Stratos ( el, Στράτος, la, Stratus) is a settlement in central

Aetolia-Acarnania Aetolia-Acarnania ( el, Αιτωλοακαρνανία, ''Aitoloakarnanía'', ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the histor ...

Western Greece Western Greece Region ( el, Περιφέρεια Δυτικής Ελλάδας, translit=Periféria Dhitikís Elládhas, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It comprises the western part of continental Greece and the northw ...

. It is best known for its impressive remains of the namesake

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

city and capital of

Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today i ...

, which lie on a hillside about 500m north of the modern village. Stratos is situated on the right bank of the river Acheloos, 9 km northwest of the town of

Agrinio Agrinio ( Greek: Αγρίνιο, , Latin: ''Agrinium'') is the largest city of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit of Greece and its largest municipality, with 106,053 inhabitants. It is the economical center of Aetolia-Acarnania, although its c ...

. The area north of Stratos is mountainous, whereas the south is flat. It is now an Aromanian (

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

) village and a municipal unit of the Agrinio municipality.

History

Its situation at the northern edge of the fertile

Achelous River The Achelous ( el, Αχελώος, grc, Ἀχελῷος ''Akhelôios''), also Acheloos, is a river in western Greece. It is long. It formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia of antiquity. It empties into the Ionian Sea. In ancie ...

plain and on the strategic maritime route to Italy as well as the navigability of the river up to city made it a place of great military importance and Stratos emerged as the largest and best fortified city of Acarnania. It was where judicial proceedings common to all the Arcananians took place, and by Thucydides' time Stratos was the capital of Acarnania and the federal assemblies were held there. As a result, it prospered greatly in the 5th century BC. As capital of Acarnania, Stratos was involved in many wars. In the 5th century BC, the Corinthians were forced out of their Acarnanian settlements by Athens. In 429 BC in the Pelopponesian War, the Pelopponesians under the

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...

n Knemos attacked Stratos and were defeated "with great slaughter". In about 390 BC the cities of Acarnania surrendered to the Spartans under King

Agesilaus Agesilaus II (; grc-gre, Ἀγησίλαος ; c. 442 – 358 BC) was king of Sparta from c. 399 to 358 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemo ...

, and continued to be Spartan allies until joining the Second Athenian Empire in 375 BC. The Acarnanians later sided with the

Boeotians Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its la ...

in their fight against Sparta, and with Athens against

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

Chaeronea Chaeronea (English: or ; el, Χαιρώνεια , ) is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 35 kilometers east of Delphi. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which ...

. In 314 BC, King

Cassander Cassander ( el, Κάσσανδρος ; c. 355 BC – 297 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 305 BC until 297 BC, and ''de facto'' ruler of southern Greece from 317 BC until his death. A son of Antipater and a conte ...

of Macedon took the city to use as a military base against the Aetolians. After 252 BC however, Stratos fell to the Aetolians. During the march of Philip V on

Thermos A vacuum flask (also known as a Dewar flask, Dewar bottle or thermos) is an insulating storage vessel that greatly lengthens the time over which its contents remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings. Invented by Sir James Dewa ...

in the Social War in 218 BC, he marched along the Achelous and on to Stratos where he unsuccessfully challenged the citizens to fight. In 169 BC, Stratos invited the Romans into Greece as allies against

Perseus of Macedon Perseus ( grc-gre, Περσεύς; 212 – 166 BC) was the last king (''Basileus'') of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He was the last Antigonid to rule Macedon, aft ...

. With the founding of

Nicopolis Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, Nikópolis, City of Victory) or Actia Nicopolis was the capital city of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus. It was located in the western part of the modern state of Greece. The city was founded in 29 ...

in 28BC, much of the population was obliged to move to the new city and Stratos fell into decline.

Monuments

The main excavations are of the Agora and Stoa, the Temple of Zeus, the theatre, and the city walls.City of Agrinio

Temple of Zeus

The temple stands on the top of a fortified hill at the remote northwest end of the city. It is one of the most important Early Hellenistic buildings in mainland Greece. It was of the

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

, with Corinthian columns in the

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

. In addition to this combination of architectural orders, the monument shows several more structural and planning innovations. Construction of the temple began in 321 BC but was never finished, probably due to fights against the Aetolians. For example, the fluting of the columns was never completed and the column drums retain their bosses (used for maneuvering the heavy blocks during the critical lifting phase). The remains of the temple show the exquisite detail of sculpture in its construction, and also the excellent state of preservation of the base and many constituent blocks despite almost 2500 years of weathering.

Walls

The area enclosed by the city walls of 7.5 km length including four long hills and three valleys is alone impressive, their height and strength also. They are constructed of massive blocks and include towers at intervals.

Modern village

Before 1928 the village was named Sorovigli ( el, Σωροβίγλι).Name changes of settlements in Greece
/ref> Before the 2011 local government reform Stratos was an independent municipality. The municipal unit has an area of 153.307 km², the community 30.313 km². The municipal unit had a population of 5,429 in 2011, the community 979.

References

External links

* The Temple of Zeus at Stratos: New Observations on the Building Design: Jari Pakkanen, ARCTOS ACTA PHILOLOGICA FENNICA VOL. XXXVIII (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275730226_The_Temple_of_Zeus_at_Stratos_New_Observations_on_the_Building_Design) *http://www.finninstitute.gr/en/stratos
Municipality of Stratos
{{Authority control Populated places in Aetolia-Acarnania Aromanian settlements in Greece Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece