Hellenistic Greece Chart

The Hellenistic Polis
Dmitriev, Sviatoslav. 2005. City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Good overview of the political institutions of the cities and the part played by the elite.
Gruen, E. S. 1993. The polis in the Hellenistic world. In Nomodeiktes: Greek studies in honor of Martin Ostwald. Edited by R. Rosen and J. Farrell, 339–354. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press. Another authoritative introduction, also suitable for undergraduates, to the Hellenistic polis and the sources for it. Gruen argues strongly for the continued vitality of the polis and “civic spirit” in the Hellenistic period, discussing both interstate interaction and internal politics.
Jones, A. H. M. 1940. The Greek city from Alexander to Justinian. Oxford: Clarendon. A classic history of the development and spread of the Greek city after the classical period, with good treatment of social and economic issues and the role of the polis in the Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic Near East. Jones often emphasizes decline and crisis in the post-classical polis, in a way now often challenged.
Karageorghis, Vassos, ed. 2003. The Greeks beyond the Aegean: From Marseilles to Bactria; Papers presented at an international symposium held at the Onassis Cultural Center, New York, 12th October, 2002. New York: Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. Conference proceedings from a meeting in New York with chapters written by specialists in given fields. They discuss Greeks before their overseas expansion, Cyprus, the Near East in the Hellenistic period, Egypt and Alexandria, Etruria, Marseille (ancient Massalia), the Black Sea, and late Antiquity. Very good illustrations and a recent bibliography make this book a good starting point for the novice.
Larsen, Jakob A. O. 1968. Greek federal states: Their institutions and history. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Still the best general introduction for students, treating in a systematic way the development and structure of federal states; federalism in the Hellenistic period is treated extensively (pp. 173–504).
Patronos, Sotiris G. 2002. Public architecture and civic identity in classical and Hellenistic Ionia: The cases of Miletus and Priene. DPhil diss., Univ. of Oxford. Very interesting study of Miletus and Priene as typical manifestations on the ground of Hellenistic civic ideology. Mostly for graduate students and scholars interested in the region.
Alston, R., O. M. van Nijf, and C. G. Williamson, eds. 2013. Cults, creeds and identities in the Greek city after the classical age. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters. A collection of articles on the importance of religion and festivals in post-classical civic life. Note the chapter by A. Chaniotis, “Processions in Hellenistic Cities: Contemporary Discourses and Ritual Dynamics” (pp. 21–48), which offers an alternative, in English, to Chaniotis 1995, and also takes the discussion further.
Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. 2003. Thusias heneka kai sunousias: Private religious associations in Hellenistic Athens. Athens: Academy of Athens. Building on a century of scholarship in the field of Athenian religious associations, this monograph deals with the period with the most evidence, while giving a précis of earlier history as well as earlier scholarship. It is a thorough study of the social and legal aspects of cult associations in Hellenistic Athens: membership; organization; property; interaction with society; significance for foreigners living in Athens; reproduction of contemporary hierarchical structures; and social phenomena such as patronage, benefactions, and solidarity; representative of the functions of cult associations.






Greek Federalism
Ager, Sheila L. 1994. Hellenistic Crete and Koinodikion. Journal of Hellenic Studies 114:1–18. DOI: 10.2307/632730 The author analyzes the epigraphic reference to the Cretan koinon of the Hellenistic period. She concludes that the federal union on Crete was looser than elsewhere, arguing that the attested koinodikon was not a federal institution but rather a particular type of court.
Davies, John K. 2000. A wholly non-Aristotelian universe: The Molossians as ethnos, state, and monarchy. In Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of political organization and community in ancient Greece. Edited by Roger Brock and Stephen Hodkinson, 234–258. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. A sketch of the main components of the Epeirote polity with a discussion of selected epigraphic evidence from the 3rd century BCE. Despite the seeming backwardness of their political institutions, the author posits that the organization of the Epeirotes was more durable than the traditional polis state.
Domingo-Forasté, Douglas. 1988. History of northern coastal Akarnania to 167 BC: Alyzeia, Leukas, Anaktorion and Argos. PhD diss., University of California at Santa Barbara. A concise PhD thesis (ms) that explores the history of the northern shores of Akarnania and Leukas.
Grainger, John D. 1999. The league of the Aitolians. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. A narrative history of the Aitolian League in five parts, from the classical period to the dissolution of the koinon by Rome.
