Phocis

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Phocis

Phocis (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, Modern

Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers the varieties of Greek spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic modern features of the language had been present centuries earli...
: F???da, , Ancient

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
/Katharevousa

Katharevousa

Katharevousa , is a form of the Greek language conceived in the early 19th century by Greeks intellectual and revolutionary leader Adamantios Korais ....
: F????, ) is an ancient district and a modern prefecture

Prefectures of Greece

Greece consists of 13 administrative regions known as Peripheries of Greece, which are further subdivided into 3 Super-prefectures of Greece and 54 prefectures or nomes ....
of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
, located in Central Greece

Central Greece

Continental Greece or Central Greece , colloquially known as Rumelia , is a Regions of Greece of Greece. Its territory is divided into the peripheries of Central Greece , Attica, and one Prefectures of Greece of West Greece....
, stretching from the western mountainsides of Parnassus

Mount Parnassus

Mount Parnassus is a mountain of barren limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside....
on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia

Vardousia

Vardousia is a municipality in Phocis, Greece. Population 2,216 . The seat of the municipality is in Krokyleio. It is one of several municipalities that does not have any settlements....
on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth

Gulf of Corinth

Ozolian Locris

Ozolian Locris or Esperian Locris was a district inhabited by the Ozolian Locrians a tribe of the Locrians, upon the Gulf of Corinth, bounded on the north by Doris , on the east by Phocis, and on the west by Aetolia....
and Doris

Doris (Greece)

Doris , is a small mountainous district in ancient Greece, bounded by Aetolia, southern Thessaly, the Locris, and Phocis; the original homeland of the Dorians Greeks....
, on the north by Opuntian Locris

Opuntian Locris

Opuntian Locris or Eastern Locris was an ancient Greece region inhabited by the tribe of the Locri Epicnemidii or Locri Opuntii , a division of the Locrians....
, on the east by Boeotia

Boeotia

Boeotia, Beotia, or B?otia , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the...
, and on the south by the Gulf of Corinth

Gulf of Corinth

The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isthmus of Corinth which includes the shipping route of the Corinth Canal, and in the west by the Strait of Rion, which separates the Gulf of Corinth from the oute...
. The massive ridge of Parnassus (2,459 m/8,068 ft), which traverses the heart of the country, divides it into two distinct portions.

Modern Phocis has an area of 2120 km² (819 mi²), of which 560 km² (216 mi²) are forested, 36 km² (14 mi²) are plains, and the remainder is mountainous.

Being neither rich in material resources nor well placed for commercial enterprise, Phocis was mainly pastoral.

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Encyclopedia

Phocis (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, Modern

Modern Greek

Ancient Greek

Katharevousa

Prefectures of Greece

Greece consists of 13 administrative regions known as Peripheries of Greece, which are further subdivided into 3 Super-prefectures of Greece and 54 prefectures or nomes ....
of Greece

Greece

Central Greece

Mount Parnassus

Vardousia

Gulf of Corinth

Geography

Ancient Phocis was about 1,619 km² (625 mi²) in area, bounded on the west by Ozolian Locris

Ozolian Locris

Doris (Greece)

Opuntian Locris

Boeotia

Gulf of Corinth

History

The early history of Phocis remains quite obscure. During the Persian

Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
invasion of 480 BC the Phocians at first joined in the national defence, but, by their irresolute conduct at the Battle of Thermopylae

Battle of Thermopylae

The Battle of Thermopylae [th?r m?pp?lee] took place over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Battle of Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the pass of Thermopylae ....
lost that position for the Greeks

Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
; at the Battle of Plataea

Battle of Plataea

The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Ancient Greece city-states, including Sparta, History of Athens, Corinth, Megara and others, and the Achaemenid Empire of Xerxes I....
they were enrolled on the Persian side. In 457 BC an attempt to extend their influence to the headwaters of the Cephissus

Cephissus

Cephissus or Cephisus is the name of several rivers in Greece.* Cephissus , a river arising in Phocis and flowing through northern Boeotia into Lake Copais....
in the territory of Doris brought a Sparta

Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
n army into Phocis in defence of the "metropolis of the Dorians". A similar enterprise against Delphi

Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
in 448 BC was again frustrated by Sparta, but not long afterwards the Phocians recaptured the sanctuary with the help of the Athenians

Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, with whom they had entered into alliance in 454 BC. The subsequent decline of Athenian land power had the effect of weakening this new connection; at the time of the Peloponnesian War

Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
Phocis was nominally an ally and dependent of Sparta, and had lost control of Delphi.

