Related Research Articles
Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë and the Acroceraunian Mountains in the north to the Ambracian Gulf and the ruined Roman city of Nicopolis in the south. It is currently divided between the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece and the counties of Gjirokastër and Vlorë in southern Albania. The largest city in Epirus is Ioannina, seat of the Greek region of Epirus, with Gjirokastër the largest city in the Albanian part of Epirus.
Kosmas the Aetolian, sometimes Cosmas the Aetolian or Patrokosmas "Father Kosmas", was a monk in the Greek Orthodox Church. He is recognized as one of the originators of the twentieth-century religious movements in Greece. He is also noted for his prophesies. Kosmas held negative views on speakers of Aromanian and Arvanitika, and urged them to abandon their language and adopt Greek.
Himarë is a municipality and region in Vlorë County, southern Albania. The municipality has a total area of 571.94 km2 (220.83 sq mi) and consists of the administrative units of Himarë, Horë-Vranisht and Lukovë. It lies between the Ceraunian Mountains and the Albanian Ionian Sea Coast and is part of the Albanian Riviera. The traditionally perceived borders of the Himarë region gradually shrank during the Ottoman period, being reduced to the town of Himarë and the villages of the coastline, generally including only Palasë, Dhërmi, Pilur, Kudhës, Vuno, Iljas and Qeparo.
Moscopole or Voskopoja is a village in Korçë County in southeastern Albania. During the 18th century, it was the cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it hosted the first printing house in the Ottoman Balkans outside Constantinople, educational institutions and numerous churches. It became a leading center of Greek culture but also with elements of Albanian and Aromanian culture, all with great influence from Western civilization.
Chameria is a term used today mostly by Albanians to refer to parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and Greece, traditionally associated with the Albanian ethnic subgroup of the Chams. For a brief period (1909-1912), three kazas were combined by the Ottomans into an administrative district called Çamlak sancak. Apart from geographic and ethnographic usages, in contemporary times within Albania the toponym has also acquired irredentist connotations. During the interwar period, the toponym was in common use and the official name of the area above the Acheron river in all Greek state documents. Today it is obsolete in Greek, surviving in some old folk songs. Most of what is called Chameria is divided between parts of the Greek regional units of Thesprotia, Preveza, and Ioannina ; and the municipality of Konispol at the southernmost extremity of Albania. As the wider Greek toponyms Epirus has existed since antiquity and the narrower Thesprotia also reflects an ancient name, and given the negative sentiments towards Albanian irredentism, the term is not used by the locals on the Greek side of the border.
The Greeks of Albania are ethnic Greeks who live in or originate from areas within modern Albania. After ethnic Albanians, they form the second largest ethnic group in the country. They are mostly concentrated in the south of the country, in the areas of the northern part of the historical region of Epirus, in parts of Vlorë County, Gjirokastër, Korçë and Berat County. The area is also known as Northern Epirus. Consequently, the Greeks hailing specifically from Southern Albania are also known as Northern Epirotes. The Greeks who live in the "minority zones" of Albania are officially recognised by the Albanian government as the Greek National Minority of Albania.
Lunxhëri is a region in the Gjirokastër County, Albania. It is an ethnographic region along with neighboring regions such as Kurvelesh, Zagoria, Dropull. It is in the periphery of a wider ethnographic region known as Labëria, though its population is said to be non-Lab. Many of its native inhabitants prefer for Lunxhëria to be identified instead as Tosk, as are neighboring regions to the east such as Dangëllia and Kolonja, rather than Lab; some researchers instead prefer to view Lunxhëria as a "transitory region" that is linguistically part of Labëria but culturally part of Toskëria. Lunxhëria is predominantly inhabited by Albanians, but also has Greek and Aromanian minorities.
Zagoria is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. During the 2015 local government reform, Zagoria became a subdivision of the municipality Libohovë. The population at the 2011 census was 411. Since 2018, the region has been at the centre of the expanded Zagoria Nature Park. Zagoria is also considered to be a distinct "ethnographic region", traditionally consisting of 10 settlements: Sheper, Nivan, Ndëran, Topovë, Konckë, Hoshteve, Lliar, Vithuq, Doshnicë and Zhej.
Pogon, is a former commune in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Dropull. The population at the 2011 census was 432. It consists of seven villages which are mostly Greek speaking: Poliçan; Skore; Hllomo; Sopik; Mavrojer; Çatistë and Selckë of which Poliçan is the administrative center. The administrative unit of Pogon is inhabited by ethnic Greeks.
Bishop Vasileios of Dryinoupolis was Greek metropolitan bishop, scholar, important figure of the Northern Epirus movement and member of the provisional Government of Northern Epirus (1914) that struggled against annexation of his homeland to the newly established Principality of Albania.
Dropull is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albanian border, along the Drino river. The region's villages are part of the Greek "minority zone" recognized by the Albanian government, in which majorities of ethnic Greeks live.
