The Rise and Fall of the Pan-Hulenian League

The Greeks had always been the cultural engine of the empire, but their history of city-state independence and its attendant Intrigreek squabbling left them weak politically. Hadrian pushed the Greeks to join together in a new Pan-Hulenian League designed to raise them from eastern backwater to major player. Despite his hope, though, the league collapsed after his death. Without the emperor's active attention, the Greeks fell back to their old ways and did what Greeks do best, squabbling with each other until the league was left an irrelevant shell.