273, 274.) It is evident from this account that the ascent of the mountain was in his time a common enterprize. Lucilius also speaks of it as not unusual for people to ascend to the very edge of the crater, and offer incense to the tutelary gods of the mountain (Lucil. Aetna, 336; see also Seneca, Ep. 79), and we are told that the emperor Hadrian, when he visited Sicily, made the ascent for the purpose of seeing the sun rise from thence. (Spart. Hadr. 13.) It is therefore a strange mistake in Claudian (de Rapt. Proserp. i. 158) to represent the summit as inaccessible. At a distance of less than 1400 feet from the highest point are some remains of a brick building, clearly of Roman work, commonly known by the name of the Torre del Filosofo, from a vulgar tradition connecting it with Empedocles: this has been supposed, with far more plausibility, to derive its origin from the visit of Hadrian. (Smyth's Sicily, p. 149; Ferrara, Descriz. dell' Etna, p. 28.) want of water. (Appian, B. C. v. 114.) Agair, ut | only one crater, sometimes more. (Strab. vi. pp. 269, B. C. 38, the volcano appears to have been in at least a partial state of eruption (Id. v. 117), and 6 years afterwards, just before the outbreak of the civil war between Octavian and Antony, Dion Cassius records a more serious outburst, accompanied with a stream of lava which did great damage to the adjoining country. (Dion Cass. 1. 8.) But from this time forth the volcanic agency appears to have been comparatively quiescent; the smoke and noises which terrified the emperor Caligula (Suet. Cal. 51) were probably nothing very extraordinary, and with this exception we hear only of two eruptions during the period of the Roman empire, one in the reign of Vespasian, A. D. 70, and the other in that of Decius, A. D. 251, neither of which is noticed by contemporary writers, and may therefore be presumed to have been of no very formidable character. Orosius, writing in the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of Aetna as having then become harmless, and only smoking enough to give credit to the stories of its past violence. (Idat. Chron. ad ann. 70; Vita St. Agathae, ap. Cluver. Sicil. p. 106; Oros. ii. 14.) From these accounts it is evident that the volcanic action of Aetna was in ancient, as it still continues in modern times, of a very irregular and intermittent character, and that no dependence can be placed upon those passages, whether of poets or prose writers, which apparently describe it as in constant and active operation. But with every allowance for exaggeration, it seems probable that the ordinary volcanic phenomena which it exhibited were more striking and conspicuous in the age of Strabo and Pliny than at the present day. The expressions, however, of the latter writer, that its noise was heard in the more distant parts of Sicily, and that its ashes were carried not only to Tauromenium and Catana, but to a distance of 150 miles, of course refer only to times of violent eruption. Livy also records that in the year B. C. 44, the hot sand and ashes were carried as far as Rhegium. (Plin. H. N. ii. 103. 106, iii. 8. 14; Liv. ap. Serv. ad Georg. i. 471.) It is unnecessary to do more than allude to the well-known description of the eruptions of Aetna in Virgil, which has been imitated both by Silius Italicus and Claudian. (Virg. Aen. iii. 570-577; Sil. Ital. xiv. 58-69; Claudian de Rapt. Proserp. i. 161.) The general appearance of the mountain is well described by Strabo, who tells us that the upper parts were bare and covered with ashes, but with snow in the winter, while the lower slopes were clothed with forests, and with planted grounds, the volcanic ashes, which were at first so destructive, ultimately producing a soil of great fertility, especially adapted for the growth of vines. The summit of the mountain, as described to him by those who had lately ascended it, was a level plain of about 20 stadia in circumference, surrounded by a brow or ridge like a wall. In the midst of this plain, which consisted of deep and hot sand, rose a small hillock of similar aspect, over which hung a cloud of smoke rising to a height of about 200 feet. He, however, justly adds, that these appearances were subject to constant variations, and that there was sometimes *For the more recent history of the mountain and its eruptions, see Ferrara, Descrizione dell Etna, Palermo, 1818; and Daubeny on Volcanoes, 2d edit. pp. 283-290. Many ancient writers describe the upper part of Aetna as clothed with perpetual snow. Pindar calls it "the nurse of the keen snow all the year long (Pyth. i. 36), and the apparent contradiction of its perpetual fires and everlasting snows is a favourite subject of declamation with the rhetorical poets and prose writers of a later period. (Sil. Ital. xiv. 58— 69; Claudian. de Rapt. Pros. i. 164; Solin. 