one of the most considerable cities of ancient Epirus, situated on the river Arachthus, at a small distance from the sea. At first it was a free city; but was afterwards reduced by the Bacidae kings of Epirus, who chose it for the place of their residence. In process of time, the Aetolians made themselves masters of it, and held it till the year before Christ 189, when it fell into the hands of the Romans.

At this time Ambracia was a place of great strength. It was defended on one side by the river Arachthus, and on the other by steep and craggy hills; and surrounded with an high and thick wall, above three miles in compass. The Roman consul Fulvius began the siege by forming two camps, separated by the river, but with a communication between them; the Romans were posted in one, and the Epirots their allies in the other. He then threw up two lines, one of circumvallation, and the other of contravallation; and built a wooden tower, in form of a castle, over against the citadel, which stood on a hill. The Aetolians, however, before the lines were quite finished, found means to throw about 1000 men into the place.

The lines being completed, the city was attacked in five different places at once. The battering-rams shook the walls on all sides; and the Romans, from their moveable towers, pulled down the battlements with a kind of fitches which they fastened to long beams. The besieged made a vigorous defence. They were night and day on the walls, and indefatigable in preventing the effects of the rams and sythes. The strokes of the former they deadened, by letting down beams, large stones, lumps of lead, &c., by means of pulleys, upon them when they were in motion; the others they rendered useless, by pulling the beams to which they were fastened into the city with hooks contrived for the purpose.

While Fulvius was carrying on the siege, Nicander, the Aetolian praetor found means to throw 500 men into the city, under the command of one Nicodamus, with whom Nicander agreed to attack the Roman camp in the night-time; not doubting, that, if the garrison from within, and the army from without, fell upon them at the same time, they would be obliged to raise the siege. Nicodamus narrowly watched the time at which he was ordered to fall; and, though Nicander did not appear, marched out at the head of the garrison, armed with fire-brands and torches. The Roman sentinels, surprised at this sight, ran to wake the legionaries, and soon spread a general alarm all over the camp. The legionaries marched in small bodies as they happened to meet, to repulse the enemy, whom they engaged in three different places. Two parties of the garrison were driven back; but the third, commanded by two Aetolian generals, made a great slaughter of the Romans; and, not finding themselves seconded by Nicander, retired in good order into the city.

Though the besieged were thus abandoned, and had no hopes of assistance, they continued to defend themselves with incredible vigour and resolution. The Romans had no sooner made a breach in the wall, but it was repaired, and a new one built behind it. The consul, therefore, altered his measures; and, instead of making breaches with the ram, began to undermine the wall, in hopes of throwing down great part of it at once; and entering the city before the besieged could have time to build a new wall. The miners being covered, were not observed by the garrison, till the great quantities of earth brought out of the mine gave the alarm. The Aetolians immediately began to countermine; and, having dug a trench of the depth they supposed the mine to be, they carried it along the wall where they heard the strokes of the pick-axes of the Romans. When the two mines met, a battle ensued, first with pick-axes and spades, and then with swords and spears; but this attack did not last long, each party making themselves a kind of rampart with the loose earth. The Aetolians, in order to drive their enemies quite out of the mine, invented a machine, which they brought to the place where the two mines met; this was a hollow vessel, with an iron bottom, bored thro' in many places, and armed with spikes at proper distances to prevent the enemy from approaching it: this vessel they filled with feathers, which they set on fire, and with bellows driving the smoke on the besiegers, obliged them to leave the mine, half-suffocated. This interval the Aetolians made use of in repairing the foundations of the wall.

The vigorous resistance made by the Ambracians, however, did not raise the courage of the nation in general, who were determined on a peace with Rome at all events. Fulvius, in the mean time, being desirous of getting possession of Ambracia before the conclusion of the peace, employed Amyrander, king of the Athamanes, to persuade the inhabitants to surrender. As Amyrander had great interest in Ambracia, having long resided there, he easily persuaded them to capitulate on the following terms, viz. That the Aetolian garrison should have leave to march out of the city; that the inhabitants should pay 500 talents, 200 down, and the rest at six equal payments; and that they should deliver to the consul all the prisoners and deserters that were in the city. The gates were then opened to Fulvius; and he was presented with a crown of gold, together with many fine statues and pictures, of which there were great numbers in the city, it having been the capital of Pyrrhus, who had enriched it with many valuable monuments.

From this time the city of Ambracia made no figure in history. It is scarce known at present where the city stood; but that called Arba, in upper Albania, seems best to agree with what is said of the ancient situation of this city. The river Arachthus, on which Ambracia was situated, is now called, by the natives, Spagnamuris.