 At a subsequent period they joined the Aetolian League.When the whole of Greece fell to Rome, the sanctity of Olympia secured for the Eleans a certain amount of indulgence.The games still continued to attract large numbers of strangers, until they were finally ended by Theodosius in 394 AD, two years previous to the utter destruction of the country by the Gothic invasion under Alaric I.

Elis was a traditional ally of Sparta, but the city state joined Argos and Athens in an alliance against Sparta around 420 BC during the Peloponnesian War.