IOANNINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

This handsome museum (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ιωαννίνων/Archaiologikos Mousio Ioanninon) brings together some of the archaeological finds from Greek Epirus. It enjoys a pleasant setting, within Litharitsia Park overlooking the lake with parking and panoramic restaurant, next to Heroes Park with 1905 clock tower, to the southwest, and near Katsari Park, along the lake. The museography is meticulous, with texts, drawings, maps and videos in Greek and English. Room 1 is devoted to prehistory. It houses the oldest tool found in Greece, a biface flint carved around 200,000 years ago, as well as Neolithic bronzes and pottery from Doliana, in the Zagories. Rooms 2-3 look back at the Greek tribe of the Molosses, who dominated Epirus and invaded Italy under the leadership of King Pyrrhus, a cousin of Alexander the Great: bronze helmets from the ^4th century BC and funerary objects from the treasures of Votonosi and Dodona. Room 4 focuses on the cult of the dead, with finds from the Necromantéion on the Acheron near Parga. Room 5 focuses on the Roman period, after the collapse of the kingdom of Pyrrhus. Finally, Room 6 houses the Dodonian oracular slides (550-167 BC). These are questions inscribed on thin lead strips and addressed to Zeus: "Am I my father's son?", "Is it wise for me to travel to Carthage?", "Should I go into trade?