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ACHARNAI (Ancient demos) ACHARNES
Acharnae, Acharnai: Eth. Acharneus, Acharnanus, Adj. Acharnikos. The principal
demus of Attica, belonging to the tribe Oeneis, was situated 60 stadia N. of Athens,
and consequently not far from the foot of Mt. Parnes. It was from the woods of
this mountain that the Acharnians were enabled to carry on that traffic in charcoal
for which they were noted among the Athenians. (Aristoph. Acharn. 332.) Their
land was fertile ; their population was rough and warlike; and they furnished
at the commencement of the Peloponnesian war 3000 hoplites, or a tenth of the
whole infantry of the republic. They possessed sanctuaries or altars of Apollo
Aguieus, of Heracles, of Athena Hygieia, of Athena Hippia, of Dionysus Melpomenus,
and of Dionysus Cissus, so called, because the Acharnians said that the ivy first
grew in this demus. One of the plays of Aristophanes bears the name of the Acharnians.
Leake supposes that branch of the plain of Athens, which is included between the
foot of the hills of Khassia and a projection of the range of Aegaleos, stretching
eastward from the northern termination of that mountain, to have been the district
of the demus Acharnae. The exact situation of the town has not yet been discovered.
Some Hellenic remains, situated 3/4 of a mile to the westward of Menidhi, have
generally been taken for those of Archarnae; but Menidhi is more probably a corruption
of Paionidai.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The principal deme of Attica belonging to the tribe Oeneis, 60 stadia north of Athens, near the foot of Mt. Parnes. The land was fertile, and the population rough and warlike, furnishing at the commencement of the Peloponnesian War 3000 hoplites, or one-tenth of the whole infantry of the republic. The deme gives the name to one of the plays of Aristophanes (Acharneis), represented B.C. 425.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
In the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Archidamos encamped the
Spartans at Acharnai, the largest of the Attic demes, 60 stades distant from Athens
(Thuc. 2.19.2, 21.2). In 404-403 B.C. the army of the Thirty Tyrants also camped
here in an action designed to guard against Thrasyboulos at Phyle (Diod. 14.32.6).
From these two notices it is therefore clear that the deme was located S of Mt.
Parnes in the general neighborhood of the modern villages of Menidi and Epano
Liosia. That Acharnai was in fact either at, or near, the former can be plausibly
argued from the number of inscriptions concerned with Acharnaians found in the
churches and houses of Menidi.
Proof of this identification, in the form of foundations of buildings,
is entirely lacking today, though in the early 19th c. the remains "of a
considerable town" could be observed 1 km to the W of Menidi beneath the
hill on which is the church dedicated to the Forty Saints. Thus some scholars
have felt free to look elsewhere for the inhabited center of Acharnai. Despite
the claims made for a broad, fortified hill called Yerovouno, 2 km SW of Menidi,
no compelling alternative has been advanced, and the weight of evidence still
makes Menidi the best choice for the location of Acharnai. There is perhaps still
hope that some remains from the Sanctuaries of Apollo Argyieus and Herakles, mentioned
by Pausanias (1.31.6), may yet be discovered. As for Ares and Athena Areia, their
temple may have been the one moved to the marketplace of Athens and there reinstalled
in Augustan times.
C.W.J. Eliot, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 5 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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