League of the Aetolians Koinon tōn Aitōlōn | |||||||||
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| 4th century BC–188 BC | |||||||||
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| Capital | Thermon (meeting place) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Northwest Greek,Northwest Doric Koine | ||||||||
| Religion | Ancient Greek religion | ||||||||
| Government | Confederation of tribal communities and cities | ||||||||
| Strategos | |||||||||
| Legislature | Aetolian assembly | ||||||||
| Historical era | Classical Antiquity | ||||||||
• Established | 4th century BC | ||||||||
• Treaty with Rome after theRoman–Seleucid War | 188 BC | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Greece | ||||||||
TheAetolian (orAitolian)League (Ancient Greek:Κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν)[1] was a confederation of tribal communities and cities[2] inancient Greece centered inAetolia inCentral Greece. It was probably established during the late Classical or the earlyHellenistic era. Two annual meetings were held atThermon and Panaetolika. The league occupiedDelphi and steadily gained territory after its victory there against the Gauls in 279 BC. By the end of the 3rd century BC, it controlled the whole of central Greece with the exception ofAttica,Euboea,Boeotia and northwestern Acarnania. At its peak, the league's territory includedLocris,Phocis,Doris,Malis,Dolopia,Achaia Phthiotis,Ainis,Oetaea,Ambracia and parts ofAcarnania. In the latter part of its power, certainGreek city-states out of central Greece joined the Aetolian League such as the Arcadian cities ofMantineia,Tegea,Phigalia andKydonia onCrete.[3]
During theclassical period the Aetolians were not highly regarded by other Greeks, who considered them to be semi-barbaric and reckless.[4] However, during theHellenistic period, they emerged as a dominant state in central Greece and expanded by annexing several Greek city-states to the League after their victory against theGauls in 279 BC. Their League had a complex political and administrative structure. The Aetolian League fought againstMacedon and theAchaean League in theSocial War (220-217 BC), allied with Rome in theFirst Macedonian War andSecond Macedonian War, but then fought against the Romans in an alliance with theSeleucid empire in theAetolian War before losing its independence to Rome.
The Aetolians were a recognised ethnic group with a religious centre atThermos from at least the seventh century BC. During thePeloponnesian War, theAetolians were initially neutral, but when theAthenianstried to invade Aetolia in 426 BC, the Aetolians forced them to retreat.[5] In the course of the fourth century, the league offered passive support to more powerful states and was rewarded for it, receiving Aeolis from the Thebans in 367 BC andNaupactus fromPhilip II of Macedon in 338 BC. Sometime in this century, theKoinon tōn Aitōlōn (League of the Aetolians) was founded, but it is uncertain when. One suggestion is that the league was founded byEpaminondas in 367 BC.[6][7] Grainger believes that it was founded much later, around the time of the rise of Philip II of Macedon.[8] Archaeology indicates that settlements in Aetolia began to grow in size and complexity over the course of this century.
After the death of Philip II in 336 BC, the Aetolians joined the Thebans in opposingAlexander the Great and the stress of their defeat caused the league to implode. Over the next decade it seems to have been reconstituted and in the later years of Alexander's reign the Aetolians seizedOeniadae against his will.
The Aetolian League joined the Athenians in theLamian war againstAntipater which broke out after Alexander's death in 323 BC. They continued to oppose Macedonian power throughout theWars of the Diadochi, participating in invasions of Macedon in 320, 316/5 and 313 BC.[citation needed] Around 301 BC, the Aetolians took control ofParnassus, including thepanhellenic sanctuary ofDelphi, which they would continue to control for over a century.Demetrius Poliorcetes launched a war in 289-287 BC, in an attempt to remove them, but was defeated and driven from Macedonia altogether with the help ofPyrrhus of Epirus. AFifth Sacred War, 281 BC, led byAreus I, the king ofSparta, was rebuffed by the Aetolians alone (allied toAntigonus Gonatas then) and in 280 BC, they took control ofHeraclea in Trachis, which gave them control over the crucial pass atThermopylae.[9]
In 279 BC, they defended central Greece against theGallic invasion at theBattle of Thermopylae (279 BC). They were finally victorious against theGauls threatening the sanctuary ofDelphi. After their victory they earned the appreciation of the rest of the Greeks and they were admitted as a new member into theAmphictyonic League. ThePortico of the Aetolians has been associated with the Aetolian League and its increased power and influence over Delphi in the 3rd century BC.
