RICERCA ITALIANA     

Research program

The Third Greece and the West

University Co-ordinator

Università degli Studi di PARMA - STORIA - ()

Research Unit Leader

Ugo Fantasia

Description

This research project has arisen from the observation that several regions of north-western Greece, namely Corinthian Gulf, Ionian Islands, Akarnania and adjacent areas, repeatedly during the classical period (for example in the early stage of the so-called First Peloponnesian War, ca. 461-454, then in the eve and in the early years of the Peloponnesian War, ca. 435-424, and again in the eighties and seventies of the IVth century) were among the main theatres of tensions and wars between the coalitions led respectively by Athens and Sparta. Of course, the strategical importance of these peripherical areas partly proceeds from their geographical role of ‘bridge’ between Greek peninsula and southern Italy and Sicily (this applies particularly, though not exclusively, to Corcyra island in the age of colonization and in the Vth and IVth centuries). Moreover, some historical events, like Corinthian colonization, the rivalry between Corinth and Corcyra, the contrast between Athens and Corinth and the expansion of Athenian influence both in Greece and in the West, paved the way to the more recent developments.
However, this point of view, while making of these regions a mere target of great powers’ designs, quite overlooks the local factors of their the political and cultural history and the peculiar forms and the evolution of their political organization. In the wake of the renewed interest of these last years in the ancient history of north-western Greece (see Scientific Background), this project proposes to put in the foreground the ways and the stages of their internal political structuring and its interaction with the international relations in the archaic and classical period.
The research will focus on Akarnania and adjacent areas as a significant test-case for the above mentioned issues. The federal state of Akarnania, whose emergence probably dates back already to the Vth century, shows an interesting mix of poleis and ethne which is worthy of fresh investigation (to carry on, as far as possible, in comparison with similar processes in two adjacent ethne, Epirus and Aetolia). Corinth founded, in the age of tyrants, a number of colonies on the Akarnanian coastal belt – Sollion, Leukas, Anaktorion, possibly Astacus – which surely had a role in this region’s cultural and political development; eventually, however, they contributed to the definition of a political pro-Athenian position of the Akarnanian koinon adverse to Corinthian interests, with the sole exception of Oiniadai which withstood to the repeated attempts of conquest by Athens in the Vth century (till 424 the Akarnanians managed to incorporate in their koinon all these cities but Leukas). North of the Akarnanian territory, the powerful and populous city of Ambracia was constantly, since the late archaic period and till the disaster in 426/5, a loyal and very active ally of her mother city Corinth. More than once Ambracia had tried to subdue the neighbouring ‘barbarian’ community of Amphilochian Argos, whose ‘hellenization’ owes very much to the action of Ambracia herself; in the end this brought about, ca. 435, a clash between Ambraciots and Argives aided by Akarnanians and Athenians. Finally, the installation of the Messenian back from Ithome in the Lokrian city of Naupactus (ca. 456) gave Athens a precious ally in the crucial theatre of the Corinthian Gulf, but introduced another dynamic factor in the complex situation of north-western Greece; the tradition reported solely by the perieget Pausanias (IV 25) about a Messenian expedition against Oiniadai before the Peloponnesian War, sometimes dismissed as an invention of the Messenian propaganda, almost certainly has a solid historical kernel. So, the historical and political dynamics stirred up by the fith-century conflicts in north-western Greece can be viewed and studied as the outcome of external influences and local tensions which go back at least to the late archaic age.
This research will entail a close re-examination of tle literary evidence, in the first place of Thucydides, whose role is of the greatest importance not only for the historical narrative but also from the ethnographic point of view (with regard to this point, his relation with Hecataeus’ testimony must be carefully reconsidered). For example, Thucydides seems to share a vision of these regions of norh-western Greece as culturally and politically backward, not very different from the countries expressly described as ‘barbarian’ (cf., for Akarnania associated with Aetolians and West Lokrians, I 5,3-6,1); at the same time, a number of passages from books II-III of his work clearly show that there were in Akarnania regular poleis, often fully developed as urban entities, that the political organisation of their ethnos was relatively advanced, that if necessary they were able to pursue an autonomous politics in the field of international relations. All this was paralleled by the definition of their ethno-cultural identity, as can be shown also by an investigation of the mythographical tradition which concerns north-western Greece. Of particular relevance is the saga of Alkmaeon, the hero son of Amphiaraos who eventually settled in southern Akarnania, at the mouth of Acheloos, whose brother Amphilochos was viewed as the founder of Amphilochian Argos and whose son Akarnan is told to be the progenitor of the Akarnanians. This mythical complex, which was the subject of an epic poem of the late archaic period, can be read, with the due caution, as one of the clues of the cultural influences and of the different political interests which had beeen interlacing in these areas at least from the period of Corinthian colonization till the age of the Athenian expansion. Of course, the investigation will take into consideration also the not plentiful epigraphic evidence and will exploit as far as possible the archaeological evidence emerging from the campaigns of excavation and survey conducted in the last decades in Akarnania and adjacent areas (relevant above all for the definition of the types of urban settlement).
A useful by-product of this investigation will be, in connection with the other local units of the research project, the construction of a database in which all ancient sources relevant to the mythographical tradition of north-western Greece will be collected and put at scientific community’s disposal in an appropriate web site. The work progress of this research will be assessed through periodical meetings and seminars (two of these, respectively in Venezia and Parma, are already on schedule) that will be attended by the members of some local units and by the students of the advanced courses and of the doctorate schools. For one of the main goals of the project is the active involvment of students; this will be achieved also through the organization of appropriate stages and of study trips aimed at visiting the main sites of the regions that are the subject-matter of the project.