A C H 



A C H 



Iccpt clofe pnfuncrs at Rome ; and, notwitliflanding re- 

 peated remonftrances, their trial was delayed. After a con- 

 finement of 1 7 years, 300 of them, who had furvived the 

 hardfliips which they experienced, were fent home. This 

 treatment alienated the minds of the Achaeans from the 

 Romans ; and, by degrees, brought on an open war, which 

 ended in the rcduttion of Achaia, and the difTolution of the 

 Achrsan league. Cominiirioners were fent from Rome, in 

 the year before Chrllt 147, who announced the orders of 

 the Roman fenate and people, that all the cities which were 

 not fonnerly of the Achxan league, viz. Corinth, I^ace- 

 dcemon, Argos, Heraclea, and Orchomenos, Ihoiild be ftpa- 

 rated from the general alliance, and governed by their own 

 laws, independeiuly of the confederacy. The Achaean de- 

 puties, afrcmbled at Corinth, as foon as they heard thcfe 

 words, left the affenibly before Aurelius had finifl.jd his 

 fpeech, and when they informed the people of the Roman 

 decree, the whole city was in an uproar j and both the 

 commiffioners and Liceda:monians were treated with the 

 moil outrageous infult and violence. The fcnate was in- 

 cenfed, but fent out new commiffioncro with propofals of 

 accommodation. But thcfe ambaffadors having been treated 

 with difrefpect, returned with their complaints to the fenate. 

 Four other Romans were deputed by Metellus to negociate 

 with the Aclueans ; but their endeavours v.-ere ineffeiSlual. 

 The confequence of tliefe unfuccefsful efforts was an open 

 rupture, and the declaration of war with Lacedaemon and 

 the Romans. Metellus, without waiting for the orders of 

 the fenate, marched towards Achaia ; and the Achaeans, 

 joined by the cities of Tiicbes and Chalcis, prepared to re- 

 ceive him. The greater number of them were llriick with 

 terror, and fent new deputies to Metellus to treat of peace. 

 But the Achaeans, now governed by magiilrates, who had 

 no other rule of conduft but their paflions, and no other ta- 

 lent for war befides a favage iieicenefs, and a blind defire 

 of revenge, feemed to be devoted to deftruftion. On this 

 occafion, after Metellus had in vain endeavoured to fettle 

 the affairs of Achaia, Mummius arrived in Greece, and de- 

 feated the Achxans ; and in the year before Chrift 146, 

 plundered Corinth of its rich fpoils, and then reduced it 

 to afhes ; and under the ruins of this city the Achxan 

 league feemed to be buried. Ten commiffioners were fent 

 from Rome, to regulate the affairs of Greece in general, 

 and of Achaia in partioilar, in eonjunftion with the conful. 

 Thefe abolifned popular government in all the cities, and 

 cftabliihed magiftrates, who were to govern each city ac- 

 cording to their refpeclive laws, tinder the fuperlntendcncy 

 of a Roman prxtor. Thus the Achaean league was dif- 

 folved, and Greece reduced to a Roman province, called 

 the province of Achaia ; becaufe, at the taking of Corinth, 

 the Achff ans were the moll powerful people of Greece. The 

 whole nation p-iid an annual tribute to Rome ; and the praetor 

 who was fent thither eveiy year, was charged with the care 

 of collefting it. From this time Achaia was governed like 

 the other Roman provinces till the reign of Nero, who rellored 

 the whole of Greece to the enjoyment of its ancient liberties ; 

 but it was afterwards reduced by Vefpafian to its former 

 ftate of fubjeftion. Under Nerva, fome fhadow of liberty 

 was rellored ; but it was ftlll governed by a Roman pnetor. 

