League of Corinth
The League of Corinth, also referred to as the Hellenic League (Greek: κοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, koinòn tõn Hellḗnōn; or simply οἱ Ἕλληνες, the Héllēnes), was a federation of Greek states created by Philip II in 338–337 BC. The League was created in order to unify Greek military forces under Macedonian leadership (hegemony) in their combined conquest of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
Hellenic League Kοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων | |||||||||||
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| 338 BC/337 BC–322 BC | |||||||||||
The Hellenic League after the death of Philip II | |||||||||||
| Capital | Pella | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Ancient Greek | ||||||||||
| Religion | Ancient Greek religion | ||||||||||
| Government | Hegemony | ||||||||||
| Hegemon, Strategos, Autokrator of Greece | |||||||||||
• 338 BC/337 BC | Philip II | ||||||||||
• 336 BC | Alexander III, the Great | ||||||||||
• 304 BC | Demetrius I Poliorcetes | ||||||||||
• 224 BC | Antigonus III Doson | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Synedrion | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 338 BC/337 BC | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 322 BC | ||||||||||
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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 and controlled by Philip. Alexander 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, albeit the Greek word synedrion is better translated as congress or conference rather than league. The adjective Hellenic derives from Hellenikos meaning "pertaining to Greece and Greeks". The organization was the first time in history that the Greek city-states (with the notable exception of Sparta, which would join only later under Alexander's terms) would unify under a single political entity.