Fthiotida

Fthiotida Regional Unit Περιφερειακή Ενότητα Φθιώτιδας (Φθιώτιδα)
Basic data
State :	Greece
Region :	Central Greece
Area :	4,441 km²
Residents :	158,231 (2011)
Population density :	35.6 inhabitants / km²
NUTS 3 code no. :	EL644
Structure:	7 municipalities

Fthiotida ( Greek Φθιώτιδα [ ˈfθjɔtiða ], German also after the ancient name Phthiotis , ancient Greek Φθιῶτις ) is a landscape in Greece and one of the five regional districts of the Greek region of Central Greece around its capital Lamia . Until 2010, Fthiotida had the status of a prefecture, whose competencies were transferred to the region of Central Greece and the municipalities, which were greatly reduced by amalgamation, within the framework of the Kallikratis program . The regional district sends 15 members to the Central Greek Regional Council, but has no political significance beyond that.

geography

Fthiotida is located on the east coast of mainland central Greece, opposite the northern part of the island of Evia , around the Gulf of Malia . The river Sperchios , which flows southeast of the prefecture capital Lamia into the Maliakos Gulf, has formed a fertile plain in its roughly west-east running direction, which is the dominant landscape feature of the prefecture Fthiotida. The Sperchios plain narrows in a funnel shape against the direction of the flow of the Sperchios, which receives tributaries from the surrounding mountains from the north as well as from the south, including the Gorgopotamos.

The plain or the wide valley of the Sperchios is - with the exception of the sea coast on the Maliakos Gulf - surrounded all around by mountains and characterized by the eastern foothills of the Pindos Mountains . The highest peaks are the Parnass (2457 m) on the southern border with Fokida , the Tymfristos (2315 m) on the border with Evrytania in the west, the Iti (2250 m) south and the Othrys (1726 m) north of the Sperchios valley. The Kallidromos Mountains rise to the southeast and form the land border of the Thermopylae Pass.

Due to the sedimentation of the Sperchios, the mouth of the Sperchios and the Thermopylae Pass are different from ancient times. In ancient times, the mountains reached right up to the sea, so that the way to Boeotia and Attica was very narrow. In the present, the sediments of the Sperchios have stored a kilometer-wide strip of land in front of the Kallidromos Mountains.

To the north of the Iti Mountains there is a very small portion of the Thessalian plain around the village of Domokos , which belongs to the Fthiotida prefecture. In the past there was a lake on this level, which no longer exists today.

history

Fthiotida was already settled in ancient times. The area of ​​the prefecture north of the Sperchios corresponds to the southern part of the ancient landscape Phthiotis , which was assigned to Thessaly . The northern part of the ancient Fthiotida landscape is now occupied by Magnisia . The part of today's prefecture located south of the Sperchios on the Malian Gulf describes the northern and western parts of the ancient Opuntic Lokris landscape , which encompassed the narrow coastal strip from the Thermopylae Pass to the mouth of the Kifisos in Boeotia. Today's Viotia prefecture therefore includes the southern and eastern part of the Opuntian Lokris. The southern neighboring landscape of the Opuntian Lokris was Phocis . Northern parts of Phokis extended into the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture, sometimes even as far as the southern coast of the Malian Gulf. In the area of ​​the mouth of the Sperchios and in its plain to the west was the ancient landscape of Mali , which stretched south to the Opuntic Lokris over the Kallidromos massif to the Thermopylae. The western limit of the ancient settlement area of ​​Mali was the area of ​​the Ainianen .

According to the composition of three ancient landscapes, the ancient inhabitants of today's Fthiotida prefecture were made up of 3 Greek tribes. The Malians settled in Malis, the Opuntian Lokrians (or Locri Epicnemidii) in the Opuntian Lokris, and Thessalian tribes like the Oitaians in Phthiotis.

Settlements and cities in ancient times were

• Anthele in Malis with a Demeter sanctuary and the earliest center of the Pylaic-Delphic amphictyony
• Trachis
• Heraklia Trachis - Spartan foundation
• Alpeni - border town between Malis and Opuntian Lokris
• Larmyna - border town between the Opuntian Lokris and Boeetia
• Phylake - border town between Phthiotis and Magnesia
• Elateia - second most important Phocian city
• Lamia

The geographical location of the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture as a transit station from the north to the south of Greece, especially embodied by the Thermopylae Pass, means that the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture has repeatedly been the scene of important historical events. One of the first highlighted events was the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Chr. At the start of the second Persian war, which with a defeat of the Greek city-states under the Spartan king I. Leonidas ended. The territory of Malis came after 426 BC. Under Spartan control when the Malians asked the Spartans for help in their war against the Oitaians . The Spartans then founded Heraklia Trachis and brought the Malis and the Malians under their control. In the Corinthian War 395–387 BC The Spartans lost control of the Mali landscape. The advance of the Macedonian King Philip II was stopped by the Athenians on Thermopylae in 351 BC. Stopped by a blockade. Due to the defeat of the Greek city-states in the battle of Chaironeia in 338 BC. The area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture fell to the Kingdom of Macedonia .

