The Romans had moved swiftly since the war's beginning a few weeks earlier; they had destroyed the main Achaean force at Scarpheia, conquered Boeotia and then proceeded to Corinth itself.

After a few days' waiting, the Romans entered the city, and, on the orders of Mummius, set it on fire, killed all the men and enslaved all the women and children, after which the rest of Greece was subjugated by Rome.

[3] The Roman Senate ordered Lucius Mummius, one of the consuls for the year, to sail from Achaea to Greece to put down the revolt, but in the interim, they authorized Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, who had recently been victorious in the Fourth Macedonian War and had a battle-hardened army in Macedon, to take initial action.

[5] However, much of the League, especially Corinth, rallied around Diaeus, electing him as strategos to replace Critolaos and resolving to continue the war, with harsh levies and confiscations of property and wealth.

[6] After the battle, the Roman commander advanced through Boeotia, defeating Achaean allies in the region or receiving the surrender of multiple towns and showing them clemency.

[8] With this force, he proceeded to the League's capital of Corinth, where the Achaean general Diaeus was encamped with 14,000 infantry and 600 cavalry, possibly including the survivors of the rout at Scarpheia.

[12] Demoralized at their leader's flight, the surviving Achaean troops and most Corinthians fled the city, but the Romans, fearing an ambush, did not enter Corinth until three days after the battle.