Thasos
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Municipality of Thasos Δήμος Θάσου |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
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| Region : | East Macedonia and Thrace | ||
| Regional District : | Thasos | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 40 ° 40 ′ N , 24 ° 40 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 380.097 km² | ||
| Residents : | 13,770 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 36.2 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Seat: | Thasos (Limenas) | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | |||
| Districts : | no | ||
| Local self-government : |
6 city districts 4 local communities |
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| Website: | www.thassos.gr | ||
| Location in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace | |||
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Thasos ( Greek Θάσος [ ˈθasɔs ] ( f. Sg. ), Also Thassos , Turkish Taşoz ) is an island in northeastern Greece in the Thracian Sea of the northern Aegean Sea , over 7 kilometers (4 nautical miles ) from the East Macedonian coast and about 11 kilometers (6 Nautical miles) from the nearest port, Keramoti . It is the northernmost inhabited Aegean island. The uninhabited island of Thasopoula is located between Limenas and Keramoti, about 2.5 kilometers (1.4 nautical miles) from the mainland.
As Dimos Thasou, the municipality of Thasos is one of the 22 municipalities in the East Macedonia and Thrace region , including several smaller islands in addition to the main island, of which only the island of Kinira (Κοίνυρα) on the east coast of Thasos is inhabited. At the same time, it forms the Thasos regional district in the region , which sends a representative to the regional council. The main town and largest port of the island is the coastal town of Limenas Thasou (also simply called Limenas or Thasos ) in the north of the island.
geography
Geographically, the island belongs to the eastern part of the Macedonia region . With an area of around 380 square kilometers, it is the twelfth largest island in Greece.
Geographical location
The roughly round island of Thasos is located around seven kilometers south of the Macedonian Aegean coast, about opposite the coastal town of Keramoti and not far from the Nestos Delta. The port city of Kavala in the bay named after it is located a good 20 kilometers northwest of the island. The Thracian Sea extends east of Thasos, the Strymonian Gulf to the west, and the open Aegean Sea to the south . The main island is surrounded by smaller islands: Thasopoula (Θασοπούλα) in the northeast, as the relatively largest with 0.7 square kilometers between Thasos and the mainland. Kinira (Κοίνυρα) in the east and Panagia (Παναγία) in the south, with areas of around 0.4 square kilometers each and elevations of 60 to 80 meters. Smaller islands like Gramvousa (Γραμβούσα), Furni (Φούρνοι) and Diapori (Διαπόρι) to the east and Pelagos (Πέλαγος) to the south. The next larger Aegean islands are Samothraki , Gökçeada (Imbros) and Limnos with distances between 60 and 90 km in a south-easterly direction.
topography
The island is dominated by three mountain ranges: the most important, the Ypsarion massif, extends in the northeast part of the island as an imposing, almost alpine mountain massif, initially in a roughly eastern direction from the Tsetsio Rachi (1078 m) over the Toumba (1129 m) and the Dio Kephales ( 1030 m) to Profitis Ilias (1108 m), then to the southeast over the Spitoudi (1047 m) to the Ypsario (Ψαριό or Υψάριο) (1204 m), the highest mountain on the island, with the Tsouknida (1028 m), to the Kamenos Vrachos (1078 m) and the Fanos (744 m). The Kathares massif starts in the northwest of the Ypsarion massif and extends from the Spathi (810 m) over the Kathares (874 m) to the southwest to the Ais Matis (809 m). In addition, in the southeast of the island there is the Trikorfo massif with the Agios Dimitrios (705 m), the Trikorfo (810 m) and the Lofio (725 m).
Flora and fauna
vegetation
In addition to the influencing factors geology, relief, water supply, grazing, fires and soil erosion, the windward-lee side effect is of outstanding importance for the regional distribution of vegetation. From this point of view, not only the island of Thasos, but also the Chalkidike and the Ossa mountainous region, which borders the Thermean Gulf in the west, are divided into two clearly distinguishable halves in northern Greece, with the north being characterized by sub-Mediterranean vegetation with the oriental hornbeam ( Carpinus orientalis ) as the main plant and the south is dominated by Meso-Mediterranean vegetation. While in western Greece the west side of the mountains corresponds to the windward side, the conditions in the northern Aegean show the wetter conditions on the east side.
Almost all previous vegetation research on the island of Thasos appeared before the mid-forties of the last century. Since then, large-scale forest fires and subsequent reforestation measures have completely changed the plant-geographical face of the island. Only recently (1984, 1985, 1989 and 2016) have forest fires destroyed much of the island's vegetation. Around 70% of the island's area was affected by these fires, and around 60% of the forests were cremated. The percentages are estimates based on the interpretation of the satellite image of Thasos from August 23, 1985 and on observations in the following years. The fire areas of 1984 and 1985 are largely bounded by the coastline to the east and south. In the north, the border of the conflagration runs from the ridge of the Klisidi (581 m) in the east over the village of Theologos to 1000 m west below the Ypsarion. From here the border turns southwest into the valley of Maries and extends into the area north of Kalivia and Limenaria. The forest fire of 1989 finally hit the tertiary area west of Limenaria and the entire Ais-Matis ridge. On the one hand, almost the entire valley of Maries was affected, on the other hand, the ridges and slopes facing northwest. The northern border of the fire area ends just south of Cape Pachys. According to eyewitness reports, the fire began in the north and was carried further to the south-west in August of that year by the steadily blowing northeast winds, which were intensified by the heat. Without forest fire damage, only the northeast part of the island remained. 400 hectares of forest and bushland were burned in the vicinity of Kalirachi from August 16-17, 2013.
The vegetation-geographical conditions described below are based on recordings made before 1989 and, at least as far as the southwest part of the island is concerned, only partially agree with the current conditions. In the southwest of the island, in addition to the now largely burned forests of Calabrian pine ( Pinus brutia ), the extensive macchia cover is striking, which is widespread in the area of the tertiary area of Skepasto (west of Limenaria), but also on the western slopes of the Ais Matis and here at around 600 m merges into a young pine forest. Into the valley, in the valley of Maries, there are intensely irrigated olive groves that reach a height of approx. 400 m. The olive trees above the village of Maries (330 m) have been abandoned and overgrown by maquis.
The real olive tree ( Olea europea ) not only plays a role on Thasos as a Euro-Mediterranean pointer plant close to the coast, it is also of great economic importance. Below 150 m above sea level, the maquis and the shrub heather formation ( garigue ) are socialized in areas near the sea in the valley of Maries . In the vegetation zone up to Maries there are essential eumediterranean floral elements such as the western strawberry tree ( Arbutus unedo ), the eastern strawberry tree ( Arbutus andrachne ), the holm oak ( Quercus ilex ), the oleander ( Nerium oleander ), the real olive tree, the evergreen rose ( Rosa sempervirens ), the narrow-leaved stone linden ( Phillyrea angustifolia ), the real laurel ( Laurus nobilis ), the common Judas tree ( Cercis siliquastrum ) and of course the omnimediterranean Kermes oak ( Quercus coccifera ). The manna ash ( Fraxinus ornus ) is interspersed as a sub-Mediterranean element . From around 360 m, Erica manipuliflora , the juniper Juniperus deltoides , the broad-leaved stone linden ( Phillyrea latifolia ) and the downy oak ( Quercus pubescens ) enrich the biodiversity. At 380 m, the proportion of Calabrian pine increases sharply, the undergrowth is dominated by tree heather ( Erica arborea ) and the eastern and western strawberry trees. The strawberry tree, holm oak and stone linden tree end at 420 m. The boundary of the Hartlaubwald at Ypsarion is assumed to be 400 to 500 m above sea level. From approx. 500 m, the black pine ( Pinus nigra subsp. Pallasiana ) forms the population, the increasingly species-poor undergrowth is dominated by tree heather and whorled heather ( Erica manipuliflora ). At 600 m, the heaths in the understory are replaced by bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum ). The Bulgarian fir ( Abies borisii-regis ) occurs only sporadically at heights above 800 m. In the past it seems to have been much more widespread on Thasos. Except for the highest ridge of the Ypsarion massif (over 1000 m) there are still mighty, flat-growing black pines. Along the streams and gullies, the moisture-loving sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ) and the oriental plane tree ( Platanus orientalis ) can be found in many splendid specimens without any significant distribution amplitude .
