Eremia in Epirus and the Foundation of Nikopolis Models of Civilization in Strabo ]acoh Isagetr One possible starting point for the history Alcock as well suggest that Strabo's re­ of the Romanization of Northwestern marks on a decadent Greece must be tak­ Greece might be the victory of the Ro­ en with a pinch of salt: 3 mans at Pydna followed by their cruel de­ struction of the cities of Epirus and the "The general concurrence of the sources enslavement of what must have been the in their negative presentation of Roman greater part of the inhabitants. This event Greece does not necessarily prove its has made a during impact on the way in truth, but rather the degree to which a which ancient authors relate the history of rhetoric was shared: depopulation and de­ Roman Epirus, for a picture of ruined cline had become natural ingredients for cities and landscapes emptied of their in­ representations of a defeated Greece". habitants and their former sources of Alcock seems close to reducing Strabo's wealth seems to overshadow the later his­ representation of Roman Greece to tory of Epirus. This picture has in fact rhetoric and topicality. At the same time hindered us from learning in more detail she advices us to assess the strengths and the history of Epirus fi·om ancient au­ the limitations of the literary texts and it is thors. Epirus was left in its emptiness and that I intend to do in the reading of Stra­ needed no further interest fi·om authors or bo, which I will present in this paper, fo­ readers. The plunderings of Sulla and cusing on the vocabulary and the concepts more generally the fact that many of the used by Strabo to describe the develop­ decisive battles in the Roman civil wars ment of Epirus in the Hellenistic and ear­ were fought in Greece have only con­ ly Roman period. A prerequisite for this tributed to this picture. must be a general evaluation of the vocab­ ulary he uses to define a geographical area One result of this meagre information for politically and economically. What are his the history of Northwestern Greece in the fi·amework and his models? What are the last two centuries before our era is the still images he wishes to create in his reader's ongoing discussion of the question of mind and how do they reflect reality? truth in Strabo, when he speaks about the area's desolation and emptiness, eremia, Eremia, desolation is not the only concept seemingly down to Augustan times. used by Strabo in his description of Some scholars have taken the text of Epirus. He also uses barbarism. In a recent Strabo at face value, but now the archaeo­ article4 Hatzopoulos first discusses the fact logical evidence seems to contradict this that the Epirotic tribes are called barbaroi claim. The value of his remarks on the by Strabo and other ancient authors, and desolate landscape of Acharnania and Ae­ then enumerates all the evidence for the tolia has recently been put in doubt by, for Greekness of the Epirotes. They were example, the German scholars from the Greek-speaking tribes, they traced their Stratike survey. 1 Funke2 connects Strabo' s origin back to the Achaian heroes, shared sombre picture with the author's more their religion with other Greeks and had general idea of early Roman Greece as a full access to the Panhellenic festivals, Greece in decline. The studies of Susan w here only Greeks could take part. 17 What has not been discussed by Hat­ treated by Strabo together with the Bal­ zopoulos in his article is why Strabo kans, before he begins his chapters on named the tribes of Epirus barbarians. The Greece (7. 7. 1). question is, does Strabo even dispute that the Epirotes were Greeks? It seems evi­ "And even to the present day the Thra­ dent to me that Strabo when naming cians, Illyrians and Epeirotes live on the these tribes barbarians does not refer to edges [of Greece] (though this was still the their language5 or even to their more the case formerly than now); indeed Greekness and we have to look for other most of the country that at the present connotations of the word barbarian in the time is indisputably Greece is held by bar­ language of Strabo. Here, I will connect barians - Macedonia and certain parts of Strabo's concept of barbarism with his use T hessaly by the Thracians, and the parts of the concept of desolation, eremia. above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thes­ It is important to keep in mind how proti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Strabo places Epirus in his geographical Molossi, and the Athamanes - Epeirotic map. It is found in Book 7, where Strabo tribes. 