city state · Greece and the Aegean

Elis

900 BCE – 146 BCE (approx.) · capital Elis

City-state of the north-western Peloponnese that controlled the sanctuary of Olympia and organised the Olympic Games.

Origins

Elis occupied the fertile lowlands of the Peneios in the north-western Peloponnese, settled by north-west Greek speakers in the early Iron Age. For centuries its people lived in villages; the Eleans won control of the sanctuary of Olympia from Pisa in the 6th century BCE, and the city of Elis was formed by synoecism in 471 BCE.

Rule and society

Elis supervised the Olympic Games through officials called Hellanodikai, and its territory was regarded as sacred during the festival. It had an aristocracy and later a democracy, and its land produced horses and flax. Elis produced the sophist Hippias and the sceptic philosopher Pyrrho.

Decline and legacy

Sparta defeated Elis in a war c. 402 to 400 BCE and stripped it of Triphylia. In the Hellenistic period Elis allied with the Aetolian League before joining the Achaean League in 191 BCE, and passed under Rome in 146 BCE.

Connections (2)

More states of Greece and the Aegean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Elis. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/elis
MLA
“Elis.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/elis. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Elis.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/elis.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Elis’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/elis (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