EVROS

noms (department), northeastern Greece, forming the frontier between Greece and Turkey and bordering Bulgaria to the northwest; it fronts the Aegean Sea to the south. Samothrace island (Thracian: Samos) offshore in the Thracian Sea is administered as a part of the noms. vros embraces an area of 1,638 square miles (4,242 square km). In its southern half, a combination of low, flat-lying land, fertile soil, and adequate water from the vros River (from which the noms takes its name) and its tributaries permits the cultivation of excellent crops in the plain, especially cereals, grapes, and tobacco. In contrast, the mountainous terrain of Samothrace's northern districts possesses poor soils supporting mainly olive culture. The hilliest slopes are covered with oaks. According to Greek legend, the god Poseidon watched the Trojan War from the noms' highest peak, Mount Fengari (5,250 feet ), on Samothrace. The marble sculpture known as the Nike of Samothrace (c. 190 BC), now housed in the Louvre, Paris, was found on the island. Alexandropolis is the capital of vros; it was founded by the Ottoman Turks under the name of Dedeagach (Grandfather's Tree) and was renamed after the Macedonian Alexander III the Great in 1919, when the district came under Greek sovereignty. The town is the centre of local tobacco trade; it has an airport and is on the ThessalonkiIstanbul railway line. Pop. (1981) 148,486.