Aetolian League

It was probably established during the late Classical or the early Hellenistic era in Aetolia. Two annual meetings were held, during the Panaetolika and the Thermica festivals. The League had a complex political and administrative structure. During the classical period the Aetolians were not highly regarded by other Greeks, who considered them to be semi-barbaric and reckless. However, after their victory against the Gauls in 279 BC, they emerged as a dominant state in central Greece and expanded by annexing several Greek city-states to their League. The league occupied Delphi and steadily gained territory during the 3rd century BC. At its peak, the league's territory included Ozolian Locris, Ainis, Oetaea, Malis, Doris, Phocis, Dolopia, Opuntian Locris, Achaia Phthiotis, parts of Acarnania, Cephalonia and Ambracia.

In the latter part of its power, certain Greek city-states out of central Greece joined the Aetolian League such as Lysimachia in Thrace, the Arcadian cities of Mantineia, Tegea, Phigalia and Kydonia on Crete. The Aetolian League fought against Macedon and the Achaean League in the Social War (220-217 BC). It allied with Rome in the First and Second Macedonian War, but then, it fought against the Romans in an alliance with the Seleucid empire in the Aetolian War. It became a Roman client state in 188 BC.

History

Early History

Aetolian tribes

The Aetolians were a recognised ethnic group with a religious centre at Thermos from at least the seventh century BC. The mountain tribes of Aetolia were the Ophioneis, the Apodotoi, the Agraeis, the Aperantoi and the Eurytanians. The primitive lifestyle of those tribes made an impression on ancient historians. Polybius doubted their Greek heritage. They worshiped Apollo as god of tame nature and Artemis as goddess of wilderness. They also worshiped Athena, not as goddess of wisdom, but emphasizing the element of war – i.e. a goddess that was a counterbalance to the god Ares. They called Apollo and Artemis "Laphrios gods," i.e. patrons of the spoils and loot of war. In addition, they worshiped Hercules, the river Achelous and Bacchus. In Thermos, an area north of Trichonis lake, there was after the 7th century a shrine of Apollo “Thermios,” which became a significant religious center during the time of the Aetolian League.

Demosthenes' Aetolian campaign

During the Peloponnesian War, when the Athenians led by Demosthenes invaded Aetolia in 426 BC, they were forced to retreat by the Aetolians. In the course of the fourth century, the league offered passive support to more powerful states and was rewarded for it, receiving Aeolis from the Thebans in 367 BC and Naupactus from Philip II of Macedon in 338 BC.

Foundation of the League

Sometime in the 4th century BC, the Koinon tōn Aitōlōn (League of the Aetolians) was founded, but it is uncertain when. One suggestion is that the league was founded by Epaminondas in 367 BC. Grainger believes that it was founded much later, around the time of the rise of Philip II of Macedon. Archaeology indicates that settlements in Aetolia began to grow in size and complexity over the course of this century.

After the death of Philip II in 336 BC, the Aetolians joined the Thebans in opposing Alexander the Great and the stress of their defeat caused the league to implode. Over the next decade it seems to have been reconstituted and in the later years of Alexander's reign the Aetolians seized Oeniadae against his will. The Aetolian League joined the Athenians in the Lamian war against Antipater which broke out after Alexander's death in 323 BC.

Rise of the Aetolian League

Around 301 BC, the Aetolians took control of Parnassus, including the panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi, which they would continue to control for over a century. Demetrius Poliorcetes launched a war in 289 BC, against their ally Pyrrhus of Epirus and attacked Aetolia but the Aetolians, not seeking battle, retreated to the nearby hills. A Fifth Sacred War, 281 BC, led by Areus I, the king of Sparta, was rebuffed by the Aetolians alone (allied to Antigonus Gonatas then) and in 280 BC, they took control of Heraclea in Trachis, which gave them control over the crucial pass at Thermopylae.

