politics
Panhellenism
πανελληνισμός
The rallying cry for the feuding Greek city-states to stop fighting each other and unite — above all against Persia.
Panhellenism is the political and rhetorical program that called on the divided Greek poleis to set aside their wars with one another and join in common cause, classically by turning their arms outward against the Persian Empire. Gorgias and Lysias voiced it at the Olympic festival, and Isocrates made it a lifelong theme — above all in his Panegyricus (380 BCE) — appealing to shared Greekness over local rivalry. The idea was finally realized, ironically, under Macedonian leadership in Alexander's invasion of Persia.
Where this idea shows up
2 Greek sourcesWhere to read it
- Fragments & Testimonia380 BCEIsocrates· Athens