Manufacture of woollens, cottons, Russia leather and embroidery is
carried on, and there is trade in cattle, wine, tobacco, hemp, hides and
grain. Much of the neighbouring plain is very fertile, and the town is
surrounded with gardens and orchards, in which orange, lemon and citron
come to great perfection. In 1083 Arta was taken by Bohemund of
Tarentum; in 1449 by the Turks; in 1688 by the Venetians. In 1797 it was
held by the French, but in the following year, 1798, Ali Pasha of
Iannina captured it. During the Greek War of Independence it suffered
severely, and was the scene of several conflicts, in which the ultimate
success was with the Turks. An insurrection in 1854 was at once
repressed. It was ceded to Greece in 1881. In the Greco-Turkish War of
1897 the Greeks gained some temporary successes at Arta during April and
May.
ARTA, GULF OF (anc. _Sinus Ambracius_), an inlet of the Ionian Sea, 25
m. long and 10 broad, most of the northern shores of which belong to
Turkey, the southern and eastern to Greece. Its only important affluent,
besides the Arta, is the Luro (anc. _Charadra_), also from the north.
The gulf abounds with mullets, soles and eels. Around its shores are
numerous ruins of ancient cities: Actium at the entrance, where the
famous battle was fought in 31 B.C.; Nicopolis, Argos, Limnaea and
Olpae; and several flourishing towns, such as Preveza, Arta (anc.
_Ambracia_), Karavasara or Karbasaras, and Vonitza.
The river ARTA (anc. _Arachthus_ or _Aratthus_, in Livy xxxviii. 3,
_Aretho_) is the chief river of Epirus, and is said to have been
navigable in ancient times as far as Ambracia. Below this town it flows
through a marshy plain, consisting mainly of its own alluvium; its upper
course is through the territory of the Molossians; its total length is
about 80 m.
ARTABANUS, the name of a number of Persian princes, soldiers and
administrators. The most important are the following:--