Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/91

 «3d EPEIRUS. the ancient inhabitantB of Epinis and some of the tribes on the opposite coast of Italy. The Chones, on the gulf of Tarentmn, are appaientlj the same people as the Chaones; and although we find no mention of the ThesprotiaQS in Italy, we have there a town Pandosia, and a river Acheron, as in Epims. There are good reasons for snpposing that the Italian OenotrianSi to wh(nn tile Chonians belonged, were of the same race as the Epirota. (Niebnhr, Eitt of Rom/B^ vol. i. p. 57.) [Oenotria.] If we were to accept the statement of Aristotle that Dodona was at one time inhabited by the people then called Graed, bat now Hellenes Meiieor. i. 14), EpiruB most be regarded as the original abode of the Hellenes ; bat tiiis statement is in opposition to the commonly received opinions of the Greeks, who placed the original home of the Hellenes in Thessaly. It may be that the Pelasgians in Epinis bore the Dame of Graeci, and carried the name to the opposite coast of Italy; which wonld accoont for the Rcmians and Italians in general giving the name of Graeci to all the Hellenes, looking upon the Hellenes who sab- ieqaently founded colonies in Italy as the same people. (Kiebuhr, voLiiL p. 451.) But, however this may be, the inhabitants of Epims exercised, at an early period, considerable inflamce upon Greece. Of this the wide- spread reputation of the oracle of Dodona is a proof. The Tbessalians, who conquered the country named after them, are represented as a Thesprotian tribe. [Thessaua.] According to the common tradititm, Neoptolemus <»■ Pyrrhus, «m of Achilles, settled in Epirus after his return from Troy, accompanied by Helenas, son of Priam. He transmitted his dominions to his son Molossus, from whom the Moloesian kings traced their descent (^Dict. ofBiogr, s. w. Neaptolemua and Mohttm.) The chief Greek settlement in Epirus was the flourishing Corinthian colony of Ambrada, upon the gulfcalled after it. [Ambracia.] At a later period, probably between the time of Thncydides and De- mosthenes, some Grecian settlers must have found thoir way into Thesprotia, since Demosthenes men- tions Pandosia, Buchetia, and EUea, as Eleian co- lonies (de ffalotm. p. 84). The Epirot tribes were independent of one another, though one tribe sometimes exercised a kind of su- premacy over a greater or a smaller number. Such a supremacy may have been exercised in ancient times by the Thesprotians, who possessed the oracle. In the Feloponnesian War the Ghaonians enjoyed a higher reputation than the rest (Thuc. ii. 80), and it is probably to this period that Strabo refiBrs when he says that the Ghaonians once ruled over all Epirus (viL p. 823). The importance of the Ghaonians at this period is shown by a line of An- fitophanes {EquU, 78, with Schol.). It most not, however, be inferred that the Ghaonians possessed any firm hold over the other tribes. The power of the Moloesian kings, of which we shall speak pre- fently, rested upon a difierent basis. Originally each tribe was governed by a king. In the time of the Persian wars the Molossians were governed by a king called Admetus, who was living with the simplicity of a village chief when Themi- stocles came to him as a suppliant. (Thnc i. 136.) Tharyps, ajso called Tharypas or Arrhybas, the son er grandson of Admetus, was a minor at the begin- ning of the Peloponnesian War, and was educated at Athens: he is said to have been the first to intro- duce among his subjects Hellenic civilisation. (Thuc Ii. 80; Paus. t 11. § 1; Justin, xviL 3; Pint EPEIBUS. Pyrrh. 1.) The kingly g o ve rnm ent always coa^' tinned among the Molossians, probably in conae- qoenoe of their power being veiy limited { fiir we are told that the king and people were accttstomed to meet at Paasaron, the ancient Moloaaiaii capital, to swear obedience to the laws. (Aristot. PoUl V. 11 ; Plut Pyrrh, 5.) But among the Chao* nians and Thesprotians the Idngly government had been. abolished before the Pdopomeaian Warr tbe chief magistrates of the Cluumians were seleeted from a particular fiunily {iK rov ipx"'^ Y f > m»i, Thuc. il 80). After the Peloponnesian War tba power of the Molossians increased, till at length Alexander, the brother of Olyropias, who marned Philip of Macedon, extended his dominion over most of the Epirot tribes, and took the title of kin|^ of Epirus. (Died. xvi. 72, 91; Strab. vt pi 280.) Alexander, who died b. c. 326, was 8ococ«ded b/ Aeacides, and Aeaddes by Aloetas, after whom the celebrated Pyrrhus became king of Epims, and raised the kingdom to its greatest s{dendoar. He removed the seat of government firam Paasargn to Ambrada, which was now for the first time annexed to the dominions of the Epirot kings. Pynhoa wna succeeded in b.c. 272 by his son, Alexander IL,. who was followed in succession by his two sons, Pyrrhus IL and Ptolemy. (For the history of these kings, see the Diet ofBiogr.) With the death of Ptolemy, between b. a 239 and 229, the familj of Pyrrhus became extinct, whereupon a repablifan fionn of government was established, which continued till the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans, B.^a 168. Having been accused of favouring Perseus, tiie Ra- man senate detennined that all the towns of Epims should be destroyed, and the inhabitants reduced to sbiveiy. This cruel order was carried mto executian by Aemilius Paulus, who, having previomly plaoed garrisons in the 70 towns of Epirus, razed them all to the ground in one day, and carried away 150,000 inhabitants as slaves. (Polyb. op. Strab. vii. p. 32S ; Liv: xlv. 34; Pint AemU PauL 29.) From the effects of this terrible blow Epirus never reoovered. In the time of Strabo the country waa still a scene of desolation, and the inhaMtants had only mins and villages to dwell in. (Strab. vii. pw 327.) Nioopolis, founded by Augustus in commemoration of his Tie" tory off Actium, was the chief city of Epiras unaer the Boman empire. Both this city and Buthrotnm had the dignity of Booian colonies. Epinis formed a province under the Bomans, and in the time of Ptolemy was separated fifvxn Achaia by the river Achelous. (Ptol. iii. 14.) Epirus now fonns part of Albania. The Albanians are probably descendanta of the ancient Illyrians, who took possession of the de? populated country under the Roman or the early By- zantine empire. On the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, a member of the celebrated By- zantine family of Gomnenns established an indepen- dent dynasty in Epirus; and the despots of Albania, as they were called, continued for two centuries onlj second in power to the emperors of Ganstaatioople. The last of these rulers, George Castriot, resisted ibr more than 20 years the whole forces of the Ottoman empire; and it was not till his death in 1466 thai Albania was annexed to the Turkish dominions. The chief towns in Epirus were : — 1. In Ghaonia. Vpoa the road near the ooast from N. to S.: PAUkBSTB; Gbdcaeba; Phoisvicb; BuTHBOTUM; GEsnoa, also called Ilium or Tnga, in the district Gestrine. [Gestbimb.] West of this road, apoB the coast:. Q»che8md»; CAauonE.