ĂCERRA (θυμιατήριον, λιβανωτρίς), the incense-box or censer used
in sacrifices. The acerra was also a small moveable altar placed
before the dead, on which perfumes were burnt. The use of acerrae
at funerals was forbidden by a law of the Twelve Tables as an
unnecessary expense.
[Illustration: Acerra. (From a Frieze in the Museum Capitolinum.)]
ĂCĒTABŬLUM (ὀξίς, ὀξύβαφον, ὀξυβάφιον). (1) A vinegar-cup, wide and
open above, as we see in the annexed cut. The name was also given to
all cups resembling it in size and form, to whatever use they might
be applied.--(2) A Roman measure of capacity, fluid and dry. It was
one-fourth of the hemian, and therefore one-eighth of the sextarius.
[Illustration: Acetabulum. (Dennis, Etruria, p. xcvi.)]
ĂCHĀĬCUM FOEDUS. The Achaean league is divided into two periods.
1. _The earlier period._--When the Heracleidae took possession
of Peloponnesus, which had until then been chiefly inhabited
by Achaeans, a portion of the latter, under Tisamenus, turned
northwards and occupied the north coast of Peloponnesus. The country
thus occupied derived from them its name of Achaia, and contained
twelve confederate towns, which were governed by the descendants
of Tisamenus, till at length they abolished the kingly rule after
the death of Ogyges, and established a democracy. In the time of
Herodotus the twelve towns of which the league consisted were:
Pellene, Aegeira, Aegae, Bura, Helice, Aegium, Rhypes (Rhypae),
Patreis (ae), Phareis (ae), Olenus, Dyme, and Tritaeeis (Tritaea).
After the time of Herodotus, Rhypes and Aegae disappeared from the
number, and Ceryneia and Leontium stepped into their place. The bond
which united the towns of the league was not so much a political
as a religious one, as is shown by the common sacrifice offered
at Helice to Poseidon, and after the destruction of that town, at
Aegium to Zeus, surnamed Homagyrius, and to Demeter Panachaea. The
confederation exercised no great influence in the affairs of Greece
down to the time when it was broken up by the Macedonians. 2. _The
later period._--When Antigonus in B.C. 281 made the unsuccessful
attempt to deprive Ptolemaeus Ceraunus of the Macedonian throne,
the Achaeans availed themselves of the opportunity of shaking off
the Macedonian yoke, and renewing their ancient confederation. The
grand object however now was no longer a common worship, but a
real political union among the confederates. The fundamental laws
were, that henceforth the confederacy should form one inseparable
state, that each town, which should join it, should have equal
rights with the others, and that all members, in regard to foreign
countries, should be considered as dependent, and bound to obey in
every respect the federal government, and those officers who were
entrusted with the executive. Aegium was the seat of the government,
and it was there that the citizens of the various towns met at
regular and stated times, to deliberate upon the common affairs of
the league, and if it was thought necessary, upon those of separate
towns, and even of individuals, and to elect the officers of the
league. The league acquired its great strength in B.C. 251, when
Aratus united Sicyon, his native place, with it, and some years
later gained Corinth also for it. Megara, Troezene, and Epidaurus
soon followed their example. Afterwards Aratus persuaded all the
more important towns of Peloponnesus to join the confederacy, and
thus Megalopolis, Argos, Hermione, Phlius, and others were added to
it. In a short period the league reached the height of its power,
for it embraced Athens, Megara, Aegina, Salamis, and the whole of
Peloponnesus, with the exception of Sparta, Elis, Tegea, Orchomenos,
and Mantineia. The common affairs of the confederate towns were
regulated at general meetings attended by the citizens of all the
towns, and held regularly twice every year, in the spring and in
the autumn. These meetings, which lasted three days, were held in a
grove of Zeus Homagyrius in the neighbourhood of Aegium, and near a
sanctuary of Demeter Panachaea. Every citizen, both rich and poor,
who had attained the age of thirty, might attend the assemblies,
to which they were invited by a public herald, and might speak and
propose any measure. The subjects which were to be brought before
the assembly were prepared by a council (βουλή), which seems to have
been permanent. The principal officers of the confederacy were:
1. At first two strategi (στρατηγοί), but after the year B.C. 255
there was only one, who in conjunction with an hipparchus (ἴππαρχος)
or commander of the cavalry and an under-strategus (ὑποστρατηγός)
commanded the army furnished by the confederacy, and was entrusted
with the whole conduct of war; 2. A public secretary (γραμματεύς);
and, 3. Ten demiurgi (δημιουργοί). All the officers of the league
were elected in the assembly held in the spring, at the rising of
the Pleiades, and legally they were invested with their several
offices only for one year, though it frequently happened that men of
great merit and distinction were re-elected for several successive
years. If one of the officers died during the period of his office,
his place was filled by his predecessor, until the time for the
new elections arrived. The perpetual discord of the members of the
league, the hostility of Sparta, the intrigues of the Romans, and the
folly and rashness of the later strategi, brought about not only the
destruction and dissolution of the confederacy, but of the freedom of
all Greece, which after the fall of Corinth, in B.C. 146, became a
Roman province under the name of Achaia.