Aratus of Sicyon (Ancient Greek: Ἄρατος ὁ Σικυώνιος; 271–213 BC) was a politician and military commander of Hellenistic Greece. He was elected strategos of the Achaean League 17 times, leading the League through numerous military campaigns including the Cleomenean War and the Social War.
Aratus was exiled to Argos at the age of seven, after his father, the magistrate of Sicyon, was killed in a coup. In 251 BC, he led an expedition composed of other exiles which freed Sicyon from tyranny, and assumed power in the city. Sicyon joined the Achaean League, in which Aratus would later be elected strategos. In his first major campaign as strategos, he seized the Macedonian-held citadel of Acrocorinth, previously believed impregnable.
After conquering the Acrocorinth, Aratus pursued the Achaean League's expansion. When the Spartan king Cleomenes III conquered the Achaean cities of Argos and Corinth, Aratus succeeded in securing an alliance with his own erstwhile enemy Antigonus III Doson of Macedon. Cleomenes III was defeated at the Battle of Sellasia by the joint Achaean and Macedonian forces. During the Social War against the Aetolian League, Aratus became one of the prime advisors of the new king of Macedon, Philip V. Aratus died in 213 BC, allegedly poisoned by Philip.
Youth
Aratus was born in 271 BC in the northern Peloponnese city-state of Sicyon. His father, Cleinias of Sicyon, had become head magistrate of the city (jointly with Timocleidas) after the murder of the previous tyrant. Shortly after the government stabilised, Timocleidas died. In 264 BC, Abantidas murdered Cleinias and proclaimed himself tyrant. The seven-year-old Aratus escaped the coup with the help of his aunt, who, in the confusion, was able to hide the boy until nightfall and then smuggle him out of Sicyon to Argos. He was raised in Argos by friends of his father, living there until 251 BC.F.W. Walbank, 1933, p. 3Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 175
In Argos, Aratus initially became known as a good athlete, winning a prize in the pentathlon. But he remained focused on the idea of freeing his home city from tyranny. Despite his youth, he was able to gain widespread support among fellow exiles, becoming the leader of the exiles' party.Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 3
In Sicyon, Abantidas was killed by two philosophers. Abantidas was replaced by his own father, who was subsequently killed and replaced by Nicocles. Aratus began to seek support from the kings of Macedon and Egypt. Plutarch reports that Nicocles' main cause of concern about Aratus was the younger man's elevated connections.
Liberating Sicyon
In 251 BC, Aratus had originally intended to take and hold a fortified post near Sicyon from which he could raid his enemies' property, and where sympathisers could join him. But a political prisoner recently escaped from the tyrant's prison in Sicyon suggested a better plan, saying that the escape route he had taken out of Sicyon could easily be used by men with ladders to get back into the city by scaling its defensive walls.
Aratus armed his men in secret. To mislead the tyrant's spies at Argos, he pretended to feast on the day of his planned coup. Once the spies had gone, Aratus joined his men waiting outside the city and led them to Sicyon, aiming to reach and scale the city walls while the light was still low. They were almost given away by the city's watchdogs, but the guards failed to recognise the danger. At dawn, the intruders took the barracks guards prisoner. The tyrant, Nicocles, managed to escape through a tunnel. Rumours of the attack spread fast across the city, and some of the citizens set fire to the tyrant's house. Aratus did not intervene to stop the looting, allowing citizens free rein after thirteen years of tyranny.
Consolidating Sicyon
Aratus' first act after taking Sicyon was to call back its exiles. According to Plutarch, he recalled 80 who had been banished by Nicocles, and a further 500 besides them. The returning exiles sought to reclaim their confiscated property, and civil war threatened. Plutarch reports that one of the two kings Aratus had earlier petitioned for support gave him 25 talents of silver as a personal gift and goodwill gesture. It is not clear whether this was Antigonus Gonatas, the king of Macedon, or Ptolemy II Philadelphos, the pharaoh of Egypt. Antigonus probably hoped that Aratus would prove a useful Macedonian puppet in the Peloponnese. Ptolemy had just won Corinth from the Macedonian empire, and would have liked to increase his success. Aratus gave the money away to his fellow citizens and, probably also in 251 BC, decided to attach Sicyon to the Achaean League. It was the first time the League had admitted a non-Achaean polis (Sicyon was Dorian).Roberts & Bennett, 2012, pp. 5–6
But Sicyon had become economically unstable. Aratus could now no longer rely for help on an alliance with Macedon's Antigonus, as the Achaean League was a rival of Macedon in Greece. He was left little choice but to turn to Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Egypt. Plutarch recounts the events of his journey to the court at Alexandria, from which he returned with 40 talents and the promise of another 110. Back in Sicyon, Aratus did not want sole responsibility for distributing the money, and established a committee which included himself and fifteen other members for the task. The funds received from Ptolemy II enabled Aratus to resolve the political problems in Sicyon. Grateful citizens erected a bronze statue to honour him.Pausanias, Description of Greece, Central Greece, II, 42 Events during the rest of the period between 251 and 245 BC remain obscure, although it is known that Aratus served for four or five years as a cavalryman in the Achaean militia.Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 6
Strategos of the Achaean League
Taking the Acrocorinth
In 245 BC, Aratus was elected strategos of the Achaean League. He went on to hold this position every two years until his death, with only a few interruptions. Aratus' career was marked by the expansion of the League. His first known act as strategos was to pillage the countryside of Locris and Calydon. He also led a 10,000-strong army to help the Boeotians against the Aetolian League.
