Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

ACHAICPM FOEDTJS.

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ACINACES.

A.CHAICUM FOEDUS. The Achaean league
is divided into two periods. 1. The earlier
period.—When the Heraeleidae took posses-
sion of Peloponnesus, which had until then
heen chiefly inhabited by Achaeans, a portion
of the latter, under Tisamenus, turned north-
wards and occupied the north coast of Pelo-
ponnesus. The country thus occupied de-
rived from them its name of Achaia, and
contained twelve confederate towns, which
were governed by the descendants of Tisa-
menus, till at length they abolished the
kingly rule after the death of Ogyges, and
established a democracy. In the time of He-
rodotus the twelve towns of which the league
consisted were: Pellene, Aegeira, Aegae,
Bura, Helice, Aegium, Rhypes (Rhypae), Pa-
treis (ae), Phareis (ae), Olenus, Dyme, and
Tritaeeis (Tritaea). After the time of Hero-
dotus, Rhypes and Aegae disappeared from
the number, and Ceryneia and Leontium
stepped into their place. The bond which
united the towns of the league was not so
much a political as a religious one, as is
shown by the common sacrifice offered at
Helice to Poseidon, and after the destruction
of that town, at Aegium to Zeus, surnamed
Homagyrius, and to Demeter Panachaea.
The confederation exercised no great influ-
ence in the affairs of Greece down to the time
when it was broken up by the Macedonians.
2. The later period.—"When Antigonus in
b.c. 281 made the unsuccessful attempt to
deprive Ptolemaeus Ceraunus of the Mace-
donian throne, the Achaeans availed them-
selves of the opportunity of shaking off the
Macedonian yoke, and renewing their ancient
confederation. The grand object however
now was no longer a common worship, but a
real political union among the confederates.
The fundamental laws were, that henceforth
the confederacy should form one inseparable
state, that each town, which should join it,
should have equal rights with the others, and
that all members, in regard to foreign coun-
tries, should be considered as dependent, and
bound to obey in every respect the federal
government, and those officers who were en-
trusted with the executive. Aegium was the
8eat of the government, and it was there that
the citizens of the various towns met at re-
gular and stated times, to deliberate upon the
common affairs of the league, and if it was
thought necessary, upon those of separate
towns, and even of individuals, and to
elect the officers of the league. The league
acquired its great strength in b.c. 251, when
Aratus united Sicyon, his native place, with
it, and some years later gained Corinth also
for it. Megara, Troezene, and Epidaurus
soon followed their example. Afterwards

Aratus persuaded all the more important
towns of Peloponnesus to join the confede-
racy, and thus Megalopolis, Argos, Hermione,
Phlius, and others were added to it. In a
short period the league reached the height of
its power, for it embraced Athens, Megara,
Aegina, Salamis, and the whole of Pelopon-
nesus, with the exception of Sparta, Elis,
Tegea, Orchomenos, and Mantineia. The
common affairs of the confederate towns were
regulated at general meetings attended by the
citizens of all the towns, and held regularly
twice every year, in the spring and in the
autmnn. These meetings, which lasted three
days, were held in a grove of Zeus Homagyrius
in the neighbourhood of Aegium, and near
a sanctuary of Demeter Panachaea. Every
citizen, both rich and poor, who had attained
the age of thirty, might attend the assemblies,
to which they were invited by a public herald,
and might speak and propose any measure.
The subjects which were to be brought before
the assembly were prepared by a council
(fiovX-q), which seems to have been permanent.
The principal officers of the confederacy were:

1. At first two strategi (aTparrjyoO, but
after the year b.c. 255 there was only one,
who in conjunction with an hipparchus (Iir-
7ra.pxos) or commander of the cavalry and an
undcr-strategus (unwTpa-njyos) commanded
the arm}' furnished by the confederacy, and
was entrusted with the whole conduct of war;

2. A public secretary (ypapp-areus); and, 3.
Ten demiurgi (&r)y.iovpyoi). All the officers of
the league were elected in the assembly held
in the spring, at the rising of the Pleiades,
and legally they were invested with their
several offices only for one year, though it
frequently happened that men of great merit
and distinction were re-elected for several
successive years. If one of the officers died
during the period of his office, his place was
filled by his predecessor, until the time for
the new elections arrived. The perpetual
discord of the members of the league, the
hostility of Sparta, the intrigues of the Ro-
mans, and the folly and rashness of the later
strategi, brought about not only the destruc-
tion and dissolution of the confederacy, but
of the freedom of all Greece, which after the
fall of Corinth, in b.c. 146, became a Roman
province under the name of Achaia.

AC1ES. JExercitus.]

ACIXACES (aKii'd)o)9), a Persian sword,
whence Horace speaks of the Jledus acinaces.
The acinaces was a short and straight wea-
pon, and thus differed from the Roman sica,
which was curved. It was worn on the right
side of the body, whereas the Greeks and Ro-
mans usually had their swords suspended on
the left side. The form of the acinaces, with

b 2