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ACHA1CUM FOEDUS.
perfumes were burnt. There was a law in the Twelve Tables, which restricted the use of acerrae at funerals. (Cic. de Leg. ii. 24.) [J. Y.]
ACETABULUM (6£k, b#)8a$ov, b£v€d<piov), a vinegar-cup, which, from the fondness of the Greeks and Romans for vinegar, was probably always placed on the table at meals to dip the food in before eating it. The vessel was wide and open above, as we see in the annexed cut, taken from Panof ka’s work on Greek vases ; and the name was also given to all cups resembling it in size and form, to whatever use they might be applied. They were commonly of earthenware, but sometimes’ of silver, bronze, or gold. (Aristoph. Av. 361 ; Athen. vi. p. 230, xi. p. 494 ; Quintil. viii. 6.) The cups used by jugglers in their performances were also called by this name. (Sen. Ep. 45,)
ACETABULUM, a Roman measure of capa city, fluid, and dry,equivalent to the Greek o£v§a(j)vv It was one-fourth of the hemina ^ and therefore one-eighth of the sextarius. It contained the weight in water of fifteen Attic drachmae. (Plin. //. AT. xxi. 34. s. 109.) [P. S.]
ACHAICUM FOEDUS, the Achaean league. In treating of the Achaean league we must distinguish between two periods, the earlier and the later ; the character of the former was pre-eminently religious, and that of the latter pre-eminently political.
1. The earlier period.—When the Heracleidae took possession of Peloponnesus, which had uriti] then been chiefly inhabited by Achaeans, a portion of the latter, under Tiaanienus. turned northwards and occupied the north coast of Peloponnesus, which was called aiyia6s, aiid from which the’Ionians, its former inhabitants, were expelled and Bought refuge in Attica. The country which was thus occupied by the Achaeans and derived from them its name of Achaia, contained twelve confederate j which were governed by the descendants of
ACHAICUM FOEDUS.
Tisamenus, till at length they abolished the kingly rule after the death of Ogyges, and established a democracy. In the time of Herodotus (i. 145 ; comp. Strab. viii. p. 383, &c.) the twelve towns of which the league consisted were: Pellene, Aegeira, Aegae, Bura, Helice, Aegium, Rhypes (Rhypae), Patreis (ae), Phareis (ae), Olenus, Dyrne, and Tritaeeis (Tritaea). After the time of Herodotus, Rhypes and Aegae disappear from the number of the confederated towns, as they had become deserted (Paus. vii. 23. 25; Strab. viii. p. 387), and Ceryneia and Leontium stepped into their place. (Polyb. ii. 41 ; comp. Paus. vii. 6.) The common place of meeting was Helice, which town, together with Bura, was swallowed up by the sea during an earthquake in b. c. 373, whereupon Aegium was chosen as the place of meeting for the confederates. (Strab. viii. p. 384 ; Diod. xv. 48 ; Paus. vii. 24.) The bond which united the towns of the league was not so much a political as a religious one, as is shown by the common sacrifice offered at Helice to Poseidon. This solemn sacrifice was perfectly analogous to that offered by the lonians at the Panionia, and it is even intimated by Herodotus that it was an imitation of the Ionian solemnity,,
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After the destruction of Helice, and when Aegium had become the central point of the league, the common sacrifice was offered up to the principal divinities of the latter town ; that is, to Zeus, surnamed Homagyrius, and to Demeter Panachaea. (Pans. vii. 24.) In a political point of view the connection between the several towns appears to have been very loose*, for we find that some of them acted quite independently of the rest. (Thuc. ii. 9.) The confederation exercised no great influence in the affairs of Greece down to the time when it was broken up by the Macedonians. The Achaeans kept aloof from the restless commotions in the other parts of Greece, and their honesty and sincerity were recognised by the circumstance of their being appointed, after the battle of Leuctra, to arbitrate between the Thebans and Lacedaemonians. (Polyb. ii. 39.) Demetrius, Cassander and Antigonus (jronatas placed garrisons in some of their towns, and in others tyrants rose supported by Macedonian influence. The towns were thus torn from one another, and the whole confederacy destroyed.
2. The later period. — When Antigonus in b. c. 281 made the unsuccessful attempt to deprive Ptolemaeus Ceraunus of the Macedonian throne, the Achaeans availed themselves of the opportunity of shaking off the Macedonian yoke, and renewing their ancient confederation. The grand object however now was no longer a common worship, but a real political union among the confederates. The towns which first shook off the yoke of the oppressors, were Dyme and Patrae, and the alliance concluded between them was speedily joined by the towns of Tritaea and Pharae. (Polyb. ii. 41.) One town after another now expelled the Macedonian garrisons and tyrants ; and when, in B. c. 277, Aegium, the head of the earlier league*, followed the example of the other towns, the foundation of the new confederacy was laid, and the main principles of its constitution were settled, though afterwards many changes and modifications were introduced. The fundamental laws were, that henceforth the confederacy should form one inseparable state, that each town, which should join it, should have equal rights with the others, and that all memberss in regard to foreign countries, should bu