The north-eastern part of the island is not only hygric because of the windward position. Due to the alternation of water-retaining and water-permeable layers on the northeastern slope of the mountain range, there are spring seams, which also ensure permanent moistening along the notches. The coastal courtyard of the Bay of Potamia is dominated by an extensive olive-tree corridor that extends up to 200 m at Panagia and up to 250 m at Potamia. However, some of the highest areas are no longer used here either. Kermes oak, evergreen wild rose and common judas tree are typical maquis representatives at these altitudes. It is also noticeable that downy oak, European hop beech ( Ostrya carpinifolia ) and dwarf elder ( Sambucus ebulus ) appear at 60 m. In addition, the holm oak also extends deep into the coastal courtyard and has an upper end of distribution at 470 m. Between 150 and 220 m there is a special accumulation of evergreen and deciduous oak species, which are supplemented by oriental hornbeam ( Carpinus orientalis ), summer linden ( Tilia platyphyllos ) and sweet chestnut. From 200 m, the forest areas increase sharply, and the heather plants as well as holm oak and Kermes oak are only present in the undergrowth of the partially loose pine stands. In the southwest of the island, in contrast, the mastic bush ( Pistacia lentiscus ) is widespread in the maquis, so that the association Oleo europaeae-Pistacietum lentisci exists in a belt of up to 150 m, which lacks the sub-Mediterranean elements present in the northeast. Thus there is a very clear contradiction between the two island areas, whereby, expressed by the differences in the vegetation, the south-west side shows the drier, the north-east side the more humid conditions. Apart from the differences in the Eumediterranean woodlands, the lack of malacophyllous oak representatives and other deciduous species in the southwest of the island also confirms the drier conditions on the lee side.
In addition to the already mentioned climatological and hydrological causes for the striking differences in vegetation, the extremely high radiation absorption in the subtropics in the southern exposures is also of great importance. However, it must also not be ignored that Thasos is an old cultural area in which, due to cultivation in areas with favorable relief conditions, such as in the southwest of the island through cattle biting and soil erosion, increased degradation of the landscape and, associated with it, an anthropogenic accentuation of the originally drier conditions already occurred.
fauna
Birds
Of 442 bird species identified in Greece, it was possible to locate around 200 species on the island of Thasos and the surrounding marine area by 1997, a large proportion of which are migrating or wintering birds. 74 species were considered island breeders.
According to more recent findings, a further 15 observed species were observed up to 2008: As previously unknown bird species in Thasos, fan- tailed warblers and in 1989 occasional elephant falcons and sedentary populations of gray orotolans were observed in olive groves around Limenas . In September 1993 rock terns were reported over the town of Limenas. Whooper swans had been observed in occasional cold spells on the coasts around the island and off Potos . In recent years, were independently by several visitors eagle buzzards , Levant Sparrowhawk , Black Kites and small plover been reported. In addition, the mallard was discovered in the port of Limenas in 2004 and put on the list of species. In September 2004, plovers were again located near Skala Marion. Consecrations were also on the list, several of which were spotted on the island during a cold spell. A pair of golden eagles attacked by ravens were photographed over the Ipsarion and a group of five black storks were seen over the mountain; Mistle thrushes could also be observed. Goshawks appeared in various parts of the island.
The list of verified island breeders expanded to 77 bird species by 2008. The following were observed: Wall creepers at Ipsarion and on the walls of the Byzantine settlement of Kastro ; Pallid at Panagia , approximately 30 pairs of bee-eater at Maries-Bach , a pair tree hawks in the pine forests near Makryammos and rock swallows in caves at Limenaria . There are also reports of small plovers and house sparrows as birds that are widespread on the island. Yellow-legged gulls and Mediterranean shearwaters have been found on the island of Panagia , and a pair of Eleanor's falcons on the coastal cliffs in the southeast of the island . The determination of the Mediterranean shearwater population led to the declaration of the Important Bird Area (IBA) for the island . The approximately 250 cormorants in their colony on the small island of Panagia (Thasos) are also probably among the island breeders. At Skala Potamias, Zippammers breed in atypical habitats .
British observers reported from 1995 to 2004 numerous other, previously unlisted bird species: great spotted woodpecker ; Booted eagle ; Great egret , hawk , warbler , carminer , great spotted woodpecker; Great spotted woodpecker; Treecreeper . Members of the Greek Ornithological Society observed two to four Bonelli's eagles in the southern mountains of the island (September 2003).
Amphibians
The Mediterranean common toad populates valleys with, in some cases, only temporarily water-bearing streams, such as those of Prinos and Maries, as well as biotopes near streams. Also pine forests will not be shunned by her. Occasionally the common toad has been found in village centers, for example in Kazaviti . In places, the Southern toad comes syntopically with the toad , but especially with the agile frog before.
Widely used on Thasos is the toad . The brooks in the moister valleys offer spawning grounds, even if these often only carry water temporarily. By adapting to steppe-like biotopes , it is possible for it to multiply even in the smallest remaining water collections. After the great fires, the green toad was the first amphibian species to repopulate the burnt biotopes. The green toad is not permanently frozen in Thasos . Even after snowfall and periods of frost that often last for several days, the green toads appear even in the depths of winter, as soon as rain comes up and temperatures rise again. European tree frogs , sea frogs and agile frogs predominantly colonize biotopes near streams that have the character of a forest on Thasos. This distinguishes them from the green toad, which occurs predominantly in biotopes with a steppe-like character. They also use valleys with creeks that sometimes only carry water temporarily (Prinos, Maries and others) or ponds with weak currents .
In the sixth, in the species list of the European amphibian and reptile fauna on Thasos listed, amphibian is the Greek frog , which has been identified on the island.
Reptiles
From the turtle family, the Greek tortoise , Moorish tortoise , wide-brimmed tortoise , European pond tortoise and Caspian brook tortoise are represented on Thasos . The West Caspian tortoise , like the Caspian brook tortoise on Thasos, is subject to a special status in accordance with EU directive 92/43 / EEC.
Aegean bare finger , European half finger , blindworm and Scheltopusik or crawfish have been detected on geckos and sneaks . The eastern green lizard and the European snake-eye lizard are also confirmed .
From the family of blind snakes is occasionally stupid eye , usually found when turning of stones. The worm snake, which is up to 30 cm long, mostly lives there in close proximity to ant colonies . The main food of the worm snake is made up of ants pupae. The non-venomous snake has a thickened tail that is provided with a defensive sting.
The non-poisonous jumping snake is one of the largest snakes that inhabit Thasos. It can reach a length of more than 250 cm. It is not uncommon for Thasos to have large females with a body diameter of five centimeters. Typically, it inhabits dry scree slopes with thick bushes . However, it also penetrates settlements if there are stone walls . Since biotope types that are favorable for the jumping snake are widespread on Thasos, the jumping snake is common in all parts of the island. Jumping snakes have been observed in the valley of Prinos , near Theologos and above Panagia . Jumping snakes, when cornered or caught, defend themselves by biting heavily. The viper family also includes slender snakes , four-striped snakes , leopard snakes , lizard snakes , Balkan grass snakes and sand otters .
Caspian brook turtle
West Caspian Tortoise
Greek tortoise on a forest path near Panagia
Stupid eye, head right, tail left, from the area of Mikro Prinos
Balkan jumping snake
Pine marten
Wild mammals Only a few animals of this class can be made out on the island of Thasos. The most common bats are eight species, including the Blasius horseshoe bat and the long-footed bat, and a colony of small and large horseshoe bats in the Drakotrypa cave near Panagia . There is also a report on the observation of fringed , dwarf , alpine and broad-winged bats .
As carnivores could pine marten , as insectivores of the Southern White-breasted Hedgehog be determined. Of the lagomorphs coming Hare ago, at rodents the Dormouse , the Norway rat and the house mouse .
Dolphins have been sighted several times between the mainland and Limenas . In the summer of 1990, local fishermen reported frequent occurrences of Mediterranean monk seals in southern coastal waters. Seals are said to have appeared here quite often .
Administrative division
The municipality of Thasos, the Dímos Thásou (Δήμος Θάσου), consists of ten self-governing localities that formed independent municipalities until the administrative reform in 1997. Depending on the number of inhabitants, they have the status of a city district or a local community (2011 population figures in brackets).
