ACHAIA

ACHAIA, a name taken for that part of Greece which Ptolemy calls Hellas; the younger Pliny, Grecia; now called Livadia; bounded on the north by Thessaly, the river Sperchius, the Sinus Malicus, and Mount Oeta; on the west by the river Achelous; on the east, turning a little to the north, it is washed by the Archipelago, down to the promontory of Summum; on the south, joined to Peloponnesus, or the Morea, by the isthmus of Corinth, five miles broad.

Achaea Propria, anciently a small district in the north of Peloponnese, running westward along the bay of Corinth, and bounded on the west by the Ionian sea, on the south by Elis and Arcadia, and on the east by Sicyonia: inhabitants, the Acheans, properly so called; its metropolis, Paire. It is now called Romania Alia, in the Morea.

Achaia was also taken for all those countries that joined in the Achean league, reduced by the Romans to a province. Likewise for Peloponnese.

Achaim Presbyteri, or the Presbyters of Achaia, were those who were present at the martyrdom of St Andrew the apostle, A. D. 59; and are said to have written an epistle in relation to it. Bellarmin, and several other eminent writers in the church of Rome, allow it to be genuine; while Du Pin, and some others, expressly reject it.