Vacation days in GreeceRichardson, Rufus B. (Rufus Byam)
History
Vacation days in Greece
Richardson, Rufus B. (Rufus Byam)
Greece -- Description and travel
In the Greek war of independence, the first severe defeat of the Greeks
took place in the second year of the war, near the northern end of
Makrynoros. Maurocordatos, the President of the new State, wishing to
be a Washington and to be general as well as statesman, took command
of the regular army, and pushed northward through the pass, as if to
take the offensive against the Turks at Arta, and then, as if not quite
certain what he wanted to do, waited for the Turks to attack him, which
they did in good time, annihilating his army at Peta. His head-quarters
were farther back at the opening of the pass. Had he decided to take
the defensive soon enough he might have immortalized Makrynoros and
saved his army, instead of simply saving himself and his staff. At
Peta, which lay on the hill to the left of our road from Arta to the
mouth of the pass, is a tablet on which are inscribed the names of
the members of the regiment of Philhellenes who, to give the Greeks
an example, stood their ground until they were all shot down, except
twenty-five, who succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy.
In the battle fought near the south end of the pass in which
Demosthenes crushed the Ambrakians, the pass played no rôle at all.
Here our road passed between Olpæ and Amphilochian Argos, and half an
hour was well spent in making a part of the circuit of the walls of the
latter, which are fairly well preserved. A sure token that Amphilochian
Argos lay here, and not at Karvasara, as was once supposed, is the
name of the plain between the old walls and the sea. This still bears
the name "Vlichia," which is all that is left of "Amphilochia"; but it
is enough to prove the identity.
At evening we came to Karvasara, at the foot of one of the most
imposing acropolises in Greece. Here we were in Acarnania, where, as
in Ætolia, it is more difficult to find names for imposing remains
than to find remains for important names. But it is quite likely that
the name Limnæa will stick to this great acropolis, inasmuch as Limnæa
lay on the sea, and its name is justified by the presence of something
half lake and half marsh that almost laps its walls on the south, or
landward, side, although certain distances given in Polybius do not
quite tally with this identification. From this elevation we could
look to the south farther than Stratos, which was hidden by a bend of
the long mountain at the south end of which it lay. I had in a certain
sense joined hands with my former journey, although the best of the
present journey, which was cumulative in its enjoyment, was still to
come.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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