925 



EPINAL. 



EPIRUS. 



926 



cultural pursuits. (Plutarch, 'Qusest. Or." 1.) At an early period 

 Epidaurua was an important commercial city, and the mother city of 

 yEgina and Cos, the former of which was once dependent upon it. 

 (Strabo, p. 375.) It also colonised the islands of Calydnus and 

 Nisyrus. (Herod. vii. 99.) As a commercial city its consequence had 

 passed away by the 6th century B.C. As the chief seat of the worship 

 of yEsculapius (Aselepius), Kpidaurus was for a long period a highly 

 important place. The temple of .^sculapius was situated at the 

 upper end of a valley about five miles from the city, and was one 

 of the richest and most renowned sanctuaries in Greece. In B.C. 

 293 it was BO celebrated that during a pestilence at Rome a depu- 

 tation was sent from that city to implore the aid of the Epidaurian 

 god. (Liv. x. c. 47.) The temple was always crowded with invalids, 

 and the priests, who were also physicians, contrived to keep up its 

 reputation, for the walls were covered with tablets describing the 

 cures which they had wrought, even in the tune of Strabo. The 

 temple stood in a sacred inclosure called the grove (&\aos), which 

 was less than a mile in circumference, and contained several buildings 

 besides the temple. The name of the sanctuary (iepdv), is still 

 preserved in the modern name of the spot Uieron. The temple, 

 which contained a chryselephantine statue of -Esculapius, was half 

 the size of the Olympieium at Athens. But few vestiges of it are left. 

 Near the temple was a remarkably beautiful theatre, built by Poly- 

 cleitus (Pausan. ii. 27, 5), which is in better preservation than any 

 other theatre in Greece, except that at Trametzus, near loanniua ; 

 the orchestra is 90 feet long, and the entire theatre 370 feet ; when 

 complete it was capable of containing 12,000 spectators: 32 rows of 

 seats (ttill appear above ground. Of the other buildings mentioned 

 by Painanias, including temples of Athena Cissica, Artemis, Dionysus, 

 aud Aphrodite in the city, a temple of Hera on the promontory by 

 the harbour, and two or three temples on the neighbouring heights ; 

 and the temples of Aphrodite, Artemis, and Themis, which together 

 with a Tliolus (ci.-cular building) erected by Polycleitus, and adorned 

 with paintings by Pausing, n stadium, and some other edifices were 

 within the sacred inclosure, there are but few remains. 



Coin of Epidaurns. 

 British Museum. Actual Size. Silver. Weight, 38i grains. 



Epidaurus hag acquired some celebrity in recent times as the 

 place where the Congress of Deputies from all parts of Greece 

 assembled, and promulgated on the 1st of January 1822 the consti- 

 tution known as the Constitution of Epidaurus. Such was the state 

 of Epidaurus at that time that the deputies, unable to find accom- 

 modation in the villages, were compelled to live in the open air. 

 Epidaurus "is now a miserable village and can barely muster 100 

 inhabitants aud a few small boats." It has a good and well protected 

 port. The village is surrounded by a small plain, in which vege- 

 tables are grown for the market of Athens. (Leake, ' Morea,' vol. ii. ; 

 Curtius, ' Peloponuesos/ vol. ii. ; and Murray, 'Handbook of Greece," 

 p. 255.) 



There were two other cities of this name ; one in Laconia, called 

 Epidaurus Limera, which had also a well-known temple of ..-Esculapius. 

 There are still some remains of the fortifications. (Leake, ' Morea,' i. 

 p. 211.) This Epidaurus had a capital harbour, from which, accord- 

 ing to Apollodorus, it derived its name Limera. (Strabo, p. 368.) 

 The third Epidaurus was a maritime city of Illyria, mentioned by 

 Hirtius ('De Bello Alexandrine,' c. 44). 



EPINAL, the capital of the department of Vosges, in France, 

 stands on the Moselle, about 234 miles E. by S. from Paris, in 

 48" 10' 24" N. lat., 6 26' 55" E. long., and has 10,183 resident 

 inhabitants in the commune. This is exclusive of troops, students, 

 prisoners, the inmates of hospitals and religious houses, and all 

 clauses that go to make up the floating population of a place. 



No mention occurs of Epinal earlier than the end of the 10th 

 century, when it was the residence of the bishops of Metz : the 

 lordship however passed subsequently into the hands of the dukes of 

 Lorraine. It was formerly well fortified, and had a fine castle ; but 

 the fortifications have been razed. 



