§7.7.6ἐφεξῆς δὲ τὸ στόμα τοῦ Ἀμβρακικοῦ κόλπου·
Next is the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf.
τούτου δὲ τοῦ κόλπου τὸ μὲν στόμα μικρῷ τοῦ τετρασταδίου μεῖζον, ὁ δὲ κύκλος καὶ τριακοσίων σταδίων, εὐλίμενος δὲ πᾶς.
The mouth of this gulf is slightly larger than four stadia, and its circumference is as much as three hundred stadia, and it is entirely well-harboured.
οἰκοῦσι δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐν δεξιᾷ εἰσπλέουσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀκαρνᾶνες· καὶ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀκτίου Ἀπόλλωνος ἐνταῦθά ἐστι πλησίον τοῦ στόματος, λόφος τις ἐφʼ ᾧ ὁ νεώς, καὶ ὑπʼ αὐτῷ πεδίον ἄλσος ἔχον καὶ νεώρια, ἐν οἷς ἀνέθηκε Καῖσαρ τὴν δεκαναΐαν ἀκροθίνιον, ἀπὸ μονοκρότου μέχρι δεκήρους·
On the right as one sails in, the Acarnanians, who are Greeks, inhabit the country; and here, near the mouth, is the temple of Actian Apollo—a hill on which the temple stands, and at its foot a plain containing a grove and shipyards, in which Caesar dedicated as a first-fruit a fleet of ten ships, from a vessel with a single bank of oars to one with ten.
ὑπὸ πυρὸς δʼ ἠφανίσθαι καὶ οἱ νεώσοικοι λέγονται καὶ τὰ πλοῖα·
But it is said that both the boathouses and the ships have been destroyed by fire.
ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ ἡ Νικόπολις καὶ τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν οἱ Κασσωπαῖοι μέχρι τοῦ μυχοῦ τοῦ κατὰ Ἀμβρακίαν·
On the left is Nicopolis and, of the Epirotes, the Cassopaeans, extending as far as the innermost recess of the gulf near Ambracia.
ὑπέρκειται δὲ αὕτη τοῦ μυχοῦ μικρόν, Γόργου τοῦ Κυψέλου κτίσμα·
This city lies slightly above the innermost recess, being a foundation of Gorgus, the son of Cypselus.
παραρρεῖ δʼ αὐτὴν ὁ Ἄρατθος ποταμὸς ἀνάπλουν ἔχων ἐκ θαλάττης εἰς αὐτὴν ὀλίγων σταδίων, ἀρχόμενος ἐκ Τύμφης ὄρους καὶ τῆς Παρωραίας.
The River Aratthus flows past it, offering a passage up from the sea to the city of only a few stadia, taking its rise in Mount Tymphe and Paroraia.
ηὐτύχει μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον ἡ πόλις αὕτη διαφερόντως (τὴν γοῦν ἐπωνυμίαν ἐντεῦθεν ἔσχηκεν ὁ κόλπος), μάλιστα δʼ ἐκόσμησεν αὐτὴν Πύρρος βασιλείῳ χρησάμενος τῷ τόπῳ·
Now this city was exceptionally prosperous in earlier times also (at any rate, the gulf has received its name from it), but Pyrrhus adorned it most of all, using the place as his royal residence.
Μακεδόνες δʼ ὕστερον καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ ταύτην καὶ τὰς ἄλλας κατεπόνησαν τοῖς συνεχέσι πολέμοις διὰ τὴν ἀπείθειαν, ὥστε τὸ τελευταῖον ὁ Σεβαστὸς ὁρῶν ἐκλελειμμένας τελέως τὰς πόλεις εἰς μίαν συνῴκισε τὴν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κληθεῖσαν Νικόπολιν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τούτῳ, ἐκάλεσε δʼ ἐπώνυμον τῆς νίκης, ἐν ᾗ κατεναυμάχησεν Ἀντώνιον πρὸ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ κόλπου καὶ τὴν Αἰγυπτίων βασίλισσαν Κλεοπάτραν παροῦσαν ἐν τῷ ἀγῶνι καὶ αὐτήν.
Later, however, the Macedonians and the Romans, by their continuous wars, wore down both this city and the others because of their disobedience, so that at last Augustus, seeing that the cities were completely abandoned, gathered them into one city, which was called by him Nicopolis, situated on this gulf; and he named it after the victory in which he defeated Antony in a naval battle before the mouth of the gulf, and with him Cleopatra, the queen of the Egyptians, who was herself present at the contest.
