FUNKE
Westfälische Wilhelms‐Universität Münster
The Achelous is the second‐longest (c. 220 km) river with the largest amount of water in present‐day Greece. Its source lies at an elevation of about 2,000 meters on the eastern slope of the Lakmos (also called Peristeri) mountain in the PINDUS mountain range south of Metsovo. North of Agrinion the river pours forth from the mountains into a wide plain. In the course of time this plain was broadened considerably by the masses of alluvial debris carried along by the river, and the estuary area moved forward into the IONIAN GULF, creating an alluvial plain (Paracheliotis: BA 54 D5) encompassing some parts of the group of ISLANDS known as the ECHINADES (2.10.3). While Herodotus attributed the Achelous to ACARNANIA (2.10.3; 7.126; cf. Strabo 8.2.3/C335), the river later formed the (disputed) border between the Aetolian and Acarnanian Leagues (Funke 1991, 181–82). The Achelous was in classical times considered the southwestern boundary of the distribution area of LIONS in Greece (7.126; Steier 1926, 969–71).
SEE ALSO: Aetolia; Change; Rivers
REFERENCES
1 Funke, Peter. 1991. “Strabone, la geografia storica e la struttura etnica della Grecia nord‐occidentale.” In Geografia storica della Grecia antica, edited by Francesco Prontera, 174–93. Rome and Bari: Laterza.
2 Steier, August. 1926. “Löwe.” RE 18.1, 968–90.
FURTHER READING
1 Murray, William Michael. 1982. “The Coastal Sites of Western Akarnania: A Topographical‐Historical Survey.” Diss. University of Pennsylvania.
2 Philippson, Alfred. 1958. Die griechischen Landschaften. Eine Landeskunde. Vol. II.2, Das westliche Mittelgriechenland und die westgriechischen Inseln, edited by Ernst Kirsten. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann.
ACHERON RIVER (ὁ Ἀχέρων ποταμός)
ALISON LANSKI
University of Notre Dame
A river in northwestern Greece, flowing through Thesprotia to the IONIAN GULF (BA 54 C3; Müller I, 889–92). Herodotus uses Acheron and the THESPROTIANS to mark the northern and western edge of HELLAS in his list of the Greek forces at SALAMIS (8.47; Thuc. 1.46.4). The Acheron plunged through a deep gorge, which may explain its association with HADES and death ORACLES. This oracular tradition (e.g., Odysseus, Hom. Od. 10.513) is reflected in the story told by SOCLES of CORINTH, as to how PERIANDER asks the Thesprotians at the Acheron to contact his dead wife MELISSA (Hdt. 5.92.η.2).
SEE ALSO: Geography; Rivers
FURTHER READING
1 Ogden, Daniel. 2001. Greek and Roman Necromancy, 43–60. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
ACHILLEIUM (Ἀχιλλήϊον πόλις)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
A small settlement in the Troad, northwestern Anatolia, built around the tomb of the hero Achilles (BA 56 C2). Herodotus writes that the Mytilenians made attacks from Achilleium against the Athenians under HEGESISTRATUS, whose father PEISISTRATUS had installed him as TYRANT of SIGEIUM (5.94.2: the CHRONOLOGY does not work, however). Scholars identify Achilleium with the site of Beşika Burnu, where remains of FORTIFICATIONS from the sixth century BCE are found (Cook 1973, 186–88). Later authors disputed whether those WALLS had been constructed with stones from the ruins of TROY (Strabo 13.1.39/C600).
SEE ALSO: Alcaeus (poet); Mytilene; Trojan War
REFERENCE
1 Cook, J. M. 1973. The Troad: An Archaeological and Topographical Study. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
FURTHER READING
1 IACP no. 766 (1003–4).
ACHILLES’ RACECOURSE (ὁ Ἀχιλλήϊος δρόμος)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
A narrow strip of sandy land stretching along the EUXINE coast of SCYTHIA (BA 23 E–F2), today the Tendra (on the west) and Dzharylgachsky (on the east) peninsulas in Ukraine, between Odessa and the Crimea. Herodotus mentions Achilles’ Racecourse twice as a geographical marker, lying near HYLAEA (4.55, 76.4). Achilles received cult worship at numerous sites across the north Pontic region from the earliest days of Greek COLONIZATION, although the evidence for such activity on Tendra dates to the Hellenistic and Roman periods (Tunkina 2006).
SEE ALSO: Anacharsis; Heroes and Hero Cult; Hypacyris
REFERENCE
1 Tunkina, Irina V. 2006. “Archivmaterialien aus dem ersten Drittel des 19. Jhs. über das Achilleus‐Heiligtum auf der Landzunge von Tendra.” In Der Achilleus‐Kult in nördlichen Schwarzmeerraum vom Beginn der griechischen Kolonisation bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, edited by Joachim Hupe (with Claudia von Behren), 89–109. Rahden: Leidorf.
ACRAEPHIA (Ἀκραιϕίη πόλις)
ANGELA ZAUTCKE
University of Notre Dame
A city in northern BOEOTIA (BA 55 E4; Müller I, 450–51), modern Kardhitsa/Akraiphnion. Herodotus mentions Acraephia once, while describing the location of the sanctuary of Ptoian APOLLO, situating it next to an unnamed mountain above Lake COPAIS (8.135.1; cf. Paus. 9.23.5 and Strabo 9.2.34/C413, who refer to Mt. Ptoion). Pausanias says that the city originally lay in Theban territory (9.23.5), which coheres with Herodotus’ note that the sanctuary belonged to the THEBANS.
SEE ALSO: Ptoion; Temples and Sanctuaries
FURTHER READING
1 Fossey, John M. 1988. Topography and Population of Ancient Boeotia, 265–71. Chicago: Ares.
2 IACP no. 198 (437–38).
ACRAGAS , see AGRIGENTUM
ΑCRISIUS (Ἀκρίσιος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Legendary king of ARGOS and father of DANAË (6.53.2). In Greek mythology, Acrisius received an ORACLE that his grandson would kill him. He imprisoned his daughter, but ZEUS visited her as a golden shower and PERSEUS
