Cynaethe

Cynaethe (Κυναίθη, modern translterations: Kynaithi or Kinethe) or Cynaetha (Κύναιθα) was an ancient city-state in ancient Arcadia which was located in near the present day Kalavryta and is part of the Achaia prefecture.

It is believed to be founded by the Azanians, and ancient Arcadian folk. Its name derived from its love of its inhabitants for the hunting^[1] and was the northernmost city in the Arcadian Azania. Cynaithe did not ran the city-state but was part of the state of Lousoi and Kleitor which was located nearby. From the city, Pausanias visited the city which is mentioned in Arcadica and mentioned that it was 50 stadia (30 km) from Lousoi and the temple of Artemis. In the city featured the temple of Dionysus in which had a celebration every year in honor of the god which sacrificed a bull. Its city residents gave to Olympia, the statue of Zeus which held a thunder in his hand.^[2]

Next to Cynaethe founded Alysus (Άλυσος) a spring which it was believed that anyone drank the water were cured from the rabies.

Cynaethe was a member of the Achaean League but in, 220 BCE the opening stages of the Social War a faction in the city open the gates to the Aetolians. Further bloodshed ensured which Polybius attributes to the Aetolians.^[3] Grainger, however, puts the blame on the irreconcilable political differences in the city.^[4]

Bibliography

• The Rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Pausanias Arcadica
3. ^ Polybius, Histories, 4.17-18
4. ^ The League of the Aetolians by John D Grainger