Factiria
| Factiria | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Waters | Mediterranean Sea | |
| Archipelago | Ionian islands | |
| Geographical location | 36 ° 56 ′ 0 ″ N , 21 ° 40 ′ 0 ″ E | |
|
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| length | 4.6 km | |
| width | 1 km | |
| surface | 5 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 137 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
Saktiria ( Greek Σφακτηρία ( f. Sg. ), According to the old transcription also Sphakteria , former name also: Sphaghia or Sphagia ) is an uninhabited Greek island off the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is located in the Mediterranean off the port city of Pylos in Messenia and is one of the Ionian Islands .
Saktiria is a rocky island overgrown by thick scrub with steeply sloping banks, in the south with cliffs up to 90 m high.
location
S Faktiria lies exactly on the imaginary chord of the semicircle that the Bay of Pylos forms. The island thus shields the bay, the diameter of which is about 5 km, from the sea and turns it into a natural harbor , which is only connected to the sea by two narrow access roads.
history
Battle of Sphakteria
see main article Battle of Sphakteria
The island belonged to Sparta after the Second Messenian War . During the Peloponnesian War in 425 BC, it was the scene of a famous battle described by Thucydides , which ended with the Athenians capturing the Spartans who had landed on the island. The remains of the ancient fortress on Mount Agios Elias in the north of the island, where the Spartans sought refuge, were destroyed by military installations during World War II.
see main article Battle of Navarino
On October 20, 1827, the naval battle known as the Battle of Navarino took place in the bay, in which the allied fleets of the great powers England, France and Russia sank an Ottoman navy under Ibrahim Pasha of 82 warships, which should put down the Greek struggle for freedom . The battle was the decisive event with which Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire after years of rebellion . Shipwrecks from this battle still lie on the ocean floor today.
Monuments
Today several monuments on the island commemorate the Battle of Navarino and other fallen Philhellenes :
- Monument to the French captain Mallet on the southern tip of the island
- Monument to the fallen Russian sailors on the northern tip near a small church of Panagia
- Monument to Count Santorre di Santarosa (Piedmont), † 1825, on the east coast
- Grave of Prince Paul Marie Bonaparte (born November 3, 1808, † December 5, 1827 in Spetses )
A memorial to the fallen English sailors stands on the tiny islet of Chelonaki in the middle of the bay.