Grainger, John D. 2000. Aitolian prosopographical studies. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. This volume supplements the narrative history of Aitolia written by the same author. Compiling a list of all known Aitolians, their origins and parentage, Grainger facilitates the reconstitution of Aitolian families and studies various aspects of their history and society.
Graninger, Denver. 2011. Cults and koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004207103.i-210 An examination of the history and religion of the Thessalian League in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, including chapters on the sanctuaries and federal calendar. The author demonstrates that the Thessalian League absorbed a distinct profile in the realm of cults only in that period, evidently under the patronage of Rome.
Nielsen, Thomas H. 2002. Arkadia and its poleis in the archaic and classical periods. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. The most comprehensive study on the geography, ethnography, and political administration of Arkadia, from the 6th to the late 4th centuries BCE. The author reaffirms that the Arkadian federal state existed only for a brief period of time, after 370 BCE.
Papazarkadas, Nikolaos, ed. 2014. The epigraphy and history of Boeotia: New finds, new prospects. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. A collection of articles from a conference in Berkeley that revisits the history and epigraphy of Boiotia. Section I offers new interpretations of some of the key themes in the history of the Boiotian koinon from the times of the formation of the league to the late Hellenistic Age.
Rzepka, Jacek. 2006. The rights of cities within the Aitolian confederacy. Valencia, Spain: Instituto Valenciano de Estudios Clasicos y Orientles. An engaging study on Aitolia, with a main focus on the institutional liberties and prerogatives of the city-states in Aitolia.
Scholten, Joseph B. 2000. The politics of plunder: Aitolians and their koinon in the early Hellenistic era, 279–217 B.C. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. Reinforcing the literary sources with a refined analysis of the literary and numismatic bodies of evidence, this book offers an authoritative account of Aitolian politics at the height of the league’s power in the 3rd century BCE. DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520201873.001.0001
Scholten, Joseph B. 2000. The politics of plunder: Aitolians and their koinon in the early Hellenistic era, 279–217 B.C. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520201873.001.0001 Reinforcing the literary sources with a refined analysis of the literary and numismatic bodies of evidence, this book offers an authoritative account of Aitolian politics at the height of the league’s power in the 3rd century BCE.
Scholten, Joseph B. 2000. The politics of plunder: Aitolians and their Koinon in the early Hellenistic era, 279–217 B.C. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. Reliable reconstruction of the political impact of the Aetolian League on Hellenistic history







Berthold, Richard M. 1984. Rhodes in the Hellenistic age. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press. Has not been replaced as a general treatment of Hellenistic Rhodes, but its readers should always consult Gabrielsen, et al. 1999, Gabrielsen 1997, and Wiemer 2002 for the results of more recent research.
Buraselis, Kostas. 2000. Kos between Hellenism and Rome: Studies on the political, institutional and social history of Kos from ca. the middle second century B.C. until Late Antiquity. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. Masterful discussion of how Koan society responded to the fundamental changes caused by Roman expansion in the East.
Buraselis, Kostas. 2015. Federalism and the sea: The koinon in the Aegean Sea. In Federalism in Greek antiquity. Edited by Hans Beck and Peter Funke. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press. The latest standard account of federal organizations in the Aegean Sea, including sections on the Kean and Lesbian Confederacies as well as the Nesiotic League.
Carstens, Anne-Marie. 2009. Karia and the Hekatomnids: The creation of a dynasty. Oxford: Archaeopress. A monograph dedicated to the archaeology and cultural history of Caria in the 4th century presenting evidence from numerous sites but also detailing Halicarnassus. Although at times uneven, it presents a wealth of archaeological evidence with an up-to-date bibliography that is very useful for the student and scholar approaching the region and the city itself.
Cartledge, Paul, and Antony Spawforth. 1989. Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A tale of two cities. London: Routledge.
Cartledge, Paul, and Antony Spawforth. 1989. Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A tale of two cities. States and Cities of Ancient Greece. London: Routledge. Despite deliberate archaism in some aspects, in terms of its buildings and society, Sparta was typical of a small Romano-Greek city. Cartledge provides the most comprehensive treatment of this post-Classical Sparta, with emphasis on social history.
Chaniotis, Angelos, ed. 1999. From Minoan farmers to Roman traders: Sidelights on the economy of ancient Crete. Stuttgart, Germany: Steiner, 1999. Several chapters in this collection of essays are dedicated to aspects of economy in Hellenistic Crete (Angelos Chaniotis, “Milking the mountain: Economic activities on the Cretan uplands in the Classical and Hellenistic period,” 181–220; Didier Viviers, “Economy and territorial dynamics in Crete from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period,” 221–233; Franzesco Guizzi, “Private economic activities in Hellenistic Crete: The evidence of the Isopoliteia treaties,” 235–245).
