Early history The region was probably not the site of a kingdom during the
Mycenaean period. for the first time in Greek history under the title of Epeians (Epeii), as setting out for the
Trojan War, and they are described by him as living in a state of constant hostility with their neighbours the
Pylians. In the mythical
Dorian invasion of the
Peloponnese, Elis was assigned to
Oxylus and the
Aetolians. As a result, in 399 BC, the Spartans forced the Eleans to rejoin the Peloponnesian League and made them give up
Triphylia and the peroecic communities in
Acroreia.
Democracy in Elis Eric W. Robinson has argued that Elis was a democracy by around 500 BC, on the basis of early inscriptions which suggest that the people (the
dāmos) could make and change laws. The literary sources refer to a democratic revolution in 472 BC. At some point in the mid-fourth century, democracy may have been restored; at least, we hear that a particularly narrow oligarchy was replaced by a new constitution designed by Phormio of Elis, a student of
Plato. The classical democracy at Elis seems to have functioned mainly through a popular Assembly and a Council, the two main institutions of most
poleis. The Council initially had 500 members, but grew to 600 members by the end of the fifth century. There was also a range of public officials such as the
demiourgoi who regularly submitted to public audits. The Olympic games declined in popularity in the first century BC, due to the unstable political situation, but in the Imperial period, they were patronised by the Roman emperors and maintained their position as the most prestigious - if not the best attended - of the Panhellenic games. The city was a member of the revived Achaian League, which used Olympia as a centre for displaying its own honorific monuments. Like other parts of the Peloponnese, the number of rural settlements declined in the Imperial period, as small farms were consolidated into larger estates. The city of Elis and other surviving urban centres probably increased in size. The social elite remained stable until the third century AD. Many Elean elite families in this period had roots going back to the Hellenistic Period or earlier. From the late first century BC onwards, prominent families began to receive
Roman citizenship. They often had connections and citizenship in other cities within the province of
Achaia. Many Eleans held important positions in the revived Achaian League. A very few elite Elean individuals entered the overall Imperial elite, becoming
equites. But this was rare and no Eleans are known to have risen to the status of
senator. The Olympic Games continued in the first stages of the
conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity, but were finally ended by
Theodosius in 394 AD, two years before the utter destruction of the country by the
Gothic invasion under
Alaric I. According to
Hierocles's
Synecdemus, Elis was a bishopric in the 6th century AD, subject to the bishop of
Corinth. From the 9th century, the region prospered as part of the
theme of the Peloponnese, with bishoprics at
Olenus and
Moreas. ==Geography==