Astacus

A´STACUS(Ἄστακος: Eth. Ἀνστακηνίς, Ἀστάκιος), a town on the W. coast of Acarnania, on the bay now called Dragamesti, one side of which is formed by the promontory anciently named Crithote. The ruins of Astacus are probably those described by Leake as below a monastery of St. Elias, and which he supposes to be those of Crithote. There was, however, no town Crithote, but only a promontory of this name; and Leake has misunderstood the passage of Strabo (p. 459), in which Crithote is mentioned.The word πολίχνηin this passage refers to the place of this name in the Thracian Chersonesus, which Strabo mentions cursorily, on account of its bearing the same name as the promontory in Acarnania. (Hoffmann, Gricchenland, p. 450.)Astacus is said to have been a colony of Cephallenia. At the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, it was governed by a tyrant, named Evarchus, who was deposed by the Athenians (B.C. 431), but was shortly afterwards restored by the Corinthians. It is mentioned as one of the towns of Acarnania in a Greek inscription, the date of which is subsequent to B.C. 219. (Strab. l. c.;Steph. Byz. s. v.;Thuc. 2.30, 33, 102; Scylax, p. 13; Ptol. 3.14; Böckh, Corpus Inscript., No. 1793; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 4. p. 4, seq.)