Limenas Thasou
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Limenas Thasou Λιμένας Θάσου |
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| Basic data | |||
| Country |
 Greece
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| region | East Macedonia and Thrace | ||
| Regional district | Thasos | ||
| local community | Thasos | ||
| Geographic coordinates | 40 ° 47 ' N , 24 ° 42' E | ||
| Residents | 3240 (2011) | ||
Limenas Thasou ( Greek Λιμένας Θάσου , Port of Thasos', also Limenas for short , officially Thasos ( Greek Θάσος ), under Ottoman rule Limanchisar, Greek Λιμάνχισαρ ), is the port and capital of the island of Thasos , located in the north and the administrative seat of the island of Thasos the island. In addition to Limenas, the settlements Glyfada (Γλυφάδα) and Makryammos (Μακρυάμμος) belong to the locality Thasos (Topiki Kinotita Thasou ). The shortest connection to the mainland is the 35-minute crossing to Keramoti.
In terms of industries, there are marble extraction and processing as well as olive oil production. The port is the main entry and exit point for Thasos tourists, a shipping point for Thasitic marble and a goods transshipment point. The city lives mainly from tourism. Points of attraction are the ancient sites and the museum, cultural events in the ancient theater, the beaches in the local area, as well as in Glyfada and Makryammos.
History of Limenas
The ancient city of Thasos was in ruins and remained abandoned, forgotten and without a name for over seven centuries. As a result of the ongoing pirate attacks, the inhabitants had withdrawn to the mountains - mainly to the towns of Panagia and Potamia . In the former local area, a boat landing stage was used west of the silted up ancient war port, called the port (Σκάλα) of Panagia , also the port of Palaiokastro or Pyrgos or also called the Limenas (the port (ο λιμένας)). The plain west of the city walls was used for agriculture by the inhabitants of Panagia.
New life came to the area of the ancient city during the Fourth Crusade . Probably around 1123 the pillaging Venetian Doge Domenico Michiel and in 1204 the Doge Enrico Dandolo appeared on the island with their crusaders. They used the Panagia port as a base for their ventures. Dandolo had a citadel built in the eastern area of the Acropolis on the Pythion Plateau from the ruins of the temple complex there. The still largely preserved ancient city walls were also reinforced by the Venetians. The local area was probably occupied by the Venetians until 1278. The settlement of 600 to 800 people in the summit area and in the northern slope of the castle hill was associated with the construction and use of the citadel.
In 1261 the Byzantines stationed a naval unit in the city's ancient port. This is Michael VIII. Palaeologus then used as a naval base to 1264. It is believed that the citadel on the Acropolis was also available to him as a residence at that time.
The port and castle were taken over by the Genoese condottiere Tedisio Zaccaria in 1307 . He restored the castle, built a guard room and a reception room at the entrance to the castle courtyard, a second entrance in the northwest, and two cisterns and a chapel in the northern courtyard area.
The Bithynians Alexis and his brother Johannes were commissioned around 1341 to protect the North Aegean from Serbian influence. They raided and plundered Kavala and Thasos, among others, and chose the island as a base for their raids. Emperor Johannes V Palaiologos enfeoffed her in 1357 with Kavala and Thasos. They also fortified the island's ancient naval port by building a port citadel that stretched from the sea gate over the harbor wall to the north-western portico of the agora. Until 1394 they resided in the fortress at the harbor and in the Acropolis Castle.
Cristoforo Buondelmonti , probably the first early traveler to visit the island in 1419, mentioned the Gattilusio as the seigneurs of the fortified city of Thasos, who had been enfeoffed with the island in 1414 by Sultan Mahmud II . The Genoese reinforced the citadel on the Acropolis at the south-western entrance with two bastions and in front of the western wall between the towers with a glacis . Cyriacus of Ancona arrived in 1442 via the port of Panagia (the name of the ancient port of Thasos at the time). He referred to the ancient city of Thasos as the "city that fell into ruins" and especially admired the marble city wall with its towers and gates that is still largely preserved. He deciphered numerous inscriptions, including the names of archons and theors of the ancient city and the inscriptions on a large number of sarcophagi, grave steles and monuments inside and outside the walls. He admired the thirty well-preserved rows of marble seats in the great amphitheater and the magnificent citadel on the Acropolis. There he met Francesco III. , Son of Dorino I. Gattilusio , who resided in Mithymna on Lesbos. The high-born Umberto and Carlo Grimaldi acted as administrators (Latin podesta) . They equipped the harbor fortress with a 28 m high tower. The city and island were finally abandoned by the Gattilusio in 1455.
When the city was captured by Kapudan Pascha Zagan after a long siege of the port citadel in 1459 , many residents were deported. After the takeover by the Ottomans, the place was called Limanchisar (Λιμάνχισαρ) in 1519 . The Byzantine officials and settlers left town. The partially populated urban area became deserted again as a result of the ongoing pirate attacks. In turn, the inhabitants withdrew to the mountainous part of the island, mainly to the town of Panagia . The places in the interior of the island flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the early travelers described the abandoned ancient city, overgrown by trees and wild vines:
At the pier of the place, called Palaiokastro or Pyrgos or Panagia or "Osmanieh", there is a single house in 1828 , which the Agha inhabits, a couple of huts and a general store . The port fortress with its 28 m high tower, walls and moat has been preserved. The castle on the Acropolis is still covered with slate and has two towers about 10 and 19 m high. The area around the fortress is crowded with ruins of residential buildings .
The traveler G. Perrot drew a first sketch of the former city area with the location of the still recognizable buildings. In addition to the medieval buildings of the castle on the castle hill, the harbor fortress, the city wall and the basilica, it also has the theater and a large number of sarcophagi, mostly from Roman times. Perrot estimated the population at 5,000. In 1858, A. Conze reported 6 houses, a few shops or coffee houses, a ruined tower and a church at the unusable harbor, and the ruins of a fortification with two towers on the mountain. The place was here for the first time with the Limenas , the port (ο λιμένας), the Ottoman officials residing here called Mudir . In 1897 de Launay counted 50 houses. In 1908 the place already had 170 houses. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that most of the residents returned to the village. During this time international interest in the ancient ruins of the island awoke. The excavations of the École française d'Athènes were of great lasting importance for the place Limenas and led to a corresponding development.
literature
- Sotiris Ierakoudis: Ιστορία της Θάσος , Astris / Thasos, 2005
Web links
- École française d'Athènes (EFA)
- Publications of the Ecole française d'Athènes online (CEFAEL)
- Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (PERSÉE)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Results of the 2011 census, Greek Statistical Office (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
- ^ A. Prokesch von Osten: Memoirs and memories from the Orient , Volume 3, Stuttgart 1837, p. 615
- ↑ Cyriac of Ancona: Later Travels, Diary II: Travels in the Northern Aegean , pp. 109-147
- ↑ EM Cousinery: Voyage dans la Macedoine , Volume 2, Chapter XIII, page 104
- ^ A. Prokesch von Osten, pp. 612–615
- ↑ G. Perrot: Memoire de l'ile de Thasos , 1864, chap. VI, p. 66
- ↑ A. Conze: Journey on the islands of the Thracian Sea , Hanover 1860, p. 3
- ↑ de Launay: Histoire geologique de Metelin et de Thasos , Revue archéologique 1 (1888)
- ↑ C. Fredrich: Before the Dardanelles, on ancient Greek islands and on Mount Athos , Berlin 1915, chap. 6. Thasos , pp. 107-128