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The ancient Greek historian Herodotus implied that Pheidon flourished about 600 BC, but at this time Corinth and Sicyon, not the Argives, were in the ascendance. Although some later writers assigned Pheidon to the 8th century BC, most modern scholars place him in the early 7th century. He was said to have been the 10th successor to Temenus, the founder of Argos, and ruler of the whole Argolid peninsula in the northeast Peloponnese. Pheidon united this region (the “lot of Temenus”), marched across the Peloponnese, and seized Olympia (perhaps in 672 or 668).

The system of standard measures that was instituted by Pheidon remained in effect in the Peloponnese long after his death; the system was also employed in Athens before the reforms of Solon (6th century BC). The statement of the 4th-century Greek historian Ephorus that Pheidon was the first to coin silver money cannot be accurate, because the beginning of coinage in mainland Greece is today generally ascribed to the late 7th century. In general the king made use of his royal power more effectively than was usual in an age when the aristocracy was in control. The Argive recovery that Pheidon instigated did not endure for long against the alliance of Sparta and Elis, and the northeastern cities were soon independent under their own tyrants.