In 232 BC, the Illyrians underAgron attacked the Aetolians, and managed to take many prisoners and booty.[10]
In 229 BC, the Aetolians participated in anaval battle off the island of Paxos in a coalition withKorkyra and theAchaean League, and were defeated by a coalition ofIllyrians andAcarnanians; as a result, the Korkyreans were forced to accept an Illyrian garrison in their city, which was put under the command of Demetrius of Pharos.[11]
In theSocial War, 220-217 BC, the Aetolian League fought against theAchaean League andAntigonid Macedonia.Philip V of Macedon invaded Aetolia and sacked the city of Thermon as a response to the Aetolians' invasion at the city ofDodona in Epirus, andDion in Macedonia.
The league was the first Greek ally of theRoman Republic in the Greek mainland, siding with the Romans during theFirst Macedonian War, 214-205 BC, then allied toPhilip V of Macedon atCretan War (205–200 BC) and then again sided with Romans helping them defeat Philip at theBattle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC, during theSecond Macedonian War. However, it grew increasingly hostile to Roman involvement in Greek affairs and only a few years later sided withAntiochus III the Great, the king of theSeleucid Empire, during theRoman-Seleucid War, also called Aetolian War. The defeat of Antiochus in 189 BC robbed the league of its principal ally and made it impossible to stand alone in continued opposition to Rome. The league was forced to sign a peace treaty with Rome that made it a subject ally of the republic. Although it continued to exist in name, the power of the league was broken by the treaty and it never again constituted a significant political or military force.
The league had a federal structure, which could raise armies and conduct foreign policy on a common basis. It also implemented economic standardization, levying taxes, using a common currency and adopting a uniform system of weights and measures. There may not have been any central archive of state documents. However, the constituent communities of the league enjoyed substantial autonomy. At times the league was unable (or unwilling) to prevent its members from undertaking military actions against states that had treaties with it. The league members were grouped together in a number oftele (districts), which seem to have had administrative and juridical powers of some sort.[12]
The league's central administrative apparatus consisted of an assembly, a council, and a number of magistrates. TheEkklesia (Assembly) was open to all citizens of all member communities of the league. The assembly was the ultimate authority within the league, with responsibility for declarations of war and peace, but its power was limited by the infrequency with which it met. Two meetings took place a year, one at the Thermica festival which was held at Thermos on theautumnal equinox and another in spring at the Panaetolica festival which took place at a different site each year. Emergency meetings could also be called.[13]
The exact competencies of the Council, referred to as aboula orsynedrion in different documents, relative to the Assembly are not clear. It consisted of delegates elected by each of the constituent communities of the league in proportion to their size. By the late third century BC it had around 1500 members - too large for it to have been in continuous session. A small portion of the council's members, known as theapokletoi ("Select-men"), conducted day-to-day business, such as sending and receiving embassies.[13]
The league'sarchons (magistrates) were elected by the assembly each year at the Thermica. The chief executive was thestrategos (General), who commanded the league's armies, received all diplomatic contacts from other states in first instance, and presided over meetings of the assembly, the council, and the select-men. The office could be held multiple times, but only after an interval of, probably, four years. Thehipparchos (Cavalry Commander), originally a minor post, became the General's deputy from the late 260s BC, but his exact responsibilities are not clear. The third in command was theGrammateus (Secretary). These three officials wereEponymous archons (eponymous magistrates), which is to say that they were named in the dating formula for all decrees of the league. From around 260 BC, there were also seventamiai (Treasurers) and sevenepilektarchoi (Commanders of the Elite), who managed financial and military matters respectively. There were a number ofboularchoi (Council Commanders) who seem to have been a steering committee for the Council. When these first appear in the 260s, there were two of them, but by the end of the third century BC they had risen to six or more, presumably as a result of the continued expansion of the league's membership (and thus of the size of the Council).[13]
