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53-663: The region takes its name from the tribe of the Ainianians, who dwelt in the area. The name Ainis first occurs in Roman times ; the only known earlier name of the region was "land of the Aenianians", Ainianōn khōra ( Theopompus ). Ainis is located in the upper Spercheios valley, bordering with Dolopia in the west, Oitaia in the south, Malis in the east and Achaia Phthiotis in the north. The exact borders with Oitaia and Malis have never been established. The river Spercheios flows through

106-585: A donkey . Lucius goes through various adventures before he is turned back into a human being by the goddess Isis . Apuleius was born in Madauros, a colonia in Numidia on the North African coast bordering Gaetulia , and he described himself as " half-Numidian half-Gaetulian ." Madaurus was the same colonia where Augustine of Hippo later received part of his early education, and, though located well away from

159-562: A court of magistrates convened in Sabratha , near Oea (modern Tripoli , Libya). This is known as the Apologia . His most famous work is his bawdy picaresque novel the Metamorphoses , otherwise known as The Golden Ass . It is the only Latin novel that has survived in its entirety. It relates the adventures of its protagonist, Lucius, who experiments with magic and is accidentally turned into

212-421: A fertile river plain; whether this was the case during Antiquity does however remain uncertain. As with Greece in general, there is some seismic activity with hot springs close to the village of Platystomo . After the introduction of modern heating, the previously bald foothills of the surrounding mountains are now covered with dense thickets of ivy and prickly pear . Plutarch writes ( Quest. Graec. 12 ) that

265-749: A major crossroads of maritime trade between Rome and the Greek speaking eastern half of the empire. The Greek language served as a lingua franca in the eastern provinces and in Italy , and many Greek intellectuals such as Galen would perform most of their work in Rome . During this time, Greece and much of the rest of the Roman east came under the influence of Early Christianity . The apostle Paul of Tarsus preached in Philippi , Corinth and Athens, and Thessalonica soon became one of

318-495: A plateau between two ravines. The view is quite commanding; all known sites in Ainis are visible from this location, making it a place of strategic importance. The remains at Ano Fteri, as is also the case of Kastrorakhi, has been linked with the ancient polis of Spercheiai, but this theory has yet to be proven. The body of a female statue in tufa was found here in around 1973, no other finds have been published. Béquignon interpreted

371-429: A rather unexpected way. Within this frame story are found many digressions , the longest among them being the well-known tale of Cupid and Psyche . This story is a rare instance of a fairy tale preserved in an ancient literary text. The Metamorphoses ends with the (once again human) hero, Lucius, eager to be initiated into the mystery cult of Isis ; he abstains from forbidden foods, bathes, and purifies himself. He

424-470: A view supported by finds from excavations conducted by the local ephorate of the Greek Archaeological Service at Lamia in the 1970s. This has been contested by some local authors who claim that the hill is the location of the semi-mythical Phthia , home of Achilles . This is, however, based on philological readings and not supported by any archaeological evidence. The site at Profitis Ilias

477-401: A younger brother, Sicinius Pudens, a mere boy, and their paternal uncle, Sicinius Aemilianus, to join him in impeaching Apuleius upon the charge that he had gained the affections of Pudentilla by charms and magic spells. The case was heard at Sabratha , near Tripoli, c. 158 AD, before Claudius Maximus , proconsul of Africa . The accusation itself seems to have been ridiculous, and

530-622: Is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus ." The side facing the Temple of Zeus and the 'new city' (this was still part of the ancient city; e.g. the Panathenaic Stadium has always been on that side) had an inscription stating, "This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus". Adrianou (Hadrian Street) exists to this day, leading from the arch to the Ancient Agora . The Pax Romana was the longest period of peace in Greek history, and Greece became

583-610: Is also mentioned in a passage by Livy as being ravaged by the Aetolians during the Second Macedonian War . There are, however, several known sites in the area, mostly of the Hellenistic period , some of them of urban character. The "capital" of Ainis, Hypata (Ὑπάτα), was located at the modern town of Ypati on the northern slope of Mount Oeta; the name is probably derived from a corruption of hypo Oita ( ὑπὸ Οἴτα , meaning "near