Chaniotis, Angelos. 1995. Problems of ‘pastoralism’ and ‘transhumance’ in Classical and Hellenistic Crete. Orbis Terrarum 1:39–89. The author analyzes clauses of Hellenistic treaties between Cretan cities that facilitated the movement of livestock, and associates this evidence with transhumance.
Clarke, K. 2008. Making time for the past: Local history and the polis. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. A discussion of approaches to history and time in the Hellenistic polis, which demonstrates their centrality to the development of civic identity. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291083.001.0001
Constantakopoulou, Christy. 2007. The Dance of the Islands: Insularity, Metworks, the Athenian empire, and the Aegean World. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Although the book is primarily dedicated to the Classical period, the chapters on connectivity exploit Hellenistic material and give an excellent picture of economic life and mobility in this period.
Dodds, E. R. 1951. The Greeks and the irrational. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. This classic work explores the sensitivity of Greeks to nonrational experiences, from the Homeric world to the Hellenistic age. Among the first to apply the categories “shame culture” and “guilt culture” to the study of Greek thought.
Ekroth, Gunnel. 2002. The sacrificial rituals of Greek hero cults in the Archaic to early Hellenistic periods. Kernos Supp. 12. Liège, Belgium: Centre international d’étude de la religion Grecque antique. This thorough review of evidence of all sorts reversed the orthodox view of the supposedly “chthonic” character of most sacrifices to heroes and heroines.
Gabbert, Janice J. 1983. The grand strategy of Antigonos II Gonatas and the Chremonidean War. Ancient World 8.3–4: 129–136. A brief presentation of a specific case study in Hellenistic warfare, with interesting and relevant applications to the whole period.
Gabrielsen, Vincent, Per Bilde, Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Lisa Hannestadt, and Jan Zahle, eds. 1999. Hellenistic Rhodes: Politics, culture, and society. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Univ. Press. Collection of eleven essays that discuss the political organization, economy, and external relations of Hellenistic Rhodes.
Gabrielsen, Vincent. 1997. The naval aristocracy of Hellenistic Rhodes. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Univ. Press. Excellent study of political institutions, society, and economy.
Grainger, John D. 1999. The League of the Aitolians, Leiden: Brill, 1999. Comprehensive and reliable study of the federal institutions of the Aetolian Koinon.
Grammenos, Dimitris V., and Elias K. Petropoulos, eds. 2005–2007. Ancient Greek colonies in the Black Sea. 4 vols. Oxford: Oxbow. Richly illustrated collection of surveys of recent archaeological and historical research in the Black Sea area, mostly written by their excavators; the articles provide good bibliography.
Graninger, Denver. 2011. Cults and koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. An examination of the history and religion of the Thessalian League in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, including chapters on the sanctuaries and federal calendar. The author demonstrates that the Thessalian League absorbed a distinct profile in the realm of cults only in that period, evidently under the patronage of Rome. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004207103.i-210
Graninger, Denver. 2011. Cults and koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004207103.i-210 An examination of the history and religion of the Thessalian League in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, including chapters on the sanctuaries and federal calendar. The author demonstrates that the Thessalian League absorbed a distinct profile in the realm of cults only in that period, evidently under the patronage of Rome.
Gruen, E. S. 1993. The polis in the Hellenistic world. In Nomodeiktes: Greek studies in honor of Martin Ostwald. Edited by R. Rosen and J. Farrell, 339–354. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press. Another authoritative introduction, also suitable for undergraduates, to the Hellenistic polis and the sources for it. Gruen argues strongly for the continued vitality of the polis and “civic spirit” in the Hellenistic period, discussing both interstate interaction and internal politics.
Habicht, Christian. 1997. Athens from Alexander to Antony. Translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press. The best synthesis of the political and social history of Hellenistic Athens. The French translation by Denis Knoepfler, Athènes hellénistique: Histoire de la cité d'Alexandre le Grand à Marc Antoine (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2008) is up to date.
Hellenistic Greece
Jameson, Shelagh. 1980. The Lykian League: Some problems in its administration. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II 7.2: 832–855. A full-fledged examination of the main administrative features of the Lycian League, including its federal magistracies, citizenship regulations, and assemblies. The article also contains a section on the eligibility of women for federal office.
