History of the Peloponnesian War

There is a report which I may also mention, that when Alemaeon, son of Amphiaraus, was wandering about after the murder of his mother, Apollo directed him by an oracle to inhabit this region, by suggesting to him that he would have no release from his terrors till he should discover and inhabit a country which had not yet been seen by the sun, nor existed as land, at the time he slew his mother; since all the rest of the earth was polluted to him.

He was perplexed, they say, [by such a command]; but at length observed this alluvial deposition of the Achelous, and thought that enough might have been thrown up to support life during the long period that he had been a wanderer since killing his mother. Accordingly he settled in the parts about Aeniadae, and became powerful, and left the name to the country from his son Acarnan. Such is the account we have received respecting Alcmaeon.