Pellene was situated 60 stadia from the sea, upon a strongly fortified hill, the summit of which rose into an inaccessible peak, dividing the city into two parts.
It is mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad;[7] and according to a tradition, preserved by Thucydides, the inhabitants of Scione in the peninsula of Pallene in Macedonia professed to be descended from the Achaean Pallenians, who were driven on the Macedonian coast, on their return from Troy.
[8] At the commencement of the Peloponnesian War, Pellene was the only one of the Achaean towns which espoused the Spartan cause, though the other states afterwards followed their example.
In the wars which followed the re-establishment of the Achaean League, Pellene was several times taken and re-taken by the contending parties.
[12] In 225 BCE, it was captured by Cleomenes III of Sparta, but after the successful intervention of Macedon it was returned to Achaea the following year.