ACHAEA

Modern Greek Akhaa noms (department) and historic region of Greece on the north coast of the Peloponnese, south of the Gulf of Corinth. In ancient times it was bounded on the west by Elis (modern Ila), on the south by Mount Erymanthus and Arcadia, and on the east by Sicyon (modern Sikin). The hilly coastal region almost corresponds to the modern noms of Akhaia, whose administrative capital is Ptrai, although the eastern boundary now falls west of Mount Kyllene (Killni ros). The highway and railway from Athens to Ptrai follow the north coast of the Peloponnese. Early in the 4th century BC the 12 cities of Achaea formed the Achaean League, a military alliance. In Hellenistic times, the League admitted non-Achaean allies and became the chief political power in Greece. It went over to Rome in 198 BC but was dissolved by the Romans in 146 BC, after which it was annexed to the Roman province of Macedonia. In 27 BC it became the centre of the Roman senatorial province of Achaea, which included all of Greece south of Thessaly. After various invasions and dismemberments in the Middle Ages, Achaea was conquered by the Turks in 1460. It was in the monastery of Aya Lavra near Kalvrita in this province that the standard of the Greek Revolution was raised in 1821. Achaea was liberated from the Turks in 1828. The name Achaea was also applied in antiquity to a region west of the Gulf of Pagasae (Pagasitiks Klpos) in southern Thessaly, which was known as Achaea Phthiotis. Also in Mycenaean times the name referred to the whole Peloponnese. Pop. (1981) noms, 275,193.