In his second term, Aratus focused on capturing the Acrocorinth, the acropolis of Corinth. The city of Corinth controlled entry to the Peloponnese, and was an important trading post. The Acrocorinth was a formidable fortress, built on a hill nearly high. It had a freshwater source, was surrounded by cliffs, and was capped by a massive, walled citadel. Antigonus Gonatas controlled the Acrocorinth with a strong garrison under his commander Persaeus. In 243 BC, Aratus learned from Syrian mercenaries that there was a less steep access route to the hill, where the wall was also at its lowest point. By midsummer that year, Aratus was ready to attack the Acrocorinth.Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 7
Aratus assembled his army in Sicyon. The majority waited on the road between Sicyon and the Acrocorinth, while Aratus himself went to the city with a select force of 400 men. Eight were sent forward to overwhelm the guards before 100 soldiers scaled the walls with ladders. Each was barefoot to minimise noise. They encountered a group of guards on entering the city, and killed three. But a fourth escaped and raised the alarm. Aratus and his soldiers got as far as the citadel itself, attempting to scale its walls as defenders hurled projectiles down on them. In the meantime, 300 more soldiers had scaled the outer walls, but then struggled to find Aratus inside the city. The waiting Achaean army below was at risk of being trapped between the citadel's defenders and a group of Macedonian soldiers arriving from the city, but was saved by those 300 soldiers, who were able to attack and rout the Macedonians from behind. The 300 men then went back to support their commander at the citadel. Weather conditions proved favourable for Aratus:Roberts & Bennett, 2012, pp. 7–8
Aratus' soldiers scaled the walls of the citadel and the garrison surrendered. By dawn, the Achaeans held both citadel and city, in a victory owing partly to luck but also to good planning and nerve. The storming of the near-impregnable Acrocorinth was another major accomplishment for Aratus, following his taking of Sicyon. Very few achieved the feat; among those who did was Demetrius I, "the Besieger".Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 8 Aratus went on to capture Lechaeum, the harbour of Corinth, and secure the 25 Macedonian warships docked there. He garrisoned the captured citadel with 400 Achaeans and 50 watchdogs.
Alliance with Sparta
After its capture by Aratus, Corinth also joined the Achaean League. It was followed shortly afterwards by Megara, Troezen, and Epidaurus. The Achaean League gained more renown when Ptolemy III Euergetes, the new king of Egypt, was elected hegemon. Both the League and rival Macedon then sought new allies. The Macedonian king Antigonus chose the Aetolian League, which had ambitions of working with him to defeat the Achaean League and then share out the conquered territory. The Achaean League allied with Sparta, one of the most powerful poleis of Greece.Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 9
In 241 BC, during Aratus' third term as strategos, the Aetolian League invaded the Peloponnese. Aratus and the Spartan king, Agis IV, agreed to defend the Isthmus of Corinth together, but disagreed on strategy. Agis IV wanted to defeat the Aetolians in a pitched battle. But Aratus wanted to avoid immediate fighting, on the grounds that the Aetolians could only cause limited damage at that time as crops had already been harvested and stored. It is unclear whether this reasoning truly reflected Aratus' thinking, or whether he regretted his alliance with Sparta. It has also been suggested that this was one of the episodes of Aratus' life in which he lost his nerve in military matters.
The Spartan army returned home, ending the alliance. The impact was immediately felt. The front line could no longer be held, allowing the Aetolians to invade the Peloponnese and capture Pellene, one of the first members of the Achaean League. In response, Aratus marched on the Aetolians with the soldiers he had available, finding them in disarray and routing them easily.
By 240 BC it had become clear to Antigonus that the Aetolians might not be ideal allies, and he sued for peace with the Achaeans. This peace did not last. The 80-year-old king died the following year, and was succeeded by his son Demetrius II.
Expanding the League Setbacks at Argos
After the death of Antigonus, the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues allied with each other. The reason behind this alliance remains obscure, and the alliance itself only lasted ten years. Aratus maintained his focus on expanding the Achaean League, by "liberating even more cities in Greece from tyranny". Those cities Included Argos, Athens, and Megalopolis. In Argos, the citizens had already had plans to rise against the tyrant, but lacked sufficient weaponry. Aratus assisted them, smuggling a shipment of weapons into the city. The coup however failed. Aratus reached the city with his army afterwards, but to no avail, and when the Argives sued him for breaking the peace he was convicted by a Peloponnesian court of arbitration in Mantineia.Roberts & Bennett, 2012, pp. 9–10
Aratus remained determined to liberate Argos. In 235 BC he made another attempt, and succeeded in entering the city by attacking at night. But the Argives were reluctant to support him. Aratus was wounded in the thigh by a spear. He ordered a retreat, but the timing was unfortunate. The retreat emboldened the tyrant, Aristippus of Argos, who had been preparing to flee the city.Roberts & Bennett, 2012, p. 10