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC The Greek city-states took advantage of the supposed power vacuum and rose militarily against the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Macedonia. The military conflicts took place mainly in the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture. Above all, the capital of the Malians, Lamia, was the geographical focus of the conflict and thus gave the war its name: Lamish War (323–322 BC). In the first armed conflict between the Greek city-states led by Athens and the governor of Alexander the great in Macedonia and Greece, Antipater, the Macedonian forces were defeated in the battle of Heraklia Trachis against the Greek city-states (323 BC). Antipater then had to withdraw to the Malian capital, Lamia, which was immediately besieged by the armed forces of the Greek city-states under Athenian leadership. An ingestion of Lamias was not successful. After the arrival of Macedonian reinforcements from Asia Minor and Asia and the death of the Athenian general Leosthenes, the battle of Krannon 322 BC took place. BC, in which the united Greek city-states are subject to the Macedonian kingdom.

Macedonian control lasts less than half a century. Lamia occurs after the invasion of the Celts in 279 BC. At the Thermopylae by armed forces of the Aetolian Confederation with this, so that part of today's Fthiotida comes under Aetolian control. In 191 BC the Romans sought The area first came home as part of the Roman-Syrian War . The Second Battle of Thermopylae between a Roman force and the forces of the Seleucids ends with the latter's defeat and their retreat to Asia Minor ( Peace of Apamea , 188 BC). In the same year 188 BC BC the Romans smash the Aetolian alliance by taking the Aetolian capital Amvrakia (today's Arta). The entire region of today's Fthiotida thus falls again under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Macedonia; However, this only remains for 20 years. In the third Macedonian-Roman war (171–168 BC), the Macedonian king Perseus moved in 170 BC. BC his troops returned from Thessaly and left the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture to the Roman control. This lasted until the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD. During the control of the Roman Empire, the region of today's Fthiotida prefecture was not completely pacified. 268 n. Chr. Draw the Goths during the Great Migration to the Peloponnese and pass the region of Fthiotida today, especially Thermopylae Pass. With the division of the Roman Empire into a western and an eastern part in AD 395, Greece, and with it Fthiotida, fell to Ostrom , the later Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire exercised control over the region of what is now Fthiotida Prefecture for most of the time until 1204. In the second half of the 9th century, the Bulgarians extended their rule to Greece. In 995 there was a battle between Byzantine armed forces and Bulgarian armed forces under Tsar Roman at the Sperchios. The latter are defeated, the Byzantine rule over the area of ​​Fthiotida consolidates until 1204.

The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 by the knight army of the Fourth Crusade put an end to Byzantine rule in the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture. The Crusader States that emerged from the division of the Byzantine Empire shared control of Fthiotida. Initially, the Kingdom of Thessaloniki ruled the region, then with the fall of the Kingdom of Thessaloniki, the Duchy of Athens took control of the region of today's prefecture. In 1337 the first areas of the Duchy of Neopatria or Duchy of Athens fell to the Serbian Kingdom under King Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan . During his reign he conquered large parts of the Greek mainland with the exception of the Peloponnese. Among the conquered areas is the area of ​​today's Fthiotida Prefecture. After the death of Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan, control of the Serbian Kingdom is quickly lost again.

In 1379 the Catalan company came into possession of the region of Fthiotida, from 1381 Catalan kings exercised political control. This only lasted until 1390: the Republic of Florence conquered the area of ​​the Duchy of Neopatria with the center of Ypati for the first time and thus also the area of ​​today's prefecture Fthiotida. The Florentine rule lasted until 1456: with the fall of Athens to the Ottomans and the associated end of the Duchy of Athens or Duchy of Neopatria, the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture finally came under the control of the Ottoman Empire and remained there until 1830.

In the Greek War of Independence from 1821 to 1829, Fthiotida was the scene of acts of war as early as 1821. In April 1821 an Ottoman military unit with a strength of 8,000 men marched from Thessaly towards the Peloponnese to fight the insurgents. A troop of Greek rebels, probably 1,500 strong, stood on the bank of the Sperchios (then called Alamana) near the Thermopylae pass to stop the advance of the Ottoman forces. The Greek insurgents lost the Battle of Alamana and could not stop the Ottoman advance. In 1824 the Greek insurgents win a battle at Lamia against Ottoman forces.

