Archaeologists have found evidence of settlements on a number of the islands- Filicudi: Classical Greek and Roman tombs; Salina: Roman walls, Greek and Latin inscriptions; Basilizzo: Roman house, including a hypogeum, wall paintings and mosaics; Stromboli: millstones and Roman tombs. By far the principal settlement was that on the island of Lipara.
Lipara was founded in 580 BC by Knidian Greeks led by Pentathlos.
Aeolian Harp: An early musical instrument, named for Aeolus, legendary ruler of the winds. It has strings of different thicknesses, all tuned to the same note and stretched across a box that create sounds when the wind blows through them.
Aeolus (Grk: “fleet”): (see full page)
Aequa (mod. Equa): An ancient village (vici) in Campania, located on the Cumanaus Sinus, to the east of Surrentum and west of Stabiae.
Aequanus Vicus: an ancient town in Campania, near Surrentum. Mod. Vico Equense [NA].
Aequi: An ancient people of central Italy. Their territory included parts of eastern Lazio and western Abruzzo. Kinsmen of the neighboring Volsci, they were a formidable threat to early Rome. In 418 BC, they lost their stronghold on Mt. Algidus, but were not completely subjugated until 304/303 BC.
Aequus Tuticus (or Aequum Tuticum) (AV): A town of the ancient Irpini, the site of which is thought to have been between Casalbore and Ariano Irpino, near Sant’ Eleuterio. The name means “wide field.” Conquered by the Romans during the 2nd Century BC, it flourished thanks to its location at the junction of the Via Appia and Via Herculia. It survived into the 6th century AD until a series of strong earthquakes and the violence of warfare caused the site to be abandoned. Excavators at the site have discovered remains of buildings, honorary statues, bases and funerary steles.
Aesai: Ancient Oscan deities equivalent to the Etruscan Aiseras (The Shrouded Gods) The name translates to mean “the Hidden Ones.”
Aesarus (Avien) River: A river in ancient in ancient Bruttium which emptied into the Ionian Sea at Croton. (Mod. Esaro).
Aescheion: (b. Syracuse; fl 1st part of the 1st century BC). His wife, Pippa, was a mistress of the corrupt Roman governor Verres. Dishonest and greedy himself, he willingly carried out Verres’s crimes.
Aeschines: (b. c389 BC; d. c314 BC). Philosopher and orator. A native of Athens, he was a student of Socrates and a rival of Demosthenes. He spent several years as part of the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse, later returning to Athens. He advocated a simple life, unencumbered by possessions.
Aeschines the Orator: A famous ancient statue discovered at Herculaneum. A Roman copy of a Greek original from the late 4h century BC, it is now displayed in the National Museum at Naples.
Aeschines (b. c389 BC; d. c314 BC), an Athenian philosopher and orator, he was a student of Socrates and a rival of Demosthenes. He spent several years as part of the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse, later returning to Athens. He advocated a simple life, unencumbered by possessions.
Aeschylus: (b.525/4 BC; d. 461 or 456 BC). Tragic poet. A native of Eleusis, Aeschylus ranks among the greatest tragic poets of classical Greece and is often regarded as the “Father of Greek Tragedy.” In his younger years he served in the Athenian army during the Persian Wars. Wounded at Marathon (490 BC), it is believed that he participated in the battle of Salamis (479 BC) as well. In 484 BC, he won his first victory in a dramatic competition, repeating this feat twelve more times before being defeated in 468 BC by Sophocles. It was because of this defeat that he was willing to accept an invitation from Hieron I to come to Syracuse. Aeschylus made two visits to Sicily. During the first he composed the now-lost play Aetnae (or Aetnaeae), in commemoration of the foundation of the new town of Aetna by Hieron I. Returning to Athens, he won his last competition in 458 BC with the Orestia trilogy of plays. Later returning to Sicily he gave a new performance of his play Persae. A legend, most likely apocryphal, says that Aeschylus was killed when an eagle, believing his bald head to be a rock, dropped a turtle on him. Whatever the cause of his death, Aeschylus died and was buried at Gela. The playwright’s funerary monument at Gela (where he died in 456 BC) was said to have had an epitaph inscription written by Aescylus himself, mentioning his service to Athens at the battle of Marathon but ignoring his literary achievements. During his lifetime, Aeschylus is said to have written 60 plays, of which only 7 are extant: the Persae and the Oresteia trilogy (Agamemnon, Choephoroe and Eumenides), Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound, and the Suppliants.