History of Amphilochian Argos (2.68).” AncW 45.1: 3–17.
2 Berktold, Percy, Jürgen Schmid, and Christian Wacker, eds. 1996. Akarnanien: Eine Landschaft im antiken Griechenland. Würzburg: Ergon‐Verlag.
3 Dany, Oliver. 1999. Akarnanien im Hellenismus: Geschichte und Völkerrecht in Nordwestgriechenland. Munich: C. H. Beck.
ACERATUS (Ἀκήρατος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Aceratus, a priest (prophētēs) of the ORACLE of APOLLO, remained in DELPHI when the Persians approached in 480 BCE and saw that the sacred arms, forbidden for men to touch, had been taken from the shrine and lay outside the temple of ATHENA Pronaea. He interpreted this as a portent (teras) and reported it to the remaining Delphians as the Persians advanced; the Persians fled after encountering further portents (8.37). Aceratus’ name is rare and, appropriately for his position, means “pure” (Bowie 2007, 128). He is otherwise unattested.
SEE ALSO: Gods and the Divine; Priests and Priestesses; Prophecy; Temples and Sanctuaries
REFERENCE
1 Bowie, A. M., ed. 2007. Herodotus: Histories Book VIII. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ACES RIVER (ὁ Ἄκης ποταμός)
JOSEPH SKINNER
Newcastle University
A Central Asian river dismissed by some as imaginary but variously identified by others as either the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus, BA 6 B2), a major waterway which rises in the Pamirs and empties into the Aral Sea (although the river’s course may well have altered since antiquity, it being equally possible that it once drained into the CASPIAN SEA), or the Atrek river (Ochus, BA 96 C2) which divides northern Iran from Turkmenistan and drains into the Caspian (for the Ochus, cf. Apollodorus BNJ 779 F4 = Strabo 11.7.3/C509; Strabo 11.11.5/C518). While the development, maintenance, and regulation of irrigation systems designed to boost agricultural output had long been seen as characteristically “royal” activities by Ancient Near Eastern monarchs, Herodotus’ somewhat fantastical account (3.117) of hydraulic works undertaken by the Persian king in order to extort MONEY from tribes inhabiting the lands adjacent to its five branches is clearly designed to illustrate the transgressive and oppressive nature of Persian royal power—and perhaps DARIUS I’s fiscal innovations in particular—rather than providing an accurate account of local hydropolitics. The pairing of five tribes (CHORASMIANS, HYRCANIANS, PARTHIANS, SARANGAE, THAMANAEANS) with five tributaries is highly suspicious (cf. 7.129.1 on Thessalian RIVERS), since the number five is recognized to be one of Herodotus’ “typical” NUMBERS. Qanat irrigation systems dating from the ACHAEMENID era were, however, known to ancient authors (e.g., Polyb. 10.28.1–4) on the foothills of the Elburz Mountains.
SEE ALSO: Agriculture; Engineering; Geography; Monarchy
FURTHER READING
1 Asheri in ALC, 505–6.
2 D’Hautcourt, Alexis. 2010. “Apollodoros of Artemita (779).” In Brill’s New Jacoby, edited by Ian Worthington. Brill Online.
3 Kuhrt, Amelie. 2007. The Persian Empire. A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 724. London and New York: Routledge.
4 Létolle, René, and Monique Mainguet. 2004. “Histoire des rivières d’Asie centrale depuis deux millions d’années: certitudes et spéculations.” Cahiers d’Asie centrale 11/12: 317–41 (Accessed January 16, 2020).
5 Pyankov, Igor V. 2014. “The Oxus and the Caspian Sea in the Ancient Geography of the Classical World.” In The Periphery of the Classical World in Ancient Geography and Cartography, edited by A. V. Podossinov, 59–66. Leuven: Peeters.
ACHAEANS (Ἀχαιοί, οἱ), Peloponnesian
ADRIAN ROBU
Institute for South‐East European Studies (Romanian Academy)
The Achaeans occupied the northwestern coast of PELOPONNESE, between the Gulf of Corinth, ELIS, ARCADIA, and SICYON (BA 58 A–D 1–2). Achaea was not a homogenous geographical unit: several mountains (Panachaikon, Erymanthos, Aroania, Kyllini) are located inside the territory, while the main CITIES were settled on coastal plains.
Herodotus (8.73) attests that the Achaeans constitute one of the seven nations (ethnea) of the Peloponnese. According to legendary traditions, they were firstly located in the Argolid and LACONIA, but were driven out by the DORIANS and migrated to the northwest Peloponnese, expelling in turn the IONIANS who previously occupied the land (7.94; Paus. 7.1.5–9, 7.24.5). This was the starting point of Ionian MIGRATION to Asia Minor. These traditions are difficult to verify by means of material evidence (Rizakis 1995, 21–22, 111–12, 151–52).
For the occupation of the territory, Herodotus also reports that the Achaeans imitated the previous Ionian organization in twelve geographical units (1.145; cf. Paus. 7.6.1). These districts (merē) were located around the following settlements: PELLENE, AEGEIRA, AEGAE, BURA, HELICE, AEGIUM, RHYPES, PATRAE, PHARAE, OLENUS, DYME, TRITAEA. Most of these centers evolved into cities (poleis), but the emergence of the POLIS in Achaea seems not to antedate the fifth century (Morgan and Hall 1996, 193). At the end of that century, Achaea was organized into a confederation, the Achaean League, which played a role on the international political and military stage until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BCE (Polyb. 2.38–44; cf. Rizakis 2015).
The Achaeans participated in the COLONIZATION movement: in the last quarter of eighth century BCE, they founded the cities of SYBARIS and CROTON (8.47) in southern ITALY (Morgan and Hall 1996, 199–215). There is no mention of Achaean participation in the PERSIAN WARS.
SEE ALSO: Achaeans of Phthiotis; Ethnicity; Hypachaeans
REFERENCES
1 Morgan, Catherine, and Jonathan Hall. 1996. “Achaian Poleis and Achaian Colonisation.” In Introduction to an Inventory of Poleis. Symposium August, 23–26 1995, edited by Mogens Herman Hansen, 164–232. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
2 Rizakis, Athanasios D. 1995. Achaie. I, Sources textuelles et histoire régionale. Athens: Fondation Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique.
3 Rizakis, Athanasios D. 2015. “The Achaian League.” In Federalism in Greek Antiquity, edited by Hans Beck and Peter Funke, 118–31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
FURTHER READING
1 IACP, pp. 472–88.
2 Osanna, Massimo. 1996. Santuari e culti dell’Acaia antica. Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane.
3 Papadopoulos, John K. 2001. “Magna Achaea: Akhaian Late Geometric and Archaic Pottery in South Italy and Sicily.” Hesperia 70: 373–460.
ACHAEANS OF PHTHIOTIS (Ἀχαιοί οἱ Φθιῶται)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
A people from the region of PHTHIOTIS in central Greece, between THESSALY and the MALIAN GULF, north of the SPERCHEIUS RIVER (BA 55 D2). Their land lay on the route taken by XERXES’ invasion force in 480 BCE. Herodotus lists these Achaeans among the Greeks who gave EARTH AND WATER in submission to the king while the Persians were in northern Greece (7.132.1), and their troops fight on the Persian side at THERMOPYLAE (7.185.2). In the Greeks’