Athamania

ATHAMA´NIA(Ἀθαμανιά: Eth. Ἀθαμάν,—ᾶνος;in Diod. 18.11, Ἀθάμαντες), a district in the SE. of Epeirus, between Mount Pindus and the river Arachthus. The river Achelous flowed through this narrow district. Its chief towns were Argithea, Tetraphylia, Heracleia, and Theudoria; and of these Argithea was the capital. The Athamanes were a rude people. Strabo classes them among the Thessalians, but doubts whether they are to be regarded as Hellenes. (Strab. 9. p. 434, 10. p. 449.) They are rarely mentioned in Grecian history, but on the decay of the Molossian kingdom, they appear as an independent people. They were the last of the Epirot tribes, which obtained political power. The Athamanes and the Aetolians destroyed the Aenianes, and the former extended their dominions as far as Mt. Oeta. (Strab. p. 427.) The Athamanes were most powerful under their king Amynander (about B.C. 200), who took a prominent part in the wars of the Romans with Philip and Antiochus. ( Dict. of Biogr. art. Amynander. ) They were subsequently subdued by the Macedonians, and in the time of Strabo had ceased to exist as a separate people (9. p. 429). Pliny (Plin. Nat. 4.2) erroneously reckons Athamania as part of Aetolia.