- Thasos City District ( Limenas Thasou ) - Δημοτική Κοινότητα Θάσου - 3240
- Thasopoula - Θασοπουλα - uninhabited
- Glyfada - Γλυφάδα - uninhabited
- Makryammos - Μακρυάμμος - 2
- Nisteri - Νιστέρι - 4
- Thasos - Θάσος - 3234
- Theologos district - Δημοτική Κοινότητα Θεολόγου - 1762
- Alyki - Αλυκή - 17th
- Astris - Αστρίς - 51
- Kinyra - Κοίνυρα - 105
- Kinyra (island) - Κοίνυρα - 5
- Archangelou Monastery - Μονή Αρχαγγέλου - 29
- Livadi - Λιβάδι - uninhabited
- Paradisos - Παράδεισος - 2
- Paralia Astridos - Παραλία Αστρίδος - 79
- Potos - Ποτός - 815
- Psili Ammos - Ψιλή Άμμος - 9
- Rosogremos - Ρωσογκρεμός - 2
- Skidia - Σκίδια - 2
- Theologos - Θεολόγος - 636
- Thymonia - Θυμωνιά - 10
- Kallirachi district - Δημοτική Κοινότητα Καλλιράχης - 1018
- Kallirachi - Καλλιράχη - 452
- Kallirachis Scale - Σκάλα Καλλιράχης - 566
- Limenaria municipality - Δημοτική Κοινότητα Λιμεναρίων - 2480
- Kastro - Κάστρο - 9
- Limenaria - Λιμενάρια - 2471
- Potamia District - Δημοτική Κοινότητα Ποταμιάς - 1384
- Lefki - Λεύκη - 1
- Potamia - Ποταμιά - 1383
- District of Prinos - Δημοτική Κοινότητα Πρίνου - 1423
- Agios Andreas Prinou - Αγιος Ανδρέας Πρίνου - uninhabited
- Megalos Prinos - Μεγάλος Πρίνος - 26
- Mikros Prinos - Μικρός Πρίνος - 30
- Ormos Prinou - Όρμος Πρίνου - 156
- Prinos (Kalyves) - Πρίνος (Καλύβες) - 1211
- Local community Maries - Τοπική Κοινότητα Μαριών - 537
- Maries - Μαριές - 158
- Scale Marion - Σκάλα Μαριών - 379
- Local community Panagia - Τοπική Κοινότητα Παναγίας - 802
- Chrysi Ammoudia - Χρυσή Αμμουδιά - 77
- Panagia - Παναγία - 725
- Local community Rachoni - Τοπική Κοινότητα Ραχωνίου - 729
- Rachoni - Ραχώνι - 446
- Scale Rachoniou - Σκάλα Ραχωνίου - 283
- Local community Sotiros - Τοπική Κοινότητα Σωτήρος - 395
- Scale Sotiros - Σκάλα Σωτήρος - 376
- Sotiros - Σωτήρος - 19th
Archaeological research
Scientific research was carried out by early travelers on Thasos from the 15th century . Regular excavations have been carried out by the École française d'Athènes since 1911 until today . Since 1969 the Greek Antiquities Service, XVIII. Ephoria Kavala , conducted archaeological studies on the prehistory of the island under D. Lazaridi, Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki and Z. Bonias. 1975–1981 the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics , Heidelberg, and the German Mining Museum Bochum, were active in the investigation of ancient mining facilities, especially the underground gold mines in the eastern part of the island. 1982–1984 the Ephorie Kavala with the German Mining Museum was again active engaged in research into red ocher mining in Tzines and Vaftochili. These investigations were completed in 1994.
history
Surname
There are different mythological variants to derive the name of the island. The first, most often mentioned, says that Thasos , son of the Phoenician king Agenor , came to the island during the search for his sister Europa , who had been kidnapped by Zeus as a bull, and settled here, while his brother Kadmos , who was with him looked for Europe, traveled on and later founded Thebes .
This Phoenician version is opposed to a Parian variant, which says that Heracles once gave the island to the Parian king Androgenus , who in turn bequeathed it to his sons Stenelus and Alkaios . The first Parian settler is said to have been Thasos . The oracle of Delphi is said to have ordered the leader of the Parian colonists, Telesikles , to build a city on the island of Aeria ( Ἀερία ). Other ancient names are Aithra ( Αἴθρα , clear sky ') and Chryse ( Χρύση , the Golden', according to the gold mines of the island).
Prehistory and early history
Upper Paleolithic
In the younger Paleolithic , today's island of Thasos was part of the mainland, the so-called North Aegean Shelf, due to the low sea level in the last glacial .
The first signs of human and animal life were found in the southeast of Thasos in a valley reaching into the interior of the island, about 15 kilometers from Skala Maries. In the area of the iron ore deposits of Mavrolakka, the red ocher mining of Tzines was discovered there in 1956 . In the T1 mining there, bone finds in particular point to a dating to the second half of the Paleolithic, the Upper Palaeolithic. The large number of horn tools testifies to the presence of the aurochs and assumes that Thasos was still connected to the mainland. The worn horns of the antelope genus Saiga tatarica that were found were dated to the 10th millennium BC. To date. The saiga antelopes migrated to the Eurasian steppes at the beginning of the warm period about 13,000 years ago.
Neolithic
According to research from 1996, the oldest settlement on Thasos is the settlement discovered in 1986 and excavated from 1993 to 1994 on the western edge of what is now Limenaria . The settlement took place in the 6th millennium BC. Chr. Remains indicate that the place was populated in the early Neolithic . Post holes, remnants of walls, terrace paving, hearths and sunk round earth silos or storage pits with vessel fragments, tools of various kinds and a burial site were excavated. At another point on the hill uphill there are layers of settlements from the Older Bronze Age , excavated in 1995 and 1996.
The red ocher mining of Tzines took place with noticeable interruptions until the Neolithic. The lack of horn tools and few flint tools in the underground mines T3 and T6 indicate a different extraction method in a more recent mining period than in T1 (Upper Palaeolithic). The latest dating of these buildings is in the early Neolithic , around 6400 BC. However, mining until the Middle Neolithic (5th millennium BC) is not unlikely.
Copper Age to Iron Age (approx. 4000–800 BC)
The prehistoric period on Thasos was revealed by the excavations in the area of the Acropolis of Kastri (Thasos) , carried out by the Ephoria Kavalain from 1969 to 1978 and 1992 with the participation of international experts. The settlements and burial grounds were called the most important excavation sites in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace at the time.
In addition to the settlement in and around Kastri, which was extremely important for the prehistoric history of the island and lasted over 5000 years with major interruptions, other prehistoric sites on Thasos have been explored.
In 1970, ceramic finds were found on the surface of a cave on the Cape of Skala Marion which were dated to the Copper Age. The archaic entrance to the cave is closed. Systematic excavations have not yet been carried out.
The Profiti Elias Chapel stands on a small hill in Skala Sotiros on the embankment above a prehistoric settlement from the early Copper Age.
At Cape Agios Antonios , south of Potos , there is a small church on a hill on the remains of a settlement that was built over an archaic sanctuary. During a brief excavation in 1970, a prehistoric settlement was located here, but without tracing it down to the bottom. On the basis of finds on the surface and from a 60 cm deep cut, ceramic goods, small objects and bones could be determined, which confirm the presence of archaeological strata of the early Copper Age. Since no more detailed investigations were carried out, a Neolithic phase could not be determined at this location. However, from the finds it is certain that there was a settlement phase in the late Copper Age.
The Drakotrypa Cave (Δρακότρυπα), east of Panagia on the mountainous edge of a slope towards Avlakia beach. It is a natural cave with stalactites. Small experimental excavations carried out outside the cave in 1972 confirmed the use of the cave from the early Copper Age, but also in the Byzantine period. Early Copper Age ceramics came from a fault filled with stalagmite material. In other parts of the cave, hand-made pottery was found in disturbed layers, which could mainly be dated to the early Iron Age and historical times. Painted fragments of vessels from the Archaic and Classical periods (in Corinthian and Attic styles), as well as those from the Hellenistic , Roman and Byzantine periods, were also found. Another settlement, Tris Gremi near Panagia , consists of small stone houses from the middle of the 4th millennium BC. Chr.
A settlement in Limenas from the last phase of the early Iron Age, probably on the summit of the fortified Acropolis, extended to the western foothills of Mount Acropolis. The Ephoria Kavala located traces of archaic houses there as early as 1969 and found finds east of the Artemision and in the area of the altar. The presence of a Neolithic settlement at this point remains hypothetical. The archaeological material consists of structural remains and ceramics that date back to the beginning of the 7th century BC. Was dated. Signs of archaic metallurgy in the area of Artemision were also confirmed.
On the summit of the Ailias (395 m above sea level), between Theologos and Astris , a prehistoric round tower and a summit fortification were saved. Ceramics from historical times and handcrafted goods in various designs were found in the thin, disturbed covering, which led to the establishment of the date in the late Copper Age to the Early Iron Age. A burial ground with stone tumuli has been located on the flat summit of the Popinas Mandra , north of the Ailias. The tumuli probably contained cremation graves. The very few bone finds did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about their dating.
The Acropolis of Palaiokastro (132 m above sea level) is about 4.5 km from Limenaria , about 2.5 km from Skala Maries and about 1 km north of the road to Maries . At the top of the hill one can see fortified structures, visible mainly on the northeast side of the hill, where a tower and an outer wall have been found. On the south side of the summit, the characteristic pottery of the early Iron Age appears with a grooved decoration. The settlement of Palaiokastro is located a short distance from the archaic ore mine of Koumaria. The discovery of copper slag in the southern area of the Acropolis together with ceramics from the early Iron Age suggests a connection between the settlement and the exploitation of the ore deposits of Koumaria, at least from the early Iron Age.
Antiquity
The Greek geographer Skymnos writes about the pre-colonial inhabitants of the island : …… the island of Thasos, where the barbarians were the first inhabitants, and later the Phoenicians who came from Asia . They took Thasos from the Thasites, the Thracians . According to Herodotus (VI, 47) , the Phoenicians were the first to reach Thasos in search of the Europa , and were the first to mine the island's gold, mainly that of Pangaion .
However, the presence of the Phoenicians on Thasos could not be confirmed by archaeological finds until today. Ephoria Kavala prefers an interpretation of the description of Herodotus, which equates the Phoenicians with the Cretomycetes, whose presence later connected ancient authors on the islands of the Aegean with the Carians, Lelegs and Phoenicians.
Archaic Period (700–500 BC)
The colonization of the island by settlers from Paros and the founding and structural development of ancient Thasos took place in the first half of the 7th century BC. BC, probably 680 BC Under their leader Telesikles , who was called upon by a Delphic oracle: Announce to the Parians, Telesikles, that I order them to found a city on the misty-gloomy island that can be seen from afar . With the second wave of the occupiers, his son, the Greek lyric poet Archilochus, reached the island, who describes his impressions as a soldier in traditional fragments: The whole misery of Greece is gathered with us on Thasos; Dangers of the sea, shipwrecks; but this is the promised land; the island, like the back of a donkey, covered in wild forests; a life struggling with the dogs of Thrace for conquest; the bad Thasos (Θαςίων κακά) . Later, however, the early and peaceful coexistence with the local tribes and finally the quickly achieved predominance of the Pariers on the island and in the Thasitic Peraia are mentioned.
The marble that was mined in the immediate vicinity was available for the brisk construction activity . Its use and the great artistic processing manifest in the extensive fortress, administrative and cult buildings erected in the city. With the rich precious and non-ferrous metal deposits, the mines and smelting sites on the island and the precious metal deposits in the Thasitic Peraia , the Greek colonizers had a sound economic basis for their settlement area. Herodotus reports: The income from the gold mines in Skapte Hyle alone was usually eighty talents a year and that from the mines on Thasos itself only slightly less, so that the Thasians ... on the whole received two hundred talents every year, in good years even three hundred talents . In addition, there was the great abundance of wood on the island, which was of great value for shipbuilding in particular, as well as viticulture, which led to the extensive export of the esteemed Thasitian wine . In the last decades of the 6th century BC BC began coinage. It is very likely that there were two mints at that time, on the island and in Peraia .
In the 6th century BC The Thasites were subject to the tyrannical system of Symmachos . Around 540 BC They succeeded in driving the tyrant off the island and founding a democratic community, a polis , of the kind that already existed in large numbers in the Aegean.
Classical Period (494–340 BC)
Darius I intended to establish himself in the North Aegean region and set up a satrapy in Europe . Histiaios , satrap of the Persian king, besieged 494 BC. The fortified Thasos, but remained unsuccessful. 492 BC During the campaign against Athens , the Persian general Mardonios reached the island of Thasos, which submitted without a fight. When Mardonios had to withdraw after the loss of most of his fleet, the Thasites rearmed up again, reinforced the walls of the city and built new ships. Dareios then ordered the walls to be razed and the Thasitic navy to be surrendered in Abdera . From 491 B.C. BC the Thasites erected their city walls again and again and equipped a new navy.
After the first Persian War, the island and Peraia remained undisturbed. During the third onslaught of the Persians, 480 BC. Under Xerxes I , the Thasites submitted. During the year of occupation, the Thai cities on the mainland had to take in and feed the Persian army. After the defeats of Salamis and Plataia , the Persians left a garrison in the fortress of Eion on their retreat on the western border of the Thasite Peraia . This Persian occupation affected trade and mining activities, especially in the Thasitic Peraia but also on the island.
Thasos, like all city-states on the Thracian coast, had to settle in 479 BC. Under the domination of the Athenians and in 478 BC. To join the first Attic-Delian League . In addition to Athens, Chios, Thasos and Samos provided warships for the League's fleet.
After the Persian Wars, the Thracian tribes residing in the north Aegean region oppressed the Thasite trading posts. The Thracian prince Teres I founded the kingdom of the Odrysen from a large number of tribes . Thasos paid both tribute to the Delian League and taxes to the Odrysian Kingdom.
The island revolted in 465 BC. Against Athens and withdrew from the League. The reason for this was negative effects on trade and mining in the Thasitian Peraia . In addition, the Athenians had exerted pressure on the western flank of the Peraia from their settlement Amphipolis with settlement plans in the Strymontal and Pangaion.
The Athenian strategist Kimon defeated the Thasites in a sea battle in which they lost 30 ships. After a long siege he finally conquered in 463 BC. The city of Thasos. The island was severely punished for leaving the Confederation, lost its mines and settlements in the Peraia, and had to pay compensation and tribute. The Athenians eliminated the oligarchy on Thasos and introduced the democratic form of government. They controlled the island and Peraia until 447/446 BC. Chr. Thasos got into great economic difficulties during the time of submission. Not until 440 BC BC relations with Athens normalized and the situation improved.
When the tribute to the federal treasury was increased at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War - in the case of Thasos from 30 to 60 talents - the mood turned against Athens. This change was the reason for the Athenians to appoint the strategist Thucydides with a small naval unit in 424 BC. To station on the island. Numerous important Thasites went into exile in Sparta. After the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, they drew the hope of being able to wrest power from the demos again.
On Thasos the return of the oligarchs was expected and the fortification of the city was strengthened. However, when the Thasite exiles appeared with Peloponnesian forces under Corinthian command, oligarchs who were friendly to Sparta took over and called for an uprising against Athens.
411/10 BC The Spartans under Brasidas took action against the Athenian possessions and the allies of Athens in Thrace. They took Amphipolis with the port of Eion and the coastal settlements in the Peraia. Only the largest of the Thasite settlements, the port city of Neapolis, was able to defend itself successfully. She remained loyal to Athens and declared around 411 BC. Their defection from the motherland Thasos, whereupon the Thasites besieged the city unsuccessfully.
In the year 411 BC A strong oligarchy was established in Athens that supported the Thasitian oligarchs in exile. It appeared in 408/407 BC. 30 BC Athenian ships under the Athenian strategist Thrasyboulos . He defeated the Thasite naval forces, blocked the city, forced the Thasites to reinstate the Athenian-friendly oligarchs, to accept a garrison and to return to the League. The uprising against Athens was suppressed. Thasos was now in a miserable condition and was unable to act after the many fighting.
404 BC The Spartans fought back. Lysander took Thasos, gathered the inhabitants in the sanctuary of Heracles and had all supporters of the Athenians killed. The Spartan Harmost Eteonicus with ten archons took over the command of the island . The Thasites had to pay high taxes to Sparta. After the political and military turmoil in the 5th century BC. The island developed especially in the 4th century BC. BC to an economically prosperous community based on the exploitation of its gold and silver deposits and the export of marble and wine. It is unlikely that the Thasites still had access to the mines in Peraia, where Eion and Neapolis continued to side with Athens.
