Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

THE GREEK MAINLAND 35refuge. A year or two later, when war ragedfiercely, the monks successfully defended itagainst the Egyptian troops of Ibrahim Pasha.Thus the spot is sacred ground for the Hellenicnation, for it was here and at Aigion (Vostizza),on the shore below that a new Achaian Leaguelaid the foundations of Free Greece. Megaspeleion,as its name implies, is a great cave inthe facethe sea.of a precipice three thousand feet aboveThe facade of the convent is built acrossthe mouth of the cave, and seen from below looksas though it were plastered on the face of the cliffwhich overhangs it—a sort of huge martin's nest.More will be said about it in another chapter.The torch of freedom was kindled in Achaiaand Greece was re-established as a nation inArgolis, two facts of which the Peloponnesiansare justly proud. The first National Assemblywas held at Piade, near Epidauros, in the Decemberof 1 82 1. At Larissa, the fortress ofArgos, the defeat of the Turks in 1822 led tothe Proclamation of Independence, and the firstseat of Government, as we have seen, was at Nauplia.The Peloponnesus had seen less of Turkishrule than the rest of the Greek mainland. It wasthe battlefield of Ottoman and Venetian in theseventeenth century, and was ruled by Venicefrom 1699 to 17 1 5. Its inhabitants are of diverseorigin. The Slavs were expelled or absorbedafter their final defeat at the battle of Patras in807 a.d. The Franks, when they invaded the