The Panhellenion () or Panhellenium was a league of Greek city-states established in the year 131–132 AD by the Roman Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

while he was touring the Roman provinces of Greece. The League was established following a ceremony at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, the capital city of the Panhellenion. Evidence suggests that the Panhellenion continued to survive until the 250s AD. Busts of Hadrianus in Venice cropped

Hadrian was a philhellene and idealized the Classical past of Greece; this was his own, personal attempt to recreate the apparent "unified Greece" of the 5th century BC, when the Greeks took on the Persian enemy. The Panhellenion was primarily a religious organization, and most of its deeds were related to self-governance. Admission to the Panhellenion was subject to the scrutiny of a city's Hellenic descent. In 137 AD, the Panhellenic Games were held at Athens as part of the ideal of Panhellenism and harking back to the Panathenaic Festival of the fifth century. From inscriptions found, member cities included

, Megara,

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

Chalcis Chalcis (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: , ), also called Chalkida or Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief city of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

, Argos, Acraephiae, Epidaurus, Amphicleia, Methana,

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

, Hypata, Demetrias,

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, Thessalonica, Magnesia on the Maeander, Eumeneia, Cyrene, as well the cities of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. The name was revived by the first governor of modern Greece,

Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (; February 1776 –27 September 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias, was a Greek statesman who was one of the most distinguished politicians and diplomats of 19th-century Europe. Kapodistrias's ...

, for a short-lived advisory body in 1828.

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Further reading