Aetolia
Encyclopedia
Aetolia is a mountainous region of Greece
on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth
, forming the eastern part of the modern prefecture
of Aetolia-Acarnania
.
to the west; on the north it had boundaries with Epirus
and Thessaly
; on the east with the Ozolian Locrians
; and on the south the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf defined the limits of Aetolia.
In classical times Aetolia comprised two parts: Old Aetolia in the west, from the Achelous to the Evenus
and Calydon
; and New Aetolia or Acquired Aetolia in the east, from the Evenus and Calydon to the Ozolian Locrians. The country has a level and fruitful coastal region, but an unproductive and mountainous interior. The mountains contained many wild beasts, and acquired fame in Greek mythology
as the scene of the hunt for the Calydonian Boar
.
and the Leleges
originally inhabited the country, but at an early period Greeks from Elis
, led by the mythical eponym
Aetolus
, set up colonies. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
mentions that Curetes was the old name of the Aetolians and Leleges the old name of the Locrians
. The Aetolians took part in the Trojan War
, under their king Thoas
.
The Aetolians set up a united league, the Aetolian League
, in early times. It soon became a powerful military confederation and by c. 340 BC it became one of the leading military powers in ancient Greece. It had originally been organized during the reign of Philip II
by the cities of Aetolia for their mutual benefit and protection and became a formidable rival to the Macedon
ian monarchs and the Achaean League
. The League was one of the more effective political institutions that was produced in its time. In 279 BC a great mass of Gauls
invaded mainland Greece, however they were repelled and driven out chiefly by the Aetolians.
Unlike Achaea
, there was a division between full members of the League and allies over which Aetolia maintained a hegemony
. This did however allow Aetolia to maintain a much more genuine democracy and the bi-annual meetings of the League assembly coincided with games so that a far higher proportion of the citizens would have attended in person. The Aetolians took the side of Antiochus III
against the Roman Republic
, and on the defeat of that monarch in 189 BC
, they became virtually the subjects of Rome
. Following the conquest of the Achaeans by Lucius Mummius Achaicus
in 146 BC
, Aetolia became part of the Roman province of Achaea.
Aetolia's reputation has suffered from a rather hostile treatment in the sources. Polybius
is considered now to have a heavy anti Aetolian bias due to his having relied on Aetolia's opponent Aratus
of Achaea.
During the Middle Ages, Aetolia was part of the Byzantine Empire and later passed to the Turk
s : after a relatively unsuccessful attempt at colonization they took a token amount of slaves and resources from the region, then departed. See Ottoman Greece
.
Aetolia was mentioned in Francisco Baltazar's Florante at Laura.
(This article incorporates material from Harry Thurston Peck's Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898).)
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth
Gulf of Corinth
The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece...
, forming the eastern part of the modern prefecture
Prefectures of Greece
During the first administrative division of independent Greece in 1833–1836 and then again from 1845 until their abolition with the Kallikratis reform in 2010, the prefectures were the country's main administrative unit...
of Aetolia-Acarnania
Aetolia-Acarnania
Aetolia-Acarnania is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece. It is located in the western part of Greece; the regional unit is a combination of the geographic regions Aetolia and Acarnania. Its capital is Missolonghi for historical reasons, with its biggest...
.
Geography
The Achelous River separates Aetolia from AcarnaniaAcarnania
Acarnania is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today it forms the western part of the prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania. The capital...
to the west; on the north it had boundaries with Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
and Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
; on the east with the Ozolian Locrians
Locris
Locris was a region of ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of three distinct districts.-Locrian tribe:...
; and on the south the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf defined the limits of Aetolia.
In classical times Aetolia comprised two parts: Old Aetolia in the west, from the Achelous to the Evenus
Evenus
Evenus, Euenos or Evinos may refer to:*Evinos, a river in western Greece*Evenus , a river god and two mythological kings in ancient Greece*Evenus , a butterfly genus...
and Calydon
Calydon
Calydon was an ancient Greek city in Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus. According to Greek mythology, the city took its name from its founder Calydon, son of Aetolus. Close to the city stood Mount Zygos, the slopes of which provided the setting for the hunt of the Calydonian...
