Εμφανίζονται 4 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο για το τοπωνύμιο: "ΑΜΒΡΑΚΙΑ Αρχαία πόλη ΗΠΕΙΡΟΣ".
Κάτω από την σημερινή ´Αρτα είναι θαμμένη η Αμβρακία η σημαντικότερη
αποικία των Κορινθίων στη βορειοδυτική Ελλάδα. Ιδρύθηκε το 625 π.Χ από το Γόργο,
νόθο γιο του Κυψέλου, τυράννου της Κορίνθου, σε περιοχή που ανήκε στους Δρύοπες.
Η πόλη αναπτύχθηκε γρήγορα δημογραφικά και πολιτικά. Καλλιέργησε τις τέχνες και
εξελίχτηκε σε μεγάλη πολεμική και ναυτική δύναμη.
Στη μεγαλύτερη ακμή της έφτασε τον 3ο π.Χ αιώνα όταν ο Πύρρος μετέφερε
εκεί την Πρωτεύουσα του κράτους των Μολοσσών. Βελτιώσε την οχύρωση και την πολεοδομική
οργάνωση της πόλης κοσμώντας την με δημόσια κτίρια και έργα τέχνης. Το 189 π.Χ
ο Ρωμαίος στρατηγός Φούλβιος την πολιόρκησε στενά. Μετά από σθεναρή αντίσταση
η πόλη αναγκάστηκε να συνθηκολογήση και να δεχθεί Ρωμαϊκή φρουρά.
Με την ίδρυση της γειτονικής Νικόπολης το 31 π.Χ από τον Οκταβιανό
Αύγουστο πολλοί κάτοικοι της Αμβρακίας υποχρεώθηκαν να εγκατασταθούν στη νέα πόλη.
Ωστόσο η Αμβρακία δεν εγκαταλείφθηκε εντελώς, αλλά συνέχισε να κατοικείται σποραδικά
και μετά τον συνοικισμό της Νικόπολης.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Ιούλιο 2003 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα, με φωτογραφίες, της Νομαρχίας Αρτας
Amprakia, Thuc.; Ambrakia, Xen. and subsequent writers; Amprakiotes,
Herod. viii. 45, Thuc. ii. 80; Ionic Amprakietes, Herod. ix. 28; Ambrakieus, Xen.
Anab. i. 7. § 18, et alii; Aubrakieus, Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1228; Ambrakios, Ambrakinos,
Steph. B. s. v.: Ambraciensis, Liv. xxxviii. 43; Ambraciota, Cic. Tusc. i. 34:
Arta.
An important city to the north of the Ambraciot gulf, which derived
its name from this place. It was situated on the eastern bank of the river Arachthus
or Arethon, at the distance of 80 stadia from the gulf, according to ancient authorities,
or 7 English miles, according to a modern traveller. It stood on the western side
of a rugged hill called Perranthes, and the acropolis occupied one of the summits
of this hill towards the east. It was rather more than three miles in circumference,
and, in addition to its strong walls, it was well protected by the river and the
heights which surrounded it. It is generally described as a town of Epirus, of
which it was the capital under Pyrrhus and the subsequent monarchs; but in earlier
times it was an independent state, with a considerable territory, which extended
along the coast for 120 stadia. How far the territory extended northward we are
not informed; but that portion of it between the city itself and the coast was
an extremely fertile plain, traversed by the Arachthus, and producing excellent
corn in abundance. Ambracia is called by Dicaearchus and Scylax the first town
in Hellas proper. (Strab. p. 325; Dicaearch. 31, p. 460, ed. Fuhr; Scyl. p. 12;
Polyb. xxii. 9; Liv. xxxviii. 4.)
According to tradition, Ambracia was originally a Thesprotian town,
founded by Ambrax, son of Thesprotus, or by Ambracia, daughter of Augeas; but
it was made a Greek city by a colony of Corinthians, who settled here in the time
of Cypselus, about B.C. 635. The colony is said tom have been led by Gorgus (also
called Torgus or Tolgus), the son or brother of Cypselus. Gorgus was succeeded
in the tyranny by his son Periander, who was deposed by the people, probably after
the death of the Corinthian tyrant of the same name. (Strab. pp. 325, 452; Scymn.
454; Anton. Lib. 4; Aristot. Pol. v. 3. § 6, v. 8. § 9; Ael. V. H. xii. 35; Diog.
Laert. i. 98.) Ambracia soon became a flourishing city, and the most important
of all the Corinthian colonies on the Ambraciot gulf. It contributed seven ships
to the Greek navy in the war against Xerxes, B.C. 480, and twenty-seven to the
Corinthians in their war against Corcyra, B.C. 432. (Herod. viii. 45; Thuc. i.
