The Arcadian League was a short-lived federal experiment, founded in 370 BC following Epaminondas's crushing Spartan defeat at Leuctra. Megalopolis itself was purpose-built as the League's federal capital — synoikized from some forty Arcadian communities in 368 BC, many of whose inhabitants resisted relocation bitterly enough that Epaminondas had to intervene personally to force the consolidation. The League fractured definitively after the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC, which killed Epaminondas and resolved nothing politically, leaving Arcadian unity effectively dead within the decade.
The Arcadian League was a short-lived federal experiment, founded in 370 BC following Epaminondas's crushing Spartan defeat at Leuctra. Megalopolis itself was purpose-built as the League's federal capital — synoikized from some forty Arcadian communities in 368 BC, many of whose inhabitants resisted relocation bitterly enough that Epaminondas had to intervene personally to force the consolidation. The League fractured definitively after the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC, which killed Epaminondas and resolved nothing politically, leaving Arcadian unity effectively dead within the decade.