From 278 the league sent delegates to theAmphictyonic League (Delphic Amphictyony), gradually increasing over time until the league held a majority of the seats on the council, which increasingly became an instrument of Aetolian power projection. From the 260s, the secretary of the Amphictyonic council was always an Aetolian. These delegates seem to have been elected along with the other magistrates at the Thermica, but their relative rank is not clear.[14]
TheNorthwest Doric koine refers to a supraregional North-West common variety that emerged in the third and second centuries BC, and was used in the official texts of the Aetolian League.[15][16] Such texts have been found in W. Locris, Phocis, and Phtiotis, among other sites.[17] It contained a mix of nativeNorthwest Doric dialectal elements andAttic Greek forms.[18] It was apparently based on the most general features of Northwest Doric, eschewing less common local traits.[16][19]
Its rise was driven by both linguistic and non-linguistic factors, with non-linguistic motivating factors including the spread of the rival Attic-Ionickoine after it was recruited by the state of Macedon for administration, and the political unification of a vast territories by the Aetolian League and the state of Epirus. The Northwest Doric koine was thus both a linguistic and a political rival of the Attic-Ionic koine.[16]
Aetolians were known more for their mobilelight infantry forces likepeltasts and otherskirmisher units rather than theirhoplites. From the 270s onwards, much like the rest ofGreece, the emergence of the shield known as thethyreos was incorporated into Greek warfare and a new type of troop was developed. Thethyreophoroi were a mixture of evolvedpeltasts and lighthoplites, carrying thethureos shield, a thrusting spear and javelins.Thyreophoroi were distinguished from both skirmishers and thephalanx and seem to have operated in a role intermediate between the two types. They often supported light troops and seemed to be capable of operating in a similar manner to peltasts. They were mobile and could rapidly advance over varied terrain. According toPlutarch, they could fight as skirmishers and then fall back, assume spears and tighten the ranks, forming a phalanx.[20] At theBattle of Panium in 200 BC, the supreme command of thePtolemaic forces was held by the mercenary generalScopas of Aetolia, who brought with him 6,500 Aetolian mercenaries; 6,000infantry and 500cavalry.[21]
The Aetolian League became well known for its cavalry by the end of the 3rd century. Despite this fact, cavalry remained only a small proportion of its total military force. We can deduce this from the 400 cavalry accompanying 3,000 foot on campaign in 218 BC. All we know of specific organisation is a reference tooulamoi, small squadrons of uncertain strength. At the start of theBattle of Cynoscephalae (197 BC) the Romans were forced into a retreat off the summit by theMacedonians, but they were not completely pushed off the hills due to the Aetolian cavalry. At this battle Flamininus had about 26,000 men, consisting of two full legions with the support of 6,000 infantry and 400 cavalry from the Aetolian League.[22]
The Aetolian League acquired a reputation forpiracy andbrigandage. Though some historians recognize a pro-Achaean bias in the portrayal of the League byPolybius, many modern historians also accept his portrayal as largely justified. For example, Walbank is explicit in seeing the Aetolians as systematically using piracy to supplement their income due to the meager resources of their region[23] and Will simply assumes the truth of the charge.[24]By contrast, Grainger devotes a whole chapter to examining Aetolian involvement in piracy along with the charges that the Aetolians were temple robbers. He finds it hard to credit that Aetolia was involved in piracy given that Aetolia lacked a fleet of even the basic sort. Further by contrast with more general historians, those that have made specific studies of piracy and brigandage barely mention Aetolia. He lists the times that the Aetolians were accused of temple robbery and argues that the weight of these accusations should take into account that these are usually made by political opponents of the League and refer to occasions that were already some way in the past when the accusations were made.[25]
In 205–204 BC,Dicaearchus, an Aetolian commander and pirate, was employed byPhilip V of Macedon to raid theCyclades andRhodian ships.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)In different regions of Greece, however, different sorts of koinai emerged, of which the best known was the Doric Koinē, preserving general Doric features, but without local differences, and with an admixture of Attic forms. As in the case of the Doric Koinē, the Northwest Koinē (connected with the so-called Aetolian League) displayed the same mixture of native dialectal elements with Attic elements.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Media related toAetolian League at Wikimedia Commons
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