Achaea (ancient region)

Achaea (/əˈkiːə/) or Achaia (/əˈkaɪə/; Greek: Ἀχαΐα, Akhaḯa, Ancient Greek: [akʰaía]) is the northernmost region of the Peloponnese, occupying the coastal strip north of Arcadia. Its approximate boundaries are: to the south, Mount Erymanthus; to the south-east, Mount Cyllene; to the east, Sicyon; and to the west, the Larissos river. Apart from the plain around Dyme in the west, Achaea is generally a mountainous region.

The name of Achaea has a slightly convoluted history. Homer uses the term Achaeans as a generic term for Greeks throughout the Iliad; conversely, a distinct region of Achaea is not mentioned. The region later known as Achaea is instead referred to as Aegialus. , meaning "coastal land" with Aegium being one of the main Achaean cities. Aegialus in the northern Peloponnese is not to be confused with Aegialus, the region in Paphlagonia, in Anatolia. Both regions are mentioned by Homer in the Iliad, Book 2 with Peloponnesian Aegialus being mentioned in 2.575 and Paphlagonian Aegialus mentioned in 2.855.

Both Herodotus and Pausanias recount the legend that the Achaean tribe was forced out of their lands in the Argolis by the Dorians, during the legendary Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese. Consequently, the Achaeans forced the Aegialians (now known as the Ionians) out of their land. The Ionians took temporary refuge in Athens, and Aegialus became known as Achaea. It was supposedly for this reason that the region known as Achaea in Classical Greece did not correspond to Homeric references.

Under the Romans, Achaea was a province covering much of central and southern Greece. This is the Achaea referenced in the New Testament (e.g., Acts 18:12 and 19:21; Romans 15:26 and 16:5). However, Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, devotes one of the books of Description of Greece to the ancient region of Achaea, showing that the name, locally at least, still preserved the use from the Classical period. The name, Achaea, was later used in the crusader state, the Principality of Achaea (1205–1432), which comprised the whole Peloponnese, thus more closely following Roman use. The modern Greek prefecture of Achaea is largely based on the ancient region.

Dolmens and cromlechs have been found in the ancient area of Achaea dating back to the Neolithic period. Flint axes and blades fabricated from materials such as quartz or obsidian have been found in megalithic chamber tombs from this ancient region. Among other finds, alabaster pottery sherds have been discovered during excavations at Antheia in Achaia and dated to the thirteenth century BC.

The twelve cities of Achaea were grouped into an early Achaean League which had important cultural and religious functions. In its later 3rd century BC incarnation the Achaean League would play an important role in Greek politics.

According to Pausanias, in 688 BC the city of Hyperesia was threatened by an army from Sicyon. The locals defended their city by placing burning torches on their goats' (aiges in Greek) horns. The Sicyonians retreated and the Hyperesians renamed their town Aigeira (Greek: Aίγειρα) to honor the goats.

During the 5th century BC the cities of Achaea were neutral in the Persian Wars and were usually neutral in the struggles between Athens and Sparta. We begin to hear more of Achaea in the following centuries.