EPIRUS, a country to the north-west of Greece, along the coast of the Ionian Sea, bounded on the north by the Ceraunian Mountains, on the south by the Ambracian Gulf, and separated on the east and north-east from Thessaly and Macedonia by the lofty range of Pindus. This extensive country was known in the earlier ages of the world under no general name; it was probably the inhabitants of the numerous islands along its coasts who first applied to it the appellation of Epirus, answering to the English term mainland, in order to distinguish it from the islands which they themselves inhabited. It included within its bounds several nations, the most powerful of whom were the Molossi, whose chief town was Dodona, famous for the oracle and temple of Jupiter; the Thesproti, who had for their capital Buthrotum; and the Chaones, who dwelt in the valleys of the Ceraunian Mountains. All these tribes are considered as having been of Pelasgic origin. Though allied by blood with the Greeks, they were always regarded as barbarians, and Ambracia as the last city in Greece. The ancient buildings, institutions, and religious worship of the Epirotes, are also manifestly of Pelasgic origin.

The kings of Epirus pretended to be descended from Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, who settled in this country after the taking of Troy, and transmitted his kingdom to Molossus, his son by Andromache; but the early history of the kings of the Molossi is involved in much obscurity. Admetus sat on the throne of Epirus, 480 b. c. at the time of the invasion of Greece by the Persians, and he remained neutral till their defeat, when he solicited an alliance with the Athenians. This was refused chiefly through the persuasion of Themistocles; yet Admetus was generous enough to forget this circumstance when Themistocles was banished, 471 b. c. by his ungrateful countrymen, and received him with every mark of respect and esteem.

Admetus was succeeded by his son Tharymbas or Arymbas I. about 429 b. c., but was still so young that he was placed, by a decree of the people, under the guardianship of Sabylinthus, prince of Atintania. He seems to have been a wise and prudent monarch, who attempted to introduce a regular form of government among a wild and a lawless people. Alcetas is the next king of Epirus mentioned in history, and he reigned about 385 b. c. Being driven from his throne by his subjects, he fled to Syracuse, and with the assistance of Dionysius was soon afterwards re-established. Neoptolemus his son reigned but a short time, and left the crown to his brother Arymbas II. about 360 B. c. who encouraged literature and the arts, governing his kingdom with prudence, equity, and moderation. It was to him that Xenocrates of Chalcedon dedicated the four books which he had composed on the art of go. verning. This prince educated with the greatest care the children of his brother. He married Troas, one of his nieces, and gave the other, Olympias, in marriage to Philip of Macedon, who had by her Alexander the Great. On his death, 342 b. c. he was succeeded by his nephew Alexander, brother of Olympias. This prince was put in possession of the throne of his uncle by the aid of his brother-in-law Philip, who afterwards gave him in marriage his daughter Cleopatra. It was at the celebration of these nuptials at Edessa that the king of Macedonia was assassinated.

Alexander was the first prince who raised the character and reputation of his country amongst foreign nations. Having been applied to by the Tarentines for assistance against the Samnites and Lucanians, he passed into Italy with a considerable force, made a descent at Paestum, 332 b. c. , a city near the mouth of the river Silarus, and reduced under his dominion several cities of the Lucani and Brutii∙ In his second attack upon Italy he was hurround∙ ed by the enemy, defeated, and slain, near the city Pandosia, in the territory of the Brutii.

Oeacides the son of Arymbas II. succeeded to Alexander, and espoused the cause of Olympias against Cassander; but his soldiers having mutinied, dethroned him, though he was in a short time reinstated. He was killed the same year, 313 b. c., in a battle against Philip, brother of Cassander. This prince had by his wife Phthia, the celebrated Pyrrhus, and two daughters, Deidamia and Troas, of whom the former married Demetrius Poliorcetes. His brother Alcetas, who succeeded him, continued the war with Cassander till he was defeated, and his dominions were overrun by the enemy. He was afterwards put to death by his rebellious subjects 295 b c. The name of Pyrrhus, who now ascended the throne, sheds a lustre on the annals of Epirus, and gives to its history an importance which it would never have otherwise possessed; but for a detailed account of his life we must refer to the article Pyrrhus.

Alexander, in 272 b. c., succeeded his father Pyrrhus, when he attempted to seize on Macedonia. He defeated Antigonus Gonatas, but was himself shortly afterwards driven from his kingdom by Demetrius, son of that prince. He recovered it, however, and spent the rest of his reign in peace. At the expiration of two other insignificant reigns the family of Pyrrhus became extinct, upon which the inhabitants of Epirus changed the form of their government, electing annually a praetor in a general assembly of the nation held at Passaron, a city of the Molossi. Epirus imprudently espoused the cause of Perseus in his war against the Romans, when he was defeated and taken prisoner 168 b. c.; and it was exposed to the unrelenting fury of the Romans, who destroyed in one day seventy-three cities, and carried away the principal inhabitants to Rome. It never recovered from this fatal blow. At the dissolution of the Achaean league, 146 b. c. this country became part of the province of Macedonia under the name of Vetus Epirus, in order to distinguish it from Nova Epirus, which lay to the east.

On the division of the empire it became the inheritance of the emperors of the East, and remained under them until the taking of Constantinople by the Latins, in 1204> when Michel Comnenes seized on Aetolia and Epirus. 0 n the death of Michel, in 1216, these countries fell into the hands of his brother Theodore. Charles, the nephew of Theodore, and the last prince of this family, having die [7:9:313]without legitimate heirs, Epirus and Acarnania were left to his natural children. Amurath II. stripped them of this inheritance. In 1443, Scanderberg, king of Albania, made himself master of a considerable part of Epirus. But on his death it fell into the power of the Venetians, from whom it passed to the Turks, who possess it at present under the name of Albania.