synodical of twenty to forty neighbouring communities between 371 and 368 BC by the Arcadian League in an attempt to form a political counterweight to Sparta. Megalopolis was a member of the Arcadian League after its foundation until the dissolution of the federation in 362 BC. In 331 BC, Megalopolis was invaded by the Spartans and there was a battle with the Macedonians that came to Megalopolis' help. In 317 BC at the start of the Second War of the Diadochi, Polyperchon, the new Regent of the Macedonian Empire, besieged Megalopolis which had sided with his enemy Cassander. The siege failed. In the 270s BC, Aristodamos the Good managed to take control over the city as a tyrant backed by Macedon. In 235 BC, the second tyrant of the city, Lydiades, gave up control over the polis and the city became a member of the Achaean League. In 222 BC, the Spartan king Cleomenes III burnt down the city but it was rebuilt in the years after the destruction. As a member of the Achaean League, Megalopolis had a profound influence on the federal politics and it was the hometown of several notable Achaean figures such as Philopoemen, Lykortas and Polybius. The city remained populated under the Romans but by the 6th century it was almost completely abandoned. During the Byzantine era, and later also the Ottoman, the town on the same place was called Sináno (Σινάνο). It was renamed Megalopoli after the Greek War of Independence. Megalopoli retained a rural character until the early 1960s, when with the help of Megalopoli-born Prof. Leonidas Zervas (then Minister of Industry) the Greek Public Power Corporation started mining lignite in the Megalopoli Mine and the construction of the Megalopoli Power Plant followed soon. The town was struck by the massive Arcadia earthquake of 5 April 1965, in which 17 inhabitants were killed and 80% of residences were demolished or rendered uninhabitable. Municipality The municipality Megalopoli was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following three former municipalities, that became municipal units: Falaisia Gortyna Megalopoli The municipality has an area of 722.629 km2, the municipal unit 331.498 km2. Subdivisions The municipal unit of Megalopoli is subdivided into the following communities (villages within the community in brackets): Anthochori Ano Karyes Chirades Choremis (Choremis, Apiditsa) Chranoi Gefyra Isaris (Isaris, Petrovouni, Chrousa) Isoma Karyon Karatoulas Kastanochori Kato Karyes Lykaio Lykochia Lykosoura