army had been defeated at the battle of Leuktra (371), internal divisions and alliances were patterned by 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. Sparta’s confidence and ambition refused to die; other Peloponnesian states conducted foreign policies in reaction initially to Sparta’s decline but, later, 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 states to each other and to external powers.