This paper focuses on Rhianus’ fragments of the Ἀχαϊκά and Ἠλιακά, examining the fragmentsfrom new social and religious perspectives on the Peloponnese in the late third century BC. Inthe Ἀχαϊκά we find traces of federal unions (συνοικισμοί or διοικισμοί) and historical allusionsto the revival of the Achaean League by Aratus of Sicyon in 251 BC. Additionally, the Cretanpoet recalls local cults of Spartan or Arcadian landscapes in the Ἠλιακά and possible allusionsto the ancient Olympia. Continuity and change, hinted at in these Peloponnesian poems, led toa redefinition of Greek identity in the context of mythical narrative and Homeric style.