Pilio

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pilio (often also Pelion , also Pelion , Greek Πήλιο , Pilio) is a mountain range reaching into the Mediterranean (1624 m, Pourianos Stavros) in the regional district Magnisia of the Greek region of Thessaly . The mountains form the peninsula of the same name, which separates the Pagasitic Gulf from the Aegean Sea. At the north-western end of the peninsula is the important port and trading city of Volos .

Satellite image of the Pelion Peninsula

Due to its lush vegetation and mild climate, it is popular with the Greek population and foreigners as a second home. There are over 40 mountain villages and coastal towns on the Pilio, many of which have a history steeped in history. In mythology , the Pilio was referred to as the home of the Centaurs . Cheiron , whose cave was on the main summit of Pliassidi, raised Achilles here . When storming Mount Olympus , the aloids turned Pilio onto Mount Ossa . From the port city of Iolkos (either Dimini or today's Vólos ), Jason and the Argonauts started to search for the Golden Fleece .

history

Antiquity

On the Pilio, an ancient settlement was found in Pourí near Zagora (official archaeological site).

Archaeological excavations are taking place in Vólos - ancient Iólkos - and ancient finds have been made at Álikes. There is also an archaeological museum in Vólos.

In the northeast, about 4 km southeast of Véneto , there are several sea caves on a rocky cliff. These are probably the "ovens" - ipnoi, of which Herodotus reports: Here the Persian fleet under Xerxes I is said to have lost many of their ships in a storm (Herodotus 7.188).

Modern times

The geographical conditions made the Pilio unattractive for the Turkish occupiers. The coastal regions were only very sparsely populated. There is only one natural harbor on the Aegean coast (Damouchari (d'amour chari = 'thanks to love') - a former Genoese fortress with traces of a fort). Each of the small fishing villages had a main town further inland, which was mostly not visible from the sea. These places, a few kilometers from the coast, have altitudes of 200 to 500 m. The paths leading up to the places were hidden. The Pilio region was never occupied by the Ottomans. An agreement gave the Piliorites a kind of autonomy, similar to the island of Chios . As a result, a Greek national feeling developed quite early on. From here the Greek freedom fighter Rigas Velestinlis , also called Rigas Fereos (1757–1798), u. a. depicted on the Greek 10 euro cent coin , to Venice and further on to organize the Greek struggle for freedom. Rigas Fereos worked as a teacher in a Greek school in Kissós . In the Ottoman-occupied areas, teaching in Greek was otherwise prohibited, so that only so-called "kryfa scholia" (secret schools) existed there.

During the Greek struggle for freedom of 1821, there was also an armed uprising in Pilio, which was suppressed by Turkish troops. Another attempt at liberation failed in 1854. As in 1821, a large part of the Greek upper class refused to support the rebels. There is even talk of betrayal of the revolutionary actions against the Turks. The large landowners and church leaders feared the loss of the privileges they enjoyed under Ottoman rule. In 1878 there were again armed conflicts at Makrinitza and at the Sourvia monastery. The liberation was not enforced on the battlefield. As a result of the Berlin Congress of 1878, Greece and the Ottoman Empire agreed in 1881 to unite Thessaly with the already liberated Greece.

Occupation and Resistance in World War II

During the German occupation from 1942 to 1944 the resistance in the Pilio was massive. It was organized almost exclusively by the EAM . In Vólos and the Pilio region, the 54th ELAS regiment played the leading role from December 1942. In 1944 almost all Pelion villages were under the control of ELAS. It had its base camp in Ano Kerasia. At the same time, ELAN , the Partisan Navy, was founded. Their headquarters were in Koulouri near Véneto . She had 3 boats with which she carried out actions on the east coast of Pelion. The seat of the illegal printing works, where the newspaper and leaflets of the resistance for all of Thessaly were printed, was the ruins of the Sourvia monastery.

In 1944, almost 100 German defectors had joined the 54th ELAS regiment in Pilio, most of whom had deserted from Penal Division 999 and supported the Greek resistance. They formed the "Volos" hundred of the Anti-Fascist Committee Free Germany, AKFD .

