Why was the League of Corinth created?
The League of Corinth was established in 337 BCE by Philip II of Macedon primarily to preserve and perpetuate a general peace (koinē eirēnē) among the Greek states.1
Historically, previous attempts at such peace agreements had failed due to a lack of mutual trust and insufficient power among leading states to enforce collective action. Philip designed the League to overcome these issues by creating a council of representatives (synedrion) empowered to address threats to the peace, with the execution of these decisions falling to Philip as the elected hēgemōn (leader).1
Beyond maintaining internal stability, the League served as an offensive and defensive alliance. At its inaugural meeting, the member states—which included all major Greek entities except Sparta—formally decided to initiate a war against Persia, electing Philip as the commander of their combined armed forces. While the organization was presented as a collaborative effort, its effectiveness was underpinned by the military power of Macedonia.21