Aetolia in the context of "Laodocus"

Aetolia-Acarnania (Greek: Αιτωλοακαρνανία, Aitoloakarnanía, Greek pronunciation: [etolo.akarnaˈni.a]) 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 historical regions of Aetolia and Acarnania, it is the country's largest regional unit. Its capital is Missolonghi for historical reasons, with its biggest city and economic centre at Agrinio. The area is now connected with the Peloponnese peninsula via the Rio-Antirio Bridge. The surrounding regional units take in Arta in Epirus, a narrow length bordering Karditsa of Thessaly, Evrytania to the northeast, and Phocis to the east.

In Greek mythology, the name Melanippe (Ancient Greek: Μελανίππη, romanized: Melaníppē, lit. 'black mare') referred to several different people:

• Melanippe, daughter of the Centaur Chiron. Also known as Hippe or Euippe. She bore a daughter to Aeolus, Melanippe or Arne (see below). She escaped to Mount Pelion so that her father would not find out that she was pregnant, but, being searched for, she prayed to Artemis asking for assistance, and the goddess transformed her into a mare. Other accounts state that the transformation was a punishment for her having scorned Artemis, or for having divulged the secrets of gods. She was later placed among the stars.
• Melanippe, daughter of Aeolus and the precedent Melanippe (or else daughter of Hippotes or of Desmontes).
• Melanippe, a Aetolian princess as the daughter of King Oeneus of Calydon and Althaea, daughter of King Thestius of Pleuron. As one of the Meleagrids, she was turned into a guinea fowl by Artemis after the death of her brother, Meleager.
• Melanippe, an Amazon, sister of Hippolyta, Penthesilea and Antiope, daughter of Ares. Heracles captured her and demanded Hippolyte's girdle in exchange for her freedom. Hippolyte complied and Heracles let her go. Some say that it was Melanippe whom Theseus abducted and married. Yet others relate that she was killed by Telamon.
• Melanippe, wife of Hippotes, son of Mimas, himself son of Aeolus, and the mother of another Aeolus.
• Melanippe, a nymph who married Itonus, son of Amphictyon.
• Melanippe, possible wife of King Chalcodon of Euboea and mother of Elephenor.
• Melanippe, an emendation for "Medippe" (name of one of the sacrificial victims of Minotaur) in Servius' commentaries on Aeneid.

The Aetolian (or Aitolian) League (Ancient Greek: Κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν) was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered in Aetolia in Central Greece. It was probably established during the late Classical or the early Hellenistic era. Two annual meetings were held at Thermon and Panaetolika. The league occupied Delphi and steadily gained territory after its victory there against the Gauls in 279 BC. By the end of the 3rd century BC, it controlled the whole of central Greece with the exception of Attica, Euboea, Boeotia and northwestern Acarnania. At its peak, the league's territory included Locris, Phocis, Doris, Malis, Dolopia, Achaia Phthiotis, Ainis, Oetaea, Ambracia and parts of Acarnania. In the latter part of its power, certain Greek city-states out of central Greece joined the Aetolian League such as the Arcadian cities of Mantineia, Tegea, Phigalia and Kydonia on Crete.

During the classical period the Aetolians were not highly regarded by other Greeks, who considered them to be semi-barbaric and reckless. However, during the Hellenistic period, they emerged as a dominant state in central Greece and expanded by annexing several Greek city-states to the League after their victory against the Gauls in 279 BC. Their League had a complex political and administrative structure. The Aetolian League fought against Macedon and the Achaean League in the Social War (220-217 BC), allied with Rome in the First Macedonian War and Second Macedonian War, but then fought against the Romans in an alliance with the Seleucid empire in the Aetolian War before losing its independence to Rome.

Doric or Dorian (Ancient Greek: Δωρισμός, romanized: Dōrismós), also known as West Greek, was a group of Ancient Greek dialects; its varieties are divided into the Doric proper and Northwest Doric subgroups. Doric was spoken in a vast area, including northern Greece (Acarnania, Aetolia, Epirus, western and eastern Locris, Phocis, Doris, and possibly Lower Macedonia and Upper Macedonia), most of the Peloponnese (Achaea, Elis, Messenia, Laconia, Argolid, Aegina, Corinthia, and Megara), the Southern Aegean (Kythira, Milos, Thera, Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes), as well as the colonies of some of those regions in Cyrene, Magna Graecia, the Black Sea, the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea. It was also spoken in the Greek sanctuaries of Dodona, Delphi, and Olympia, as well as at the four Panhellenic festivals; the Isthmian, Nemean, Pythian, and Olympic Games.

By Hellenistic times, under the Achaean League, an Achaean Doric koine appeared, exhibiting many peculiarities common to all Doric dialects, which delayed the spread of the Attic-based Koine Greek to the Peloponnese until the 2nd century BC. The only living descendant of Doric is the Tsakonian language which is still spoken in Greece today; though critically endangered, with only a few hundred – mostly elderly – fluent speakers left.

Agron (/ˈæɡrən, ˈæɡˌrɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ἄγρων) was an Illyrian king of the Ardiaean Kingdom in the 3rd century BC, ruling c. 250–231 BC. The son of Pleuratus II, Agron succeeded in reconquering southern Illyria, which had been under the control of Epirus since the time of Pyrrhus, and in extending Illyrian rule over many cities in the Adriatic region, including Corcyra, Epidamnos, and Pharos.

He is most famed for his decisive victory over the Aetolian League, a state in western Greece. Around 231 BC, Agron suddenly died after his triumph over the Aetolians. Pinnes, his son with his first wife Triteuta, officially succeeded his father as king in 231 BC, but the kingdom was ruled by Agron's second wife, Queen Teuta.

Gjin Bua Shpata (sometimes anglicized as John Spata) (fl. 1358 – 29 October 1399) was an Albanian ruler of the despotate of Arta in Western Greece with the title of Despot. Together with Pjetër Losha, he led raids into Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia in 1358. He was recognized as Despot by the titular Eastern Roman Emperor in the early 1360s and ruled Aetolia (1360s–?), Angelokastron (?–1399), Naupactus (1378–1399), and Arta (1370s–1399). He was born sometime in the first half of the 14th century in Epirus, as his father was a ruler in the region.

The Battle of Achelous (Albanian: Beteja e Akelout) (also Battle of Acheloos) took place in 1358 or 1359 near the river Achelous in Aetolia, modern Greece, between the forces of the Despotate of Epirus under Nikephoros II Orsini and Albanian tribesmen under Karl Thopia. The Albanians defeated Orsini's troops and inflicted heavy casualties upon his forces, and Orsini himself was killed during the battle. Epirus was then divided amongst the Albanian clans, which resulted in the establishment of two despotates from regions previously part of the Despotate of Epirus: the Despotate of Arta and the Despotate of Angelokastron and Lepanto. Within Epirus, only the city of Ioannina remained under Greek governance and was not under the control of the Albanians.

Acarnania (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαρνανία, romanized: Akarnanía) 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 it forms the western part of the regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. The capital and principal city in ancient times was Stratos.

Acarnania's foundation in Greek mythology was traditionally ascribed to Acarnan, son of Alcmaeon.