; and New Aetolia or Acquired Aetolia in the east, from the Evenus and Calydon to the Ozolian Locrians. The country has a level and fruitful coastal region, but an unproductive and mountainous interior. The mountains contained many wild beasts, and acquired fame in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
as the scene of the hunt for the Calydonian Boar
Calydonian Boar
The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia because its king failed to honor her in his rites to the gods, it was killed in the Calydonian Hunt, in which many male...
.
History
The peoples known as the CuretesCuretes (tribe)
Homer, in the Iliad, mentions the Curetes as a legendary people who took part in the quarrel over the Calydonian Boar. Strabo mentioned that the Curetes were assigned multiple identities and places of origin . However, he clarified the identity of the Curetes and regarded them solely as Aetolians...
and the Leleges
Leleges
The Leleges were one of the aboriginal peoples of southwest Anatolia , who were already there when the Indo-European Hellenes emerged. The distinction between the Leleges and the Carians is unclear. According to Homer the Leleges were a distinct Anatolian tribe Homer...
originally inhabited the country, but at an early period Greeks from Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...
, led by the mythical eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
Aetolus
Aetolus, son of Endymion
Aetolus was, in Greek mythology, a son of Endymion, grandson of Deucalion, and the nymph Neïs, or Iphianassa. According to Pausanias, his mother was called Asterodia, Chromia, or Hyperippe. He was married to Pronoe, by whom he had two sons, Pleuron and Calydon. His brothers were Paeon, Epeius, and...
, set up colonies. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...
mentions that Curetes was the old name of the Aetolians and Leleges the old name of the Locrians
Locrians
The Locrians were an ancient Greek tribe in Greece. The Locrians spoke the Locrian dialect, a Doric-Northwest dialect, which indicates that they may have been relatives of the Dorians. They inhabited the ancient region of Locris in Central Greece....
. The Aetolians took part in the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
, under their king Thoas
Thoas
Thoas , son of Andraemon and Gorge, was one of the heroes who fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War. He was a former suitor of Helen of Troy and led a group of forty ships for the Aetolians, one of the larger contingents. In the Iliad it states that he received his lordship because the previous...
.
The Aetolians set up a united league, the Aetolian League
Aetolian League
The Aetolian League was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered on Aetolia in central Greece. It was established, probably during the early Hellenistic era, in opposition to Macedon and the Achaean League. Two annual meetings were held in Thermika and Panaetolika...
, in early times. It soon became a powerful military confederation and by c. 340 BC it became one of the leading military powers in ancient Greece. It had originally been organized during the reign of Philip II
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
by the cities of Aetolia for their mutual benefit and protection and became a formidable rival to the Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
ian monarchs and the Achaean League
Achaean League
The Achaean League was a Hellenistic era confederation of Greek city states on the northern and central Peloponnese, which existed between 280 BC and 146 BC...
. The League was one of the more effective political institutions that was produced in its time. In 279 BC a great mass of Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
invaded mainland Greece, however they were repelled and driven out chiefly by the Aetolians.
Unlike Achaea
Achaea
Achaea is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece. It is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras. The population exceeds 300,000 since 2001.-Geography:...
, there was a division between full members of the League and allies over which Aetolia maintained a hegemony
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
. This did however allow Aetolia to maintain a much more genuine democracy and the bi-annual meetings of the League assembly coincided with games so that a far higher proportion of the citizens would have attended in person. The Aetolians took the side of Antiochus III
Antiochus III the Great
Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...
against the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, and on the defeat of that monarch in 189 BC
189 BC
Year 189 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nobilior and Vulso...
