Map of Oiniades. The area west of the city was dotted with small islets, which as Herodotus and, mainly, Thucydides mention “will soon become one land” as they have indeed become today (red circle). Map fragment © Aetolia published by Anabasis publications

Built almost on the banks of the Acheloos River, at a distance of only 10 km from the mouth of the river and 3 km from the Ionian Sea, ancient Oiniades are one of many ancient cities in Aetolia and Acanarnia that are mentioned in Greek myths and carry a long history. According to these myths, the first settler of the city was Alcmaeon from Argos; most likely, however, the city owes its name to King Oineas of Plevrona. Because of its location, (it was accessible by the river where at that time triremes would easily sail towards the city), it was actually one of the most important cities of Aetolia and Acarnania, and fell under the rule of these two areas, interchangeably.

In 454 B.C., the Messinians, exiled by the Spartans, occupied the city for one year, while during the Peloponnesian War (341-404 B.C.) the city played a crucial role in the conflicts between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians. In the centuries that ensued, the city found itself in the maelstrom of conflicts between the Aetolians and the Macedonians, until 219 A.D. when it was finally subjugated to Philip the Second of Macedon.

The Aetolians, with the help of the Romans, re-conquered it, but in 189 A.D., it was subjugated to the Acarnanians. After 167 A.D., when the Romans prevailed all over Greece, the city lost its historical identity, and until the 3^rd century A.D. it had become a small settlement.

One of the 5 hills in Ancient Oiniades. In antiquity, this fertile plain was Lake Meliti, created by the Acheloos River.

The city was found on the delta of the Acheloos River, with the sea on its south and the lake at its north. It had two harbours, which are interred today. What remains from those impressive structures are the dockyards carved on the rocks.

The walls of the city, which were built in the 5^th century B.C., took their current shape in 219 B.C. when the city was conquered by Philip V of Macedon. The walls, of polygonal and, at certain points, regular masonry, are extended for about 6 km and cover a hilly area on the plain of the Acheloos river area.

The ancient theatre, very well preserved, dates back to the 4^th century B.C. and has seen two phases of construction, the latter of which was by the Romans. It had a big orchestra (15 m.  in diameter), a skené, or stage, and proscenium of the 3^rd century. Its cavea is separated into eight flights of steps and seven rows. Thirty rows of figurines carved on the rocks have been found at the theatre’s eastern part, while at its west, on the lower rows of the figurines, inscriptions of liberating slaves have been engraved.

One of the gates of Oniades...	...and the ancient dockyards carved on the rocks.

Herodotus and Thucydides mention the unique location of Oiniades on the mouth of Acheloos. Herodotus, in his book Euterpe, when describing the country of Egypt, writes:

“Of this land then, concerning which I have spoken, it seemed to myself also, according as the priests said, that the greater part had been won as an addition by the Egyptians;.(…) Moreover there are other rivers also, not in size at all equal to the Nile, which have performed great feats; of which I can mention the names of several, and especially the Acheloos, which flowing through Acarnania and so issuing out into the sea has already made half of the Echinades from islands into mainland”. [Translated by G. C. Macaulay].   

The theatre of ancient Oiniades

Thucydides when describing the battles of the Athenians and the Spartans during the 3rd year of the Peloponnesian War refers extensively to the unique location of the city, right on the banks of Acheloos, and how when the latter overflowed turned the city into a swamp (2.102):

In the course of this winter, after the dispersion of the Peloponnesian fleet, the Athenians in Naupactus, under Phormio, coasted along to Astacus and disembarked, and marched into the interior of Acarnania with four hundred Athenian heavy infantry and four hundred Messenians. After expelling some suspected persons from Stratus, Coronta, and other places, and restoring Cynes, son of Theolytus, to Coronta, they returned to their ships, deciding that it was impossible in the winter season to march against Oeniadae, a place which, unlike the rest of Acarnania, had been always hostile to them; for the river Achelous flowing from Mount Pindus through Dolopia and the country of the Agraeans and Amphilochians and the plain of Acarnania, past the town of Stratus in the upper part of its course, forms lakes where it falls into the sea round Oeniadae, and thus makes it impracticable for an army in winter by reason of the water. Opposite to Oeniadae lie most of the islands called Echinades, so close to the mouths of the Achelous that that powerful stream is constantly forming deposits against them, and has already joined some of the islands to the continent, and seems likely in no long while to do the same with the rest. For the current is strong, deep, and turbid, and the islands are so thick together that they serve to imprison the alluvial deposit and prevent its dispersing, lying, as they do, not in one line, but irregularly, so as to leave no direct passage for the water into the open sea. The islands in question are uninhabited and of no great size. There is also a story that Alcmaeon, son of Amphiraus, during his wanderings after the murder of his mother was bidden by Apollo to inhabit this spot, through an oracle which intimated that he would have no release from his terrors until he should find a country to dwell in which had not been seen by the sun, or existed as land at the time he slew his mother; all else being to him polluted ground. Perplexed at this, the story goes on to say, he at last observed this deposit of the Achelous, and considered that a place sufficient to support life upon, might have been thrown up during the long interval that had elapsed since the death of his mother and the beginning of his wanderings. Settling, therefore, in the district round Oeniadae, he founded a dominion, and left the country its name from his son Acarnan. Such is the story we have received concerning Alcmaeon. [Translated by Richard Crawley.].

Today a very wide area of about 50 square kilometes has been filled with accumulated deposits of Acheloos and thus a lot of the islets of Echinadon that were interspersed in antiquity, have now become parts of the land.

The theatre of ancient Oiniades...	...and its reconstruction.

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