5. § 9.) Strabo and Pliny more reasonably state that it was covered with snow in the winter; and there is no reason to believe that its condition in early ages differed from its present state in this respect. The highest parts of the mountain are still covered with snow for seven or eight months in the year, and occasionally patches of it will lie in hollows and rifts throughout the whole summer. The forests which clothe the middle regions of the mountain are alluded to by many writers (Strab. vi. p. 273; Claud. I. c. 159); and Diodorus tells us that Dionysius of Syracuse derived from thence great part of the materials for the construction of his fleet in B. C. 399. (Diod. xiv. 42.) It was natural that speculations should early be directed to the causes of the remarkable phenomena exhibited by Aetna. A mythological fable, adopted by almost all the poets from Pindar downwards, ascribed them to the struggle of the giant Typhoeus (or Enceladus according to others), who had been buried under the lofty pile by Zeus after the defeat of the giants. (Pind. Pyth. i. 35; Aesch. Prom. 365; Virg. Aen. iii. 578; Ovid. Met. v. 346; Claud. I.c. 152; Lucil. Aetna, 41-71.) Others assigned it as the workshop of Vulcan, though this was placed by the more ordinary tradition in the Aeolian islands. Later and more philosophical writers ascribed the eruptions to the violence of the winds, pent up in subterranean caverns, abounding with sulphur and other inflammable substances; while others conceived them to originate from the action of the waters of the sea upon the same materials. Both these theories are discussed and developed by Lucretius, but at much greater length by the author of a separate poem entitled "Aetna," which was for a long time ascribed to Cornelius Severus, but has been attributed by its more recent editors, Wernsdorf and Jacob, to the younger Lucilius, the friend and contemporary of Seneca. It contains some powerful passages, but is disfigured by obscurity, and adds little to our For a fuller discussion of this question, see the Biogr. Dict. art. Lucilus Jing knowledge of the history or phenomena of the moun-' tain. (Lucret. vi. 640—703; Lucil. Aetna, 92, et seq.; Justin, iv. 1; Seneca, Epist. 79; Claudian, I. c. 169-176.) The connection of these volcanic phe nomena with the earthquakes by which the island was frequently agitated, was too obvious to escape notice, and was indeed implied in the popular tradition. Some writers also asserted that there was a subterranean communication between Aetna and the Aeolian islands, and that the eruptions of the former were observed to alternate with those of Hiera and Strongyle. (Diod. v. 7.) The name of Aetna was evidently derived from its fiery character, and has the same root as afew, to burn. But in later times a mythological origin was found for it, and the mountain was supposed to have received its name from a nymph, Aetna, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, or, according to others, of Briarens. (Schol. ad Theocr. Id. i. 65.) The mountain itself is spoken of by Pindar (Pyth. i. 57) as consecrated to Zeus; but at a later period Solinus calls it sacred to Vulcan; and we learn that there existed on it a temple of that deity. This was not, however, as supposed by some writers, near the summit of the mountain, but in the middle or forest region, as we are told that it was surrounded by a grove of sacred trees. (Solin. 