ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book talks about a political history of both the north-western region of the Peloponnese, known in early times as 'Elis', and the Classical and later city of the same name located within that region. In 1910 Benedikt Niese questioned the reliability of reports in certain ancient texts that during the Archaic period the Eleians had overcome the people of a polity called 'Pisa', the supposed original custodians of Olympia, and taken control of the sanctuary for themselves. The book seeks to reconsider particular aspects of political history in the light of both recent scholarly developments and further observations. Any implication by an individual scholar or group of scholars that they have some kind of ownership of the history of a particular ancient people ought to be quickly dismissed in favour of a more tentative approach.
