Epirus (ancient state)Epirus (ɪˈpaɪrəs; Epirote Greek: Ἄπειρος, ; Attic Greek: Ἤπειρος, ) was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in parts of north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bordered by the Aetolian League to the south, Ancient Thessaly and Ancient Macedonia to the east, and Illyrian tribes to the north. The Greek king Pyrrhus is known to have made Epirus a powerful state in the Greek realm (during 280–275 BC) that was comparable to the likes of Ancient Macedonia and Ancient Rome.
DodonaDodona (doʊˈdoʊnə; Dōdṓnā, Ionic and Δωδώνη, Dōdṓnē) in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the 2nd millennium BCE according to Herodotus. The earliest accounts in Homer describe Dodona as an oracle of Zeus. Situated in a remote region away from the main Greek poleis, it was considered second only to the Oracle of Delphi in prestige. Aristotle considered the region around Dodona to have been part of Hellas and the region where the Hellenes originated.
Ancient MacedoniansThe Macedonians (Μακεδόνες, Makedónes) were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian.
PindusThe Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; Píndos; Pindet; Pindu) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metres (8652') (Mount Smolikas). Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epirus, the Pindus range is known colloquially as the spine of Greece. The mountain range stretches from near the Greek-Albanian border in southern Albania, entering the Epirus and Macedonia regions in northern Greece down to the north of the Peloponnese.
Battle of HeracleaThe Battle of Heraclea took place in 280 BC between the Romans under the command of consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, and the combined forces of Greeks from Epirus, Tarentum, Thurii, Metapontum, and Heraclea under the command of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Although the battle was a victory for the Greeks and their casualties were lower than the Romans, they had lost many veteran soldiers that would be hard to replace on foreign soil. Tarentum was a Greek colony, part of Magna Graecia.
Macedonian WarsThe Macedonian Wars (214–148 BC) were a series of conflicts fought by the Roman Republic and its Greek allies in the eastern Mediterranean against several different major Greek kingdoms. They resulted in Roman control or influence over Greece and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean basin, in addition to their hegemony in the western Mediterranean after the Punic Wars. Traditionally, the "Macedonian Wars" include the four wars with Macedonia, in addition to one war with the Seleucid Empire, and a final minor war with the Achaean League (which is often considered to be the final stage of the final Macedonian war).
ZagoriZagori (Ζαγόρι; Zagori), is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some and contains 46 villages known as Zagori villages (or Zagorochoria or Zagorohoria), and is in the shape of an upturned equilateral triangle. Ioannina, the provincial capital, is at the southern point of the triangle, while the south-western side is formed by Mount Mitsikeli (1,810m).
Epirus (region)Epirus (ɪˈpaɪrəs; Ήπειρος, ˈi.pi.ros) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region in northwestern Greece. It borders the regions of Western Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and Ionian Islands to the west and Albania to the north. The region has an area of about . It is part of the wider historical region of Epirus, which overlaps modern Albania and Greece but lies mostly within Greek territory. Greek Epirus, like the region as a whole, is rugged and mountainous.
AchelousIn ancient Greek religion and mythology, Achelous (also Acheloos or Acheloios) (ˌækᵻˈloʊ.əs; Ancient Greek: Ἀχελώϊος, and later Ἀχελῷος, Akhelôios) was the god associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. According to Hesiod, he was the son of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. He was also said to be the father of the Sirens, several nymphs, and other offspring. Achelous was able to change his shape, and in the form of a bull, he wrestled Heracles for the right to marry Deianeira, but lost.
IoanninaIoannina (Ιωάννινα Ioánnina i.oˈa.ni.na), often called Yannena (Γιάννενα Yánnena ˈʝa.ne.na) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the city population was 65,574, while the municipality had 112,486 inhabitants. Ten years later, the population of the city had seen a minor increase to 113,978 inhabitants. It lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level, on the western shore of Lake Pamvotis (Παμβώτις).