5. § 9; Aelian, H. A. xi. 3.) [E. H. B.] ΑΕΤΟΊΙΑ (Αἰτωλία: Eth. Αἰτωλός, Aetolus), district of Greece, the boundaries of which varied at different periods. In the time of Strabo it was bounded on the W. by Acarnania, from which it was separated by the river Achelous, on the N. by the mountainous country inhabited by the Athamanes, Dolopes, and Dryopes, on the NE. by Doris and Malis, on the SE. by Locris, and on the S. by the entrance to the Corinthian gulf. It contained about 1165 square miles. It was divided into two districts, called Old Aetolia (ʼn àpxaía Airwλía), and Aetolia Epictetus (ʼn èñíкτητos), or the Acquired. The former extended along the coast from the Achelous to the Evenus, and inland as far as Thermum, opposite the Acarnanian town of Stratus: the latter included the northern and more mountainous part of the province, and also the country on the coast between the Evenus and Locris. When this division was introduced is unknown; but it cannot have been founded upon conquest, for the inland Aetolians were never subdued. The country between the Achelous and the Evenus appears in tradition as the original abode of the Aetolians; and the term Epictetus probably only indicates the subsequent extension of their name to the remainder of the country. Strabo makes the promontory Antirrhium the boundary between Aetolia and Locris, but some of the towns between this promontory and the Evenus belonged originally to the Ozolian Loerians. (Strab. pp. 336, 450, 459.) The country on the coast between the Achelous and the Evenus is a fertile plain, called Paracheloitis (ПapaxeAwîris), after the former river. This plain is bounded on the north by a range of hills called Aracynthus, north of which and of the lakes Hyria and Trichonis there again opens out another extensive plain opposite the town of Stratus. These are the only two plains in Aetolia of any extent. The remainder of the country is traversed in every direction by rugged mountains, covered with forests, and full of dangerous ravines. These mountains are a south-westerly continuation of Mt. Pindus, and have never been crossed by any road, either in ancient or modern times. The following mountains are mentioned by special names by the ancient writers: 1.TYMPHRESTUS (Tuμppηστós), on the northern frontier, was a southerly continuation of Mt. Pindus, and more properly belongs to Dryopis. [DRYOPIS.] 2. BOMI (Вwμoi), on the north-eastern frontier, was the most westerly part of Mt. Oeta, inhabited by the Bomienses. In it were the sources of the Evenus. (Strab. x. p. 451; Thuc. iii. 96; Steph. B. s. v. Bauoí.) 3. CORAX (Kópak), also on the northeastern frontier, was a south-westerly continuation of Oeta, and is described by Strabo as the greatest mountain in Aetolia. There was a pass through it. leading to Thermopylae, which the consul Acilius Glabrio crossed with great difficulty and the loss of many beasts of burthen in his passage, when he marched from Thermopylae to Naupactus in B. C. 191. Leake remarks that the route of Glabrio was probably by the vale of the Vistritza into that of the Kokkino, over the ridges which connect Velukhi with Vardhusi, but very near the latter mountain, which is thus identified with Corax. Corax is described on that occasion by Livy as a very high mountain, lying between Callipolis and Naupactus. (Strab. x. p. 450; Liv. xxxvi. 30; Steph. B. s. v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 624.) 4. TAPHIASSUS (Tapiavoós: Kaki-skala), a southerly continuation of Corax, extended down to the Corinthian gulf, where it terminated in a lofty mountain near the town of Macynia. In this mountain Nessus and the other Centaurs were said to have been buried, and from their corpses arose the stinking waters which flowed into the sea, and from which the western Locrians are said to have derived the name of Ozolae, or the Stinking. Modern travellers have found at the base of Mt. Taphiassus a number of springs of fetid water. Taphiassus derives its modern name of Kaki-skala, or “ Bad-ladder," from the dangerous road, which runs along the face of a precipitous cliff overhanging the sea, half way up the mountain. (Strab. pp. 427, 451, 460; Antig. Caryst. 129; Plin. iv. 2; Leake, vol. i. p. 111; Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. i. p. 135; Gell, Itiner. p. 292.) 5. CHALCIS or CHALCEIA (Xáλkis Xаλкía: Varássova), an offshoot of Taphiassus, running down to the Corinthian gulf, between the mouth of the Evenus and Taphiassus. At its foot was a town of the same name. Taphiassus and Chalcis are the ancient names of the two great mountains running close down to the sea-coast, a little west of the promontory Antirrhium, and separated from each other by some low ground. Each of these mountains rises from the sea in one dark gloomy mass. (Strab. pp. 451, 460; Hom. Il. ii. 640; Leake, l. c.; Mure, vol. i. p. 171.) 