11-13-2009, 05:35 AM
That's not 'nit-picking' ? :lol: :lol: ....since we are being pedantic, I would definitely distinguish between the two. 'Boeotia', like 'Lakedaemon' or 'Attica' consisted of one large city that had subordinated the surrounding towns and villages - Thebes, Sparta and Athens respectively.
The Leagues were different. The Aetolian League grew from a loose tribal alliance and its towns/villages ( none could really be classified as a 'city' on the scale of Athens or Sparta, or even lesser cities such as Corinth, Argos, Sicyon or Mantinea) with no dominant single large city/poleis.
Similarly, the Achaean League had no single dominant city.They originally formed 12 separate self-governing communities. In 251 Aratus, the Sicyonian, brought round his native town to the Achaean league, and got himself elected head of the confederacy ( but Sicyon did not 'dominate' the League). Corinth was freed from its Macedonian garrison in 243 by League forces, led by Aratus of Sicyon, and was admitted a member. Megara, Epidaurus, Troezen, and the Arcadian cities joined soon after. In 208 Philipœmen, of Megalopolis, succeeded Aratus as general of the league, but even Megalopolis ( "The Great City") after joining, could not be said to 'dominate' the League in the same way as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Argos etc dominated theirs.....
The Leagues were different. The Aetolian League grew from a loose tribal alliance and its towns/villages ( none could really be classified as a 'city' on the scale of Athens or Sparta, or even lesser cities such as Corinth, Argos, Sicyon or Mantinea) with no dominant single large city/poleis.
Similarly, the Achaean League had no single dominant city.They originally formed 12 separate self-governing communities. In 251 Aratus, the Sicyonian, brought round his native town to the Achaean league, and got himself elected head of the confederacy ( but Sicyon did not 'dominate' the League). Corinth was freed from its Macedonian garrison in 243 by League forces, led by Aratus of Sicyon, and was admitted a member. Megara, Epidaurus, Troezen, and the Arcadian cities joined soon after. In 208 Philipœmen, of Megalopolis, succeeded Aratus as general of the league, but even Megalopolis ( "The Great City") after joining, could not be said to 'dominate' the League in the same way as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Argos etc dominated theirs.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" -Â George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" -Â George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
