IETO'LIA (Gk. AirwAia, iito/ia). A district of ancient. Greece, lying on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. The ancient Etolia was divided from Ammonia on the west by the river Aeheloils, and extended as far as the river Daphnos, where it was bounded by Locris and Doris; on the north it bordered on Thessaly and Epirus. In later times these boundaries were considerably extended to the north and east. The country has few cities, and is generally wild and barren, though the southwest portion (Old -Etolia) contains two marshy but fruitful plains, one on the coast, the other north of Mount Zygos, largely occupied by the lakes Apokuro (Triehonis) and Zygos (Hyria). This was the of the heroic Age, in which the _Etolians play a •onspicuous part. It was in Calydon, that, according to the legend, Meleager (q.v.) the boar. When they next appear in Greek history, at the time of the Peloponnesian War, they are described by Thucydides as rude and barbarous. The .Etolian confederacy. first mentioned in 314 mc., but of unknown origin, became important in the time of the Acha•an League. (See Aen..EA.) The supreme authority was the general assembly of all .Etolians, which
met yearly after the autumnal equinox at Thor nton, and elected the general and other officials. During, the third century me. the league steadily increased its power, in conflict with the Acha'ans and Macedon, and, finally, in pursuance of its characteristically selfish policy, entered into alli ance with the Romans. As this did not yield all that was expected, it afterward joined An Hoehn,: and Perseus in their wars against Rome. The political influence of _Etolia was destroyed in 189 B.C. by the liomans. though the league existed nominally even to the time of Snlla. With Ammonia, ..Etolia now forms a province of the modern kingdom of Greece. The chief rivers of .Etolia are the Aspropotamo (Ache lolls), in the west, the Phidaris (Euenos), in the centre, and the :\ I a rno,‘ Daphnos ) in the east. The people in the plains are employed in agriculture and fishing; while in the mountain districts some traces of the rude and martial character of ancient .Etolia may still be found. The chief towns are Mesoloughi. Lepanto, and Agrinion. Consult: W. .1. Woodhouse, .1:;to/la (Oxford. 1897).