6. ARACYNTHUS ('Apáκuveos: Zygos), a range of mountains running in a south-easterly direction from the Achelous to the Evenus, and separating the lower plain of Aetolia near the sea from the upper plain above the lakes Hyria and Trichonis. (Strab. x. p. 450.) [ARACYNTHUS.] 7. PANAETOLIUM (Viena), a mountain NE. of Thermum, in which city the Aetolians held the meetings of their league. (Plin. iv. 2; Pol. v. 8; Leake, vol. i. p. 131.) 8. MYENUS (Tò opos Múnvov, Plut. de Fluviis, p. 44), between the rivers Evenus and Hylaethus. 9. MACYNIUM, mentioned only by Pliny (l. c.), must, from its name, have been near the town of Macynia on the coast, and consequently a part of Mt. Taphiassus. 10. CURIUM (Koupiov), a mountain between Pleuron and lake Trichonis, from which the Curetes were said to have derived their name. | It is a branch of Aracynthus. (Strab. x. p. 451.) The two chief rivers of Aetolia were the Achelous and the Evenus, which flowed in the lower part of their course nearly parallel to one another. [ACHELOUS: EVENUS.] There were no other rivers in the country worthy of mention, with the exception of the Campylus and Cyathus, both of which were tributaries of the Achelous. [ACHELOUS.] There were several lakes in the two great plains of Aetolia. The upper plain, N. of Mt. Aracynthus, contained two large lakes, which communicated with each other. The eastern and the larger of the two was called Trichonis (Tpixwvís, Pol. v. 7, xi. 4: Lake of Apokuro), the western was named Hyria (Lake of Zygos); and from the latter issued the river Cyathus, which flowed into the Achelous near the town of Conope, afterwards Arsinoe (Ath. x. p. 424). This lake, named Hyrie by Ovid (Met. vii. 371, seq.) is called Hydra ("Tôpa) in the common text of Strabo, from whom we learn that it was afterwards called Lysimachia (Avoquaxía) from a town of that name upon its southern shore. (Strab. p. 460.) Its proper name appears to have been Hyria, which might easily be changed into Hydra. (Müller, Dorians, vol. ii. p. 481.) This lake is also named Conope by Antoninus Liberalis (Met. 12). The mountain Aracynthus runs down towards the shores of both lakes, and near the lake Hyrie there is a ravine, which Ovid (l. c.) calls the "Cycneia Tempe," because Cycnus was said to have been here changed into a swan by Apollo. The principal sources which form both the lakes are at the foot of the steep mountain overhanging the eastern, or lake Trichonis; a current flows from E. to W. through the two lakes; and the river of Cyathus is nothing more than a continuation of the same stream (Leake, vol. i. p. 154). In the lower plain of Aetolia there were several smaller lakes or lagoons. Of these Strabo (pp. 459, 460) mentions three. 1. Cynia (Kuvía), which was 60 stadia long and 20 broad, and communicated with the sea. 2. Uria (Oupla), which was much smaller than the preceding and half a stadium from the sea. 3. A large lake near Calydon, belonging to the Romans of Patrae: this lake, according to Strabo, abounded in fish (evotos), and the gastronomic poet Archestratus said that it was celebrated for the labrax (Aά6pa§), a ravenous kind of fish. (Ath. vii. p. 311, a.) There is some difficulty in identifying these lakes, as the coast has undergone numerous changes; but Leake supposes that the lagoon of Anatoliko was Cynia, that of Mesolonghi Uria, and that of Bokhori the lake of Calydon. The last of these lakes is perhaps the same as the lake Onthis ('Oveís), which Nicander (ap. Schol. ad Nicand. Ther. 214) speaks of in connection with Naupactus. (Leake, vol. iii. p. 573, &c.) In the two great plains of Aetolia excellent corn was grown, and the slopes of the mountains produced good wine and oil. These plains also afforded abundance of pasture for horses; and the Aetolian horses were reckoned only second to those of Thessaly. In the mountains there were many wild beasts, among which we find mention of boars and even of lions, for Herodotus gives the Thracian Nestus and the Achelous as the limits within which lions were found in Europe. (Herod. v. 126.) The original inhabitants of Aetolia are said to have been Curetes, who according to some accounts had come from Euboea. (Strab. x. p. 465.) They inhabited the plains between the Achelous and the Evenus, and the country received in consequence the name of