Everything about Aetolians totally explained
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.
Geography
The river
Achelous separates Aetolia from
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.
History
The peoples known as the
Curetes 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; 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
Macedonian monarchs and the
Achaean League. The League was one of the more effective political institutions that was produced in its time.
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
Turks : 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.
In modern times, Iron Realms Entertainment, a gaming company specializing in MUDS, created a text-based
RPG named after Aetolia and vaguely based on its geography (www.aetolia.com). However, the game has its own history, politics, religion etc., and bears little resemblance to historical Aetolia.
(This article incorporates material from Harry Thurston Peck's
Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898).)
List of Aetolians
Further Information
Get more info on 'Aetolians'.
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