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636-474: Is currently the subject of an archaeological survey conducted by the 14th Ephorate at Lamia and the Swedish Institute at Athens . [REDACTED] Media related to Ainis at Wikimedia Commons Roman Greece Greece in the Roman era ( Greek : Έλλάς, Latin : Graecia) describes the Roman conquest of ancient Greece (roughly, the territory of the modern nation-state of Greece ) as well as that of

689-595: Is introduced to the Navigium Isidis . Then the secrets of the cult's books are explained to him, and further secrets are revealed before he goes through the process of initiation, which involves a trial by the elements on a journey to the underworld. Lucius is then asked to seek initiation into the cult of Osiris in Rome, and eventually is initiated into the pastophoroi  – a group of priests that serves Isis and Osiris. Apologia ( Apulei Platonici pro Se de Magia )

742-457: Is still to be seen at the site; most of the circular wall is lost, the most striking part being located along the southwestern slope with several foundations of towers. Béquignon indicates that there were remains of house foundations on mainly the northern peak at the time of his visit in the 1920s. In the foothills and at the plain below the hill, Georges Roux in 1954 noted remains of a possible lower city, as well as some epigraphical material in

795-428: Is the only Latin novel that has survived in its entirety. It is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work that relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who introduces himself as related to the famous philosophers Plutarch and Sextus of Chaeronea . Lucius experiments with magic and is accidentally turned into an ass . In this guise, he hears and sees many unusual things, until escaping from his predicament in

848-1171: Is the version of the defence presented in Sabratha , in 158–159, before the proconsul Claudius Maximus , by Apuleius accused of the crime of magic. Between the traditional exordium and peroratio, the argumentation is divided into three sections: The main interest of the Apologia is historical, as it offers substantial information about its author, magic and life in Africa in the second century. His other works are: parit enim conversatio contemptum, raritas conciliat admirationem (familiarity breeds contempt, rarity brings admiration) Apuleius wrote many other works which have not survived. He wrote works of poetry and fiction , as well as technical treatises on politics , dendrology , agriculture , medicine , natural history , astronomy , music , and arithmetic , and he translated Plato's Phaedo . Extant works wrongly attributed to Apuleius include: The Apuleian Sphere described in Petosiris to Nechepso , also known as " Columcille's Circle" or "Petosiris' Circle",

901-561: Is widely accepted today, and it is assumed between the 4th and 7th centuries AD, Greece may have been one of the most economically active regions in the eastern Mediterranean . The Roman emperor Heraclius in the early 7th century changed the empire’s official language from Latin to Greek. As the eastern half of the Mediterranean has always been predominantly Greek, the eastern half of the Roman Empire gradually became Hellenized following

954-637: The Aeneid of Virgil , and authors such as Seneca the Younger wrote using Greek styles. Some Roman nobles regarded the Greeks as backwards and petty, but many others embraced Greek literature and philosophy . The Greek language became a favorite of the educated and elite in Rome, such as Scipio Africanus , who tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. The Roman Emperor Nero visited Greece in 66 AD, and performed at

1007-707: The Ancient Olympic Games , despite the rules against non-Greek participation. He was honoured with a victory in every contest, and in the following year, he proclaimed the freedom of the Greeks at the Isthmian Games in Corinth, just as Flamininus had over 200 years previously. Many temples and public buildings were built in Greece by emperors and wealthy Roman nobility, especially in Athens. Julius Caesar began construction of

1060-512: The Berber city of Madauros , modern-day M'Daourouch , Algeria . He studied Platonism in Athens , travelled to Italy , Asia Minor , and Egypt , and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries . The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of a wealthy widow. He declaimed and then distributed his own defense before the proconsul and

1113-792: The Greek people and the areas they inhabited and ruled historically. It covers the periods when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire . In the history of Greece , the Roman era began with the Corinthian defeat in the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC. However, before the Achaean War , the Roman Republic had been steadily gaining control of mainland Greece by defeating

