Aetolian League

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the 1959–1964 football league in England, see Aetolian League (football).
League of the Aetolians
Koinon tōn Aitōlōn
4th century BC–188 BC
Roman–Seleucid War
188 BC
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Aetolia
Greece in the Roman era
Today part ofGreece

The Aetolian (or Aitolian) League (

Malis, Dolopes, parts of Thessaly, Phocis, and Acarnania. In the latter part of its power, certain Greek city-states joined the Aetolian League such as the Arcadian cities of Mantineia, Tegea, Phigalia and Kydonia on Crete.[3]

During the

Macedonia and were driven to an alliance with Rome
, which resulted in the final conquest of Greece by the Romans.

History

Theater of Calydon, Aetolia
Ancient regions of central Greece including Aetolia, prior to its expansion

The Aetolians were a recognised ethnic group with a religious centre at Thermos from at least the seventh century BC. During the

Naupactus from Philip II of Macedon in 338 BC. Sometime in this century, the Koinon tōn Aitōlōn (League of the Aetolians) was founded, but it is uncertain when. One suggestion is that the league was founded by Epaminondas in 367 BC.[6][7] Grainger believes that it was founded much later, around the time of the rise of Philip II of Macedon.[8]
Archaeology indicates that settlements in Aetolia began to grow in size and complexity over the course of this century.

After the death of Philip II in 336 BC, the Aetolians joined the Thebans in opposing Alexander the Great and the stress of their defeat caused the league to implode. Over the next decade it seems to have been reconstituted and in the later years of Alexander's reign the Aetolians seized Oeniadae against his will.

The Aetolian League joined the Athenians in the

Demetrius Poliorcetes launched the Fifth Sacred War, 289-287 BC, in an attempt to remove them, but was defeated and driven from Macedonia altogether with the help of Pyrrhus of Epirus. A Sixth Sacred War, 281 BC, led by Areus I was rebuffed by the Aetolians alone and in 280 BC, they took control of Heraclea in Trachis, which gave them control over the crucial pass at Thermopylae.[9]

Territory of the Aetolian League in 200 BC.

In 279 BC, they were victorious in battle against the

Amphictyonic League
.

In 232 BC, the Illyrians under Agron attacked the Aetolians, and managed to take many prisoners and booty.[10]

In 229 BC, the Aetolians participated in a naval battle off the island of Paxos in a coalition with Korkyra and the Achaean League, and were defeated by a coalition of Illyrians and Acarnanians; as a result, the Korkyreans were forced to accept an Illyrian garrison in their city, which was put under the command of Demetrius of Pharos.[11]

In the

Kingdom of Macedonia. Philip V of Macedon invaded Aetolia and sacked the city of Thermos as a response to the Aetolians' invasion at the city of Dodona
in Epirus.

The league was the first Greek ally of the

Roman-Syrian War
. The defeat of Antiochus in 189 BC robbed the league of its principal foreign ally and made it impossible to stand alone in continued opposition to Rome. The league was forced to sign a peace treaty with Rome that made it a subject ally of the republic. Although it continued to exist in name, the power of the league was broken by the treaty and it never again constituted a significant political or military force.

Administrative system

Thermos, sanctuary and assembly place of the Aetolian League

The league had a federal structure, which could raise armies and conduct foreign policy on a common basis. It also implemented economic standardization, levying taxes, using a common currency and adopting a uniform system of weights and measures. There may not have been any central archive of state documents. However, the constituent communities of the league enjoyed substantial autonomy. At times the league was unable (or unwilling) to prevent its members from undertaking military actions against states that had treaties with it. The league members were grouped together in a number of tele (districts), which seem to have had administrative and juridical powers of some sort.[12]

The league's central administrative apparatus consisted of an assembly, a council, and a number of magistrates. The

Ekklesia (Assembly) was open to all citizens of all member communities of the league. The assembly was the ultimate authority within the league, with responsibility for declarations of war and peace, but its power was limited by the infrequency with which it met. Two meetings took place a year, one at the Thermica festival which was held at Thermos on the autumnal equinox and another in spring at the Panaetolica festival which took place at a different site each year. Emergency meetings could also be called.[13]

The exact competencies of the Council, referred to as a boula or synedrion in different documents, relative to the Assembly are not clear. It consisted of delegates elected by each of the constituent communities of the league in proportion to their size. By the late third century BC it had around 1500 members - too large for it to have been in continuous session. A small portion of the council's members, known as the apokletoi ("Select-men"), conducted day-to-day business, such as sending and receiving embassies.[13]

The league's

Eponymous archons (eponymous magistrates), which is to say that they were named in the dating formula for all decrees of the league. From around 260 BC, there were also seven tamiai (Treasurers) and seven epilektarchoi (Commanders of the Elite), who managed financial and military matters respectively. There were a number of boularchoi (Council Commanders) who seem to have been a steering committee for the Council. When these first appear in the 260s, there were two of them, but by the end of the third century BC they had risen to six or more, presumably as a result of the continued expansion of the league's membership (and thus of the size of the Council).[13]

From 278 the league sent delegates to the

Amphictyonic League (Delphic Amphictyony), gradually increasing over time until the league held a majority of the seats on the council, which increasingly became an instrument of Aetolian power projection. From the 260s, the secretary of the Amphictyonic council was always an Aetolian. These delegates seem to have been elected along with the other magistrates at the Thermica, but their relative rank is not clear.[14]

Piracy

The Aetolian League acquired a reputation for

brigandage. Though some historians recognize a pro-Achaean bias in the portrayal of the League by Polybius, many modern historians also accept his portrayal as largely justified. For example, Walbank is explicit in seeing the Aetolians as systematically using piracy to supplement their income due to the meager resources of their region[15] and Will simply assumes the truth of the charge.[16]

By contrast, Grainger concludes that Aetolian involvement in piracy appears unlikely given that they lacked the necessary ships.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Αἰτωλός - Ancient Greek (LSJ) 👍". lsj.gr. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  2. ^ Grainger, 1999
  3. ^ Hogan, 2008
  4. ^ West, 1902
  5. ^ Thucydides 3.94
  6. ^ "ΟΜΗΡΙΚΗ ΕΡΕΥΝΑ: Οι Αιτωλοί από τον Όμηρο μέχρι την ύστερη αρχαιότητα".
  7. ^ N. Tod, A selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions, vol. 2, p. 137
  8. ^ John D. Grainger, The League of the Aetolians, p. 49
  9. ISBN 0520201876
    .
  10. ^ Polybius 2.3
  11. ^ Polybius, 2.10; Wilkes, p. 160.
  12. ISBN 0520201876
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 0520201876
    .
  14. ISBN 0520201876
    .
  15. ^ Walbank, CAH (2) VII 1, 232 and 255
  16. ^ CAH (2) VII 1, 107
  17. ^ John D. Grainger, The League of the Aetolians, chap. 2

Sources

  • John D. Grainger (1999) The League of the Aitolians (Google Books).
  • C. Michael Hogan, Cydonia, Modern Antiquarian, January 23, 2008 [1]
  • Krzysztof Kęciek (2002) "Kynoskefalaj 197 p.n.e" Serie Historic Battles Published in Warsaw by Bellona.
  • Joseph B. Scholten (2000) The Politics of Plunder: Aitolians and Their Koinon in the Early Hellenistic Era (Google Books).
  • Willis Mason West (1902) Ancient History to the Death of Charlemagne, Allyn and Bacon.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aetolian_League&oldid=1180794317"