The Athenian Thrasyboulos took 389/388 BC. With the help of the Thasitic Demos Thasos. After the peace of Antalkidas , which ended the Athenian-Spartan wars, 387/386 BC. In turn, an oligarchic government was established on the island. The Athenian strategist Chabrias helped the north Aegean cities and islands oppressed by Thracians and won in 377 BC. BC Thasos for the second Attic League . The Thasitian Peraia flourished again. The settlement of Krenides was founded in 360/359 BC. Founded.
In the second half of the 4th century BC BC Thasos lost control of the gold and silver mines of the Peraia to the eastward Macedonian empire. The island itself fell in 340 BC. BC to Philip II. Even under the Macedonians, the island was so skilful politically between the Hellenistic empires in the Mediterranean that independence and prosperity continued despite minor disruptions.
Hellenistic period (353–196 BC)
When Philip II. 340/339 BC Annexed the island, this resulted in the loss of the Thasitic Peraia. There was no direct dependence on Macedonia. Maritime trade flourished, especially the export of marble and wine. The island's particular economic strength continued to lie in its large ore reserves and in the extraction of metals, especially precious metals. However, many Thasite residents emigrated. Presumably they were descendants of the former Parian colonialists. The island's population was estimated at between 60,000 and 80,000.
In the second half of the 4th and early 3rd centuries BC BC Thasos navigated politically skillfully between the Hellenistic empires in the Mediterranean. Thasos survived the diadoch battles uninvolved and unscathed . For the late 3rd century BC BC archeology gives a picture of a flourishing community and very active building activity, as well as continued strong exports. Despite the decline in silver coinage on Thasos, there were no signs of economic weakness.
287 to 281 BC Thasos belonged to the kingdom of Lysimachus . 202 BC Chr. Took Philip V the island in a coup and ruled it for six years. After his defeat in 197 BC BC against the Romans at Kynoskephalai , Macedonia lost its possessions in Asia Minor and Greece. At the Isthmian Games in 196 BC The Roman general Titus Quinctius Flaminius declared the "freedom" of the Greeks. Thasos became independent again.
Roman rule (146 BC – 323 AD)
Thasos was incorporated into the new Roman province of Macedonia with the capital Thessaloniki in 146 , even if it remained formally free. The island was considered in the 2nd century BC. As an ally of Rome. The governor of Macedonia , Sextus Pompeius , was the patron of the city of Thasos. The alliance with Rome contributed significantly to the continued undisturbed development of the city and island. Even as the Pontic king Mithridates VI. in the years after 88 BC BC tried to push back the influence of Rome in the North Aegean and initially achieved success there, Thasos insisted on his pro-Roman policy. A decree of honor from Sulla from 80 BC Chr. Mentions the sacrifices and damage which the Thasites had to suffer during a siege by the army of Mithridates. Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella , the proconsul of Macedonia, conveyed the decisions of the Roman Senate to return the Thasites their possessions on the mainland and to subordinate them to the islands of Skiathos and Preparethos .
The civil war that followed the assassination of Caesar marked a turning point . Before the Battle of Philippi , the Caesar killers Brutus and Cassius used the city of Thasos as a supply base. In the autumn of 42 BC Thereupon, Marcus Antonius took reprisals against Thasos. At the beginning of the imperial era, Thasos again enjoyed privileges: According to an inscription that is dated to the mid-forties of the 1st century AD, the imperial procurator of the newly established province of Thracia , Vettius Marcellus , has the Thasites freed from the position of soldiers for the Thracian army. Numerous construction works in the city in Hadrian times testify to unbroken prosperity, which also lasted in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.
middle Ages
Roman rule asserted itself on the island until around 323. The first evidence of Christianization is the establishment of a bishopric of the Byzantine church in the city of Thasos. The bishop attends the Council of Nicaea in 325 and of Chalcedon in 451 . At the same time, Thasos becomes the island of exile for the prominent Byzantine heretics Sabellius and Nestorius . The island flourished during the first centuries under Byzantium.
Then, however, from the middle of the 5th century until the end of the Byzantine - Genoese period , Thasos experienced the first of numerous pirate incursions, under which the country and population suffered from sieges, decades of occupation, looting, devastation, expulsions and enslavements. Among the worst attacks are those of the Vandals (467), in the 6th century the Avars and Slavs , in the 7th century the Bulgarians , in the 10th and 12th centuries the Saracens and Sicilian Normans . Over the centuries, the island's coastal towns have been completely abandoned and the inhabitants retreat to the mountainous region. Already in the 10th century the island was almost depopulated.
In the 12th century it was mainly the passing crusaders who invaded Thasos: Between 1122 and 1125 the Venetian Doge Domenico Michiel under the papal flag and in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade against Byzantium the Doge Enrico Dandolo with his Venetian-Franconian army on the way to Constantinople . He built a castle complex on the Acropolis and fortified the city walls. His colleague and later King of Thessaloniki, Boniface I of Montferrat , held the island for three years. In 1204 Thasos belongs to the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica . There are further attacks by the Johanniter and the Catalans . From 1261 to 1264 the Byzantines stationed some naval units on the Aegean islands to suppress piracy and rivalries between Greeks, Genoese and Venetians, including in the port of the lost ancient city of Thasos.
In 1307 the Genoese adventurer Tidedia (Tedisio) seizes Zaccaria with the help of the Catalans on the island of Thasos. He attached the castle to the Acropolis and used the base as a base for his raids. Zaccaria successfully defends himself against a Byzantine naval attack, but in 1313 he has to bow to Byzantine power.
The Byzantine Megas Doux Alexios Apokaukos hires the Bithynians Alexis and Johannes to drive the Serbs from Thrace around 1341 . The brothers attack and plunder Kavala, Thasos and Lemnos and settle on Thasos in 1350. In 1357, Emperor Johannes V Palaiologos gave them hereditary rule over the island. They take on the task of pushing back the Serbs there and controlling the North Aegean. Alexis is made a Byzantine stratopedarch. In 1363, the brothers granted the Genoese a license to extract mineral resources on the island. Byzantine ships from Thasos in 1368/69 with the help of Venetian forces hunted Turkish pirates who had attacked the monasteries on Mount Athos. After the death of Alexis, Johannes received no further support from Byzantium and sought the assistance of the Venetians, who gave him Venetian citizenship in 1374. John bequeaths the island to the Athos Monastery of Pantocrator. Thasos can keep his daughter until 1394.
Manuel II Palaiologos took the island after a heavy siege in 1414 and enfeoffed Jacopo Gattilusio , the archon of Lesbos, with the island of Thasos as a reward for the Genoese support in the liberation of Constantinople and the enthronement of John V Palaiologos . In the following decades the Genoese, the archons of Lesbos , were able to expand their sphere of influence to Phocaea , Ainos , Lemnos and Samothrace . They act as diplomatic mediators between Byzantium and the eastern Mediterranean powers. But they are also in league with Catalan pirates and pirates from the Cyclades , who operated from Thasos. In 1428 Dorino I. appointed Gattilusio as administrator of the island Umberto Grimaldi , who built fortifications and castles in various places on the island. Under the Gattilusio, the Thai trade flourished with Genoa and the eastern Mediterranean states. The island is experiencing considerable growth. As the price for keeping Limnos, the Genoese Gattilusio family left the island to the Ottomans in 1455.
Modern times
Ottoman rule (1455-1813)
On his first conquest to the west, Sultan Mehmet II subjugated the north Aegean islands of Samothraki , Imbros and Thasos (1455), which were under the Genoese liege lords, the Gattilusio . The Genoese had to give up the island in favor of their headquarters, Lesbos .
Thereupon the Venetians, Catalans and pirates besieged under the crusade banner of Pope Kalixt III. the port citadel of Limenas and overcame the long-defending Ottomans at the beginning of 1457. In the subsequent attack by the Ottoman fleet under Kapudan Pascha Tzagan, governor of Gallipoli , the Thasites surrendered without resistance in 1459. An Ottoman garrison was deployed and most of the islanders were deported to Constantinople as far as they could not escape into the inaccessible interior of the island. Many settlements were burned down. After all, the island was only sparsely populated.
In 1460 Demetrios Palaiologos received the islands of Thasos, Samothraki and Imbros in return for services rendered. In 1466 the Venetian admiral Capello took over the rule after making peace with Constantinople. Thasos was recaptured in 1479 by the Ottoman Kapudan Pasha Machmud and assigned to Rumelia .
