Moderator: Hymniarber
Albania has been often confounded wiih Epirus. The chain of Pindus anil the Aceoceraunian mountains,
which are a branch of the former, divide these two provinces;
AU banialyingon thenortherr, and Epirus on the southern side the chain.
Albania is the ancient Greek or Macedonian Illyrium; it extends north as far as Austrian Dalmatia.
The people appear to be a very ancient race, perhaps the descendants of the ancient lllyriacs,
who were once partly subjected to the Kings of Macedonia and Epirus, and afterwards, in the same manner, to the Romans;
their remoteness and their mountains protecting them from total subjugation,
as well as from the subsequent irruptions of the northern barbarians.—
In the time of the crusades, Albania was a great thoroughfare for the western Ci-ri.iti;;ns, and the
chronicles of the time speak of it as a populous and warlike nation:
many of the people followed the fortunes of the crusaders, and spread themselves over Greece,
liven now, great part of eastern Greece, and some ilisiricts ol the Morea and of the islands, are peopled with Albanians,
who have regained Christians; and there are Albaniin colonists to be found in the mouniains of Abruzzo, in the kingdom of Naples,
who still speak a distinct Ian. i(uage, and juescrvc the dress and u.anncrs of their country.
~~~The Kaleidoscope: or, Literary and scientific mirror~~~1829, page 166.
Ky pasazh i mesiperm eshte padyshim mjaft i rendesishem ne shpjegimin"...the ethnicity of these merchants is not clear. Although
referred to by Westerners as Greeks, they were of diverse ethnic
origin. The high status of the Orthodox Patrarchate and the
predominance of the Greek element within the new merchant class
meant that 'Greek' became a prestigious identification
for all merchants"
In 1814 a group of failed Greek merchants founded a secret society,
the Philiki Etairia (Friendly Society), with a simple political objective -
'the liberation of the Motherland'.
Noone of the conspirators had the first idea of the geographical contours
of the Motherland, or who belonged in it.
The society was based not in the Ottoman Empire but in Odessa,
the Russian Black Sea port.
The society's vague goals reflected the uncertain nature of Greek identity.
But this uncertainty also allowed it to react quickly to developments,
because the Society was not bound by a specific strategy. (...)
The majority of tis members were Greek-speakers
but its pan-christian sentiment also attracted Russians
(many of them working directly on behalf of the Tsar),
Romanians, Serbs (Karadjordje,
for example, went through the initation ceremony),
Albanians and even some disaffected Turks'
page 26
What traditional costume though?
Greece is represented as a small boy in traditional
costume while the other countries are represented as huge policemen
