According to Homer (Iliad 2.749), the Ainianes originally inhabited the hill country east of Dodona in Epeiros. In the early Archaic Period, they migrated eastward into Thessaly, settling in the upper Spercheios valley in the region named for them, Ainis. As a tribal state, rather than a more structured polis, the Ainianes joined the amphictionies, or religious leagues, of Pylos and Delphi. Their strategic dependence on the Aetolians brought them into alliance with the Aitolian League during the third and second centuries BC. Subsequently, the Romans granted them independence as a koinon, a status the Ainianes enjoyed well into the imperial period.
THESSALY, The Ainianes. Circa 168-146 BC. AR Didrachm (7.55 g, 12h). Helmeted head of Athena Parthenos right, [ΝΙΚΑ]ΡΧΟΣ to left / Slinger (Phemios) standing right, two javelins behind. SNG Copenhagen -; Dewing 1377.