, they became virtually the subjects of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Following the conquest of the Achaeans by Lucius Mummius Achaicus
Lucius Mummius Achaicus
Lucius Mummius , was a Roman statesman and general, also known as Leucius Mommius. He later received the agnomen Achaicus after conquering Greece.-Praetor:...
in 146 BC
146 BC
Year 146 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Achaicus...
, Aetolia became part of the Roman province of Achaea.
Aetolia's reputation has suffered from a rather hostile treatment in the sources. Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
is considered now to have a heavy anti Aetolian bias due to his having relied on Aetolia's opponent Aratus
Aratus
Aratus was a Greek didactic poet. He is best known today for being quoted in the New Testament. His major extant work is his hexameter poem Phaenomena , the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cnidus. It describes the constellations and other...
of Achaea.
During the Middle Ages, Aetolia was part of the Byzantine Empire and later passed to the Turk
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
s : after a relatively unsuccessful attempt at colonization they took a token amount of slaves and resources from the region, then departed. See Ottoman Greece
Ottoman Greece
Most of Greece gradually became part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th century until its declaration of independence in 1821, a historical period also known as Tourkokratia ....
.
Aetolia was mentioned in Francisco Baltazar's Florante at Laura.
(This article incorporates material from Harry Thurston Peck's Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898).)
List of Aetolians
- Aitolos mythology
- AndraemonAndraemonIn Greek mythology the name Andraemon, or Andraimôn may refer to:*Son of Oxylus and husband of Dryope.*Father of Oxylus and grandfather of the precedent....
- ThoasThoasThoas , son of Andraemon and Gorge, was one of the heroes who fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War. He was a former suitor of Helen of Troy and led a group of forty ships for the Aetolians, one of the larger contingents. In the Iliad it states that he received his lordship because the previous...
in Trojan WarTrojan WarIn Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad... - TitormusTitormusTitormus was a legendary shepherd of Aetolia, famous in Antiquity for his victory over Milo of Croton, who was in turn the most successful wrestler of Ancient Olympics...
, wrestler - Alexander AetolusAlexander AetolusFor other uses, see Alexander and Alexander Alexander Aetolus was a Greek poet and grammarian, the only known representative of Aetolian poetry...
(ca.280 BC) poet - Damocritus, general of Aetolian WarAetolian WarThe Aetolian War was fought between the Romans and their Achaean and Macedonian allies and the Aetolian League and their allies, the kingdom of Athamania. The Aetolians had invited Antiochus the Great to Greece, who after his defeat by the Romans had returned to Asia. This left the Aetolians and...
- Dorimachus, Aetolian general
- Nicolaus of AetoliaNicolaus of AetoliaNicolaus was an Aetolian, and a general of Ptolemy IV Philopator , king of Egypt. In 219 BC we find him besieging Ptolemais, which was held by the traitor Theodotus, who had revolted from Ptolemy to Antiochus III the Great . Nicolaus, however, abandoned the siege on the approach of the Seleucid king...
Hellenistic general - Theodotus of AetoliaTheodotus of AetoliaTheodotus was an Aetolian, who at the accession of Antiochus III the Great held the command of the important province of Coele-Syria for Ptolemy Philopator , king of Egypt...
Hellenistic general - Pyrrhias stadion race Olympics 200 B.C and PyrrhiasPyrrhias-Ancient Greece:*Pyrrhias of Aetolia, general, late 3rd century BC.*Pyrrhias, Aetolian winner in stadion race, Olympics 200 BC *Pyrrhias, a slave character in the comedy Dyskolos by Menander*Pyrrhias, a ferryman of Ithaca in Plutarch's Moralia-Zoology:...
Aetolian general in ElisElisElis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...
218 BC - Agelaus of NaupactusAgelaus of NaupactusFor other persons with the same name, see AgelausAgelaus of Naupactus, was a leading man in the Aetolian League He is first mentioned in 221 BC, when he negotiated an alliance between the lllyrian chief Scerdilaidas and the Aetolians...
2nd c.BC - Cosmas of Aetolia (1714–1779) monk