46,) The Ambraciots, as colonists and allies of Corinth, espoused the Lacedaemonian
cause in the Peloponnesian war. It was about this time that they reached the maximum
of their power. They had extended their dominions over the whole of Amphilochia,
and had taken possession of the important town of Argos in this district, from
which they had driven out the original inhabitants. The expelled Amphilochians,
supported by the Acarnanians, applied for aid to Athens. The Athenians accordingly
sent a force under Phormion, who took Argos, sold the Ambraciots as slaves, and
restored the town to the Amphilochians and Acarnanians, B.C. 432. Anxious to recover
the lost town, the Ambraciots, two years afterwards (430), marched against Argos,
but were unable to take it, and retired after laying waste its territory. Not
disheartened by this repulse, they concerted a plan in the following year (429),
with the Peloponnesians, for the complete subjugation of Acarnania. They had extensive
relations with the Chaonians and other tribes in the interior of Epirus, and were
thus enabled to collect a formidable army of Epirots, with which they joined the
Lacedaemonian commander, Cnemus. The united forces advanced into Acarnania as
far as Stratus, but under the walls of this city the Epirots were defeated by
the Acarnanians, and the expedition came to an end. Notwithstanding this second
misfortune, the Ambraciots marched against Argos again in B.C. 426. The history
of this expedition, and of their two terrible defeats by Demosthenes and the Acarnanians,
is related elsewhere. It appears that nearly the whole adult military population
of the city was destroyed, and Thucydides considers their calamity to have been
the greatest that befel any Grecian city during the earlier part of the war. Demosthenes
was anxious to march straightway against Ambracia, which would have surrendered
without a blow; but the Acarnanians refused to undertake the enterprize, fearing
that the Athenians at Ambracia would be more troublesome neighbours to them than
the Ambraciots. The Acarnanians and Amphilochians now concluded a peace and alliance
with the Ambraciots for 100 years. Ambracia had become so helpless that the Corinthians
shortly afterwards sent 300 hoplites to the city for its defence. (Thuc. ii. 68,
80, iii. 105--114.)
The severe blow which Ambracia had received prevented it from taking
any active part in the remainder of the war. It sent, however, some troops to
the assistance of Syracuse, when besieged by the Athenians. (Thuc. vii. 58.) Ambracia
was subsequently conquered by Philip II., king of Macedonia. On the accession
of Alexander the Great (B.C. 336) it expelled the Macedonian garrison, but soon
after-wards submitted to Alexander. (Diod. xvii. 3, 4.) At a later time it became
subject to Pyrrhus, who made it the capital of his dominions, and his usual place
of residence, and who also adorned it with numerous works of art. (Pol. xxii.
13; Liv. xxxviii. 9; Strab. p. 325.) Pyrrhus built here a strongly fortified palace,
which was called after him Pyrrheum Hpurrheion). (Pol. xxii. 10; Liv. xxxviii.
5.) Ambracia afterwards fell into the hands of the Aetolians, and the possession
of this powerful city was one of the chief sources of the Aetolian power in this
part of Greece. When the Romans declared war against the Aetolians, Ambracia was
besieged by the Roman consul M. Fulvius Nobilior, B.C. 189. This siege is one
of the most memorable in ancient warfare for the bravery displayed in the defence
of the town. In the course of the siege the Aetolians concluded a peace with Fulvius,
whereupon Ambracia opened its gates to the besiegers. The consul, however, stripped
it of its valuable works of art, and removed them to Rome. (Pol. xxii. 9-13; Liv.
xxxviii. 3-9.) From this time Ambracia rapidly declined, and its ruin was completed
by Augustus, who removed its inhabitants to Nicopolis, which he founded in commemoration
of his victory at Actium. (Strab. p. 325; Pans. v. 23. § 3.)
There is no longer any doubt that Arta is the site of Ambracia, the
position of which was for a long time a subject of dispute. The remains of the
walls of Ambracia confirm the statements of the ancient writers respecting the
strength of its fortifications. The walls were built of immense quadrangular blocks
of stone. Wolfe measured one 18 ft. by 5. The foundations of the acropolis may
still be traced, but there are no other remains of Hellenic date.
How long Ambracia continued deserted after the removal of its inhabitants
to Nicopolis, we do not know; but it was re-occupied under the Byzantine Empire,
and became again a place of importance. Its modern name of Arta is evidently a
corruption of the river Arachthus, upon which it stood; and we find this name
in the Byzantine writers as early as the eleventh century. In the fourteenth century
Arta was reckoned the chief town in Acarnania, whence it was frequently called
by the name of Acarnania simply. Cyriacus calls it sometimes Arechthea Acarnana.
(Bockh, Corpus Inscr. No. 1797.) It is still the principal town in this part of
Greece, and, like the ancient city, has given its name to the neighbouring gulf.
The population of Arta was reckoned to be about 7000 in the year 1830.
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The modern Arta; a town on the left bank of the Arachthus, north of the Ambracian Gulf, and originally included in Acarnania, but afterwards in Epirus. It was colonized by the Corinthiaus about B.C. 660. Pyrrhus made it the capital of his kingdom, and adorned it with public buildings and statues. At a later time it joined the Aetolian League, was taken by the Romans in B.C. 189, and stripped of its works of art. Its inhabitants were trausplanted to the new city of Nicopolis, founded by Augustus after the battle of Actium, B.C. 31.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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