- For the mythical island Tanagra in Star Trek, see Darmok.
Tanagra is a community north of
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
in
BoeotiaBoeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , 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...
, not far from Thebes, that was noted in antiquity for its mass-produced mold-cast and fired terracotta figurines: see
Tanagra figurineThe Tanagra figurines were a mold-cast type of Greek terracotta figurines produced from the later fourth century BCE, primarily in the Boeotian town of Tanagra. They were coated with a liquid white slip before firing and were sometimes painted afterwards in naturalistic tints with watercolors, such...
.
PausaniasPausanias was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between...
mentions in its location the ancient city of
GraeaGraea or Graia is a region of ancient Greece that is placed under Boeotia in Homer's Catalogue of Ships; it seems to have included the city of Oropos, though by the fifth century BC it was probably a kome of that city...
, eponymous of the
Graikoi, a
BoeotiaBoeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , 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...
n tribe whose name gave rise to the Latin
GraecusGraecus or Græcus was, according to Hesiod's "Eoiae" or Catalogue of Women on the origin of the Greeks, the son of Pandora II and Zeus...
"Greek".
HomerHomer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey...
, while reciting the Boeotian forces in the
Iliad 's
Catalogue of ShipsThe Catalogue of Ships is a passage in Book 2 of Homer's Iliad , which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy...
, provides the first known reference to the Boeotian city of Graea.
Tanagra's alternative name was Poimandria, after its founder Poimandros who took part in the Trojan campaign.
It was the site of two Battles of Tanagra, in
457 BCThere was a later battle at Tanagra during the Peloponnesian War; see Battle of Tanagra .The Battle of Tanagra took place in 457 BC between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War.-Background:...
and
426 BCThere was an earlier battle at Tanagra during the Peloponnesian War; see Battle of Tanagra .The Battle of Tanagra was a battle in the Peloponnesian War in 426 BC between Athens and Tanagra....
.
The Boeotian League under Tanagra led forth "the Boeotians" against the Athenian invadors at Oenophyta, 62 days after the battle of Tanagra (See
Battle of OenophytaThe Battle of Oenophyta took place between Athens and the Boeotian city-states in 457 BC during the First Peloponnesian War.In this period between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, alliances and leagues sprang up and collapsed, although there was very little prolonged warfare...
) The
Tanagra figurines were a mold-cast type of
Greek terracotta figurinesTerracotta figurines are a mode of artistic and religious expression frequently found in Ancient Greece. Cheap and easily produced, these figurines abound and provide an invaluable testimony to the everyday life and religion of the Ancient Greeks....
produced from the later fourth century BCE, primarily in Tanagra.
It can be accessed by GR-1 in the north and by a provincial road linking Thiva (Thebes) in the west. It is located SE of Thiva and Arma, SW of
SchimatariSchimatari , older forms: -o and -on is a town and a municipality in the Boeotia Prefecture, Greece. Population 8,095 . It became one the prefecture's largest communities . The Asopus River is 3 to 4 km to the south...
and NW of
Agios ThomasAgios Thomas is the Greek name for Saint Thomas and may refer to:*Agios Thomas, Aetolia-Acarnania, a village in Aetolia-Acarnania*Agios Thomas, Boeotia, a village in Boeotia*Agios Thomas, Crete, a village in the Heraklion Prefecture, Crete...
.
The town is situated between the base and the highway. Tanagra is served by two interchanges, a partial southbound exit, a northbound entrance to the northwest and an almost-full to the east, serving access to highways 44 and 77 to the island of
EuboeaFor the mythological figure, see Euboea Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from the mainland of Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait...
. Its service road lies to the south and is linked with the southeast bypass and to the military base. Farmlands surround the rest of Tanagra, and the
AsopusAsopus or Asôpos is the name of five different rivers in Greece and Turkey and also in Greek mythology the name of the gods of those rivers.-The rivers:...
River along with the
ParnithaMount Parnitha , older forms Parnes, Parnis is a densely forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica, with an elevation of 1,413 m and a summit known as Karavola...
mountains to the south.
Today, Tanagra Air Force base is home to the 114 Combat Wing of the
Hellenic Air ForceThe Hellenic Air Force, abbreviated HAF is the air force of Greece. The mission of the Hellenic Air Force is to guard and protect Greek airspace, provide air assistance and support to the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid in Greece and around the world...
, and is one of
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
's largest military bases. Its runway is about 2 km in length.
In the early 2000s, a military plane which was on a training flight crashed on the runway during bad weather. There were no survivors.
On Sunday
September 18, 2005-Portal:Current events:- News collections and sources :* Wikipedia:News collections and sources.* Wikipedia:News sources - This has much of the same material organized in a hierarchical manner to help encourage NPOV in our news reporting....
, the Archangelos air show, the largest ever organized in Greece, took place in Tanagra. It drew a crowd of more than 200,000.
Historical population
| Year | Communal population | Change | Island population |
|---|
| 1981 |
1,097 |
- |
- |
| 1991 |
847 |
-250/-22.79% |
- |
| 2003 |
- |
- |
- |