In the 4th century BC Phocis was constantly endangered by its Boeotian neighbours. After helping the Spartans to invade Boeotia during the Corinthian War

Corinthian War

The Corinthian War was an Ancient Greece conflict lasting from 395 BC until 387 BC, pitting Sparta against a coalition of four allied states; Thebes , History of Athens#Classical Athens, Corinth, and Argos; which were initially backed by Achaemenid Dynasty....
(395–94 BC), the Phocians were placed on the defensive. They received assistance from Sparta in 380 BC, but were afterwards compelled to submit to the growing power of Thebes. The Phocian levy took part in the inroads of Epaminondas

Epaminondas

Epaminondas was a Thebes, Greece general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece polis of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in Greek politics....
into Peloponnesus, except in the final campaign of Mantinea (370–362 BC), from which their contingent was withheld. In return for this negligence the Thebans fastened a religious quarrel upon their neighbours, and secured a penal decree against them from the Amphictyonic

Amphictyonic League

In the Archaic period in Greece, an amphictyony or Amphictyonic League was an association of ancient Greek tribes formed in the dim past, before the rise of the Greek polis....
synod (356 BC). The Phocians, led by two capable generals, Philomelus

Philomelus

Philomelus or Philomenus was a minor Greek mythology demi-god, the son of Demeter and Iasion, and the brother of Plutus. Plutus was very wealthy, but gave none of his riches to his brother....
and Onomarchus, replied by seizing Delphi and using its riches to hire a mercenary

Mercenary

A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a national or a party to the conflict, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or p...
army. With the help of these troops the Phocian League at first carried the war into Boeotia and Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
, and though driven out of the latter country by Philip of Macedon

Philip of Macedon

Philip was the name of several Macedonian monarchs:* Philip I of Macedon * Philip II of Macedon , father of Alexander the Great* Philip III of Macedon ...
, maintained itself for ten years, until the exhaustion of the temple treasures and the treachery of its leaders placed it at Philip's mercy. The conditions which he imposed – the obligation to restore the temple funds, and the dispersion of the population into open villages – were soon disregarded. In 339 BC the Phocians began to rebuild their cities; in the following year they fought against Philip at Chaeronea

Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)

The Battle of Chaeronea 338 BC, fought near Chaeronea, in Boeotia, was the greatest victory of Philip II of Macedon. There, Philip defeated the combined forces of Classical Athens and Ancient Thebes and initiated Macedonian hegemony in Greece....
. Again in 323 BC they took part in the Lamian War

Lamian War

The ?Lamian War?, also referred to as the ?Hellenic War? and the ?War against Antipater? , was fought by the Athenians and their Aetolian, Locrian, and Phocian allies against the Macedonians in Thessaly during the winter of ....
against Antipater

Antipater

Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became regent of all of Alexander's empire....
, and in 279 BC helped to defend Thermopylae against the Gauls

Gauls

The Gauls were a Continental Celtic Celts people of Classical Antiquity, the inhabitants of Gaul , and speakers of the Gaulish language.Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La T?ne culture ....
.

Henceforth little more is heard of Phocis. During the 3rd century BC it passed into the power of Macedonia and of the Aetolian League

Aetolian League

The Aetolian League was a confederation of states in ancient Greece centered on the cities of Aetolia in central Greece. Alternatively termed the Aitolian League, it was established in 370 BC in opposition to Macedon and the Achaean League....
, to which in 196 BC it was definitely annexed. Under the dominion of the Roman republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
its national league was dissolved, but was revived by Augustus, who also restored to Phocis the votes in the Delphic Amphictyony which it had lost in 346 BC and enrolled it in the new Achaean synod. The Phocian League is last heard of under Trajan

Trajan

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperors who reigned from 98 until his death in 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a nonpatrician family in the Hispania Baetica province , Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the Limes G...
.

