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THE political events of the day have drawn so much of public attention to the regions which I have lately visited, that a sketch of their actual condition as I saw them in the autumn of last year, may not prove unacceptable at the present moment. I have not written in order to plead either this cause or that one. I am not a Philo-Turk, nor am I a Phil-Hellenic, or a Philo-Wallach, or a PhiloAlbanian, or a Philo-Bulgarian; but I believe that a great change is at hand in the southeastern peninsula of Europe, in which these rising nationalities have each its part to play. The old Ottoman empire-the Mussulman theocracy - is doomed, on this side of the Bosphorus at least. Whether its name and the shadow its power be still allowed to endure, or whether the "bag and baggage" policy be carried out to the bitter end, a new order of things is in process of· evolution. If my jottings by the way can help the reader to a clearer apprehension of the grave events which must sooner or later remodel the map of South-eastern Europe, my journey will not have been undertaken in vain. Some of the notes embodied in the following pages have already appeared in 'Blackwood's Magazine,' in the 'Pall Mall Gazette, and in the 'Fortnightly Review' and I am indebted to Mr J. Morley for his kind permission to make use of the last.

Hellenism is the living culture of the Greek-speaking peoples and has a continuing history of more than 3,500 years. The Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition contains approximately 900 entries devoted to people, places, periods, events, and themes, examining every aspect of that culture from the Bronze Age to the present day. The focus throughout is on the Greeks themselves, and the continuities within their own cultural tradition. Language and religion are perhaps the most obvious vehicles of continuity; but there have been many others--law, taxation, gardens, music, magic, education, shipping, and countless other elements have all played their part in maintaining this unique culture. Today, Greek arts have blossomed again; Greece has taken its place in the European Union; Greeks control a substantial proportion of the world's merchant marine; and Greek communities in the United States, Australia, and South Africa have carried the Hellenic tradition throughout the world. This is the first reference work to embrace all aspects of that tradition in every period of its existence.