With the decline of the Mycenaean
centres, Achaians from the Argolid came and settled here, founding important
cities. The region is named Achaia after them. Though politically insignificant
through most of antiquity, it started to play a more dynamic role in 280
B.C., when the Achaian Confederacy was created. In 146 B.C. the area fell
to the Romans.
It embraced Christianity earlier
than the rest of Greece (St. Andrew the Apostle preached in Patras and
was martyred there). In 1205 it occupied centre stage with the founding
of the Principality of Achaia by the Franks. Before too long it passed
to the hands of the Palaiologues who ruled the Peloponnese from Mistra;
they were succeeded by the Turks in 1460. For a short period (1687 - 1715),
the area was a Venetian colony. It was liberated in 1828. |