After the founding of the state of Greece, the area was named after her and after 1830, together with Fokida, initially formed a prefecture of Fthiotis and Fokis . The then prefecture of Fthiotis and Fokis covered in 1879 an area of ​​6,426 or 6,084 km² (depending on the calculation method) and had 128,440 inhabitants. In the Turkish-Greek War of 1897, fighting also took place in the area of ​​today's Fthiotida prefecture. After the Greek attack on what was then the Greek-Turkish border south of Mount Olympus, the Greek armed forces had to gradually withdraw to the south. On May 5, 1897, Turkish forces captured Farsala; the Greek units then withdrew to Domokos in the north of the later prefecture of Fthiotida. The positions could not be held against the Turkish attacks in the further course, so that the Greek army had to withdraw gradually first to Almyros, then to Thermopylae (May 20, 1897). However, after the intervention of the Russian tsar and the subsequent armistice, there were no further acts of war.

In 1941, the area of ​​the Fthiotida prefecture fell under the control of the German Reich as part of the Marita company ( Balkan campaign of the Wehrmacht in World War II ) . During the defensive battles in April 1941, combined British-Greek units had tried in vain to stop the advance of the German troops near Thermopylae ; on April 24, 1941, the defensive position at Thermopylae was broken by German troops, on April 27, 1941 Athens fell. One and a half years after the start of the German occupation, the military resistance against the German occupation began on November 24, 1942. The first coordinated action by Greek resistance fighters with English help led to the interruption of the Thessaloniki-Athens railway line. In the Lianokladi-Lamia-Tithorea section, the bridge over the Gorgopotamos , a tributary of the Sperchios, was blown up . With the withdrawal of German troops in October 1944, the region of today's Fthiotida Prefecture returned under Greek control.

In 1947 - at the time of the Greek civil war from 1946 to 1949 - the prefecture of Fthiotida and Fokida was divided: the two areas of Fthiotida and Fokida became independent prefectures.

traffic

Fthiotida has multiple connections to the Greek trunk road system and is an important crossroads for central Greek road traffic. From north to south in an arc around the Maliakos Gulf, motorway 1 ( European route 75 ) leads from Larisa and Thessaloniki to Thebes and Athens . It is by far the most important road connection in Greece and therefore also in Fthiotida. In the Maliakos Golf area, the expansion to a motorway according to international standards has only just begun; So far, Autobahn 1 has been a 2-lane road there, each with a small hard shoulder. With the high volume of traffic there, the section from Raches or Stylida to Kamena Vourla is notorious for many accidents (so-called Maliakos arch; Πέταλο του Μαλιακού). The national road 3 ( European route 65 ) also leads from north to south and passes the prefecture capital Lamia. In contrast to highway 1, national road 3 leads north towards Karditsa, Trikala and Kozani, south to Livadia , Thebes and Elefsina in the east of Athens inland south and east of Mount Kallidromo. In the coming years, the national road 3 leading to the north will be replaced by the motorway 3 ( Odos Kendrikis Elladas ), which will then connect the motorway 1 via Lamia, Karditsa and Trikala with the motorway 2 ( Egnatia Odos ) near Panagia east of Metsovo . After Agrinio in Aetolia-Akarnania in the west via Karpenisi in Evrytania, one of the few efficient east-west connections of the Greek road network in the form of national road 38 ( European route 952 ) leads along the valley of the river Sperchios. The national road 27 leads to the southwest and after passing the mountain range between Fthiotida and Fokida it reaches Amfissa and Itea on the Gulf of Corinth .

In addition to road transport, rail transport is of particular importance to Fthiotida in contrast to many other Greek prefectures. The main railway line in Greece from Thessaloniki to Athens passes Lamia after a mountain pass between Domokos and Lianokladi leading from north to south. This hitherto single-track line in the area of ​​the pass over the western foothills of the Othrys is to be expanded over the next few years, like the rest of the line, to include 2 tracks with the ability to accommodate high-speed trains. This requires a 6.3 km tunnel under the Othrys foothills. In the course from Lamia to Athens to the south, a double-track railway line with high-speed traffic capability is also being built. For this, the mountain Kallidromo, which represents the land border of the Thermopylae, is crossed with a 9 km long tunnel. The shipping traffic plays only a very subordinate role for Fthiotida. The prefecture does not have a large port. The same applies to air traffic, Fthiotida has neither an international nor a national airport.

literature

• William Martin Leake: Travels in Northern Greece. In four volumes. Volume II. J. Rodwell Publisher. London 1835.
• William Smith: The student's manual of Ancient Geography, based upon the dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Publishers John Murray, Walton and Maberly and Ivy Lane. London 1861.
• Epirus / Thessaly Map. 1: 250,000 scale. Road Editions, Athens, ISBN 960-8481-17-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Results of the 2011 census at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
2. ↑ Meyers Konversationslexikon in 19 volumes. Publishing house of the Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna, 4th edition, 1885–1892. Volume 10, p. 431.
3. ↑ Meyers Konversationslexikon in 19 volumes. Publishing house of the Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna, 4th edition, 1885–1892. Volume 7, p. 699.
4. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: expansion plans of the Greek railway company OSE
5. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: expansion plans of the Greek railway company OSE

Web links

Commons : Fthiotida  - collection of images, videos and audio files