Achaea (province)

Provincia Achaea Ἐπαρχία Ἀχαΐας
Province of the Roman Empire
←   ←   ← 27 BC–7th century →
The province of Achaea within the Roman Empire, c. 125 AD
Capital		Corinth
Historical era		Antiquity
•	Established after the Fourth Macedonian War	27 BC
•	Balkans invaded by Slavs Theme of Hellas established	7th century
Today part of		Greece

Achaea or Achaia, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaïa (Greek: Αχαΐα Achaïa, [axaˈia]), was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the Peloponnese, eastern Central Greece, and parts of Thessaly. In the north, it bordered on the provinces of Epirus vetus and Macedonia. The region was annexed by the Roman Republic in 146 BC following the sack of Corinth by the Roman general Lucius Mummius, who was awarded the cognomen "Achaicus" ("conqueror of Achaea"). It became part of the Roman province of Macedonia, which included the whole of mainland Greece.

When Augustus became the first Roman emperor in 27 BC he made an agreement whereby some provinces, the imperial provinces, came under the control of the emperor, who appointed their governors. Other provinces, the senatorial provinces, remained under the control of the senate, who chose their governors from among the senators. The province of Achaea was separated from the province of Macedonia as a senatorial province. It comprised the Peloponnese Peninsula in the south and central Greece, (Attica, Boeotia and Aetolia).

Achaea was a senatorial province, thus free from military men and legions, and one of the most prestigious and sought-after provinces for senators to govern. Athens was the primary center of education for the imperial elite, rivaled only by Alexandria, and one of the most important cities in the Empire. Achaea was among the most prosperous and peaceful parts of the Roman world until Late Antiquity, when it first suffered from barbarian invasions. The province remained prosperous and highly urbanized however, as attested in the 6th-century Synecdemus.

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