Location information

  The villages of Souli are to be found (with Kiafa, Avarino, Souli, Samoniva mostly well known) among Mourga (1340m. height), Zarroucho (1137 m.) and where the springs of river Acheron are and where Acheron crosses river Tsagariotiko.
  The inhabitants of those villages had a system of self-government, divided into 47 "tribes" which formed a special kind of confederacy. They never submitted to the Turks, till 1803, when Ali-Passas forced them - after a hard siege, under a treaty - to abandon their villages. But in spite of this treaty, Ali-Passas ran after them and on 18th December 1803 a group of 56 women and children withdrew to the steep top of the hill "Stefani" over St. Demetrious Monastery. From that top, dancing and singing, they chose to fall off the cliff holding their babies in their arms, instead of becoming enslaved by the Turks. The Turk Imbrahim Manzur wrote down and published in Paris 1928 (Imbrahim Manzur, Paris 1928, translated by I. Sfyroeras, Papyrus, vol. 25, p. 326) the shocking description of this event by an eye-witness, a Turk colonel, Souleiman-Aga of Ali-Passas, as it follows: "Women of Souli, held their hands and performed a dance, showing unusual heroism and the agony of death awaiting set the rhythm. At the end of the rhythm. At the end of each chorus women expressed a long piercing cry, whose echo died out in the death of the frightening abyss of the cliff, where they fell off with their babies".
  A Monument was built there, as a tribute and a symbol in the memory of the sacrifice of these women of Souli. This Monument, whose sculptor was G. Zoggolopoulos and architect P. Karantinos, can be reached by going up 410 steps, starting from St. Demetrious Monastery. The history of this Monastery (Holy Monastery of Zalogo) begins around 400 A.C. with the foundation of the Monastery of Gabriel (destroyed by Germans 1941-1944). The Monastery was transferred further down around 1700 A.C. and became the church of St. Demetrious. This church had a dome and very old wall-paintings which were completed in 1816, they were restored in 1980-90 as well as the rest of the Monastery was restored and renovated after 1962 when it turned into a convent.
(text: LAZAROS SINESIOS)
This text (extract) is cited July 2003 from the Prefecture of Preveza tourist pamphlet.