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ARGOS AMFILOCHIKON (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Argos Amphilochicum (Argos to Amphilochikon: Eth. Argeios: Neokhori),
the chief town of Amphilochia, situated at the eastern extremity of the Ambraciot
gulf, on the river Inachus. Its territory was called Argeia (Argeia). Its inhabitants
laid claim to their city having been colonized from the celebrated Argos in
Peloponnesus, though the legends of its foundation somewhat different. According
to one tradition, Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus, being dissatisfied with the
state of things in Argos on his return from Troy, emigrated from his native
place, and founded a city of the same name on the Ambraciot gulf. According
to another tradition, it was founded by Alcmaeon, who called it after his brother
Amphilochus. (Thuc. ii. 68; Strab. p. 326; comp. Apollod. iii. 7. § 7.) But
whether the city owed its origin to an Argive colony or not, we know that the
Amphilochi were regarded as barbarians, or a-non-Hellenic race, at the commencement
of the Peloponnesian war, and that shortly before that time the inhabitants
of Argos were the only portion of the Amphilochi, who had become Hellenized.
This they owed to some colonists from Ambracia, whom they admitted into the
city to reside along with them. The Ambraciots, however, soon expelled the original
inhabitants, and kept the town, with its territory, exclusively for themselves.
The expelled inhabitants placed themselves under the protection of the Acarnanians,
and both people applied to Athens for assistance. The Athenians accordingly
sent a force under Phormio, who took Argos, sold the Ambraciots as slaves, and
restored the town to the Amphilochians and Acarnanians, both of whom now concluded
an alliance with Athens. This event probably happened in the year before the
Peloponnesian war, B.C. 432. Two years afterwards (430) the Ambraciots, anxious
to recover the lost town, marched against Argos, but were unable to take it,
and retired, after laying waste its territory. (Thuc. ii. 68.) In B.C. 426 they
made a still more vigorous effort to recover Argos; and as the history of this
campaign illustrates the position of the places in the neighbourhood of Argos,
it requires to be related a little in detail. The Ambraciots having received
the promise of assistance from Eurylochus, the Spartan commander, who was then
in Aetolia, marched with 3000 hoplites into the territory of Argos, and captured
the fortified hill of Olpae (Olpai), close upon the Ambracian gulf, 25 stadia
(about 3 miles) from Argos itself. Thereupon the Acarnanians marched to the
protection of Argos, and took up their position at a spot called Crenae (Krenai),
or the Wells, at no great distance from Argos. Meantime Eurylochus, with the
Peloponnesian forces, had marched through Acarnania, and had succeeded in joining
the Ambraciots at Olpae, passing unperceived between Argos itself and the Acarnanian
force at Crenae. He then took post at Metropolis (Metropolis), a place probably
NE. of Olpae. Shortly afterwards Demosthenes, who had been invited by the Acarnanians
to take the command of their troops, arrived in the Ambraciot gulf with 20 Athenian
ships, and anchored near Olpae. Having disembarked his men, and taken the command,
he encamped near Olpae. The two armies were separated only by a deep ravine:
and as the ground was favourable for ambuscade, Demosthenes hid some men in
a bushy dell, so that they might attack the rear of the enemy. The stratagem
was successful, Demosthenes gained a decisive victory, and Eurylochus was slain
in the battle. This victory was followed by another still more striking. The
Ambraciots at Olpae had some days before sent to Ambracia, to beg for reinforcements;
and a large Ambraciot force had entered the territory of Amphilochia about the
time when the battle of Olpae was fought. Demosthenes being informed of their
march on the day after the battle, formed a plan to sur prise them in a narrow
pass above Olpae. At this pass there were two conspicuous peaks, called respectively
the greater and the lesser Idomene (Idomene). The lesser Idomene seems to have
been at the northern entrance of the pass, and the greater Idomene at the southern
entrance. As it was known that the Ambraciots would rest for the night at the
lower of the two peaks, ready to march through the pass the next morning, Demosthenes
sent forward a detachment to secure the higher peak, and then marched through
the pass in the night. The Ambraciots had obtained no intelligence of the defeat
of their comrades at Olpae, or of the approach of Demosthenes; they were surprised
in their sleep, and put to the sword without any possibility of resist. ance.
Thucydides considers the loss of the Ambraciots to have been the greatest that
befell any Grecian city during the whole war prior to the peace of Nicias; and
he says, that if Demosthenes and the Acarnanians had marched against Ambracia
at once, the city must have surrendered without a blow. The Acarnanians, however,
refused to undertake the enterprise, fearing that the Athenians might be more
troublesome neighbours to them than the Ambraciots. On the contrary, they and
the Amphilochians now concluded a peace with the Ambraciots [p. 208] for 100
years. (Thuc. iii. 105--114; Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. vi. p. 408, &c.) We
know little more of the history of Argos. Some time after the death of Alexander
the Great, it fell into the hands of the Aetolians, together with the rest of
Ambracia: and it was here that the Roman general, M. Fulvius, took up his quarters,
when he concluded the treaty between Rome and the Aetolians. (Liv. xxxviii.
10; Pol. xxii. 13.) Upon the foundation of Nicopolis by Augustus, after the
battle of Actium, the inhabitants of Argos were removed to the former city,
and Argos was henceforth deserted. (Anth. Graec. ix. 553.)
