Acarnania
（
Ἀκαρνανία). A western division of Greece, bounded on the
north by the Ambracian Gulf, on the west and southwest by the Ionian Sea, on the northeast by
Amphilochia, which is sometimes included in Acarnania, and on the east by Aetolia, from which,
at a later time, it was separated by the Achelous. The name of Acarnania does not occur in
Homer. In the most ancient times the land was inhabited by the Taphii, Teleboae, and Leleges,
and subsequently by the Curetes. At a later time a colony from Argos, said to have been led by
Acarnan, settled in the country. In the seventh century B.C. the Corinthians founded several
towns on the coast. The Acarnanians first emerge from obscurity at the beginning of the
Peloponnesian War, B.C. 431. They were then a rude people, living by piracy and robbery, and
they always remained behind the rest of the Greeks in civilization and refinement. They were
good slingers, and are praised for their fidelity and courage. The different towns formed a
league, which met at Stratus, and subsequently at Thyrium or Leucas.
