In the 1st century BC, Acarnania suffered greatly at the hands of pirates, and in Rome's civil wars. When Greece was reduced to the form of a Roman province, it is doubtful whether Acarnania was annexed to the province of Achaia or of Epeirus, but it is mentioned at a later time as part of Epeirus. The inhabitants of several of its towns were removed by Augustus to Nicopolis, which he founded after the Battle of Actium, and Acarnania fell under that city's rule; and in the time of Augustus emperor the country is described by Strabo as utterly worn out and exhausted.