Echinus or Echinos (Greek: Εχῖνος) was an ancient Greek town of Acarnania.[1] Legend has it that it was founded by a Greek mythological figure named Echinus.[2] It is mentioned by the poet Rhianus, and appears in the list of cities of Acarnania transmitted by Pliny the Elder, who places it between Heraclea and Actium.[3] The site of Echinus is near the modern town of Vonitsa, probably the kastro (or castle) of Profitis Elias.[4][5]
See also
List of cities in ancient Epirus
References
Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 359.
Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. s.v.
"Ἐχῖνος, πόλις Ἀκαρνανἰας, Ἐχίνου κτίσμα. Ῥιανὸς Ἐχίονος ἄστυ ταύτην εἶπεν. ὁ πολίτης Ἐχιναῖος ὡς χέρσος χερσαῖος καὶ Ἄπειρος Ἀπειραῖος Κύφος Κυφαῖος. καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐχιναῖος Ἐχιναιεύς ὡς Κρηταῖος Κρηταιεύς. τίνες δὲ Ἐχινοῦντα φασὶ τὴν αὐτήν."
Pliny. Naturalis Historia. 4.1.5.
"Acarnaniae, quae antea Curetis vocabatur, oppida: Heraclia, Echinus et in ore ipso colony Augusti Actium cum temple Apollinis nobili ac civitate libera Nicopolitana."
Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 54, and directory notes accompanying.
Perlman 2000, p. 119.
Sources
Hansen, Mogens Herman; Nielsen, Thomas Heine (2004). An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198140991.
Perlman, Paula Jean (2000). City and Sanctuary in Ancient Greece: The Theorodokia in the Peloponnese. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-25218-8.