Phocis today

Phocis is today a prefecture and the capital is at Amfissa

Amfissa

File:AMPHISSA 1918.jpgAmfissa is a municipality and the capital town of the prefecture of Phocis, in Greece. It is also known as Salona , which was the Middle Ages name of the town....
, formerly called Salona. With a population of 48,284 (2001), it is Greece's 8th-least populous prefecture, and has a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans....
of less than 23 persons per km² (59/mi²). In the summer months, the population nearly doubles due to the influx of toursists. The neighboring prefectures are Aetolia-Acarnania

Aetolia-Acarnania

Aetolia-Acarnania, is one of the prefectures of Greece. It is located in the western part of Greece; the prefecture is a combination of the regions Aetolia and Acarnania, and its capital for historical reasons is Mesolongi, with its biggest city and economic centre at Agrinion....
to the west, Phthiotis

Phthiotis

Phthiotis is one of the prefectures of Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia . It is bordered by the Maliac Gulf to the east, Boeotia in the south, Phocis in the south, Aetolia-Acarnania in the southwest, Eurytania in the west, Karditsa Prefecture in the north, Larissa Prefecture in the north, and Magnesia in the northeast....
to the north and Boeotia

Boeotia Prefecture

Boeotia is one of the prefectures of Greece. It is within the Central Greece periphery, and its area was known in ancient times. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes, Greece, and the area has access to the island of Euboea via two bridges : one that runs through Chalcis, and another bypassing it with a further road...
to the east.

The communities include in the present-day Phocis are Amfissa, Delphi

Delphi

Boeotia

Galaxidi

Galaxidi , is a town and a municipality located in the southern part of the prefecture of Phocis. It has a small harbor which connects with the Crisaean Gulf north of Galaxidi....
, Itea

Itea

There are things that have the name Itea :*Itea , a genus of plants that includes Itea virginica, the scientific name of Virginia Sweetspire....
.

Most of the villages are founded in the south, the southwest and the west, especially in areas from Amfissa to Itea. The north and the east are leastly populated.

Much of the south and east are deforested and rocky and mountainous while the valley runs from Itea up to Amfissa. Forests and greenspaces are to the west, the central part and the north.

Its reservoir is the Mornos Dam on the Mornos

Mornos

The Mornos is a river that flows in the Fokida and Aitoloakarnania prefectures in Greece. Its source is in the Mount Oeta mountains...
river. It covers nearly 1 km to 3 km². It was completed in the 1960s, and GR-48 was extended to pass through the dam.

Transport

Greece Interstate 3, NE
Greece Interstate 27, Cen., N
Greece Interstate 48, SW, Cen., SE
E65
European route E65

European route E 65 is a road that is an element of the International E-road network. It begins in Malm?, Sweden and ends in Chania, Greece. The road is about 3,800 km in length....
, SW, S, SE

People

Modern Phocis was inhabited by several Greek

Greeks

Locrians

The Locrians were an ancient Greeks tribe in Ancient Greece. The Locrians spoke the Locrian Greek, a Doric Greek#Northwest Greek dialects, and this indicates that they must have been relatives of the Dorians....
and Dorians, which were intermingled and formed the present-day Phocian population, with a unique linguistic and cultural heritage, frequently mentioned as Roumeliotes.

Provinces

Province of Dorida - Lidoriki
Province of Parnassida - Amfissa

Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece

Greece

Municipalities

Phocis prefecture contains 12 municipalities

Municipality

A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them....
.

