Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 44

MARGARET FOSTER

Indiana University

A northwestern region of the Greek mainland, located along the IONIAN GULF (BA 54 D4). In the Histories, Acarnania is noteworthy for its river, the ACHELOUS, as an origin of seers, and for the presence of LIONS. In Book 2, while describing the land of EGYPT as largely the product of the NILE’s extensive alluvial deposits, Herodotus compares this natural effect to the silting up of the Achelous River in Acarnania. As Herodotus reports, though a smaller river than the great Nile, the Achelous has nevertheless caused already half of the ECHINADES ISLANDS to connect to the Greek mainland through its own alluvial deposits (2.10.3). Herodotus’ account of the Achelous is noteworthy for attending solely to this topographic phenomenon while eschewing any reference to the popular mythographic tradition concerning Acarnania and the Achelous. By contrast, THUCYDIDES does include a version of this MYTH in his own description of Acarnania (2.102.5–6; see also Apollod. Bibl. 3.7.5; Paus. 8.24.8‐9). The Histories suggests that an association obtained between Acarnania and seers, an association also found in other sources. Herodotus identifies both the chrēsmologos (“oracle‐monger”) AMPHILYTUS (1.62) and the Spartans’ seer at THERMOPYLAE, MEGISTIAS (7.221), as Acarnanian. According to Pausanias (9.31.5), the BOEOTIANS assert that the Acarnanians taught HESIOD seercraft. The founder of Acarnania, Alcmaeon, was the son of the seer AMPHIARAUS (e.g., Hom. Od. 15.244–48). Herodotus also briefly describes the Achelous in Acarnania as the westernmost boundary of the territory inhabited by lions (7.126).

SEE ALSO: Analogy; Geology; Divination; Rivers