There were five localities on Thasos in 1519: Limanchisar , Theologos , Jenichisar , Voulgaro and Kakirachi . The places Kazaviti and Maries were first mentioned in 1570. The Ottomans left internal self-government to the Greeks. From 1566 they elected the local archons, the so-called Kotsampasides, from among their ranks, who collected and paid the taxes, duties and charges for the gate .
The island flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1688 the early traveler Francesco Piazenza described the Thasitic wealth in gold, silver, marble, wood, olive oil and wine. The population increased considerably and was estimated at 7,000 to 8,000 in 1707, the number of villages between 12 and 15.
After the naval battle of Çeşme , a delegation of the Russian fleet landed on the island in 1770 to ensure the wood supply for their shipbuilding. 17,000 heavy logs were felled in the island's forests. Forced work in logging and transport, looting by pirates, oppression, tyrannization and exploitation by the Ottomans and Kotsampasides led to complete impoverishment and great unrest. When the Russians withdrew after four years, Thasos came under Ottoman rule again. Sultan Abdülhamid I acted with great severity and suppression. At the end of the 18th century, the five villages had only 2500 inhabitants.
Egyptians under Ottoman feudal rule (1813–1902)
On May 30, 1813, Muhammad Ali Pasha was entrusted with the island of Thasos in return for services rendered by Sultan Mahmud II . Ali Pascha was born in Kavala and grew up in Agios Georgios on Thasos.
The time of the Egyptian administration saw the island in a privileged position compared to the areas of Greece under the Ottoman yoke. The island was administered by the elected Greek Proedros (προέδρος) or Başçorbacı (Μπας Τσορμπάζη). Each village was headed by an elected Greek Proestos (Προεστός) or Çorbacı. The nominal power of governance remained with the Kavala resident Bey . The Ottoman Aga or Voivode with a force of seven or eight Muslim gendarmes was used by him as a protective power and to collect the poll tax on the island.
Of the taxes paid to the gate in the early Ottoman era , only the poll tax and the soldiers' fee were still to be paid. The poll tax in 1828 reached 850,000 Turkish piasters (about 4.9 million gold marks (1912)), the additional soldiers' tax amounted to 57,000 piasters in 1854. Taxes went to the Pasha of Egypt on the olive harvest, on honey, wax and grain, on sheep and goat husbandry and on the value of exported wood. In addition, the Pasha operated excessive felling. Compulsory labor had to be performed for this. The total income of the Egyptians is said to have amounted to an annual average of 400,000 Turkish piastres, about 2.3 million gold marks (1912), by 1856.
The Thasites cultivated wheat, barley, maize and vines for their own needs. Cattle and bees were kept. Wine production had fallen sharply as a result of grape diseases. Agriculture covered about 30% of the annual domestic needs in 1828. Labor had to be done for the logging. The main export items were firewood, olive oil, honey, wax, tar and pitch. Oil production averaged more than 400,000 to 500,000 okka a year .
In the Greek liberation struggle in 1821, the Thasite rebels under the Proedros Chatzi Giorgis from Theologos defeated the Ottoman guards stationed on the island near the southern coastal village of Potos , killed some guards and forced the rest of the troops to leave the island. Ali Pasha intervened as a mediator at the gate and obtained the arms surrender and pacification of the island.
When around 800 mainland pirates plundered several island villages soon afterwards, the Thasites concluded a treaty with the Ottoman Pasha of Thessaloniki at the end of 1821, which was supposed to protect them from robbery and pirate attacks. But in 1823 another 500 rumelians invaded and in 1827 Karatassos demanded tribute from the Thasites. The attacks continued to happen several times a year, lasted for decades, and only subsided in the mid-19th century.
In 1828 there were nine mountain villages on the island: Panagia , Potamia, Theologos , Kastro , Maries, Kakirachi , Sotiros, Kazaviti and Vulgaro with a total of 1,020 houses. The population has increased to 5,000–6,000. The village of Vulgaro, founded in name by Bulgarian immigrants near today's Rachoni, had been partially abandoned since the last plague. Another village, Agios Georgios , was added and the population of the island was around 10,000 in 1858. The villages are being moved from the mountains back to the coast near the farmland.
When Ali Pascha died in 1849, his descendants took over the feudal lordship. This was followed by Abbas Hilmi I Pasha, Muhammad Said Pasha and the Khedive Ismail Pasha , who continued on Thasos the policy of the founder of the dynasty, a relative independence, guided by Greeks justice and a fair taxation. In 1874 riots broke out over the election of a new Thasite Proedros and the island lost most of its privileges and parish freedoms. When Abbas Hilmi II finally ceded the Thasite forests to an English company for exploitation in 1895 , a bloody uprising broke out, which the Sultan took as an opportunity to renounce the fiefdom of the Mohammad Ali Pasha dynasty in 1902.
In 1903 and 1905 the German industrialist Friedrich Speidel managed to obtain a concession from the Turkish sultanate to exploit the ore deposits on Thasos. In a lease agreement with the Khedives in Kavala for the extraction of calamine in the west and south of the island. The numerous mining operations brought a significant economic boom and a large number of jobs to the island, and in particular to the places Limenaria and Sotiros .
Balkan Wars (1912-1922)
In early 1912, Serbs and Bulgarians signed a war alliance directed against the Ottoman Empire, aiming to throw off the Turkish yoke and restore their national rights. Greece also joined this alliance in September 1912 with the aim of liberating the areas north of Mount Olympus and the islands in the northern Aegean. Finally, Montenegro also joined. The four allies declared war on Turkey, known as the First Balkan War . Although the allies largely achieved their goals, they failed to reach an agreement on a distribution of the conquered territories. Bulgaria's demand for access to the Aegean Sea through Western Thrace , which has been part of Greece for many centuries , led to great controversy.
On June 16, 1912, the Bulgarians opened the Second Balkan War with the invasion of Serbia, which was occupied by the Turks. The Greek fleet under Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis took the islands of Lemnos on October 8, 1912 and conquered Imbros , Samothraki and Agios Efstratios from there . When, towards the end of this war, the Greek navy pursued the Ottoman fleet as far as the Dardanelles, Limenas was liberated on October 18, 1912 by Kountouriotis with the warships Longchi , Thyella and Pelops . The captain Dimitrios Kontaratos and his troops completed the liberation of the island by taking Panagia , Potamia and Theologos . On July 31, 1913, King Constantine I visited the island of Thasos with Crown Prince George .
First World War (1914-1916)
The First World War brought an abrupt end to mining by the Friedrich Speidel mining company in the west and south of the island in 1914. When the French armed forces occupied the island in the course of the Macedonian campaign of the Central Powers in 1916 and set up a naval base there, Limenaria also got into the chaos of war, where in 1916/18 the Speidel facilities and buildings were largely destroyed and looted. The two large administration and office buildings in Limenaria and Sotiros were largely preserved.
Asia Minor War (1922–1933)
In the course of the Greco-Turkish War , many Thasites were drafted for the campaign in Asia Minor. After the Asia Minor catastrophe , many refugees settled in 1922, mainly in the coastal towns of Limenas and Limenaria. The property of the Thasitic monastery property was expropriated and distributed to the dispossessed. On Thasos there began a strong migration to the mainland and a wave of emigration mainly to the United States. Noteworthy is the auction of the Thasitian mining concessions in 1925 by the Belgian company Vieille Montagne . A large number of workers are hired, the destroyed Speidel facilities rebuilt, production started and continued until around 1933.
Second World War (1941–1944)
After the occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers , which Bulgaria had also joined, Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace between Strymon and Evros with the islands of Thasos and Samothraki were placed under Bulgarian suzerainty on April 20, 1941. While the Greek administrative structures remained under German and Italian occupation, the policy of the Bulgarians was aimed at the annexation of the territories they occupied. As part of the Bulgarisierung policemen, teachers, lawyers, clerics and young men were deported. The schools were closed and a general ban on the public use of the Greek language was issued. Bulgarians were settled. From 1941 to 1944, Thai men and women joined the ranks of EAM- ELAS on Thasos and on the mainland. So they founded the VI in April 1943 with five fighters in Ierissos . North Aegean naval department of the ELAN , later moved their base to Amouliani and Mount Athos , most recently to the small island of Vourvourous. This unit operated against the German occupation off the mouth of the Strymon, on the Chalkidike peninsula and off Thessaloniki.