Gallic invasion

In 279 BC, they defended central Greece against the Gallic invasion. At the Battle of Thermopylae (279 BC), during the initial assault, Brennus' forces suffered heavy losses. Hence he decided to send a large force under Acichorius against Aetolia. The Aetolian detachment, as Brennus hoped, left Thermopylae to defend their homes. The Aetolians all joined the defence – the old and women joining the fight. Realising that the Gallic sword was dangerous only at close quarters, the Aetolians resorted to skirmishing tactics. The Gauls destroyed Kallion, on the border between Eurytania and rest of Aetolia, but the resistance of the entire Aetolian population at the site of Kokkalia dealt a decisive blow to the Galatian threat. According to Pausanias, only half the number who had set out for Aetolia returned. Eventually Brennus found a way around the pass at Thermopylae, but the Greeks escaped by sea thanks to the Athenian fleet. They were finally victorious against the Gauls, when they threatened the sanctuary of Delphi. After their victory they earned the appreciation of the rest of the Greeks and they were admitted as a new member into the Amphictyonic League. The Portico of the Aetolians has been associated with the Aetolian League and its increased power and influence over Delphi in the 3rd century BC.

War with Demetrios Aetolicus

Besieged at Medion, the Acarnanians sought assistance from Demetrius II of Macedon, who had been at war with the Aetolians and in response brought Agron of Illyria into the conflict. In 232 BC, the Illyrians under Agron attacked the Aetolians, and managed to take many prisoners and booty. In 229 BC, the Aetolians participated in a naval battle off the island of Paxos in a coalition with Korkyra and the Achaean League, and were defeated by a coalition of Illyrians and Acarnanians; as a result, the Korkyreans were forced to accept an Illyrian garrison in their city, which was put under the command of Demetrius of Pharos.

Irwin Merker suggests that when Demetrius II Aetolicus and the Aetolian League were at war, Dropion of Paeonia was involved as an ally of the Aetolians.

Social and Lyttian Wars

In the Social War, 220-217 BC, and the Lyttian War the Aetolian League fought against the Achaean League and Antigonid Macedonia. Philip V of Macedon invaded Aetolia and sacked the city of Thermon as a response to the Aetolians' invasion at the city of Dodona in Epirus, and Dion in Macedonia.

Macedonian and Aetolian Wars

The league was the first Greek ally of the Roman Republic in the Greek mainland, siding with the Romans during the First Macedonian War, 214-205 BC, then allied to Philip V of Macedon at the Cretan War (205–200 BC) and then again sided with Romans helping them defeat Philip at the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC, during the Second Macedonian War. However, it grew increasingly hostile to Roman involvement in Greek affairs and only a few years later sided with Antiochus III the Great, the king of the Seleucid Empire, during the Roman-Seleucid War, also called Aetolian War.

Roman forces in Greece, under Titus Quinctius Flamininus, largely withdrew after proclaiming its freedom from Roman control or taxation in 195 BC. Antiochus, at the same time, operated a large army in Europe against tribes in Thrace through 194, moving into the Roman power vacuum and conceiving of the Roman withdrawal as a retreat. At a meeting between Antiochus' envoys in Rome, ten legates speaking on behalf of the senate made their position clear behind closed doors: if Antiochus wanted peace he would have to stay on his side of the Hellespont and Bosphorus; if he did not do so Rome would maintain its rights to intervene in Asia to protect its allies. Provocatively, Flaminius – one of the legates – then gave a public oration before the senate proclaiming Roman intentions to free the Greeks in Asia Minor while Antiochus' ambassadors, from fear of starting a war and without authorisation to accept the Roman terms or to reject them, could only plead negotiations continue. The senate by spring 192, clarified its position and would accept peace provided that Antiochus remained in Thrace.

In late 193 BC, the Aetolian League – receptive to Antiochus' ambassadors as they returned from the embarrassment at Rome – sought to shake up the Roman settlement and draw both Rome and Antiochus into war for its own advantage. In September 192 BC, Aetolian general Thoantas arrived at Antiochus' court, convincing him to openly oppose the Romans in Greece. The Seleucids selected 10,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, 6 war elephants and 300 ships to be transferred for their campaign in Greece. The Aetolians moved to form an alliance between themselves, Philip in Macedon, and Nabis in Sparta. The plans for an alliance failed, but Nabis was sufficiently persuaded to invade coastal cities in Laconia; the nearby Achaean League responded by moving in reinforcements and dispatching an embassy to Rome; Rome responded by sending four ambassadors to remind the Greeks of their continued interests. After Flaminius, one of the ambassadors, spoke to the Aetolian League, it responded by passing a decree to invite Antiochus to liberate Greece and arbitrate the dispute between Rome and Aetolia. Philip V expected that the Romans would emerge victorious in the conflict and counted on territorial rewards as well as the writing off of war reparations that he owed; while the Seleucids could provide neither, so Antiochus' overtures were rejected and Philip aligned himself with the Romans. Antiochus likewise approached Athens, the Athamanians, the Boeotian League as well as city states in Acarnania and Epirus with offers of alliance. Despite the reassurances of the Aetolians, most of the Greek states remained neutral, fearing future reprisals. Only Elis, the Boeotian League and Amynander of Athamania declared their allegiance to Antiochus, the later being promised the Macedonian throne for his brother in law Philip of Megalopolis. This was a declaration of war and the Romans saw Antiochus' representatives in Aetolia as responsible. The Aetolians then moved troops to seize Sparta, Chalcis, and Demetrias. Successful only at Demetrias (the Aetolians assassinated Nabis but were stopped by Achaean intervention; Chalchis responded to the Aetolians with force) and able to convince Antiochus that the Greek cities were waiting enthusiastically to rebel against Rome, he landed at Demetrias and proclaimed he would liberate the Greeks from Roman subjugation. The Aetolians began spurring Greek states to jointly revolt under Antiochus' leadership against the Romans, hoping to provoke a war between the two parties.

