Aigion
Lies some 45 km E of Patras and 96.5 km NE of Corinth. Inhabited from very earliest antiquity, it was formed of the synoecism of seven or eight earlier cities (Strab 8.3.2), and was, according to Homer (Il. 2.574), a part of the domain of Agamemnon in heroic times. During the Classical period it was reckoned one of the twelve cities of Achaia (Hdt. 1.145), and, at least after the destruction of Helike (Strab. 8.7.2) in 373, it became the meeting place of the Achaian League, a position it held at least until the time of Pausanias (7.24.4). Its importance declined after the Augustan period when Patrai became the chief city of the area.
The modern city is built over the ancient and has largely obliterated any traces of ancient remains. Pausanias (7.22.5-24.4) mentions a number of sanctuaries, of which no traces remain in situ. It is possible that some architectural members of some of these buildings have been found built into a later building of Roman times located near the old reservoir and N along Solomos St. The Classical cemetery was located NW of the reservoir, while the Mycenaean necropolis with a number of chamber tombs lies N of the gymnasium in the embankment of the main highway. Finds, mainly pottery and minor objects from Mycenaean and Hellenistic tombs and buildings, have, since 1954, been housed in a local apotheke and in the Patras Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYC. Yalouris, Praktika (1954) 287-90; A. Stauropoulos, Historia tis poleos Aigiou (1954); P. Åström, “Mycenaean Pottery from the Region of Aigion with a List of Prehistoric Sites in Achaea,” Op. Ath. 5 (1964) 89-110; Deltion 26 (1971) 175-85; Photios Petsas, AAA 5 (1972) 496-502; A. J. Pappadopoulos, The Archaeology of the Mycenaean Achaea, forthcoming.
W. F. WYATT, JR.- Hdt. 1.145, Paus. 2.9.4, Paus. 3.12.7, Paus. 3.21.1, Paus. 7.6.1, Paus. 7.22.10, Paus. 7.23.5-Paus. 7.24.4
- Achaean diet meets at: Paus. 7.7.2, Paus. 7.24.4