A western division of Greece, bounded on the north by the Ambracian Gulf, on the west and southwest by the Ionian Sea, on the northeast by Amphilochia, which is sometimes included in Acarnania, and on the east by Aetolia, from which, at a later time, it was separated by the Achelous. The name of Acarnania does not occur in Homer. In the most ancient times the land was inhabited by the Taphii, Teleboae, and Leleges, and subsequently by the Curetes. At a later time a colony from Argos, said to have been led by Acarnan, settled in the country. In the seventh century B.C. the Corinthians founded several towns on the coast. The Acarnanians first emerge from obscurity at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 431. They were then a rude people, living by piracy and robbery, and they always remained behind the rest of the Greeks in civilization and refinement. They were good slingers, and are praised for their fidelity and courage. The different towns formed a league, which met at Stratus, and subsequently at Thyrium or Leucas. (Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898)

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