This was the final provocation for the senate in Rome. The combination of the Aetolians and Antiochus was an unacceptable intrusion into Greece. The Romans responded by dispatching the praetor Aulus Atilius Serranus with a fleet to the Peloponnese and Marcus Baebius Tamphilus with two legions to Epirus. Further troops were levied and, in the new year of 191 BC, placed under the command of Manius Acilius Glabrio to conduct the war "against Antiochus and those in his empire". In December 192, the Seleucids and their Aetolian allies launched a campaign against the Thessalian League from the south, while the Athamanian army attacked from the west. Antiochus rapidly seized much of southern Thessaly, withdrawing to his winter quarters after running out of supplies. In early March 191 BC, the Seleucids invaded Acarnania, aiming at depriving the Roman fleet of ports on the western coast of Greece. After a brief campaign, Antiochus seized control of half of the Acarnanian League and gained the allegiance of its Strategos Klytos. At the same time Roman consul Manius Acilius Glabrio crossed from Brundisium to Illyria with an army of 20,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 15 war elephants. Glabrio's army brought the total of the Roman and allied forces in Greece to 36,000 men, significantly outnumbering that of the Seleucids and their allies. In the meantime, Philip V and Roman propraetor Baebius launched parallel offensives in Thessaly and Athamania, quickly erasing Seleucid gains in the region. Glabrio and Philip's armies united at Limnaion before joining with that of Baebius at Pellina. Upon being alerted about the enemy's advance into Thessaly and the disintegration of the Athamanian army, Antiochus returned to Chalcis; gathering his scattered garrisons along the way.

Antiochus marched to Lamia with his entire force of 12,000 infantry, 500 cavalry and 16 war elephants, simultaneously ordering the Aetolians to mobilize there. Only 4,000 men answered his call, as the Aetolians feared that their homeland was on the brink of invasion. Fearing encirclement by a numerically superior force, the Seleucids withdrew to the Thermopylae pass. The Aetolian force was split into two armies of equal strength, garrisoning the cities of Hypata and Heraclea in Trachis; which blocked the roads to Aetolia and Thermopylae respectively. When the main bodies of the armies initially clashed at the Thermopylae pass, the Seleucids managed to hold their ground, repulsing multiple Roman assaults. However, a small Roman force under Marcus Porcius Cato managed to outflank the Seleucids from the hillside after surprising the Aetolian garrison of Fort Callidromus. The Seleucids panicked and broke ranks, leading to the destruction of their force. Antiochus managed to escape the battlefield with his cavalry, departing mainland Greece soon afterwards.

The defeat of Antiochus in 189 BC robbed the league of its principal ally and made it impossible to stand alone in continued opposition to Rome. In Greece, the war continued. The consul of 189 BC, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, was assigned to continue the war after negotiations again failed. He besieged Ambracia and later in the year negotiated a final peace with both the Aetolians and the Cephallenians. Aetolia, initially faced with unbudging Roman demands from 191 BC onwards for an indemnity of one thousand talents – an unattainable sum – which was eventually lowered; after Rhodes mediated between them and was successful in convincing the Romans to accept an indemnity of 200 talents with a further 300 to be paid over the next six years. Aetolia also was reduced to a Roman client state, required exceptionally and explicitly to "minister to the power and empire of the Roman people".