Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 183

PETER FUNKE

Westfälische Wilhelms‐Universität Münster

A region in the western part of central Greece (BA 55 B3), bounded to the west by the river ACHELOUS and to the east by Cape Antirrhion and the river Daphnos (modern Mornos). In the north Aetolia bordered on the valley of the river SPERCHEIUS and the southern part of the PINDUS MOUNTAINS (tribal territories of the Athamanians, AENIANES, and Oetaeans) and in the south on the Gulf of Patras. In the classical period the southern foothills of the Pindus and the large fertile plain around Lake Lisimachia and Lake Trichonis formed the heartland of the Aetolian tribal league, while the Aetolian settlements in the coastal region had developed into independent poleis and detached themselves from the tribal organization (Thuc. 3.102.5; Bommeljé 1988). The reintegration of the coast was closely connected with the transformation of Aetolia from a tribal state into a federation in the late classical and Hellenistic periods (Funke 2015).

Herodotus mentions Aetolia only in passing as a remote place of refuge of TITORMUS (6.127.2; cf. Ael. VH 12.22). Furthermore, Herodotus refers to the Aetolians as a tribe that immigrated into the PELOPONNESE and settled in ELIS (8.73.2). This narrative is closely connected with the MYTH of the return of the HERACLEIDAE and the genesis of Elean ETHNICITY (Gehrke 2005).

SEE ALSO: Hellas; Migration