The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-10-28
AN ANCIENT CAPITAL
OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE

AdrianopIe, now virtually surround
ed by the Bulgarian troops, is the
principal fortified city of European
Turkey, and has long been relied on
by the Turks to prevent a hostile
army approaching Constantinople.
Adrianople stands on the site OF
Thracian city, the origin of which is
lost in the mists Of an tiquity. One Of
it's kings, according to Homer, an
ally of Troy. and was killed by the
Greeks during the Trojan war. The
present city was rebuilt by the Rom
ans and renamed after the emperor
Adrian over 1900 years ago. Several
times, when either foreign war or Sc
dition, drove the Greek emperors out
of Constantinople, 1T was their capital
until change Of fortune enabled
them to return to the greater city by
the Golden Horn. In the palmy days
of the Roman empire, Adrianople and
all the country around 1t was one of
the gardenspots of the world, very
different from the i-desert it has
always been, under Turkish rule. In
1905 the Bulgarians sent a great army
against it and won a victory over the
Emperor Baldwin.
1t was a stronghold of Christianity
until 1861 and often offered it's hos
pitality to the crusaders, especially
those from Germany. In that year,
however, the Moslem Turks took the
city and it was the chief city of their
empire until 1888, when they captur-
ed Constantinople and made that city
their capital.
The Russians have occupied Adrian
opIe twice, the first time in 1920,
when they forced Turkey to sign a
treaty giving independence to Greece.
Again during the Russo-Turkish war
Of 1873 the Russians took the town
without resistance. The modern Ad-
rianople is a scattered, uncared for
city although some of it's forty
mosques are fine examples Of architec-
ture. It's people number about $4,000,
half Turks, the rest Armenians, Is
raelites and Greeks, except for a
handful of Catholics and Protestants.
The Notifications are very strong.
They are composed of forty modern
forts in a semi circle running around
the northern part from east to west
with minor forts between. The south
is the weakest spot, being guarded
practically only by the river, but there
are treacherous marshes on that side.
Adrianople Is about $50 miles as the
crow flies from Constantinople, and
about 40 miles further by the rail-
way, which Is the eastern end of the
Trans European line that runs all the
way from the straits of Dover to the
Bosphorus.
The Bulgarians were originally an
Asiatic people, whose origin is un-
known. They were different both from
the Caucasians of the south and Mon
gols of the north. They are kin to the
Samoyedes of northeastern Siberia and
to the Fins of northwestern Russia,
and have preserved some of their
characteristics in spite of centuries of
mixture with other races. They first
appeared in Armenia about 100 B. c.,
but when the Roman empire began to
disintegrate they moved over into
southeastern Europe and conquered
the country they now inhabit. They
were aggressive heathens, and for hun
dreds of years prosecuted the Chris
tians as fercely as the Turks ever
have While they are now nominally
Greek Christians, they have preserved
many of their old pagan rites, and mix
them in their religious observances as
the Mexicans of today mingle many
old Aztec customs with the services
of the Roman Catholic church.
The Servians are one of the branches
or the great Slavonic race, though ow-
ing to constant intermixture with other
races there is little left of the race but
the name anG customs. Their country
was the battle-ground of Hungary,
Austria and Turkey for over six hun
dred years, and there is prospect that
1t VIII see fighting on a larger scale
than ever in the next year or So