Municipality	YPES code	Seat (if different)	Postal code
Amfissa Amfissa File:AMPHISSA 1918.jpgAmfissa is a municipality and the capital town of the prefecture of Phocis, in Greece. It is also known as Salona , which was the Middle Ages name of the town....	5101		331 00
Delphi Delphi Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...	5105		330 54
Desfina Desfina Desfina is a Greek town and a municipality located in the southern part of the prefecture of Phokida with a population of 2,431 residents. It is found in foot of mountain Kirfis in altitude 680m....	5106		330 50
Efpalio Efpalio Efpalio is a municipality in Phocis, Greece. Population 6,507 ....	5107		330 56
Galaxidi Galaxidi Galaxidi , is a town and a municipality located in the southern part of the prefecture of Phocis. It has a small harbor which connects with the Crisaean Gulf north of Galaxidi....	5103		330 52
Gravia Gravia Gravia is a municipality in the northeastern part of the Phocis, Greece. Its 2001 population was 897 for the village and 2,975 for the municipality....	5104		330 57
Itea Itea, Greece Itea , is a Greece town and a municipality located in the southeastern part of the prefecture of Phokida. It is located south of Greece Interstate 48/E65 which connects Antirio with the Rio-Antirio bridge and Itea along with Greece Interstate 27, Amfissa and Livadeia with a junction in the north....	5108		332 00
Kallieis Kallieis Kallieis, also Kallies is a municipality in the northern part of the Phocis prefecture in Greece. Its registered population in 2001 amounted to 2,328....	5109	Mavrolithari	330 63
Lidoriki Lidoriki Lidoriki , older forms: -o and -on is a municipality in Phocis, Greece. In 2001 the population was 4,225 for the municipality. Its area is 409.5 km? covering nearly one-fifth of the prefecture....	5110		330 53
Parnassos Parnassos (municipality) Parnassos is a municipality in Phocis, Greece, named after Mount Parnassus. Population 2,668 . The seat of the municipality is in Polydroso....	5111	Polydrosos	330 51
Tolofona Tolofona Tolofona is a village and a municipality in Phocis, Greece. Its 2001 population was Population 3,073 . The seat of the municipality is in Erateini....	5112	Erateini Erateini Erateini or Eratini , older forms:, -o -onNearest placesPanormos, Phocis, northeastTolofona, westPopulation...	330 58
Vardousia	5102	Krokyleio	330 61

List of settlements in the Phocis prefecture

List of settlements in the prefecture of Phocis in Greece...

Persons

Giannis Skarimpas
Giannis Skarimpas

Giannis Skarimpas, Giannis Skarimbas or Yiannis Skarimbas was a Greeks List of Greek writers, dramatist, and poet....
(September 28, 1893 in Agia Efthymia Parnassidos
Agia Efthymia

Agia Efthymia is a village in the Prefectures of Greece of Phocis, Greece, and the former province of Parnassida, located on the foothill of Mount Giona, in the Regions of Greece of Central Greece....
- January 21, 1984)

Sporting teams

Here are the most popular sporting teams in the prefecture. All of the teams are under the Fokida Football Guild Union in which it existed since 1985 after the separation and dissolution of the Fokida-Fhtiotida Football Guild Union

Androutsos Gravia - Gravia
Asteras Iteas - Itea
Doxa Desfina
Doxa Desfina

A.S. Doxa Desfina is an athletic club based in the town of Desfina in the Fokida Prefectures of Greece. The club was founded in 1986 and plays in the same field with Isaias Desfina....
- Desfina
Isaia Desfina
Isaia Desfina

A.S. Isaia Desfina is an athletic club based in the town of Desfina in the Fokida Prefectures of Greece in Greece. The club was founded in 1973 and plays in the same field with Doxa Desfina....
- Desfina
Diagoras Polydrosos - Polydrosos
Dorikos Nea Dorida - Nea Dorida
Fokikos
Fokikos F.C.

Fokikos F.C. is a Greece Association football club based in Amfissa, Greece. The club was founded in 1964 and currently plays in Gamma Ethniki, the third level of the Greek football league system....
- Amfissa
A.O. Malesina - Malesina

External links

Phokians, 668–450BC
In French:

- MSN
MSN

MSN is a collection of Internet services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system....
Encarta
Encarta

Encartais a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft. , the complete English version, Encarta Premium consists of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactivities, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and is available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscripti...

(in Greek)