In the world of “Pax Romana” strategically located coastal cities and harbours in Greece experienced unprecedented development and wealth. Among them, twenty-four cities of Laconia (the territory of Sparta in antiquity) in southern Greece threw off restrictive Spartan control in 21 BC and formed the independent confederacy of the Koinon of Free Laconians (Eleutherolakōnes). Over the last 30 years scattered historians and archaeologists have debated the Koinon’s nature, its relationship to Sparta, and its potential role within the political and cultural landscape of the Roman world, without producing a comprehensive synthesis of the extant evidence nor reaching definite conclusions.

The project employs a novel cross-disciplinary methodology, bridging history, epigraphy, literary sources, archaeology and network analysis, in order to break new ground in reconstructing the history of the Eleutherolaconian confederacy, with a specific focus on its identities as a distinct political and cultural entity in a local (Laconian), regional (Peloponnesian) and global (Roman – Mediterranean) context. Moreover, the project highlights the complex processes in the formation of identity within alliances and federations in antiquity, filling a substantial gap in ancient Greek and Roman history and culture.