Curetis. Besides them we also find meation of the Leleges and the Hyantes, the latter of whom had been driven out of Boeotia. (Strab. pp. 322, 464.) These three peoples probably belonged to the great Pelasgic race, and were at all events not Hellenes. The first great Hellenic settlement in the country is said to have been that of the Epeans, led by Aetolus, the son of Endymion, who crossed over from Elis in Peloponnesus, subdued the Curetes, and gave his name to the country and the people, six generations before the Trojan war. Aetolus founded the town of Calydon, which he called after his son, and which became the capital of his dominions. The Curetes continued to reside at their ancient capital Pleuron at the foot of Mt. Curium, and for a long time carried on war with the inhabitants of Calydon. Subsequently the Curetes were driven out of Pleuron, and are said to have crossed over into Acarnania. At the time of the Trojan war Pleuron as well as Calydon were governed by the Aetolian chief Thoas. (Paus. v. 1. § 8; Hom. I. ix. 529, seq.; Strab. p. 463.) Since Pleuron appears in the later period of the heroic age as an Aetolian city, it is represented as such from the beginning in some legends. Hence Pleuron, like Calydon, is said to have derived its name from a son of Aetolus (Apollod. i. 7. §7); and at the very time that some legends represent it as the capital of the Curetes, and engaged in war with Oeneus, king of Calydon, others relate that it was governed by his own brother Thestius. Aetolia was celebrated in the heroic age of Greece on account of the hunt of the Calydonian boar, and the exploits of Tydeus, Meleager and the other heroes of Calydon and Pleuron. The Aetolians also took part in the Trojan war under the command of Thoas; they came in 40 ships from Pleuron, Calydon, Olenus, Pylene and Chaleis (Hom. Il. ii. 638). Sixty years after the Trojan war some Aeolians, who had been driven out of Thessaly along with the Boeotians, migrated into Aetolia, and settled in the country around Pleuron and Calydon, which was hence called Aeolis after them. (Strab. p. 464; Thuc. iii. 102.) Ephorus (ap. Strab. p. 465) however places this migration of the Aeolians much earlier, for he relates "that the Aeolians once invaded the district of Pleuron, which was inhabited by the Curetes and called Curetis, and expelled this people." Twenty years afterwards occurred the great Dorian invasion of Peloponnesus under the command of the descendants of Heracles. The Aetolian chief Oxylus took part in this invasion, and conducted the Dorians across the Corinthian gulf. In return for his services he received Elis upon the conquest of Peloponnesus. From this time till the commencement of the Peloponnesian war we know nothing of the history of the Aetolians. Notwithstanding their fame in the heroic age, they appear at the time of the Peloponnesian war as one of the most uncivilized of the Grecian tribes; and Thucydides (i. 5) mentions them, together with their neighbours the Ozolian Locrians and Acarnanians, as retaining all the habits of a rude and barbarous age. At this period there were three main divisions of the Aetolians, the Apodoti, Ophionenses, and Eurytānes. The last, who were the most numerous of the three, spoke a language which was unintelligible, and were in the habit of eating raw meat. (Thuc. iii. 102.) Thucydides, however, does not call them Bapбapot; and notwithstanding their low culture and uncivilized habits, the Aetolians ranked as Hellenes, partiy, it appears, on account of their legendary renown, and partly on account of their acknowledged connection with the Eleans in Peloponnesus. Each of these three divisions was subdivided into several village tribes. Their villages were unfortified, and most of the inhabitants lived by plunder. Their tribes appear to have been independent of each other, and it was only in circumstances of common danger that they acted in concert. The inhabitants of the inland mountains were brave, active, and invincible. They were unrivalled in the use of the javelin, for which they are celebrated by Euripides. (Phoeniss. 