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1166-624: The Kingdom of Macedon in a series of conflicts known as the Macedonian Wars . The Fourth Macedonian War ended at the Battle of Pydna in 148 BC with the defeat of the Macedonian royal pretender Andriscus . The definitive Roman occupation of the Greek world was established after the Battle of Actium (31 BC), in which Augustus defeated Cleopatra VII , the Greek Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, and

1219-673: The Library of Hadrian in the city and completed the construction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus , some 638 years after its construction had been started by Athenian tyrants but ended because of the belief that building on such a scale would cause hubris . The Athenians built the Arch of Hadrian to honor Emperor Hadrian. The side of the arch facing the Athenian agora and the Acropolis had an inscription stating, "This

1272-422: The Roman Republic during the Battle of Corinth (146 BC) , when Macedonia became a Roman province . Meanwhile, southern Greece also came under Roman hegemony , but some key Greek poleis remained partly autonomous and avoided direct Roman taxation. In 88 BC, Athens and other Greek city-states revolted against Rome and were suppressed by General Lucius Cornelius Sulla . During the Roman civil wars, Greece

1325-516: The Roman agora in Athens, which was finished by Augustus . The main gate, the Gate of Athena Archegetis , was dedicated to the patron goddess of Athens, Athena . The Agrippeia was built in the centre of the Ancient Agora of Athens by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa . Emperor Hadrian was a philhellene who before he became emperor had served as eponymous archon of Athens. He saw himself as an heir to Pericles and made many contributions to Athens. He built

1378-485: The Romanized coast, is today the site of some pristine Roman ruins. As to his first name, no praenomen is given in any ancient source; late-medieval manuscripts began the tradition of calling him Lucius from the name of the hero of his novel. Details regarding his life come mostly from his defense speech ( Apology ) and his work Florida , which consists of snippets taken from some of his best speeches. His father

1431-790: The fall of the Latin western half . Over the course of the following centuries, mainland Greece was mainly contested between the Roman and Bulgarian Empires, and suffered from invasions by Slavic tribes and Normans. Crete and Cyprus were contested between the Romans and Arabs and were later taken by the Crusaders who, following the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, established the Latin Empire in Thrace and Greece. The Romans retook Constantinople and re-established control in most of

1484-437: The 19th century. An elongated hill near the village of Vitoli (Βίτολη) bears the name 'astrorachi (Καστρόραχη, "castle ridge"), and on its top there are remains of a wall with many towers as well as an impressive gate. The wall encompasses the whole hill, which bears the shape of a skewed "T", and is only preserved to a limited degree. No remains of structures other than the circuit wall has been noted. The strategic importance of

1537-563: The Ainianians were once expelled from Thessaly by the Lapiths to wander the Greek peninsula until they finally settled in the upper Valley of Spercheios. According to Plutarch, when the Ainianians finally settled in what would become Ainis, the land was already occupied by the Inachians and the Achaeans. Phemios, king of the Ainianians, however, killed Hyparochos king of the Inachians with a stone while

1590-632: The Arabs . Greece remained part of and became the center of the remaining relatively cohesive and robust eastern half of the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire (now historiographically referred to as the Byzantine Empire ), for nearly a thousand more years after the Fall of Rome , the city which once conquered it. Contrary to outdated visions of late antiquity , the Greek peninsula was most likely one of

1643-677: The German Wehrmacht demolished most of the town during the Second World War . The commanding tower on the acropolis is of a later date, built in the Middle Ages. The political area of Hypata probably extended far north on the river plain, which is also mentioned in several inscriptions. A road over Mount Oeta led southward from Hypata towards Kallion in Aetolia . Most of Apuleius ' The Golden Ass takes place in and about Hypata, which at

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1696-519: The Greek peninsula, although Epirus would remain an independent splinter state until the early 14th century when Roman control was re-established. As a civil war raged within the empire, the Serbian Empire took the opportunity to conquer most of mainland Greece, while a resurgent Bulgarian Empire invaded from the north. In the century that followed, the Ottoman Empire would establish its dominance in

