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Arcadia
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Arcadia, Arkadía (Greek ???ad?a), or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas.
dia has its present-day capital at Tripoli. It forms the largest prefecture on the Peloponnesian peninsula. It currently covers about 18% of the entire peninsula, although it once extended to about 20 to 25% of the peninsula.
The prefecture has a skiing resort on Mount Maenalus, the Mainalon, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli.
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Encyclopedia
Arcadia, Arkadía (Greek ???ad?a), or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas.
Modern Arcadia
Arcadia has its present-day capital at Tripoli. It forms the largest prefecture on the Peloponnesian peninsula. It currently covers about 18% of the entire peninsula, although it once extended to about 20 to 25% of the peninsula.
The prefecture has a skiing resort on Mount Maenalus, the Mainalon, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli. The other mountains include the Parnon in the southeast, the Artemisio, the Saita, the Skiathio, the Lykaia and Tsiberou.
The Greek National Road 7 (E65) highway, which was extended after 1997 and in 2003, runs through Arcadia on a north-west to south-east axis and nearly forms in the southwest the end of the highway. A thermoelectric power station which produces electricity for most of southern Greece, operates to the south of Megalopolis, along with a coal mine.
Arcadia has two tunnels. The Artemisio Tunnel opened first, followed by the tunnel east of Megalopolis; both serve traffic flowing between Messenia and Athens.
In agriculture, potato farms (dominant in central and northcentral Arcadia), mixed farming, olive groves, and pasture dominate the plains of Arcadia, especially in the area around Megalopolis and between Tripoli and Levidi. One of these cuisines were featured on Mega Channel's cooking show hosted by Mamalakis that was shown on prime time.
The chief cities and communities in the prefecture include Tripoli, Astros, Vytina, Dimitsana, Lagkadia,Tyros, Leonidio, Leontari, Levidi, Megalopolis Paloumba and Stemnitsa.
Ancient cities include Acacesium (founded by Acacus), Asea, Astros, Athinaio, Daseae, Falaisia (Phalesia), Gortys, Hypsus (Stemnitsa), Heraia, Lusi, Lykaio, Lykosoura, Mantineia, Megalopoli, Orchomenus (Orchomenos), Tegea, Thoknia, Trapezus, Trikolonoi, Tropaia ,Tripoli,Tyros, other cities includes Basilis, Caphya or Kaphya, Charisia, Ellison, Enispe, Kaous, Karyes, Methydrio, Melangeia, Oryx, Paroria, Pelagos, Phoizon, Rhipi, Stratii, Teuthis and several more. Cities once belonged in Arcadia including Alea (now in Argolis) and Amilos (now in Achaia).
Provinces
Arcadia has 4 provinces:
Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.
Municipalities and communities
See also: List of settlements in the Arcadia prefecture
Former municipalities
Climate
The climate consists of hot summers and mild winters in the eastern part, the southern part, the low lying areas and the central area at altitudes lower than 1,000 m. The area primarily receives rain during fall and winter months in the rest of Arcadia. Winter snow occurs commonly in the mountainous areas for much of the west and the northern part, the Taygetus area, the Mainalon.
History
Due to its remote, mountainous character, Arcadia has always been a classical refuge. So during the Dorian invasion, when Mycenaean Greek was replaced with Doric Greek along the coast of the Peloponnese, it survived in Arcadia, developing into the Arcadocypriot dialect of Classical Antiquity. Arcadocypriot never became a literary dialect, but it is known from inscriptions. Tsan is a letter of the Greek alphabet occurring only in Arcadia, shaped like Cyrillic ?; it represents an affricate that developed from labiovelars in context where they became t in other dialects. Tsakonian Greek, still spoken on the coast of the modern prefecture of Arcadia, in the Classical period considered the southern Argolid coast immediately adjoining Arcadia, is a descendant of Doric Greek, and as such is an extraordinary example of a surviving regional dialect of archaic Greek. The capitals of Tsakonia is the Arcadian coastal towns of Leonidio and Tyros.
One of the birthplaces reported for Zeus is Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia. Lycaon, a cannibalistic Pelasgian king, was transformed into a werewolf by Zeus. Lycaon's daughter was Callisto. It was also said to have been the birthplace of Zeus' son, Hermes.
Arcadia remained a rustic, secluded area, and its inhabitants became proverbial as primitive herdsmen leading simple pastoral
unsophisticated yet happy lives, to the point that Arcadia may refer to some imaginary idyllic paradise, immortalized by Virgil's Eclogues, and later by Jacopo Sannazaro in his pastoral masterpiece, Arcadia (1504); see also Arcadia (utopia).
Arcadia later joined the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire. After the fourth crusade, the area became a part of the Principality of Achaea. In the mid-15th century, the region fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks with some exceptions in the 16th century for a couple of years. During these periods, many towns and villages were founded.
The Latin phrase Et in Arcadia ego which is usually interpreted to mean "I am also in Arcadia" or "I am even in Arcadia" is an example of memento mori, a cautionary reminder of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death. The phrase is most often associated with a 1647 painting by Nicolas Poussin, also known as "The Arcadian Shepherds". In the painting the phrase appears as an inscription on a tomb discovered by youthful figures in classical garb. It has been suggested that the phrase is an anagram for the Latin phrase "I! Tego arcana Dei", which translates to "Begone! I keep God's secrets."