The town is situated at the foot of the chain of the Vosges, and in a 

 district abounding with delightful situations. The rapid clear atream of 

 the Moselle which here separates into two channels inclosing an island, 

 divides the town into three parts the Grande Ville which stands 

 on the right bank of the main stream, and at the foot of an eminence 

 crowned with the ruins of the castle ; the Petite Ville which is built 

 on the island, and is joined to the Grande Ville by two bridges, one of 

 atone, erected in 1840, and the other of iron, constructed on the 

 suspension principle ; and the Faubourg of the Capuchins, which is 

 built along the left bank of the smaller arm of the Moselle, and is 

 named from a convent of monks of that order. The streets of 

 Epinal tire well-built, and regularly laid out and clean. The finest 

 edifices in thu place are the barracks, the residence of the prefect of 



the department, the college buildings, the court-house, and the parish 

 church, which is of gothic architecture, mingled with some parts in 

 the style of a later age. The former Capuchin convent which stands 

 on an eminence and is surrounded by large gardens, is now used aa 

 an hospital. The town has also a tribunal of first instance, a com- 

 munal college, a chamber of commerce, a public library of 20,000 

 volumes, a museum, an orphan asylum, and a theatre. The manu- 

 factures are chemical products, lace, block-tin, wrought-iron, paper, 

 earthenware, and leather; and some trade is carried on in corn, 

 cattle, iron, timber, oak staves, deal planks, &c. 



EPINE, L'. [MAKNE.] 



EPI'RUS, (^Treipos, mainland), the name given to that district in 

 Northern Greece which extended from the Acro-ceraunian promontory 

 on the north to the Ambracian Gulf on the south, and from the 

 Ionian Sea to the Chain of Piudus. In more ancient times the term 

 included the entire western coast from the Ceraunian Mountains to 

 the Corinthian Gulf, and the name was used in contradistinction to 

 Corcyra and the other islands lying along the coast. (Strabo, p. 453 ; 

 Homer, 'Odyss.,' xiv. 100 ; Thuc. i. 5.) 



Epirus was a wild and rugged mountainous country corresponding 

 generally with the southern portion of ALBANIA, under which title 

 its physical features are described (vol. i. col. 170.) Then, as now, 

 but comparatively a small part of the country was agricultural ; the 

 mountains were the resort of a wild and savage race, and the valleys, 

 though numerous, did not produce sufficient grain for the require- 

 ments of the inhabitants. The general pursuits of the inhabitants 

 were pastoral, and the fine cattle and horses of Epirus were cele- 

 brated among the Greeks. The population was mostly collected in 

 villages, the towns in Epirus being but few, while those were probably 

 of comparatively late construction. The inhabitants of Epirus were 

 scarcely considered Hellenic. The population in early times had 

 been Pelasgic. (Strabo, p. 221.) The oracle at Dodona was always 

 called Pelasgic [DODONA], and many names of places iu Epirus were 

 also borne by the Pelasgic cities of the opposite coast of Italy 

 (Niebuhr, ' Hist, of Rome,' i. p. 34) ; but irruptions of Illyrians had 

 barbarised the whole nation ; and though Herodotus (ii. 56) speaks 

 of Thesprotia as a part of Hellas, he refers to its old condition, 

 when it was a celebrated seat of the Pelasgians, rather than to its 

 state at the time when he wrote his history. In their mode of 

 cutting the hair, in their costume, and in their language, the Epirotes 

 resembled the Macedonians, who were an Illyriau tribe. (Strabo, 

 p. 327.) Theopompus (apud Strab., p. 323) divided the inhabitants 

 of Epirus into fourteen different and independent tribes. Of these 

 the most renowned were the Chaonians who occupied the northern, 

 and Molossians who occupied the southern part of the country, and 

 who successively maintained a preponderance in this district. The 

 Molossiaus claimed a descent from Molossus, the son of Neoptolemus 

 and Andromache, who according to the myth, migrated from Thessaly 

 into Epirus after the Trojan war, and settled there iu obedience to 

 the injunctions of an oracle. Epirus rose into importance by the 

 matrimonial connection of Alexander of Epirus with the king of 

 Macedon. Philip married Alexander's sister Olympias, and gave 

 him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. Alexander was the first of 

 the Molossian princes who bore the title of king of Epirus, having 

 extended his power over most of the other Epirot tribes. He invaded 

 Italy to assist the Tarentines against the Brutii and Lucani, and was) 

 slain near Pandosia. (Liv. viii. 24.) Pyrrhus, the grandson of 

 Alexander, is the best known of the sovereigns of Epirus. The 

 family of Pyrrhus became extinct three generations after his death, 

 and the government was turned into a republic, which subsisted till 

 the year B.C. 167, when the Epirotes were suspected of favouring 

 Perseus of Macedon, and utter destruction was inflicted upon them 

 by the Roman general P. ^Emilius, who destroyed 70 towns, and 

 carried away to slavery 150,000 of the inhabitants (Polyb. ap. Strab., 

 p. 322 ; Liv., xlv. c. 34 ; Plut. '^Ernil.,' c. 29), after which the greater 

 part of the country remained in a state of absolute desolation, and 

 even in the time of Strabo where there were any inhabitants they 

 had nothing but villages and ruins to dwell in. (Strabo, p. 327.) Oi' 

 the other Epirotio nations, the Thesprotians, who occupied tin' 

 middle portion of the country, were most celebrated. They are 



Coin of Epirus. 

 British Museum. Actual size. Silver. Weight, 151 J grains. 



mentioned by Homer, who does not name the Chaonians and Molos- 

 sians (' Odyss.,' xiv. 315), and are considered by Herodotus to have 

 been the progenitors of the Thessalians (vi. 176). In their territory 



