Ancient Epirus12th Apr 2024

The Dream of King Pyhrrus

Crossing from Greece to Albania and back again we explore the ancient Kingdom and later republic, of Epirus nestled between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea. On the periphery of ancient Greece, it was the Molossian King Pyrrhus who brought the kingdom centre stage with his campaigns against Rome in the 3rd century. Pyrrhus was the cousin of Alexander the Great and inherited his energy and ambition. Epirus became a favourite resort of wealthy Romans and the arena for Rome’s civil wars. Later still, Epirus was a crucial Byzantine province and centre of a breakaway medieval empire that rivalled that of Constantinople. An unusual tour of this unique area, we trace the course of the kingdom’s failures and successes with the exploration of a cornucopia of archaeological remains.