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Moreover a wall had once been built at this pass, and in old times there was a gate set in it; which wall was built by the Phokians, who were struck with fear because the Thessalians had come from the land of the Thesprotians to settle in the Aiolian land, the same which they now possess. Since then the Thessalians, as they supposed, were attempting to subdue them, the Phokians guarded themselves against this beforehand; and at that time they let the water of the hot springs run over the passage, that the place might be converted into a ravine, and devised every means that the Thessalians might not make invasion of their land. Now the ancient wall had been built long before, and the greater part of it was by that time in ruins from lapse of time; the Hellenes however resolved to set it up again, and at this spot to repel the Barbarian from Hellas: and very near the road there is a village called Alpenoi, from which the Hellenes counted on getting supplies.
And i want to quote you an greek scholar, Titos Jochalas because the similarity is very interesting, centuries later:
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Johannes Cantacuzene then adds a brief note that is worth mentioning because it reveals that when Sirjannis was ostracized from Byzantium, he is said to have landed in Euboea, Locris and Acarnia and to have sought refuge amongst the Albanians in Thessaly, whom he had known from the time when he was “General of the West.” We know that Sirjannis held this office around the year 1315 and can thus conclude that the Albanians were already present in Thessaly at the start of the 14th century.
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