After 400 years of occupation by the Ottomans, Arcadia was the centre of the Greek War of Independence which saw victories in their battles including one in Tripoli which saw the Greek revolutionaries slaughter around 30,000 Turks. After a victorious revolutionary war, Arcadia was finally incorporated into a newly-created Greek state. Arcadia saw economic growth and small emigration.
In the 20th century, Arcadia experienced extensive population loss through emigration, mostly to the Americas. Many Arcadian villages lost almost half their inhabitants, and fears arose that they would turn into ghost towns. Arcadia now has a smaller population than Corinthia. Demographers expected that its population would halve between 1951 and the early 21st century. The prefectural population is in a range to a point that could fall below the 100,000 mark which could make it the next prefecture in Greece to have fewer than 100,000 people.
After World War II and the Greek Civil War, many villages and towns were rebuilt.
An enormous earthquake with a 5 Richter scale range shook Megalopoli and the surrounding area. Many buildings were destroyed, leaving people homeless. Within a couple of years, the buildings were rebuilt anti-seismically. In 1967, construction began on the Megalopoli Power Plant. It began operating in 1970, producing electricity for southern Greece. A mining area south of the plant is the largest mining area in the peninsula and continues to the present day with one settlement moved.
Water problems troubled local residents protesting over the rights of water usage with the Argolida and its new reservoir near Saga, on July 3, 2007. On July 27, a wildfire broke out in Gortynia in the western portion, threatening several nearby villages and burning a small portion of the forested area. Less than a month later, another minor forest fire occurred near Tropaia, on Thursday August 23. A day later, the minor fire became a major blaze beginning in the southwest of Arcadia Soulos. Arson-related fires spread and burned villages including Chrousa, Leontari, Vasta, Tourkoleka, Dirahi, near Megalopoli, Makryssi and Anavryto, and burned around 5% of the prefecture and the southwestern portion. The fire raging in the southern Ilia prefecture spread into Arcadia, and began to burn Atsicholos and the area around Karytaina. Residents prevented the fire from entering Megalopoli, Karytaina, and its surrounding area by chopping down trees, preventing it from entering the village; helicopters received water from Lake Taka and the sea. The fires continued from Friday August 24, with high winds and hot temperatures reported at 42°C; the outbreaks slowed three days later but progressed on Tuesday August 27. The blazes finally died down when temperatures dropped and a low pressure system from southern Europe brought rain into the area; roads had been closed and electricity cut off for several days. At the extinguishing of the fire, hundreds of mobile homes were sent to inhabitants who had lost houses. Trees and a number of groves are to be planted, but it is expected to take a few years to restore part of the area's natural beauty and forest. Less seriously for the area, Kynouria experienced weather problems in the winter, with a snowstorm affecting Leonidi and the village of Agios Petros on February 10, 2008.
- Major roads or highways:
- Secondary roads:
Communications
Sports teams
- Arcadia Shepherds is the South African football (soccer) club from the city of Pretoria. The club was formed in 1903 and has been a source of players from its youth system that have gone on to higher profile careers overseas. The club's glory year was 1974, when it won every competition entered.
- Asteras Tripolis is the Greek soccer club from the city of Tripoli.
- Leonidio FC is the Greek soccer club from the town of Leonidio.
Persons
- Ancient Olympic victors:
- Androsthenes of Maenalus, won gold in 420 and 416 BC
- Euthymenes of Maenalus, won gold in 400 and 392 BC
- Aristonymus, ancient person?
- Angelos Angelopoulos, economist, professor of the University of Athens
- Fotios Chrysanthopoulos, first countillor for Theodoros Kolokotronis
- Mimis Fotopoulos (April 1913 in Zatouna Gortynias - 1986 in Athens)
- Nikos Gatsos, poet
- Costas Gavras, actor
- Dimitrios Gontikas, politician and president of the parliament
- Konstantinos Gontikas, politician, minister
- Kostas Karyotakis (October 30, 1896 – July 20, 1928 in Preveza)
- Yiannis Kouros, ultramarathon runner
- Giorgos Merikas, doctor
- Ilias Mariopoulos, nature meteorologist at the University of Athens
- Georgios Mistriois, philologist
- Dimitris Mitropoulos
- Vasileios Oikonomou, lawman
- Giannis Panou, poet
- Vasilis Papakonstantinou, singer and director
- Dimitrios Paparrigopoulos
- Giorgos Santas, with Manolis Glezos, he was famous for restoring the Greek flag at the Acropolis after nearly three and a half years of non-Greek occupation of the Battle of Greece in 1944, a part of World War II.
- Ilias Simopoulos, poet
- Georgios Stamatopoulos
- Kostas Tournas, director?, poet and singer
- Babis Tsertos, singer
- Stavros Tsiolis, actor
- Georgios Valkans, chemist
- Thanassis Valtinos, poet
- Kollias the Vytinioti
- Simos Chatzis, soccer player
- Atalanta, a Greek mythic woman said to have been the daughter of the King of Arcadia
External links
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