Souli

Souli () is a municipality in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town of Paramythia. 
Name and Souliotes.
The origin of the name Souli is uncertain. In the earliest historical text about Souli, written by Christoforos Perraivos in 1803, an oral tradition of the locals is recorded. According to this, the first settlers of Souli were shepherds who came from a village called Gardiki trying to avoid the Ottoman oppression. A certain Muslim ("Turk" in the text) named Soulis attempted to expel the early Souliotes from there but the latter resisted with arms. In the battle they killed Soulis and since then the area was named Souli. Another theory suggests that the name comes from the Albanian language and means "mountain summit".
The municipality owes its name to the villages of Souli that are located in the southern part of this region. Those villages were originally settled by the Souliotes a warlike Orthodox community who sought refuge in the mountainous terrain from the Ottomans. Those villages in the early 19th century had a population of c. 12,000. After their expulsion the population of the region was significantly reduced. In the 18th and 19th century, the citizens of Souli rebelled against the Ottoman rule.
Municipality.
The present municipality Souli was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal units:
The municipality has an area of 502.770 km2, the municipal unit 93.230 km2.
Province.
The province of Souli () was one of the provinces of Thesprotia. It had the same territory as the present municipality. It was abolished in 2006.