ABSTRACT
The Eleians remained loyal to Philip II of Makedon from 343 BC, when he seems to have provided financial support to help prevent the return of their exiles, until his death in 336. Although refraining from sending Philip military aid before his victory at Khaironeia in 338 BC, they joined his subsequent campaign against the Lakedaimonians. During the late fourth and early third centuries BC the political ascendancy of one party or the other in Elis, as in much of the Peloponnese, often depended upon the various oscillations in the fortunes of Alexander's successors, some of whom promoted oligarchy and others democracy, though some more consistently than others. Plutarch, in a quite detailed account, reports that Aristotimos became tyrant at Elis with Antigonos Gonatas' support. His rule was enforced by non-Greek mercenaries, whom he came to fear, and sustained by execution and banishment.