9" treats Central Europe and the Balkans in­ cluding Macedonia and Epirus. Then, in In book 7 (5 . 1) we find the same opinion Book 8 he begins his decription of the expressed, when Strabo enumerates the different areas of Greece. He quotes remaining areas of Europe, which he will Ephorus when stating, that when you pro­ treat in the following chapters: "In this ceed from Illyria going south along the part we find Greece and the tribes of the coast, Acharnania constitutes the begin­ Macedonians and of the Epirotes."They ning of Greece proper6. But Strabo does are not part of Greece. not make Acharnania a starting point for Yet, Strabo seems to have revised his his description of Greece. view in Book 8 (1. 1), where Macedonia He envisages Greece as a continuous is included as a part of Greece: range of peninsulas and arranges his de­ scription according to this vision and he "I have now encompassed in my survey all starts with the southernmost part the the barbarian tribes in Europe as far as the Peloponnesos, which he pronounces "the Tanais and also a small part of Greece, acropolis of Greece as a whole"7 - the Macedonia. I shall now give an account of smallest, but most renowned part (8. 2 ff.) . the remainder of the geography of It is treated in Book 8. Athens and Attica Greece. This subject was first treated by follow in Book 9. The last part of Book 9 Homer... " 10 and all of Book 10 contain descriptions of the rest of mainland Greece and the is­ When we read a little further, we can see, lands. Acharnania is found in Book 10. however, that Strabo has not changed his Strabo thus turns the expected geographi­ view about Epirus: cal model upside down and creates a hier­ "My account ended, on the west and ~rrhir----- - ~v~tf'mI o-mrf'rnf'rl0 mnrf' hvI his his- the north. with the tribes of the Epeirotes torical and literary interests than by any and of the Illyrians, and, on the east, with 8 geographicallogic . those of the Macedonians as far as Byzan­ tium. Mter the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, Strabo and Epirus then, come the following peoples of the Greeks: the Acarnanians, the Aetolians, and In Strabo' s geographical system we should the Ozolian Locrians." 11 thus not expect Epirus to be placed on any significant level. As I have already stated: Strabo (8. 1. 3), Evidently, Strabo follows Ephorus in quoting Ephorus, pronounces Acharnania the opinion that Epirus is not really part the beginning (arche) of western Greece. of Greece. Epirus (and Macedonia) is Acharnania borders on the Epirotic tribes. r8 In 7. 7. 6 we get the following informa­ sight, it would do no good, even if one tion: When one sails into to the mouth of could determine their boundaries with the Ambracian Gulf, the coast on the right strict accuracy, to do so, because of their is inhabited by Greek Acarnanians, while obscurity and their disappearance. This on the left of the mouth Nikopolis and process of disappearing began a long time the Epeirote Cassopaeans are found. ago, and has not yet entirely ceased in Even in an Augustan context when many regions because the people keep re­ Nikopolis is mentioned, a marked contrast volting; indeed, the Romans, after being between Greeks and Epirotes is expressed. set op as n'lasters by the inhabitants, en­ camp in their very houses. Be this as it From these quotations of Strabo we can may, Polybius says that Paulus, after his infer two things: subjection ofPerseus and the Macedo­ 1) If we consider Strabo' s geographical nians, destroyed seventy cities of the distribution of the landscapes of North­ Epeirotes (most of which, he adds, be­ western Greece he seems to follow the longed to the Molossi), and reduced to ancient tradition when he does not make slavery one hundred and fifty thousand Epirus part of Greece. Its inhabitants are people. Nevertheless, I shall attempt, in so called barbaroi. What that designation far as it is appropriate to my description means is not stated. He seems to use the and as my knowledge reaches, to traverse word barbarian in the old and traditional the several different parts, beginning at the sense: ethnically non-Greek. But it hardly seaboard of the Ionians Gulf- that is, makes sense. Even when Epirus is men­ where the voyage out of the Adria ends." 12 tioned in an era, when Nikopolis consti­ tutes a metropolis with Epirus as well as Here we get the information that in an Acharnania and even part of Aetolia as its earlier period many, small, and unknown Hinterland, Strabo does not seem to tribes lived in settlement (katoikiai) among modifY or change his general opinion of which there were cities (pole is).