Ryan Boehm

This article reexamines the vexed issue of the political unification of Corinth and Argos during the Corinthian war. It proposes that the discussion can be advanced by contextualizing the temporary union within both the immediate revolutionary setting at the Corinthian Eukleia festival and the wider background of Argive expansionism. Three principal arguments are made. 1) The revolutionary dynamic of the festival is best viewed as a means of mobilizing the pro-Argive faction and the Corinthian dēmos around the symbolism of the Eukleia cult. 2) Understanding the ideological apparatus of the revolutionary party sheds light on its participants, the chronology, and the nature of the union, which is best classified as a sympoliteia effected shortly after the stasis. 3) This reconstruction is supported by the broader efforts of the Argives to create a regional polity through sympoliteiai, which they furthered by supporting democratic factions and appealing to cultic and ethnic bonds in th...