It is, however, mentioned by later writers. (Plin. iv. 1; Mel.
ii. 3; Ptol. iii. 14.) The site of Argos has been a subject of dispute. Thucydides
says (iii. 105), that it was situated on the sea. Polybius (xxii. 13) describes
it as distant 180 stadia, and Livy (xxxviii. 10) 22 miles from Ambracia. Leake
places it in the plain of Vlikha, at the modern village of Neolhori, where are
the ruins of an ancient city, the walls of which were about a mile in circumference.
The chief objection to Neokhori as the site of Argos is, that Neokhori is situated
at a short distance from the coast; whereas Thucydides, as we have already seen,
describes Argos as a maritime city. But it is very probable that the marsh or
lagoon, which now separates Neokhori from the inlet of Armyro, may have been
rendered shallower than it was formerly by alluvial depositions, and that it
may once have afforded a commodious harbour to Argos. The distance of Neokchori
from the ruins of Ambracia corresponds to the distance assigned by Polybius
and Livy between Argos and Ambracia. Near Neokhori also is the river of Ariadha,
corresponding to the Inachus, on whichArgos is said to have been situated. The
only other ruins in the neighbourhood, which could be regarded as the remains
of Argos, are those further south, at the head of the bay of Kervasara, which
Lieutenant Wolfe, who visited the country in 1830, supposes to have been the
site of Argos: but there are strong reasons for believing that this is the site
of Limnaea. Fixing the site of Argos at Neokhori, we are able to identify the
other places mentioned in the history of the campaign of B.C. 426. Crenae probably
corresponds to Armyro on the coast, SW. of Argos; and Olpae to Arapi, also on
the coast, NW. of Argos, at both of which places there are Hellenic remains.
At Arapi at present there is a considerable lagoon, which was probably not so
large in ancient times. The ravine, which separated the army of Demosthenes
from that of Eurylochus, seems to have been the torrent which enters the lagoon
from the north, and Metropolis to have been a place on its right bank, at the
southern extremity of the mountains called Makrinoro. Thucydides expressly mentions
Olpae and Metropolis as two different places; and there is no reason to suppose
them only different names of one place, as some modern commentators have done.
The pass, where Demosthenes gained his second victory over the Ambraciots, is
the pass of Makrinoro, which is one of the most important in this part of Greece.
The southern extremity of the mountain corresponds to the greater Idomene, which
Demosthenes occupied; while the northern extremity, where the Am. braciots were
attacked, was the lesser Idomene. On the latter are remains of ancient fortifications,which
bear the name of Paleopyryo.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
LIMNEA (Ancient city) AMFILOCHIA
Limnaia: Eth. Limnaios: Kervasara. A town in Acarnania at the SE.
corner of the Ambraciot gulf, on the very frontier of Acarnania towards Argos.
There has been a dispute about its site, but the ruins at Kervasara are probably
the remains of Limnaea: some modern writers would place it more to the W., either
at Lutraki, or at Ruga. Tie former supposition, however, appears to be the more
correct, since we learn from Thucydides that Limnaea lay on the road from Ambracia
and Argos Amphilochicum to Stratus, which could not have been the case if Limnaea
lay to the W. of Kervasara. Philip III., king of Macedonia, disembarked at Limnaea,
when about to invade Aetolia. There is a marsh near Kervasara, two miles in length,
from which Limnaea appears to have derived its name (Thuc. ii. 80, iii. 105 ;
Pol. v. 5).
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
ARGOS AMFILOCHIKON (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
The chief town of Amphilochia in Acarnania, on the Ambracian Gulf.
LIMNEA (Ancient city) AMFILOCHIA
(Aimnaia). A town in the north of Acarnania, near the Ambracian Gulf, on which it had a harbour.
OLPES (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
(Olpai) or Olpe (Olpe). A town of the Amphilochae in Acarnania on the Ambracian Gulf.
LIMNEA (Ancient city) AMFILOCHIA
Total results on 16/5/2001: 5
ARGOS AMFILOCHIKON (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
The ancient site is on the Botoko river near the modern town of Loutron
on the Gulf of Arta. According to varying traditions cited by Strabo, it was founded
after the Trojan War by Alkmeion or his brother Amphilochos. No Mycenaean remains
have been found, but Hekataios mentions the site at the end of the 6th c. B.C.
The rival of Ambrakia (Arta) in the 5th c., it was allied with Athens at the beginning
of the Peloponnesian War. The circuit wall and tower on the acropolis probably
originated in the 6th c.; the two long walls, each ending in a tower, which run
down toward the plain were probably added about the middle of the 5th. There are
traces of a theater with carved stone seats.
H. Mcallister, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
LIMNEA (Ancient city) AMFILOCHIA
Small harbor town at the head of a deep bay in the SE corner of the
Gulf of Arta. Mentioned in the literature (Thuc. 2.80.8; Polyb. 5.5.12-6.5), it
owed its importance to its good harbor and its position astride the main road
from Stratos to Ambrakia (Arta). The Albanian adventurer Ali Pasha, in the early
19th c., repaired the ancient citadel and founded a new town within its walls.
Limnaia must have extended down to the sea; but modern building has
erased all ancient remains near the harbor. About 50 m from the shore can be seen
the first fragments of the E long wall, one of two linking the citadel to the
harbor area. This wall ascends the NE nose of the citadel hill, which it then
encircles on the E, S, and W. Where the ground begins to fall on the NW a cross
wall returns E, completing the enclosure of the hilltop, while the W long wall
angles down the steep slopes towards the modern road and the harbor. The whole
system of fortifications seems to be Hellenistic.
There are extensive remains on the hilltop, but most of these belong
to Ali Pasha's now deserted settlement.
F. E. Winter, 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 bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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