PREVEZA

port, chief town, and capital, noms (department) of Prveza, western Greece, on the north side of the entrance to the Amvrakiks Gulf. Linked by highway to Arta and Ionnina, Prveza exports olives, dairy products, hides, wool, and vegetables. Goods must be transferred by lighter or barge via the Khrisanthis channel (17 feet deep). Prveza was founded as Berenicia about 290 BC by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. In 31 BC Octavian, the future emperor Augustus, defeated Antony in a famous naval battle off the gulf's entrance. The settlement probably was eclipsed when Augustus founded nearby Nicopolis Actia. In 1499 it was occupied by the Venetians, ceded to the Turks by the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699, and retaken by Venice in 1717. In 1798, a year after it had passed to the French, it was seized by Ali Pasha of Ionnina. In 1912 it fell to the Greek army and in 1913 was incorporated into the Greek kingdom. Pop. (1981) 13,624.