View looking N from Menidi toward Mount Parnes, Acharnai

View looking W from Menidi, Acharnai

View looking S from Menidi toward Athens, Acharnai

Doorway of the tomb with lintel and large and small blocks, Acharnai, Thol...

View looking NW from Menidi toward Mount Parnes, Acharnai

Summary: Attic deme site.
Type: Settlement
Region: Attica

Periods:

Classical

Physical:

Acharnai was the largest of the Attic deme sites and known to have been located 60 stades from Athens. Although its exact position remains uncertain, it is believed to have been S of Mt. Parnes, in the area of the modern village of Menidi (where inscriptions with Acharnaian names have been found). Ancient sources refer to sanctuaries of Apollo Argyieus and Herakles and a temple of Ares and Athena Areia at the site, but no trace of these remains have been found.

Description:

In 431 B.C. the Spartans under King Archidamos occupied the site and used it as a base from which to ravage the Attic countryside. In 404 B.C. the forces of the Thirty Tyrants also used the deme site as a base.

Exploration:

Little exploration has been done.

Sources Used:

PECS, 6,Leekley and Noyes 1976, 1

Other Bibliography:

E. Dodwell, A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece... (1819) Vol. 1, 521-522. A. Milchhöfer, "Antikenbericht aus Attika," AM 13 (1888) 337-343. E. Kirsten, "Acharnai," Kl. Pauly (1964) Vol. 1, 43. E. Vanderpool, "The Acarnaian Aqueduct," 166-175 in Charistirion eis Anastasion K. Orlandon I (1965)