139, 140; comp. Thuc. iii. 97.) Parnassus. Having collected a considerable force, Demosthenes set out from Naupactus; but the expedition proved a complete failure. After advancing a few miles into the interior, he was attacked at Aegitium by the whole force of the Aetolians, who had occupied the adjacent hills. The rugged nature of the ground prevented the Athenian hoplites from coming to close quarters with their active foe; Demosthenes had with him only a small number of light-armed troops; and in the end the Athenians were completely defeated, and fled in disorder to the coast. Shortly afterwards the Aetolians joined the Peloponnesians under Eurylochus in making an attack upon Naupactus, which Demosthenes saved with difficulty, by the help of the Acarnanians. (Thuc. iii. 94, &c.) The Aetolians took no further part in the Peloponnesian war; for those of the nation who fought under the Athenians in Sicily were only mercenaries. (Thuc. vii. 57.) From this time till that of the Macedonian supremacy, we find scarcely any mention of the Aetolians. They appear to have been frequently engaged in hostilities with their neighbours and ancient enemies, the Acarnanians. [ACARNANIA.] The Apodoti, Ophionenses, and Eurytanes, inhabited only the central districts of Aetolia, and did not occupy any part of the plain between the Evenus and the Achelous, which was the abode of the more civilized part of the nation, who bore no other name than that of Aetolians. The Apodoti (Aródwro, Thuc. iii. 94; 'Amódoтo, Pol. xvii. 5) inhabited the mountains above Naupactus, on the borders of Locris. They are said by Polybius not to have been Hellenes. (Comp. Liv. xxxii. 34.) North of these dwelt the Ophionenses or Ophienses ('Optoveis, Thuc. l. c.; 'Opieîs, Strab. pp. 451,465), After the death of Alexander the Great (B. C. and to them belonged the smaller tribes of the Bomi- 323) the Aetolians joined the confederate Greeks in enses (Bus, Thuc. iii. 96; Strab. p. 451; Steph. what is usually called the Lamian war. This war Byz. s. v. Bauol) and Callienses (Kaλλins, Thuc. l. c.), was brought to a close by the defeat of the confeboth of which inhabited the ridge of Oeta running derates at Crannon (B. C. 322); whereupon Antidown towards the Malic gulf: the former are placed pater and Craterus, having first made peace with by Strabo (Lc.) at the sources of the Evenus, and Athens, invaded Aetolia with a large army. The the position of the latter is fixed by that of their Aetolians, however, instead of yielding to the incapital town Callium. [CALLIUM.] The Eury-vaders, abandoned their villages in the plains and tanes (Eupuraves, Thuc. iii. 94, et alii) dwelt north of the Ophionenses, as far, apparently, as Mt. Tymphrestus, at the foot of which was the town Oechalia, which Strabo describes as a place belonging to this people. They are said to have possessed an oracle of Odysseus. (Strab. pp. 448, 451, 465; Schol. ad Lycophr. 799.) The Agraei, who inhabited the north-west corner of Aetolia, bordering upon Ambracia, were not a division of the Aetolian nation, but a separate people, governed at the time of the Peloponnesian war by a king of their own, and only united to Aetolia at a later period. The Aperanti, who lived in the same district, appear to have been a subdivision of the Agraei. [AGRAEI; APERANTI.] Pliny (iv. 3) mentions various other peoples as belonging to Aetolia, such as the Athamanes, Tymphaei, Dolopes, &c.; but this statement is only true of the later period of the Aetolian League, when the Aetolians had extended their dominion over most of the neighbouring tribes of Epirus and Thessaly. At the commencement of the Peloponnesian war the Aetolians had formed no alliance either with Sparta or Athens, and consequently are not mentioned by Thucydides (ii. 9) in his enumeration of the allied forces of the two nations. It was the unprovoked invasion of their country by the Athenians in the sixth year of the war (B. C. 455), which led them to espouse the Lacedaemonian side. In this year the Messenians, who had been settled at Naupactus by the Athenians, and who had suffered greatly from the inroads of the Aetolians, persuaded the Athenian general, Demosthenes, to march into the interior of Aetolia, with the hope of conquering the three great tribes of the Apodoti, Ophionenses, and Eurytanes, since if they were subdued the Athenians would become masters of the whole country between the Ambracian gulf and retired to their impregnable mountains, where they remained in safety, till the Macedonian generals were obliged to evacuate their territory in order to march against Perdiccas. (Diod. xviii. 