EPIRUS, &Orin (meaning the mainland in Greek), an ancient part of northern Greece which stretched from the Ionian Sea to the Ambracian Gulf and was bounded by Illyria, Macedonia and Thessaly. Epirus is very moun tainous, especially so in the east, and this fact undoubtedly helped to shape the character of the inhabitants, who were of a bold and hardy nature and great lovers of their country, which was divided into numerous independent tribes, the principal of which were the Chaones, Mo lossi and Thesproti. The Greeks began early to settle along the coast of Epirus, and later, at some interior points. This led the way to Greek domination of the country at a later date. The chiefs of the Molossians, the most powerful of the tribes of Epirus, who claimed to be the direct descendants of Pyrrhus, the son of Achil les, whom legend credited with settling the country after the fall of Troy, and who con sequently prided themselves on a long line of princely ancestors, jealously maintained their ascendency and gradually increased their power over the whole country. Arymbas I of this line, who was educated in Athens, introduced Greek culture among his people during the second quarter of the 5th century !Lc.; Arym bas, a century and a half later, followed in the footsteps of his famous ancestor and namesake, and sedulously encouraged art and literature. One of his nieces, educated carefully by him and married to Philip II of Macedonia, was the mother of Alexander the Great. A period of wars followed the death of Arymbas II, in terrupted from time to time. Pyrrhus, who succeeded to the throne in 295 ac., carried the war to the Romans in Sicily and Italy for six years, and brought the name of Epirus promi nently to the attention of the Greek and Roman world. Finally Epirus became a sort of republic governed by a magistrate elected annually by the vote of the assembled people. The country unwisely sided with Perseus in his war against the Romans (168 ac.). The latter exacted a
terrible retribution, making slaves of 150,000 inhabitants of Epirus after having destroyed 70 towns and villages; and 22 years later the whole country became a political part of Macedonia under the title of Epirus Vetus. On the fall of Constantinople (1204) it was seized by Michel Angelus Comnenus. Later, after passing through several hands, it became the property of the Turks (1430) ; and it later formed part of the Turkish Vilayet of Janina. Greece obtained the part east of the river Arta in 1881.
At the close of the Balkan War (1912-13) Greece added a new province to her territory on her northwest, and to this she gave the name of Epirus. This province is bordered on the north by Albania, on the east by the provinces of Macedonia and Thessaly, and on the south and west by the Gulf of Arta and the Ionian Sea. The population of this newly-acquired territory is between 600,000 and 700,000 and its capital is Janina, a city of 25,000. It is largely an agricultural country and among its chief products are wheat and other grains, olives, fruits vegetables and tobacco.
Bibliography.— Bowen, Athos, Thessaly and Epirus) (London 1852); Dumont, de l'Adriatique et de 1'>? ire' (in Revue des deux Mondes; Paris 1872); Hob house, (A Journey through Albania, etc.' (Lon don 1813) ; Karapanos, (Dodone et ses Ruines) (Paris 1878) ; Leake, (Travels in Northern Greece) (London 1835) •, Merleker, (Darstellung des Landes und der Bewohner von Epeiros) (Konigsberg 1841) ; Skene, Lo calities on the Coast of Epirus) (in Journal Royal Geographical Society 1848) ; Stuart, 'Physical Geography and Natural Resources of Epirus' (1869) ; Von Hahn, Studien) ( Jena 1854) ; Wolfe, (Observations on the Gulf of Arta) (in Journal Royal Geographi cal Society 1834) ; Zompolides, Was Land und die Bewohner von Epirus) (Berlin 1880).