The Achaean League

While Alexander's generals fought, Greek towns became small republics but quarreled. Two leagues formed: Achaean and Aetolian. The Achaean League of twelve towns was led by Aratus, who as a child escaped when his patriot father was killed by a tyrant. The tyrant's sister hid him and paid for his upbringing. At twenty, Aratus assembled comrades, entered Sicyon, and drove out the tyrant without bloodshed. The town joined the Achaean League; Aratus was chosen leader thirty-five years running. When Antigonus Gonatas marched from Macedon, Aratus captured the fortress of Acrocorinthus by climbing a steep path at night with a traitor's help—selling his wife's jewels to pay the bribe. Other towns joined; Antigonus died of grief. The League grew so powerful that Roman ambassadors asked for help against pirates. Greeks entered a treaty with Rome, not suspecting Rome would conquer them within a hundred years.