24, 25.) In the wars which followed between the different usurpers of the Macedonian throne, the alliance of the Aetolians was eagerly courted by the contending armies; and their brave and warlike population enabled them to exercise great influence upon the politics of Greece. The prominent part they took in the expulsion of the Gauls from Greece (B. C. 279) still further increased their reputation. In the army which the Greeks assembled at Thermopylae to oppose the Gauls, the contingent of the Aetolians was by far the largest, and they here distinguished themselves by their bravery in repulsing the attacks of the enemy; but they earned their chief glory by destroying the greater part of a body of 40,000 Gauls, who had invaded their country, and had taken the town of Callium, and committed the most horrible atrocities on the inhabitants. The Aetolians also assisted in the defence of Delphi when it was attacked by the Gauls, and in the pursuit of the enemy in their retreat. (Paus. x. 20-23.) To commemorate the vengeance they had inflicted upon the Gauls for the destruction of Callium, the Aetolians dedicated at Delphi a trophy and a statue of an armed heroine, representing Aetolia. They also dedicated in the same temple the statues of the generals under whom they had fought in this war. (Paus. x. 18. § 7, x. 15. § 2.) From this time the Aetolians appear as one of the three great powers in Greece, the other two being the Macedonians and Achaeans. Like the Achaeans, the Aetolians were united in a confederacy or league. At what time this league was first formed is uncertain. It is inferred that the Aetolians must have been united into some form of con T federacy at least as early as the time of Philip, the Messenia engaged them in a war with the Achaeans father of Alexander the Great, from an inscription usually called the Social War. The Achaeans were on the statue of Aetolus at Thermum, quoted by supported by the youthful monarch of Macedonia, Ephorus (Strab. p. 463: Altwλòv Tóvo' avéonкav Philip V., who inflicted a severe blow upon the Airwλol operepas μvñu' àpetñs éσ opậv), and from Aetolians in B. C. 218 by an unexpected march into the cession of Naupactus, which was made to them the interior of their country, where he surprised the by Philip. (Strab. p. 427: orì dè vûv Airwλŵv, capital city of Thermum, in which all the wealth and Þínоν πроσкρívavтos, quoted by Thirlwall, Hist. treasures of the Aetolian leaders were deposited. The of Greece, vol. viii. p. 207.) But it was not till after whole of these fell into the hands of the king, and were the death of Alexander the Great that the league either carried off or destroyed; and before quitting the appears to have come into full activity; and it was place, Philip set fire to the sacred buildings, to retaprobably the invasion of their country by Antipater liate for the destruction of Dium and Dodona by the and Craterus, and the consequent necessity of con- Aetolians. (Pol. v.2-9, 13, 14; for the details of certing measures for their common defence, that Philip's march, see THERMUM.) The Social war was brought the Aetolians into a closer political associa- brought to a close by a treaty of peace concluded in tion. The constitution of the league was democra- B. C. 217. Six years afterwards (B. C. 211) the tical, like that of the Aetolian towns and tribes. Aetolians again declared war against Philip, in conThe great council of the nation, called the Pan- sequence of having formed an offensive and defensive aetolicon (Liv. xxxi. 9), in which it is probable alliance with the Romans, who were then engaged that every freeman above the age of thirty had the in hostilities with Philip. The attention of the right of voting, met every autumn at Thermum, for Romans was too much occupied by the war against the election of magistrates, general legislation, and Hannibal in Italy to enable them to afford much the decision of all questions respecting peace and assistance to the Aetolians, upon whom, therefore, war with foreign nations. There was also another the burden of the war chiefly fell. In the course of deliberative body, called Apocleti ('ATÓKλNTO), this war Philip again took Thermum (Pol. xi. 4), which appears to have been a kind of permanent and the Aetolians became so disheartened that they committee. (Pol. xx. 1; Liv. xxxvi. 