 In this condition the Achaeans remained till the time of 

 Cordantine the Great, wlio, in his new partition of the 

 Roman provinces, fi'Iijedlcil Achaia to the p-'tefeft of lllyri- 

 cum. Upon the di'.ifion of tiie empire, Achaia, with the 

 reft of Greece, fell to the rrnperors of the Eaft. Under 

 ArcadiuB and Hononns, all :hefe provinces fufiered greatly 

 by the incurfioijs of the Goths, who, under their k^ng 

 Alaric, laid wafte ihe whole country, and reduced the mag- 



nificent ftrufturcs that were then remaining to heaps of 

 ruins. In the reign of tlie emperor Emanuel, in the 12th 

 century, Peloponnefut was divided into feveii principalities, 

 and he bellowed thein on his fcven fons. In tlie 13th ccn- 

 tiu-y, when Conftantinople was taken by the wellerii princes, 

 the maritime cities of Peloponiiefus, with mod of the 

 idands, were allotted to the Venetians. In the 15th ccn- 

 tui-y, Conllantine Diacofes, defpot of Morea, being raifed 

 to the imperial throne, divided that province between his 

 two fons, beftowing .Sparta on one of them, and Corinth on 

 the other. Mahomet II. taking advantage of their divifions, 

 llripped them both of their dominion. Tiie Mahomitans 

 having gain..d poffeffion of Morea, drove the Venetians 

 from the cities which they potTcired on the coall, and made 

 themfelvcs mailers of that fruitful province, till they were 

 expelled by the Venetians in 1687. By the treaty of Carl- 

 witz, in 1699, the barbarians yielded it to the republic of 

 Venice ; but retook it in 1715 ; and in their hands it llili 

 continues, being govemed by a Sangiac, under the begler- 

 beg of Greece, Vilio refides at Modon. On the fubjedt of 

 this article, fee Polybius Hift. and Excei-pt. leg. Index, verb. 

 Achxi, Ed. Cafaub. Paufanias Grxc. Defer, p. 521, &c. 

 558, See. Ed. Kuhnii. Strabo Geog. tom. ii. Index verb. 

 Achaeorum, Aclicei and Achaia, Ed. Cafaub. Plut. in 

 Arat. Cleom. et Philop. Livy, tom. iv. and v. ubi Index, 

 Sec. verb. Acluei. Ed. Drakenb. JulUn. 1. xxxiv. c. I. 

 Sueton. in Neron. ct Vcfpaf. tom. ii. Ed. Pitifc. Plin. 1. viii. 

 Ep. 24. Herodot. p. 71. Ed. WefTel. Anc. Un. H. 

 vol. vi. p. 44 — 155. Anacharfis's Travels, &c. vol. iii. p. 

 401 — 406. Sec alto an elaborate difcourfe on the origin, na- 

 ture, and objetl, &c. of the Achaean league, compared with 

 the Belgic and Helvetic confederacies, intitled, Dlfcours 

 qui a remporte le Prix de 1' Academic Royale dcs Infcrip- 

 tions et Belles Lettres, de Paris, in 1782, &c. by M. J. de 

 Meerman, 4to. Hague, 1784. — and an abflraft of it in the 

 Monthly Review, vol. Ixxi. p. 531, &c. 



ACHiEMENES, in yJ»cU-rU Bl/Iory, was grandfather 

 of Cambyfes, and great grandfather of Cyrus the Firlt, 

 king of Periia. According to Herodotus, p. 51 J : — and 

 according to the fame hiilorian, p. 199. 548. there was a 

 fon of Darius I. king of Perfia, and brother of Xerxes, 

 who was of the fame name. This Achimenes govemed 

 Egypt, after Xerxes had reftored them to their allegiance, 

 and he commanded the Egyptian fleet in the celebrated ex- 

 pedition which proved fo fatal to all Greece. Having been 

 fent into Egypt to fupprefs a rebellion, which occurred af- 

 ter the death of Xerxes, he was vanquilhed and flaiii by 

 Inarus, chief of the rebels. The term yich^tncniiu is a very 

 common Perfian epithet : Stephanus Byzantius fays, that 

 Achxmenia is a part of Perfia, fo called from Aehxmencs, 

 fon of YEgeur.. According to Herodotus, p. 63, the 

 Aehxm.enida; were certain tribes from which the Perfian 

 kings fprung : and Strabo (vol. ii. p. 1059.) reckons the 

 Achaerrenidae as one of the three principal nations of Perfia. 

 Horace (1. 2. od. 12.) mentions an Acha-mcnes who was 

 very rich ; and who is fuppofed, by his commentators, to 

 have been one of the Perfian monarchs. 



ACHjEMENIA, in JncienI Gcosraphy, a part of Perfia, 

 according to Stephanus By/.antius and Strabo, lo called 

 from its firll king Ac H/T-MKNEs. It is fomctimes iifcd to 

 fignify Ptrfia in general, particularly by Herodotus, who 

 reprefents Cambyfes, in nn oration, calling his people 

 Achaemen'ds. 



ACH.fEMENIS, in Bntany, a fpecies of the Teu- 



CRIUM. 



ACHjEORUM porliis, in ytndenl Geography, a harbour 

 of the Cherfonefus Taurica, on the Euxine ; and another 



mentioned 