There are no reports of fighting by EAM-ELAS or ELAN against the Bulgarian occupying power on Thasos. Use of violence on Thasos, however, took place on the part of the Greek military and the Purandates (units of the city police), who often worked with local accomplices and former ELAS members. As the conditions on Thasos worsened, EPON groups opposed the state power in the island villages . Partisan groups formed in the Thasitic mountains and those who joined the ELAS units on the mainland. The reaction of the occupying power to this development is unknown.
After the Bulgarians withdrew in 1944, self-governments and organizations were formed with the aim of eliminating the hunger that was prevalent on the island. The Varkiza Agreement on February 12, 1945 prompted many fighters on the mainland and on the island to surrender their weapons and return to their villages immediately. The post-Varkizian system established throughout Greece was then also evident in Thasos: terror, torture, a forced signature to ostracize the KKE under threats , expulsion, penal camps with long imprisonment and death sentences were the order of the day. The first fatality on Thasos after Varkiza was Λασκαρουδα Σακουλι , a young woman who was murdered during a demonstration in front of the police station in Theologos.
(Source below)
Civil War (1944–1950)
After the older ELANists left, the young EPONists moved to the Thasitic mountains to resist. Aside from minor skirmishes between them and the state security forces, the Chorophylakes , it remained relatively quiet. In the severe winter of 1946/47, however, hard fighting began. A government unit, consisting of about 100 Pourandades and gendarmes, was sent to Thasos. The Antartes unit operating on the island at that time, consisting of 50 to 70 fighters, was ready to face them in a decisive battle. However, the political leadership of the insurgents decided to avoid a decisive battle and to divide the troops into small partisan units.
The Antartes received support and support from the Thasitic villages, but lost numerous fighters through death, betrayal and capture in various clashes. In 1947 one of its leaders, the legendary Agamemnonas Fotiou , was betrayed and murdered in the Panagia area . In the mountains around Theologos at the end of 1948 a residual group of five to seven Antartes operated under Dimitri Manolitsos . A military force of around 700 men was deployed with sea-based support to ultimately eliminate them. Only in May 1950, 10 months after the end of the civil war, did the last Antartes give up. They managed to cross over to Keramoti and from there to flee to eastern countries. After 1950 there was hunger on the island and the struggle for survival.
economy
tourism
Today tourism is by far the most important economic factor. Around 70% of the population lived from tourism in 2005. For several years the island of Thasos has developed more and more into a popular tourist destination. Until the 1970s it was mainly Greeks from the mainland, but since the island was also discovered by international package tourism , more and more foreign tourists came year after year , including Germans, Austrians, British and Scandinavians and, increasingly, Bulgarians since the late 1990s. The season runs from mid-May to early October. The hotels are particularly well occupied in the high season in August. Decisive for this are the numerous sandy beaches, the varied landscape and the ancient sights. The main tourist places on the coast are Limenas (main town of the island), Skala Potamia , Potos , Limenaria and Skala Prinos . Quieter are the places Potamia , Kinira, Astris, Skala Marion and Skala Rachoni . The most popular beaches are Makryammos , Chrysi Ammos (Golden Beach) in the northeast, Paradissos in the east, Aliki in the southeast, Psili Ammos in the south and Tripiti in the southwest. These are exclusively fine sandy beaches that slope gently into the crystal clear waters of the Aegean Sea and are therefore particularly child-friendly. The island is well developed thanks to the well-developed ring road, which runs close to the coast. Thasos is also well developed for hikers. Particularly noteworthy are the Ipsarion mountain range in the northeast , up to 1204 m above sea level, and the valleys and olive groves reaching into the interior of the island to the mountain villages of Panagia , Potamia , Kastro , Maries , Kallirachi , Sotiros , Kazaviti , Agios Georgios and Rachoni .
The nearest international airport is Kavala International Airport "Megas Alexandros" . It is located on the mainland, twelve kilometers from the coastal town of Keramoti . Limenas can be reached by ferry from Keramoti, but also from Kavala. Other ferries run between Kavala and Skala Prinos, the second largest port in the northwest of the island. The bus network on the island ensures connections between the main towns.
Agriculture
On Thasos the agriculturally used area takes up about 75 km² (75,000 Stremma) or about 20% of the island area, of which about ⅓ is irrigated. It is almost exclusively tree crops from which olives, walnuts, chestnuts, figs, almonds, sweet and sour cherries, plums, quinces, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, pomegranates, mulberries and carob are harvested. Grain, maize and vegetable cultivation take up the remaining area.
Olive production
Olive production is of great economic importance for the island. Of the Thai tree cultures, the olive tree takes up the majority of the cultivated area with around 95%. The population was estimated at around 1,000,000 trees in 2001. Between 1996 and 2001 the olive oil yield averaged 1995 tonnes a year. 1320 tons of edible olives were harvested annually.
At the beginning of the 19th century, some monasteries from Mount Athos , in particular Vatopedi , Xiropotamou , Filotheou and Pantokratoros, acquired significant properties on Thasos and founded monastery properties. Their agricultural activity consisted mainly in the establishment and maintenance of olive groves, gardens and fields, the extraction of olive oil and agricultural products. The olive trees ( Olea europaea ) of the Thasos Throumba and Thasitiki varieties that were planted at that time are still predominantly to be found today. At the end of 1922, the monastic property was expropriated to provide for the refugees as a result of the Asia Minor catastrophe .
The average land owned by a Thai olive farmer is 1.8 hectares. Cultivation and care of the olive trees, the harvest of the olives and the production of the olive oil are already carried out according to biological standards. No artificial or mineral fertilizers are used, only natural fertilizers. Fly traps are used to protect against the oil fruit fly. The olive oil is traded under quality characteristics that are set out in EU regulation 1234/2007.
Winemaking
The wine , which for the island in ancient times was of great economic importance, is operated in recent times, especially after the phylloxera disaster at the end of the 19th century, only to a limited extent for local needs. The grape varieties that were highly praised at the time are no longer available. Today the white grape Georgina is preferred , less often the red grape variety Limnio .
Livestock
It is assumed that in 2005 about 40,000 milk sheep and an unknown, even more significant number of goats were kept on free or uncontrolled pasture on barren soil on the island.
Ore mining
Marble extraction
Thasos marble is one of the most important white building and decorative stones in Europe and Asia Minor. In ancient times, Thasos marble was quarried in numerous smaller quarries on the eastern and southern coastline .
In the 1960s, three quarries were opened again in the Theologos area in the east of the island. In 1995 there were 17 quarries in the Saliara area and four quarries in the Theologos region. The annual production in 1995 was 60,000 m³ dolomite and about 4,000 m³ calcite marble. In the quarries, different purity classes, stone and grit or gravel are extracted.
Oil and gas production
Tar extraction
In the wooded southeast of the island, the extraction of wood tar developed in twelve small businesses from 1912 onwards . Evidence of this technology, which was important at the time, are the tar stoves that have remained to this day , known in Greece as chimneys (Καμίνι). The first, at Theologos , were put into operation before 1821, the last, in Limenaria, was shut down around 1960.
The chimneys have a beehive-like masonry set in front of the rock with an upper, narrowed feed opening and the lower smoke and discharge opening. The height of the furnace is 3.30 to 3.85 m, the diameter of the lining 1.30 to 1.70 m. The chimneys are built out of dry slate on the outside, carefully placed on the inside and plastered with clay. A collecting pit with a deepened stamnos is embedded in the furnace floor , from which the product is discharged. A layer of fresh pine boards is set up in a pyramid shape over the pit, on which dry and strong pine wood suitable for pyrolysis is layered in 40 cm logs in a roof shape up to the oven mouth.
The charring process took 24 to 36 hours. The viscous tar was filled into tin containers, some of it was flared, extinguished with water and hardened to pitch in containers. 260 kg of tar produced 180 kg of pitch. Production in the Limenaria - Theologos - Thymonia - Kinyra area reached around 3800 kg of tar and pitch in 1901.
Ceramics
From 1912, a sizeable pottery industry developed on the coast west of Limenas, in the area of Agios Vasileios. The sites were the ancient Molos and the immediate vicinity. The first entrepreneurs imported experience and technology from Siphnos and produced in Molos until the 1970s. In 1935 two more kilns went into operation in Loggos, which also disappeared around 1970. The last company started in Platanaki in 1957 and was still producing in 1995. The company manufactured cooking vessels (Tentzere, Giouvetsi, Lekani), transport vessels for liquid and solid substances (Stamna, Skepastaria), table ceramics (Kanata, Ladiko) and storage vessels (vases, pithoi and pitharaki) .
literature
- Jean Pouilloux : Recherches sur l'Histoire et les Cultes de Thasos: De la Fondation de la cite a 196 avant J.-C. Volume I, Ecole Francaise d'Athenes, series: Etudes Thasiennes III, Paris 1954
- Dimitriou I. Lazaridi: Thasos. Thessaloniki 1958.
