Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 8.7.3

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[3] Now for twenty¹ years the Achaeans continued to have a general secretary and two generals, elected annually; and with them a common council was convened at one place (it was called Amarium),² in which these, as did the Ionians before them, dealt with affairs of common interest; then they decided to elect only one general. And when Aratus was general he took the Acrocorinthus away from Antigonus³ and added the city of Corinth to the Achaean League, just as he had added his native city; and he also took over the Megarians; and breaking up the tyrannies in the several cities he made the peoples who were thus set free members of the Achaean League. And he set the Peloponnesus free from its tyrannies, so that Argos, Hermion, Phlius, and Megalopolis, the largest city in Arcadia, were added to the League; and it was at this time that the League reached the height of its power. It was the time when the Romans, after their expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily,⁴ made their expedition against the Galatae⁵ who lived in the region of the Padus River. But although the Achaean League persisted rather firmly until the time of the generalship of Philopoemen, yet it was gradually dissolved, since by this time the Romans were in possession of the whole of Greece, and they did not deal with the several states in the same way, but wished to preserve some and to destroy others. Then he⁶ tells the cause of his enlarging upon the subject of the Achaeans, saying that, although they increased in power to the point of surpassing even the Lacedaemonians, they are not as well known as they deserve to be.

Geography. Strabo. Horace Leonard Jones (Translator). London. 1924-1929.

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Current edition Perseus

Geography (Books 6-14) (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 8.7.3 focus

[3] εἴκοσι μὲν δὴ ἔτη διετέλεσαν γραμματέα κοινὸν ἔχοντες καὶ στρατηγοὺς δύο κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν οἱ Ἀχαιοί, καὶ κοινοβούλιον εἰς ἕνα τόπον συνήγετο αὐτοῖς (ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ Ἁμάριον) ἐν ᾧ τὰ κοινὰ ἐχρημάτιζον καὶ οὗτοι καὶ Ἴωνες πρότερον· εἶτα ἔδοξεν ἕνα χειροτονεῖσθαι στρατηγόν. Ἄρατος δὲ στρατηγήσας ἀφείλετο Ἀντίγονον τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον, καὶ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς προσέθηκε καθάπερ καὶ τὴν πατρίδα· προσελάβετο δὲ καὶ Μεγαρέας· καὶ τὰς παρʼ ἑκάστοις τυραννίδας καταλύων Ἀχαιοὺς ἐποίει τοὺς ἐλευθερωθέντας τὴν δὲ Πελοπόννησον ἠλευθέρωσε τῶν τυραννίδων, ὥστε καὶ Ἄργος καὶ Ἑρμιὼν καὶ Φλιοῦς καὶ Μεγάλη πόλις, ἡ μεγίστη τῶν ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ, προσετέθη τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς, ὅτε δὴ καὶ πλεῖστον ηὔξηντο. ἦν δʼ ὁ καιρὸς ἡνίκα Ῥωμαῖοι Καρχηδονίους ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας ἐκβαλόντες ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Πάδον Γαλάτας. μέχρι δὲ τῆς Φιλοποίμενος στρατηγίας συμμείναντες ἱκανῶς οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ διελύθησαν κατʼ ὀλίγον, ἤδη Ῥωμαίων ἐχόντων τὴν Ἑλλάδα σύμπασαν καὶ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἑκάστοις χρωμένων, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν συνέχειν τοὺς δὲ καταλύειν βουλομένων¹

Translations (1)

Geography Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.) — 8.7.3 focus

[3] The Achaeans, during a period of five and twenty years, elected, annually, a common secretary, and two military chiefs. Their common assembly of the council met at one place, called Arnarium, (Homarium, or Amarium,) where these persons, and, before their time, the Ionians, consulted on public affairs. They afterwards resolved to elect one military chief. When Aratus held this post, he took the Acrocorinthus from Antigonus, and annexed the city as well as his own country to the Achaean league.¹ He admitted the Megareans also into the body, and, having destroyed the tyrannical governments in each state, he made them members, after they were restored to liberty, of the Achaean league. * * * * * He freed, in a short time, Peloponnesus from the existing tyrannies; thus Argos, Hermion, Phlius, and Megalopolis, the largest of the Arcadian cities, were added to the Achaean body, when they attained their greatest increase of numbers. It was at this time that the Romans, having expelled the Carthaginians from Sicily, undertook an expedition against the Galatae, who were settled about the Po.² The Achaeans remained firmly united until Philopoemen had the military command, but their union was gradually dissolved, after the Romans had obtained possession of the whole of Greece. The Romans did not treat each state in the same manner, but permitted some to retain their own form of government, and dissolved that of others. * * * * * [He then assigns reasons for expatiating on the subject of the Achaeans, namely, their attainment of such a degree of power as to be superior to the Lacedaemonians, and because they were not as well known as they deserved to be from their importance.]³

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Polybius 2.43 says twenty-five.

2. Amarium was the name of the sacred precinct of Zeus Amarius near Aegium, again mentioned in 8. 7. 5.

3. Antigonus Gonatas.

4. 241 B.C.

5. 224 B.C.

6. See critical note.

Strabo Geography 8.7.3

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

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