Knoepfler, Denis. 2015. The Euboian League: An irregular koinon? In Federalism in Greek antiquity. Edited by Hans Beck and Peter Funke. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press. The most up-to-date survey article on the Euboian League that skillfully integrates diverse bodies of evidence, including numismatic, epigraphic, and literary sources.
Larsen, Jakob A. O. 1968. Greek federal states: Their institutions and history. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Still the best general introduction for students, treating in a systematic way the development and structure of federal states; federalism in the Hellenistic period is treated extensively (pp. 173–504).
Larsen, Jakob A. O. 1968. Greek federal states: Their institutions and history. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Still the best general introduction for students, treating in a systematic way the development and structure of federal states (for Aetolia see especially pp. 195–215).
Lavrencic, Monika. 1988. Andreion. Tyche 3:147–161. Systematic study of one of the best-known institutions of Classical and Hellenistic Crete: the “men’s houses” that organized the common meals of the Cretan citizens.
McInerney, Jeremy. 1997. The Phokikon and the hero Archegetes. Hesperia 66:193–207. DOI: 10.2307/148482 The article identifies the site of the federal assembly building of the Phokian League, the so-called Phokikon, on the hilltop of Sanctuary Hill, in the valley of the Platanias River.
McInerney, Jeremy. 1999. The folds of Parnassos: Land and ethnicity in ancient Phokis. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press. The most comprehensive treatment of the history of Phokis and the Phokian League. The work is inspired by, and in turn contributes to, the discussion of the ethnicity paradigm. In the opening section, the author explores the conceptual strands of the history of classical scholarship on ethnicity.
Meadows, Andrew. 2013. The Ptolemaic League of Islanders. In The Ptolemies, the sea, and the Nile: Studies in waterborne power. Edited by Kostas Buraselis, Dorothy J. Thompson, and Mary Stefanou, 19–38. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139519649 A thorough analysis of the rise of the 3rd-century Nesiotic League that places the federation in the broader religious, commercial, and political agency of Ptolemy Philadelphos in the Aegean.
Meyer, Elizabeth. 2013. The inscriptions of Dodona and a new history of Molossia. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. An in-depth study of the old and new epigraphic evidence from Dodona. In her reexamination of the material, the author proposes substantial changes to the chronological sequence of the inscriptions, which leads her to entertain a different narrative of political events in Molossia.
Mikalson, J. D. 1998. Religion in Hellenistic Athens. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. A helpful and wide-ranging account of Athenian civic religion in the Hellenistic period.
Mikalson, Jon D. 1998. Religion in Hellenistic Athens. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press. Excellent overview of all aspects of religion in Hellenistic Athens; suitable for students.
Niku, Maria. 2007. The official status of the foreign residents in Athens, 322–120 B.C. Helsinki: Finnish Archaeological Institute in Athens. Thorough study of the development of the status of foreigners over the course of the Hellenistic period in Athens.
Oliver, Graham. 2007. War, food, and politics in early Hellenistic Athens. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199283507.001.0001 The book deals with the effects of war on the Athenian grain supply and explores the responses the city developed in the military, institutional, and economic plan to ensure the import of grain to Attica from abroad.
Osborne, Robin. 1988. Social and economic implications of the leasing of land and property in classical and Hellenistic Greece. Chiron 18:279–323. The case study of Athens reveals that the leasing of public and private land was an economically relevant phenomenon that offered additional resources to those already well founded on property and was devoid of any social concern.
Raab, Holly Alane. 2001. Rural settlement in Hellenistic and Roman Crete: The Akrotiri peninsula. Oxford: Archaeopress. Study of settlement patterns, land tenure, land use, and production activities in the area of Akrotiri, western Crete, in the Hellenistic and Roman periods; a microscopic analysis of continuities in economic activities.
Roebuck, Carl Angus. 1941. A history of Messenia from 369 to 146 B.C. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Library. For many years the only in-depth study of the political organization and administration of the Messenian state after its inception in 369 BCE. The author also discusses the relation between the various Messenian settlements and their relation to the newly established center of Messene.
Romano, David. 2000. A tale of two cities: Roman colonies at Corinth. In Romanization and the city: Creation, transformations, and failures. Edited by Elizabeth Fentress, 83–104. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology. This article gives a clear overview of the history of Corinth from the Hellenistic period onward. The first colony was founded here in 44 BCE, the second by Vespasian. Romano focuses on the layout of the town and the centuriation patterns in the territory. These show, he argues, a long-term plan, since in both cases the centuriations were created before the colonies were in fact established.