28.) The concluded peace with him in B. c. 205. This peace chief magistrate bore the title of Strategus (7раTη· was followed almost immediately by one between yós). He was elected annually, presided in the as- Philip and the Romans. semblies, and had the command of the troops in war. The officers next in rank were the Hipparchus ("Innаρxos), or commander of the cavalry, and the chief Secretary (гpaμμатeús), both of whom were elected annually. (For further details respecting the constitution of the league, see Dict. of Antiq. art. Aetolicum Foedus.) After the expulsion of the Gauls from Greece, the Aetolians began to extend their dominions over the neighbouring nations. They still retained the rude and barbarous habits which had characterised them in the time of Thucydides, and were still accustomed to live to a great extent by robbery and piracy. Their love of rapine was their great incentive to war, and in their marauding expeditions they spared neither friends nor foes, neither things sacred nor profane. Such is the character given to them by Polybius (e. g. ii. 45, 46, iv. 67, ix. 38), and his account is confirmed in the leading outlines by the testimony of other writers; though justice requires us to add that the enmity of the Aetolians to the Achaeans has probably led the historian to exaggerate rather than underrate the vices of the Aetolian people. At the time of their greatest power, they were masters of the whole of western Acarnania, of the south of Epirus and Thessaly, and of Locris, Phocis, and Boeotia. They likewise assumed the entire control of the Delphic oracle and of the Amphictyonic assembly. (Plut. Demetr. 40; Pol. iv. 25; Thirlwall, vol. viii. p. 210.) Their league also embraced several towns in the heart of Peloponnesus, the island of Cephallenia, and even cities in Thrace and Asia Minor, such as Lysimachia on the Hellespont, and Cios on the Propontis. The relation of these distant places to the league is a matter of uncertainty. They could not have taken any part in the management of the business of the confederacy; and the towns in Asia Minor and Thrace probably joined it in order to protect themselves against the attacks of the Actolian privateers. The Actolians were at the height of their power in B. C. 220, when their unprovoked invasion of On the renewal of the war between Philip and the Romans in B. c. 200, the Aetolians at first resolved to remain neutral; but the success of the consul Galba induced them to change their determination, and before the end of the first campaign they declared war against Philip. They fought at the battle of Cynoscephalae in B. C. 197, when their cavalry contributed materially to the success of the day. (Liv. xxxiii. 7.) The settlement of the affairs of Greece by Flamininus after this victory caused great disappointment to the Aetolians; and as soon as Flamininus returned to Italy, they invited Antiochus to invade Greece, and shortly afterwards declared war against the Romans. (B. c. 192.) The defeat of Antiochus at Thermopylae (B. C. 191) drove the monarch back to Asia, and left the Aetolians exposed to the full vengeance of the Romans. They obtained a short respite by a truce which they solicited from the Romans; but having subsequently resumed hostilities on rumours of some success of Antiochus in Asia, the Roman consul M. Fulvius Nobilior crossed over into Greece, and commenced operations by laying siege to Ambracia (B. C. 189), which was then one of the strongest towns belonging to the league. Meantime news had arrived of the total defeat of Antiochus at the battle of Magnesia, and the Aetolians resolved to purchase peace at any price. It was granted to them by the Romans, but on terms which destroyed for ever their independence, and rendered them only the vassals of Rome. (Pol. xxii. 15; Liv. xxxviii. 11.) After the conquest of Perseus (B. c. 167), the Roman party in Aetolia, assisted by a body of Roman soldiers, massacred 550 of the leading patriots. All the survivors, who were suspected of opposition to the Roman policy, were carried off as prisoners to Italy. It was at this time that the league was formally dissolved. (Liv. xlv. 28, 31; Justin, xxxiii. Prol. and 2.) Aetolia subsequently formed part of the province of Achaia; though it is doubtful whether it formed part of this province as it was at first constituted. [ACHALA.] The inhabitants of several |