A direct consequence of the partisan's actions were severe reprisals and so-called “punitive measures” by the Germans. The Martyrs Villages List of Martyrs Villages and Cities of Greece Rizomylos, Kerasia and Nea Anchialos have been completely destroyed. Numerous men and women were tortured, murdered or deported to Greek or German concentration camps. On April 4, 1943, the village of Milies was almost completely burned down and 39 residents were murdered. The cruel climax of the occupation crimes in the region was the Drakia massacre . 118 men were shot there on December 18, 1943 in the course of such a “punitive action”.

geography

The dense deciduous forests of beech, chestnut, oak and plane trees in the interior are unusual for Greece. Some types of mushrooms and especially herbs thrive here in great variety, which are otherwise hardly found.

The mountains are often rugged and in many places, especially on the east coast, they drop steeply towards the sea.

There are around 40 mountain villages and small towns on the peninsula, the historical center of which is often formed by the Platia , a round and often tree-lined village square.

Characteristic are the mostly three-storey mansions built between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Archontika , which are still well preserved in the mountain village of Vizitsa , for example .

economy

East coast in the north of Pelion: Bay of Ágios Ioánnis

The administrative centers of the association communities are the most populous communities Zagorá and Argalasti . Both have medical care centers with small inpatient areas.

On Pagasitikos Gulf in Volos is the largest cement factory in Greece, Heracles . The Zagorá, Makriráhi and Anílion region is the largest fruit-growing area in Greece, especially for apples. The Móuresi region is Greece's largest gardenia growing area ; the south is known for its olives. Pickled fruits from Pílio are also very popular in Greece. Other important plant species that thrive here and agriculturally marketed products are chestnuts, cherries, pears, plums, mulberries, blackberries, oregano and other herbs, honey, lemons, nectarines, peaches, apricots, fish, oranges, various flowers, woods and much more . An important line of business is the quarrying of slates from quarries near Sikí and Neochóri, as well as marble from Tríkeri .

tourism

Tourism is an important source of income along the coast in the summer months. Most of the year, however, many shops and restaurants are closed.

In Milies is the station of the historic Pilio narrow-gauge railway , which today offers tourist trips into the mountains.

In winter, the ski area near Chánia (Hania) is easily accessible from Vólos for day tourists.

Others

swell

See also

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier : Greece and Asia Minor in the late Bronze Age. In: Michael Meier-Brügger (Ed.): Homer, interpreted by a large lexicon. Files from the Hamburg Colloquium from 6.-8. October 2010 at the end of the Lexicon of the Early Greek Epic. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin – Boston 2012, p. 151.
  2. ↑ Tassos. N. Petris: Pilio - History-Art-Folklore-Modern Life, Athens 1980, p. 14 f.
  3. ↑ Tassos. N. Petris: Pilio - History-Art-Folklore-Modern Life, Athens 1980, p. 15.
  4. ↑ Tassos. N. Petris: Pilio - History-Art-Folklore-Modern Life, Athens 1980, p. 20 ff.
  5. ↑ Η Αντίσταση στη Μαγνησία https://blogs.sch.gr/dimiolmag/2014/10/25/%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE% BF-% CE% B5% CE% B8% CE% BD% CE% B9% CE% BA% CE% B7% CF% 83-% CE% B1% CE% BD% CF% 84% CE% B9% CF% 83% CF% 84% CE% B1% CF% 83% CE% B7% CF% 83 /
  6. ^ The one with the blue bill - On the anti-fascist resistance in the 999 formations of the fascist German Wehrmacht (1942 to 1954), Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1982, p. 299
  7. ↑ Martyrs 'cities and martyrs' villages in Greece: https://www.dmko.gr/martyrikes-polis-2/martyrikes-polis/
  8. ↑ Thomas Kunert: The Pelion (Magnesia, Greece)
  9. ↑ Klaus Bötig: The wonderful Pelion. Geo, February 24, 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Trainose , the website of the narrow-gauge railway

Coordinates: 39 ° 16 '  N , 23 ° 10'  E