Roy, James. 1968. Studies in the history of Arcadia in the classical and hellenistic periods. PhD diss., Cambridge University. The unpublished manuscript of the author’s doctoral dissertation. The study marks the beginning of a very long research engagement as manifested in numerous article contributions, which has made the author the leading authority on Arkadia and the western Peloponnese.
Rumscheid, Frank, and Wolf Koenings. 1998. Priene: A guide to the “Pompeii of Asia Minor.” Istanbul: Ege Yayınları. Brief but informative introduction to the city discussing the history of the excavations and major monuments and architectural complexes by sector. Very well illustrated. It is a must for students and for teaching a course on Hellenistic culture and Priene.

Schwenk, Cynthia J. 1985. Athens in the age of Alexander: The dated laws and decrees of the Lykourgan Era, 338–322 BC. Chicago: Ares. The statesman Lykourgos introduced a series of important reforms, for which the inscriptions collected and discussed in this volume are the best source.

Themelis, Petros. G. 1999. Ancient Messene. Athens, Greece: Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Receipts Fund. Introductory catalogue to the spectacular excavations at Messene, the Hellenistic city in southwestern Peloponnese that has offered us an unprecedented number of inscriptions (for a Greek site) with well-known context and a very good view of a Hellenistic and Roman Greek city. Written by the director of the excavations that are conducted under the auspices of the Archaeological Society of Athens and the Centre for Messenian Studies, this is a clear, well-written survey with good illustrations.
Walbank, Frank W. 1933. Aratos of Sicyon. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press. Still readable reconstruction of the life and policy of the greatest non-royal political personality of the Hellenistic period.
Wallace, William P. 1956. The Euboian League and its coinage. New York: American Numismatic Society. A well-informed numismatic study on Euboian coin emissions. The historical interpretation of the material appears at times imaginative.
Westlake, Henry D. 1935. Thessaly in the fourth century B.C. London: Methuen. This book provides a narrative history of the Thessalian League from the end of the Peloponnesian War to Philip’s archonship. Despite its age it is a helpful introduction to the topic.






van der Mijnsbrugge, Maurice. 1931. The Cretan Koinon. New York. A long-time standard account that is still valuable for its collection of literary evidence.
Westgate, Ruth. 2007. House and society in classical and Hellenistic Crete: A case study in regional variation. American Journal of Archaeology 111:423–457. Very useful overview of household architecture from the 5th to the 1st centuries BCE and of how regional variations and changes over time reflect social organization.
Sekunda, Nicholas V. 2000. Land-use, ethnicity, and federalism in west Crete. In Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of political organization and community in ancient Greece. Edited by Roger Brock and Stephen Hodkinson, 327–347. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. In this highly innovative article, the author explores the origins of several confederations on Crete, including the leagues of the Polichnitai and Oreioi. He argues that the leagues were inspired by the notion of tribal togetherness, military threat, and the physical environment.
Ager, Sheila L. 1994. Hellenistic Crete and Koinodikion. Journal of Hellenic Studies 114:1–18. The author analyzes the epigraphic reference to the Cretan koinon of the Hellenistic period. She concludes that the federal union on Crete was looser than elsewhere, arguing that the attested koinodikon was not a federal institution but rather a particular type of court. DOI: 10.2307/632730

Rauh, Nicholas K. 1993. The sacred bonds of commerce: Religion, economy, and trade society at Hellenistic Roman Delos. Amsterdam: Gieben. Study of the information provided by the inscriptions of Delos for the presence of Italian traders in the Hellenistic period; the interpretation of the archaeological evidence is controversial.
Sheedy, Kenneth A. 1996. The origins of the Second Nesiotic League and the defence of Kythnos. Historia 45:423–449. Discussion of the key events that led to the refoundation of the Nesiotic League. The author argues that the Rhodians revived the idea of an island league to prevent the Pergamene kings from establishing control of the region.
Sherwin-White, Susan M. 1978. Ancient Cos: An historical study from the Dorian settlement to the Imperial period. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. Thorough exploitation of the literary and epigraphic sources for the history and society of Kos (with a prosopography of Koans).
Shipley, D. G. S. 1987. A history of Samos, 800–188 BC. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. A helpful account of the Archaic, classical, and Hellenistic history of the island polis of Samos, which integrates well archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources. Includes the history of the island until the Roman expansion. The Hellenistic inscriptions, the main source for Samos, are now easily accessible in Inscriptiones graecae XII.6.