Perth Amboy evening news., 1916-10-12
Epirus May Be
Desire of Greece
In the Big War

Washington, Oct. 12:-What por-
ton of northern Epirus Greece wish
ed the Entent Allies to promise her
as the price of her participation in
the European war will not be known,
perhaps. until the terms of peace are
| made public. That portion of the
ancient district of northern Greece
Italy and the government at Athens
lies in the new principality of Alba
MIA.
The Epirus district, without respect
to Its modern boundaries-Greek, and
AiDanian-ts the subject of the fol-
lowing war geography bulletin Is
sued by the National Geographic So
ciety:
I'm ancient times the name Epirus
lmainiando was given to an extern
sive area of northwestern Greece to
distinguish 1t from the islands of the
ionian sea, which form a fringe to
the west. 1t extended from an indef-
mite northern boundary, somewhere
IN the southern part of the territory
now embraced in the infant princi-
pality OF Albania, to the Corinthian
Gulf, and although the Athenians,
Corinthians and Spartans were wont
TO look upon the inhabitants of the
district as semi-barbarous, no less an
authority than Aristotle gave it as the
original home of the Hellenes.
owing to Its extremely mountain
Gus character, Epirus has never been
great grain-producing section, but
from ancient times up to the present
1t has been famous for its fine cattle
and horses, also for a peculiar breed
of dog. the Molossian. In the eastern
part or the district towers Mt. Lac
mon, the backbone of the Pindus
range, on which rise three of the
great rivers of northwestern Greece.
Ep1rus became world-renowned
even before historic times on account
OF the great oracle of Dodona, the
ruins of whose temples were discov-
cred during the last half Of the nine
teenth century only a few miles
southwest of the modern Macedonian
town OF Janina. The messages from
the gods were received at Dodona
through. the rustling of the leaves of
an oak tree in which Zeus was sup
posed to reside, but local legend
says that the first message was de-
h'ereo by a dove speaking from the
tree with human voice. At anv
rate. the priestesses of the oracle
were called Peleaides (dovesO. He
rodotus reports that while on a visit
10 Egyptian Thebes he learned that
Ine 1 oracle had been founded by an
tted away by Phoenicians.
AS the rivalry between the oracle
OF Zeus at Dodona and that of Apollo
at Delphi grew more keen the priest
esses OF the former invented new
methods of receiving messages
among these being the Interpretation
or the murmur of a bubbling foun-
taih near the oak tree, the sound of |
tne WIND rushing through the brazen
oaulorohs which stood in q circle !
near the temple, and the sounds made
by a metal-tipped whip as the wind |
arove 1t against bronze tripod. MANY |
Atnenlans, Spartans and Eastern DO
tentates consulted the oracle and If is
SAID that Croesus, the last king of
Lydla, also consulted Dodona as to
he should attempt a cam
palgh against Cyrus. king of the Per-
slams. Unhappily the framous rich
ridn n dcted upon the advice of the
oeiphic Oracle which told him that
he would destroy a great kingdom
And the predjctieH-of the oracle was
'eeanear out the Kingdom which he
destroyed was his own.
fhe Hellenes founded many colo
lies on the Epiran shore Apd these
erved as stepping stones to dominion
.ver the Adriatic. The wealthfast-6fi-
ne ancient cities was PAoenice,
vhich became the head of an Epiro-
ic League after the fall of the Molos-
ian kingdom
The Molossians, most powerful,
md progressive of the fourteen tribes
which Inhabited Epirus, were ruiec
y cnie1talns who professed to be
lescendants Of Pyrrhus, the son of
Achllles. who was supposed to have
ettled in this part of the world afte, '
he fall of Troy. '
'One of the most noted of the Mo-
osslan Kings was Arymbas II, who
ent education, married one of them .
1mself and gave the other, Olmypias,
0 Philip II Of Macedon. Olympias
ives IN history as the mother of Alex
nder the Great. From Alexander's
unit descended Pyrrhus, who had .
ong war with Rome in behalf of the
arent1nes and who made Epirus
over In world politics for q short
me. More than $50 years after the
cath of Pyrrhus Epirus again came
4 conflict with Rome as the ally of
'erseus. the Macedonian who mount
q a throne over the body of his
lurdered brother Demetrius. The
tomans under Aemilius Paulus ami
Hated the forces of Perseus at Pydna
i6S b. e., and took the defeated o
ing in triumph to the capital. The a
unishment meted out to Epirus for 9
IS share in the war was the destruc- !
ION of 70 of her principal cities and
he enslavement of 10000 of its peo-
LEA blow from which the kingdom ,
ever recovered
With the partition Of the Roman
mpire Epirus was given to the East
rn emperors. When the Latins took {
onstantinople in 1904 1t became !
ossession of Michel Angelus Com /
enus. In succeeding centuries the J.
has been variously governed
nd misgoverned by Albanians, vene- s
ans and Turks"