ARTA (NARDA or ZARTA), a town in Greece, province of Epirus, on the site of the ancient Ambracia. The present name is derived from its river (anc. Arachthus) which enters the Gulf of Arta south of the town and was formerly the frontier between Greece and Turkey. There are a few old walls, a picturesque bridge, formerly neutral ground, a Byzantine castle on the ancient citadel; the palace of the Greek metropolitan; many mosques and churches. The population (8,045) manufactures woollens, cottons, Russia leather and embroidery, and there is trade in cattle, wine, tobacco, hemp, hides and grain. The neighbouring plain is fertile, and the town has gardens and orchards of orange, lemon and citron. As a Greek frontier post, Arta has often been in dispute. In 1083 it was taken by Bohemund of Tarentum; in by the Turks; in 1688 by the Venetians. In 1747 it was held by the French, but in 1798 Ali Pasha of Iannina captured it. During the Greek War of Independence it suffered severely; in 1854 it revolted; and in 1881 it was ceded to Greece. In 1897 the Greeks gained some temporary successes at Arta, and after the Balkan War of 1912 the annexation of southern Epirus to Greece changed Arta's circumstances altogether.