Selckë is a small village in the former Pogon municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Dropull. In the early 1990s, the village was inhabited by an Orthodox Albanian majority and an Aromanian minority, while in the 2010s a Greek community is also recorded.
The brothers Kostandin Zografi and Athanas Zografi were Albanian painters of the 18th century from Dardhë, in modern Korçë municipality, southern Albania. They are regarded as the most prominent painters of the Albanian post-Byzantine icon art of the 18th century and generally of the region of Epirus. Along with David Selenica, Kostandin Shpataraku, Terpo Zografi, Efthim Zografi, Joan Çetiri, Naum Çetiri, Gjergj Çetiri, Nikolla Çetiri, and Ndin Çetiri they represent the School of Korçë painting.
Dhërmi is a village in Vlorë County, Albania. It is part of the municipality of Himarë. The village lies 42 kilometers south of the city of Vlorë and about the same distance north of the southern city of Sarandë. It is built on a slope of the Ceraunian Mountains at approximately 200 meters in altitude, and comprises three neighborhoods: Gjilek, Kondraq, Kallami, and Dhërmi itself. The mountains descend to the southwest into the Ionian coast and Corfu in the distance to the south. Nearby is the village of Palasë. The local inhabitants of Dhërmi are ethnic Greeks that mainly speak a variant of the Greek Himariote dialect, and partly the Tosk Albanian dialect. During the last decade, the coastal area has seen a boom in the construction of accommodation facilities, such as wooden villa complexes.
Poliçan is a village in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Dropull. It is within the wider Pogoni region that stretches in both Greece and Albania. Poliçan was the municipal center of the former Pogon commune in Albania. It is nicknamed "the Bride of the Pogoni region" and is inhabited by ethnic Greeks.
Kosmas Thesprotos or Kosmas o Thesprotos was a Greek scholar, priest and theologian.
The Northern Epirote Declaration of Independence occurred on February 28, 1914, as a reaction to the incorporation of Northern Epirus into the newly established Principality of Albania. The region of Northern Epirus, which corresponds to modern-day southern Albania, came under the control of the Greek forces during the Balkan Wars of 1912–13. However, the subsequent Protocol of Florence assigned it to the newly established Albanian state, a decision that was rejected by the local Greek population. As the Greek army withdrew to the new border, a Panepirotic Assembly was organized by the representatives of Northern Epirus in Gjirokastër. Given the fact that union of Northern Epirus with Greece had already been dismissed by the European Great Powers, they decided that only autonomy or alternatively an international occupation would be appropriate for the region. Finally, Georgios Christakis-Zografos, the head of the assembly, declared the independence of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
Dryinopolis or Dryinoupolis is a historical region in southwestern Albania and northwestern Greece in Epirus. The heartland of this region is the valley of the Drino river and Dropull/Dropolis. A Greek-Orthodox bishopric under this name was established at 449 AD as well as a theme (district) of the Byzantine Empire and the Despotate of Epirus. Today the name of Dryinopolis is preserved in the local metropolitan bishopric of the Church of Greece for the Greek part of the region, while the Albanian part is under the religious jurisdiction of the metropolis of Gjirokaster of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania.
The uprising in Epirus of 1611, also known as uprising of Dionysios Skylosophos, was an anti-Ottoman rebellion by Albanian peasants, organized and led by the former Greek Orthodox bishop Dionysios. The peasants and shepherds who rebelled, attacked the city of Ioannina, the seat of the Ottoman governor of the region, on September 10, 1611. The following day the uprising was brutally suppressed by the Ottoman authorities with support from the local Greek Orthodox notables and the ringleaders were executed. As a result of the revolt the privileges which the native inhabitants of Ioannina enjoyed since the beginning of Ottoman rule (1430) were annulled.
Neophytos Rodinos was a 17th-century Greek Cypriot scholar and Catholic missionary. Born in Cyprus he later converted to Roman Catholicism and undertook missionary work preaching in various regions: Italy, Poland, Greece, Turkey and Albania. Rodinos was a professor of classical Greek with enormous educational activity until his death, using vernacular Greek speech in his proselitizing missions. He was crucial in maintaining cultural ties between his native Cyprus and the wider Greek world as well as preserving a distinctive Greek literary and philosophical tradition.
References
- 1 2 3 (in Greek) Άγιος Σοφιανός επίσκοπος Δρυϊνουπόλεως καί Αργυροκάστρου. Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής. 26 November 2013.
- ↑ Badlands, borderlands: a history of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania. Tom Winnifrith. Duckworth, 2002 ISBN 0-7156-3201-9
- ↑ Epirus, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization. M. V. Sakellariou. Ekdotike Athenon, 1997. ISBN 960-213-371-6. p. 316
- ↑ Albania's Captives. Pyrrus Ruches. Argonaut, Chicago 1965. p. 33