District north of the Gulf of Corinth, ancient Greece.
Aetolia figures prominently in early legend. By 367 BC it had been organized by various tribes into a federal state comprising the Aetolian League . Coming under Roman rule, it was incorporated into the province of Achaea (see Achaean League ) in 27 BC by Augustus . Governed later by Albania and Venice, it came under Turkish rule in AD 1450. It was the scene of fierce fighting in the War of Acarnania as a department of Greece.