1749-502: The Mount Oeta"). The ancient city was probably divided in a lower fortified city located approximately at the modern location of the town, and an acropolis which is still visible further up the mountain. Apart from some fortifications and inscriptions, very little of the ancient town is visible today; travelers in the early 20th century noted ancient blocks and slabs built into the modern houses, but most of these were probably destroyed when

1802-571: The Roman general Mark Antony , and afterwards conquered Alexandria (30 BC), the last great city of Hellenistic Egypt . The Roman era of Greek history continued with Emperor Constantine the Great 's adoption of Byzantium as Nova Roma , the capital city of the Roman Empire ; in 330 AD, the city was renamed Constantinople . Afterwards, the Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, including Greek and Roman culture. The Greek peninsula fell to

1855-523: The charge of exhibiting gladiatorial shows and wild beast events in the province, and statues were erected in his honour by the senate of Carthage and of other senates. The date, place and circumstances of Apuleius' death are not known. There is no record of his activities after 170, a fact which has led some people to believe that he must have died about then (say in 171), although other scholars feel that he may still have been alive in 180 or even 190. The Golden Ass ( Asinus Aureus ) or Metamorphoses

1908-512: The fortifications are not to be underestimated since the location dominates the upper plain of the valley as well as the confluence of the Spercheios with its tributary, the Papagourna. The location is often associated with the ancient polis of Spercheiai , but the identification remains uncertain. Stählin, visiting the site in the early 1910s, wrote that it is impossible to see whether the site

1961-430: The house of Sicinius Pontianus, with whom he had been friends when he had studied in Athens. The mother of Pontianus, Pudentilla, was a very rich widow. With her son's consent – indeed encouragement – Apuleius agreed to marry her. Meanwhile, Pontianus himself married the daughter of one Herennius Rufinus; he, indignant that Pudentilla's wealth should pass out of the family, instigated his son-in-law, together with

2014-673: The late 4th century. Arcadius' chief advisor Eutropius allowed Alaric to enter Greece, and he looted Athens, Corinth and the Peloponnese . Stilicho eventually drove him out around 397 AD and Alaric was made magister militum in Illyricum . Eventually, Alaric and the Goths migrated to Italy, sacked Rome in 410, and built the Visigothic Kingdom in Iberia , which lasted until 711 with the advent of

2067-674: The latter had his head turned, thus winning the region for his people. The Ainianians struck coins in Hypata with the head of Zeus on the obverse and the legendary king Phemios on the reverse. Very little is known of the settlements in ancient Ainis apart from the city of Hypata. Several poleis ( Kapheleis , Korophaioi , Phyrrhagioi and Talana ) are mentioned in inscriptions at Delphi , but apart from Hypate, none has yet been convincingly identified. Moreover, other settlements that were not poleis have been identified, including Sosthenis and Spercheiai . A smaller settlement, that of Makra Kome ,

2120-432: The most highly Christianized areas of the empire. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Greece was divided into provinces including Achaea , Macedonia , Epirus and Thrace . During the reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century, Moesia was organized as a diocese , and was ruled by Galerius . Under Constantine (who professed Christianity) Greece was part of the prefectures of Macedonia and Thrace. Theodosius divided

2173-484: The most prosperous regions of the Roman Empire. Older scenarios of poverty, depopulation, barbarian destruction, and civil decay have been revised in light of recent archaeological discoveries. In fact, the polis , as an institution, appears to have remained prosperous until at least the 6th century. Contemporary texts such as Hierocles' Syndekmos affirm that late antique Greece was highly urbanised and contained approximately eighty cities. This view of extreme prosperity

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2226-532: The nearby village of Platystomo . Roux and most other scholars of the early 20th century interpreted the remains at Profitis Ilias as the remains of Makra Kōmē (Μακρὰ Κώμη), briefly mentioned in Livy , and the nearby town of Varybombi has since changed its name to Makrakomi as a result of this. Stählin, Béquignon and Roux all date the remains at Profitis Ilias to the Hellenistic period (late 4th-early 2nd century B.C.E.),