- Nikos Manolitsos: Το δεύτερο αντάρτικο στη Θάσος. Thessaloniki 1986
- Hartmut Matthäus : Thasos in antiquity. DER ANSCHNITT, supplement 6, pp. 13-39, Bochum 1988, ISBN 3-921533-40-6
- Chaidou Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Arthur Muller, Stratis Papadopoulos: Actes du Colloque International, 26-29 / 9/1995 , Limenaria, Thasos. ISBN 2-86958-141-6 , publisher: Ecole francaise d'Athenes, Paris, et Ephorie des Antiquites prehistoriques et classiques, Kavala 1999
- Elena Kadoglou: Thassos. Michalis Toubis, Athens 1999, ISBN 960-540-365-X
- Valeriu Banari: The relations between Greeks and barbarians in the northwestern Pontos area , dissertation at the University of Mannheim, July 2003
- Sotiris Ierakoudis: Ιστορία της Θάσος , Astris / Thasos, 2005
- Antje and Günther Schwab: Thassos - Samothraki. Travel Guide 2005, ISBN 3-89953-207-4
- M. Giebel: Journeys in antiquity. Pp. 19-23, Patmos Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf, 2006, ISBN 3-491-69139-7
Web links
- Natural History of Thasos: An introduction to the wildlife and wild places of Thasos
- Thasos Bibliography on Natural History
- Περιβαλλοντική Κίνηση Θάσου - environmental movement Thasos
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 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)
- ↑ H. Weingartner: The island of Thasos, a physical-geographical synthesis , chap. 3: Vegetation conditions , Salzburg Geographical Works, Volume 24, Institute for Geography at the University of Salzburg, 1994
- ↑ Handrinos, G. & Akriotis: The birds of Greece. Christopher Helm Ltd., London 1997
- ^ J. Markianos, ornithologist based on Thasos , June 1982
- ^ RFA Grimmett & TA Jones, 1989
- ^ J. Markianos, September 1993
- ^ J. Markianos, February 2004
- ^ S. van Leeuwen, B. van Tooren, May 2004
- ↑ Alan & Rose Saunders: Thassos Greece 5th-19th September 2004
- ↑ M. Nethercoat: Thassos September 22nd to October 5th, 2002, unpublished report
- ↑ S. Mills and H. Koll, February 2008
- ↑ S. Mills and H. Koll, October 2008
- ↑ R. Swindells and K. Allen, May 2000
- ↑ J. Hölzinger : Distribution of the Wall Runner (Trichodroma muraria, Linnaeus, 1766), 1989
- ↑ B. Harding: Thassos 19th August - 2nd September 1997, unpublished report
- ↑ J. Markianos 1982 and 1997
- ^ J. Markianos, May 1997
- ^ S. Mills, 1994
- ↑ C. Cameron: The Isle of Thassos and the Keramoti area, north eastern Greece: trip report for the period 23/05 / 95-06 / 06/95, unpublished report
- ^ C. Cameron & J. Dawson: Birding in Thassos and north-eastern Greece, May 2004, unpublished report
- ↑ G. Handrinos & T. Akriotis: The birds of Greece , Christopher Helm Ltd., London 1997
- ↑ J. Markianos, Sept. 2003
- ↑ a b J. Markianos
- ↑ a b C. Cameron (1995)
- ↑ B. Harding, 1997
- ^ L. Chilton: Plant list for Thasos , Marengo Publications, 1999
- ↑ P. Cunningham: Thassos 6_9_2000 to 20_9_2000, unpublished report
- ↑ M. Nethercoat, 2002
- ^ A. Saunders & R. Saunders, 2004
- ^ Adrian P. Fowles: Natural History of Thásos: An introduction to the wildlife and wild places of Thasos
- ↑ AP Fowles: Speybroeck and Crochet (2007)
- ↑ a b Manfred Henf, Mettmann (author and photographer)
- ^ AP Fowles: Natural history of Thasos: Conservation
- ↑ V. van Laar & S. Daan (1964) and J. Iliopoulou-Georgoudaki (1977)
- ↑ a b A. Lane and H. Alivizatos (2006)
- ↑ JC Ondrias (1966)
- ↑ T. Schultze-Westrum, zoologist and nature filmmaker
- ^ AP Fowles: Natural History of Thasos: An introduction to the wildlife and wild places of Thasos.
- ↑ Y. Grandjean et F. Salviat: Guide de Thasos , deuxième édition refondue et mise à jour, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-86958-176-9
- ↑ D. Lazaridi: Πόλις και χώρα στην αρχαία Μακεδονία και Θράκη Thessaloniki 1990
- ↑ Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki: Πρωτοϊστορική Θάσος, Μέρος Α 'και Β'. Athens 1992, ISBN 960-214-107-7
- ^ Association of Friends of Art and Culture in Mining e. V .: DER ANSCHNITT, supplement 6 , Bochum 1988, ISBN 3-921533-40-6
- ↑ Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki: Prehistoric ocher mines on Thasos, Thasos matières premières et technologie de la prehistoire a nos jours , Athens 1999, ISBN 2-86958-141-6
- ↑ a b William Smith: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, London 1854 ( online )
- ↑ Oinomaios of Gadara with Eusebius of Caesarea ( Praeparatio evangelica 6,7,8 = Parke-Wormell, No. 230 = Fontenrose , No. Q55). Cf. Stephanos of Byzantium sv Θάσος .
- ↑ Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki: Πρωτοϊστορική Θάσος. Τα νεκροταφεία του οικισμού Κάστρι , Μερος Β ', Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού, Δημοσιεύματα, τκοου αρχαιολ23 1992 - page γικου αρχαιολ23
- ↑ Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, pp. 725-729
- ^ M. Giebel : Reisen in der Antike , Patmos Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf, 2006, pp. 19-23, ISBN 3-491-69139-7
- ↑ F. Lasserre: Les epodes d'Archiloque, p 293
- Jump up ↑ Herodotus, Book Six, 46
- ↑ Herodotus VI, 44
- ↑ Herodotus VII, 118
- ↑ Herodotus VII, 110-113
- ↑ Thucydides I, 100
- ↑ Thucydides I, 101.3
- ↑ Thucydides IV, 104.5
- ↑ Thucydides VII. 64.3
- ↑ G. Perrot: Memoire de l'ile de Thasos, chap. VI: “Etat actuel de l'ile, son administration, ses productions, caractere des habitants”. P. 66, Paris 1864
- ↑ Hartmut Matthäus: Thasos in antiquity , Der ANSCHNITT, supplement 6, pages 35–36, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum 1988, ISBN 3-921533-40-6
- ↑ Kantakouzenos, Volume III, pp. 114–115
- ↑ Y. Grandjean et F. Salviat: Guide de Thasos , Athens 2000, pp 34 and 35
- ^ A. Prokesch von Osten: Memoirs and memories from the Orient , Volume 3, Stuttgart 1837, p. 620
- ^ RP Braconnier
- ↑ EM Cousinery: Voyage dans la Macedoine. Volume 2, pp. 104-105
- ↑ A. Conze: Journey on the Islands of the Thracian Sea , p. 27
- ^ A. Prokesch von Osten, p. 624
- ^ G. Perrot: Memoire de l'ile de Thasos. Cape. VI .: Etat actuel de l'ile, son administration, ses productions, caractere des habitants , Paris 1864, p. 73
- ↑ A. Conze, p. 27
- ^ A. Prokesch von Osten, pp. 627–629
- ↑ G. Perrot: Memoire de l'ile de Thasos, p. 67
- ^ A. Prokesch von Osten, p. 613
- ↑ A. Conze, pp. 24, 26
- ↑ Σ. Γερακούδης: Η ιστορία της Θάσος , σ. 112–120, Αστρίς Θάσου, 2005
- ↑ Θ. Μανιταράς: Το παρόν και το μέλλον της ελαιοοκαλλιέργειας στη Θάσος , Πρακτικά Συνεδρίου 2001, p. 21