The country was originally inhabited by Curetes and Leleges[?], but was at an early period colonized by Greeks from Elis, led by the mythical Aetolus. The Aetolians took part in the Trojan War, under their king Thoas[?]. They continued for a long time a rude and uncivilized people, living to a great extent by robbery; and even in the time of Thucydides (410 BC) many of their tribes spoke a language which was not Greek, and were in the habit of eating raw flesh. They appear to have been early united by a kind of league, but this league first acquired political importance about the middle of the third century BC, and became a formidable rival to the Macedonian monarchs and the Achaean League[?]. The Aetolians took the side of Antiochus III against the Romans, and on the defeat of that monarch, 189 BC, they became virtually the subjects of Rome. Following the conquest of the Achaeans, 146 BC, Aetolia was included in the Roman province of Achaea.
This entry was based on H.T. Peck's Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)[?]
Search Encyclopedia
|
Featured Article
|