Achaea (ancient region)

Coordinates: 38°05′12″N 21°51′35″E / 38.0868°N 21.8598°E / 38.0868; 21.8598
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Achaea Phthiotis in Central Greece.
Achaea
Ἀχαΐα
Region
Peloponesse
Major citiesPatras, Dyme
DialectsDoric
Key periodsAchaean League
(ca. 260–146 BC)

Achaea (/əˈkiːə/) or Achaia (/əˈkaɪə/; Greek: Ἀχαΐα, Akhaia, Ancient Greek: [akʰaía]) is the northernmost region of the Peloponnese, occupying the coastal strip north of Arcadia. Its approximate boundaries are: to the south, Mount Erymanthus; to the south-east, Mount Cyllene; to the east, Sicyon; and to the west, the Larissos river. Apart from the plain around Dyme in the west, Achaea is generally a mountainous region.

Name

Main article: Achaeans (tribe)

The name of Achaea has a slightly convoluted history. Homer uses the term Achaeans as a generic term for Greeks throughout the Iliad; conversely, a distinct region of Achaea is not mentioned. The region later known as Achaea is instead referred to as Aegialus.[1] Both Herodotus and Pausanias recount the legend that the Achaean tribe was forced out of their lands in the Argolis by the Dorians, during the legendary Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese.[2] Consequently, the Achaeans forced the Aegialians (now known as the Ionians) out of their land.[3] The Ionians took temporary refuge in Athens, and Aegialus became known as Achaea.[4][5] It was supposedly for this reason that the region known as Achaea in Classical Greece did not correspond to Homeric references.

Under the Romans, Achaea was a province covering much of central and southern Greece. This is the Achaea referenced in the New Testament (e.g., Acts 18:12 and 19:21; Romans 15:26 and 16:5). However, Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, devotes one of the books of Description of Greece to the ancient region of Achaea, showing that the name, locally at least, still preserved the use from the Classical period.[6] The name, Achaea, was later used in the crusader state, the Principality of Achaea (1205–1432), which comprised the whole Peloponnese, thus more closely following Roman use. The modern Greek prefecture of Achaea is largely based on the ancient region.

Proto-History

excavations at Antheia in Achaia and dated to the thirteenth century BC.[8][9]

History

Ancient regions of Peloponnese (southern mainland Greece).
Peloponnesus
.

Archaic and Classical Greece

The twelve cities of Achaea were grouped into an early Achaean League which had important cultural and religious functions. In its later 3rd century BC incarnation the Achaean League would play an important role in Greek politics.

According to

Hyperesia was threatened by an army from Sicyon. The locals defended their city by placing burning torches on their goats' (aiges in Greek) horns. The Sicyonians retreated and the Hyperesians renamed their town Aigeira (Greek: Aίγειρα) to honor the goats.[10]

During the 5th century BC the cities of Achaea were neutral in the

Persian Wars and were usually neutral in the struggles between Athens and Sparta
. We begin to hear more of Achaea in the following centuries.

In 373 BC, the Achaean city of

Boura, further inland, was also destroyed in the earthquake.[11]

In 367 BC, during

Thebes. But soon when oligarchs retook the cities of Achaea they allied with Sparta against Epaminondas. At the Battle of Mantinea
in 362 BC the Achaeans were allied to Sparta, Athens and Mantinea against Thebes.

The Achaeans were part of the Greek alliance led by Thebes and Athens which was defeated by King

Corinthian League
.

Achaean League

Main article: Achaean League

Roman period

Main article:
Achaea (Roman province)

Achaea was conquered by the Romans in the year 146 BC. Emperor Augustus established Achaea as a senatorial province; generally speaking, the region benefited from the enlightened attitude of Roman emperors such as Augustus. This was because Achaea was geographically closer to Rome than other provinces, and so it was given political advantages and greater status in order for the Roman court to maintain a political equilibrium within the empire.[12]

The rule of Achaea in Roman times was placed under the Senate while a proconsul of

Danube River. In the year 67, Emperor Nero declared Greece to be politically free from the Roman Empire, and the Greeks began their own autonomous rule. However, Roman authority over Greece was reestablished soon after with Emperor Vespasian
, who placed the province once again in the hands of the Roman Senate.

References

  1. ^ Homer, Iliad II, 574–575
  2. ^ Herodotus VIII, 73
  3. ^ Herodotus VII, 94
  4. ^ Pausanias VII, 1
  5. ^ Herodotus I, 143–147
  6. ^ Pausanias, book VII
  7. ^ François Lenormant; Elisabeth Chevallier (1871). A Manual of the Ancient History of the East to the Commencement of the Median Wars. Lippincott & co. p. 33.
  8. ISBN 978-0-87661-213-2
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-19-285441-4
    .
  10. ^ Pausanias, Achaea 7.26.2
  11. ^ Pausanias, Achaea 7.24.6
  12. ^ a b Bunson, 1.

Sources

  • The Odyssey
  • The Iliad
  • Herodotus, The Histories
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece
  • Bunson, Matthew (1994). Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York: Facts on File Inc.

38°05′12″N 21°51′35″E / 38.0868°N 21.8598°E / 38.0868; 21.8598

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Achaea_(ancient_region)&oldid=1209652709"