Anogeio is a village and a former municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus

Epirus (region)

Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë in the north to the Ambracian Gulf in the south...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ziros

Ziros, Preveza

Ziros is a municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Filippiada.-Municipality:The municipality Ziros was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal...

, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 1,539 (2001). The seat of the municipality was in Gorgomylos. Anogeio village (population 118, elevation 1200 m) is located on the western slopes of Xerovouni, in the Pindus

Pindus

The Pindus mountain range is located in northern Greece and southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km long, with a maximum elevation of 2637 m . Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epirus, the Pindus range is often called the "spine of Greece"...

 mountains of Epirus

Epirus

The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...

. It has a pleasant dry climate, which is predominantly influenced by its high altitude and distance from the sea.

History

The 19th and 20th Century history of the settlement is well documented. Its economy was almost exclusively based on sheep herding. The transhumant way of life was fairly typical of the rural populations of the Pindus range. Shepherds would spend the summer months in the village and relocate to lower pastures in the winter. The distant origins of the village are more obscure, however it is believed to have been founded in the period following the failed 1611 uprising against the Ottomans in Epirus led by Dionysius the Philosopher

Dionysius the Philosopher

Dionysius the Philosopher was a Greek monk who led two farmer revolts against the Ottoman Turks.-Life and career:Dionysius was born in c. 1560 AD in Paramythia, Thesprotia. He was of Greek descent, from Macedonia with Epirotian parentage...

 of Ioannina

Ioannina

Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...

. The remote location of the village would have enabled tax evaders, revolutionaries and other outcasts to avoid the Ottoman authorities. This situation was fairly typical in the Balkan mountains during the 17th-20th centuries (see klephts).

The Petra Robbery

Anogeio is the homeland of the Rentzaioi clan, two members of which achieved notoritey through being chief suspects for one of the biggest bank robberies in the history of the region. The event took place in the turbulent years following the liberation of Epirus from the Ottoman Emprie in 1913. On the 12 June 1926, a National Bank of Ioannina vehicle was held up at the location of Petra (on the Ioannina to Preveza highway). 15million drachmas, a substantial sum for the time, were stolen from the vehicle and 5 members of the security crew were found murdered at the scene. The robbery was reputedly the most high profile act in a number of murders, kidnappings and higwhay robberies with which the Rentzaioi brothers (Thymios and Iannis) were associated. Their exploits in Greece and the manhunt across Albania, Italy and the Balkans to their arrest in Varna, Bulgaria are recorded in Greek national newspapers of the time (including Kathimerini

Kathimerini

I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...

), archives of the period held in the National Library of Greece

National Library of Greece

The National Library of Greece is situated near the center of city of Athens. It was designed by the Danish architect Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, as part of his famous Trilogy of neo-classical buildings including the Academy of Athens and the original building of the Athens...

, the University of Ioannina, and local oral tradition. They were tried and executed for their crimes on 5 March 1930 in Corfu jail. They protested their innocence of the Petra robbery to the end. Clan rivalry, and banditry were endemic in the mountains of Greece during the late 19th and early 20th century as attested in numerous sources. The bandits were often tolerated and supported by the local populace. Petty local officialdom and state authority were held in general disregard, a phenomenon accentuated by the remoteness of the mountain settlements.