2279-573: The prefecture of Macedonia into the provinces of Creta , Achaea , Thessalia , Epirus Vetus , Epirus Nova , and Macedonia. The Aegean islands formed the province of Insulae in the Diocese of Asia . Greece faced invasions from the Heruli , Goths , and Vandals during the reign of Romulus Augustulus . Stilicho , who pretended he was a regent for Arcadius , evacuated Thessaly when the Visigoths invaded in

2332-615: The region on its way down to the Maliac Gulf , and is joined in Ainis by its chief tributary the Inachos . The area is limited to the north by the Othrys mountains, and to the west by a spur of the Pindus mountains, with the peak of Tymphrestus visible from most of the region. To the south lie the peaks of Mount Goulinas and Mount Oiti , separated by the river Inachos. Most of Ainis consists today of

2385-464: The region, annexing all three empires and finishing its conquest of Greece with the fall of the Morea in 1460. Apuleius Apuleius ( / ˌ æ p j ʊ ˈ l iː ə s / APP -yuu- LEE -əs ; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis ; c. 124 – after 170 ) was a Numidian Latin -language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman province of Numidia , in

2438-399: The site as a mere observation post and not a position of defense. Located in the centre of ancient Ainis, the hill of Profitis Ilias (Προφήτης Ηλίας) overlooks most of the lower plains of the Spercheios and guards the pass of Giannitsou , leading north to Thessaly . A circular wall encloses the two peaks of the hill, creating a double acropolis with a shallow saddle in between. Very little

2491-464: The spirited and triumphant defence spoken by Apuleius is still extant. This is known as the Apologia (A Discourse on Magic) . Apuleius accused an extravagant personal enemy of turning his house into a brothel and prostituting his own wife. Of his subsequent career, we know little. Judging from the many works of which he was author, he must have devoted himself diligently to literature. He occasionally gave speeches in public to great reception; he had

2544-466: The time of the novel was a thriving Roman city. After the introduction of Christianity, Hypata became a Metropolitan bishopric in the Roman province of Achaea . In Late Antiquity , Hypata became the refuge of citizens of Patras who fled the Slavic invasion of Greece ; as a consequence, the town changed its name to Neopatras ("New Patras"), which it kept until the establishment of the modern Greek state in

2597-530: The war with Sulla. As an empire, Rome invested resources and rebuilt the cities of Roman Greece, and established Corinth as the capital city of the province of Achaea, and Athens prospered as a cultural hub of philosophy, education and learned knowledge. Life in Greece continued under the Roman Empire much the same as it had previously. Roman culture was highly influenced by the Greeks; as Horace said, Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit ("Captive Greece captured her rude conqueror"). The epics of Homer inspired

2650-637: Was a municipal magistrate ( duumvir ) who bequeathed at his death the sum of nearly two million sesterces to his two sons. Apuleius studied with a master at Carthage (where he later settled) and later at Athens , where he studied Platonist philosophy among other subjects. He subsequently went to Rome to study Latin rhetoric and, most likely, to speak in the law courts for a time before returning to his native North Africa. He also travelled extensively in Asia Minor and Egypt, studying philosophy and religion, burning up his inheritance while doing so. Apuleius

2703-417: Was an initiate in several Greco-Roman mysteries , including the Dionysian Mysteries . He was a priest of Asclepius and, according to Augustine, sacerdos provinciae Africae (i.e., priest of the province of Carthage). Not long after his return home he set out upon a new journey to Alexandria . On his way there he was taken ill at the town of Oea (modern-day Tripoli ) and was hospitably received into

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2756-447: Was inhabited in Antiquity due to later agricultural use of the hill. He was only able to find traces of reddish pottery at the location, which he dated to the Hellenistic period. Béquignon, a couple of decades later, reports that the state of the walls were mediocre , probably due to stone robbing. Just south of Kastrorakhi, up the slope from Fteri, is another site of considerable size, known as Ellinika . A circular wall stretches around

2809-414: Was physically and economically devastated until Augustus organised the peninsula as the province of Achaea , in 27 BC. Initially, Rome's conquest of Greece damaged the economy , but it readily recovered under Roman administration in the postwar period. Moreover, the Greek cities in Asia Minor recovered from the Roman conquest more rapidly than the cities of peninsular Greece, which had been much damaged in

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