ἡ μὲν οὖν Νικόπολις εὐανδρεῖ καὶ λαμβάνει καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐπίδοσιν, χώραν τε ἔχουσα πολλὴν καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων κόσμον, τό τε κατασκευασθὲν τέμενος ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ τὸ μὲν εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν πεντετηρικὸν ἐν ἄλσει ἔχοντι γυμνάσιόν τε καὶ στάδιον, τὸ δʼ ἐν τῷ ὑπερκειμένῳ τοῦ ἄλσους ἱερῷ λόφῳ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος.
Now Nicopolis is well peopled and its increase is daily, since it possesses a large territory and the adornment made from the spoils, as well as the sacred precinct established in its suburb, which on the one hand contains a gymnasium and a stadium in a grove for the five-yearly games, and on the other hand is on the sacred hill of Apollo that lies above the grove.
ἀποδέδεικται δʼ ὁ ἀγὼν Ὀλύμπιος, τὰ Ἄκτια, ἱερὸς τοῦ Ἀκτίου Ἀπόλλωνος, τὴν δʼ ἐπιμέλειαν ἔχουσιν αὐτοῦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι.
The contest, the Actia, has been designated as Olympian, being sacred to Actian Apollo, and the Lacedaemonians have the superintendence of it.
αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι κατοικίαι περιπόλιοι τῆς Νικοπόλεώς εἰσιν.
The other settlements are dependencies of Nicopolis.
ἤγετο δὲ καὶ πρότερον τὰ Ἄκτια τῷ θεῷ, στεφανίτης ἀγών, ὑπὸ τῶν περιοίκων· νυνὶ δʼ ἐντιμότερον ἐποίησεν ὁ Καῖσαρ.
The Actian games were celebrated in honour of the god even in earlier times, a contest in which the prize was a wreath, by the neighboring inhabitants; but now Caesar has made them more honorable.
§7.7.7μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀμβρακίαν τὸ Ἄργος ἐστὶ τὸ Ἀμφιλοχικόν, κτίσμα Ἀλκμαίωνος καὶ τῶν παίδων.
After Ambracia comes Amphilochian Argos, a foundation of Alcmaeon and his children.
Ἔφορος μὲν οὖν φησὶ τὸν Ἀλκμαίωνα μετὰ τὴν Ἐπιγόνων ἐπὶ τὰς Θήβας στρατείαν παρακληθέντα ὑπὸ Διομήδους συνελθεῖν εἰς Αἰτωλίαν αὐτῷ καὶ συγκατακτήσασθαι ταύτην τε καὶ τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν· καλοῦντος δʼ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Τρωικὸν πόλεμον Ἀγαμέμνονος, τὸν μὲν Διομήδη πορευθῆναι, τὸν δʼ Ἀλκμαίωνα μείναντα ἐν τῇ Ἀκαρνανίᾳ τὸ Ἄργος κτίσαι, καλέσαι δʼ Ἀμφιλοχικὸν ἐπώνυμον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ, Ἴναχον δὲ τὸν διὰ τῆς χώρας ῥέοντα ποταμὸν εἰς τὸν κόλπον ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ἀργείαν προσαγορεῦσαι.
Ephorus says that Alcmaeon, after the expedition of the Epigoni against Thebes, being invited by Diomedes, went with him into Aetolia and helped him conquer both this country and Acarnania; and when Agamemnon called them to the Trojan war, Diomedes went, but Alcmaeon remained in Acarnania, founded Argos, and called it Amphilochian after the name of his brother, and named the Inachus, the river that flows through the country into the gulf, after the river in the Argive territory.
Θουκυδίδης δέ φησιν αὐτὸν Ἀμφίλοχον μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Τροίας ἐπάνοδον δυσαρεστοῦντα τοῖς ἐν Ἄργει παρελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Ἀκαρνανίαν, διαδεξάμενον δὲ τὴν τἀδελφοῦ δυναστείαν κτίσαι τὴν πόλιν ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ.
Thucydides, however, says that Amphilochus himself, after his return from Troy, being displeased with the state of affairs at Argos, withdrew to Acarnania, and having succeeded to his brother's dominion, founded the city and named it after himself.