LIMNAIA
(Amphilochia, formerly Karavassaras）
Akarnania, Greece.
Small harbor town at the
head of a deep bay in the SE corner of the Gulf of Arta.
Mentioned in the literature (
Thuc. 2.80.8; Polyb. 5.5.12-6.5), it owed its importance to its good harbor and its
position astride the main road from Stratos to Ambrakia
(Arta). The Albanian adventurer Ali Pasha, in the early
19th c., repaired the ancient citadel and founded a new
town within its walls.
Limnaia must have extended down to the sea; but
modern building has erased all ancient remains near the
harbor. About 50 m from the shore can be seen the first
fragments of the E long wall, one of two linking the
citadel to the harbor area. This wall ascends the NE
nose of the citadel hill, which it then encircles on the E,
S, and W. Where the ground begins to fall on the NW a
cross wall returns E, completing the enclosure of the
hilltop, while the W long wall angles down the steep
slopes towards the modern road and the harbor. The
whole system of fortifications seems to be Hellenistic.
There are extensive remains on the hilltop, but most of
these belong to Ali Pasha's now deserted settlement.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Heuzey,
Le Mont Olympe et l'Acarnanie (1860) 320ff
MPI; R. L. Scranton,
Greek Walls
(1941) 82-83; A. W. Gomme,
Historical Commentary
on Thucydides II (1956) 426-28; N.G.L. Hammond,
Epirus (1967) 246-47, esp. on identification.
F. E. WINTER
