Gytheio
Encyclopedia
Gytheio the ancient Gythium or Gytheion , is a town and a former municipality in Laconia
Laconia
Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti...

, Peloponnese, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani
East Mani
East Mani is a municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Its seat of administration is the town Gytheio. The municipality is located in the eastern part of the Mani Peninsula...

, of which it is a municipal unit. It was the seaport of Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

, some 40 km north. Gytheio used to be an important port until it was destroyed in 4th century AD, possibly by an earthquake. Today it is the largest and most important town in Mani
Mani Peninsula
The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...

. It is also the seat of the municipality of East Mani.

Nearest Places

  • South: Mavrovouni
    Mavrovouni
    Mavrovouni may refer to several places in Greece:*Mavrovouni, Ioannina, a village in the Ioannina Prefecture, part of the municipality Kalpaki*Mavrovouni, Laconia, a village in Laconia, part of the municipality Gytheio...

    .
  • West: Rachi
  • North: Stefania
    Stefania
    Stefania is a genus of frogs in the Hemiphractidae family. They are native to southern Venezuela and Guyana, but may also occur in adjacent far northern Brazil. Most are restricted to the tepui highlands, but S. evansi also occurs in lowlands...

  • East: Cranae
    Cranae
    Cranae is an island off the coast of Gytheio connected to the land by a causeway built in 1898. According to legend, when Paris of Troy abducted Helen from Sparta they spent their first night in Cranae. When Gytheio became the major port of Sparta Cranae became a resting spot for traders...


Historical population

Year Town Municipality
1830 500-700 -
1910 2,000+ -
1981 4,354 -
1991 4,259 7,542
2001 4,489 7,926

Geography

Gytheio is located in the north-east corner of Mani
Mani Peninsula
The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...

. It lies on the north-western end of the Laconian Gulf. Gytheio was built on a hill called Koumaros or Laryssio in one of the most fertile areas in Mani, near the mouth of the Gythium River, which is usually dry and has been given the nickname of "Xerias", meaning 'dry' (Today most of the "Xerias" dry river is covered by "Ermou Avenue"). Further north-east is the delta of the Evrotas River. Gytheio is built on hilly ground overlooking the Laconian Gulf. Offshore of Gytheio are several small islands, the most important of these being Cranae
Cranae
Cranae is an island off the coast of Gytheio connected to the land by a causeway built in 1898. According to legend, when Paris of Troy abducted Helen from Sparta they spent their first night in Cranae. When Gytheio became the major port of Sparta Cranae became a resting spot for traders...

, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway. Gytheio is only 40 km southeast of Sparta.

History

The reputed founders of ancient Gythium were Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

 and Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

, who frequently appear on its coins or in other legends, and Castor and Pollux
Castor and Pollux
In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...

: the former of these names may point to the influence of Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

n traders from Tyre, who, we know, visited the Laconian shores at a very early period. It is thought that Gytheio may have been the center of their purple dye trade because the Laconian Gulf had a plentiful source of murex
Murex
Murex is a genus of medium to large sized predatory tropical sea snails. These are carnivorous marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, commonly calle "murexes" or "rock snails"...

. In classical times it was a community of Perioeci, politically dependent on Sparta, though doubtless with a municipal life of its own.

In 455 BC, during the First Peloponnesian War
First Peloponnesian War
The First Peloponnesian War was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War...

, it was burned by the Athenian admiral Tolmides
Tolmides
Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus, was a leading Athenian general of the First Peloponnesian War. He rivalled Pericles and Myronides for the military leadership of Athens during the 450's and early 440's BC....

 who besieged the city with 50 ships and 4,000 hoplites. It was rebuilt and was most probably, the building ground for the Spartan fleet in the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...

. In 407 BC during the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...

 landed there and saw the thirty triremes the Spartans were building there. In 370 BC, the Thebans
Thebes, Greece
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...

 under the command of Epaminondas
Epaminondas
Epaminondas , or Epameinondas, was a Theban general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in Greek politics...

 besieged the city successfully for three days after ravaging Laconia
Laconia
Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti...

. However it was recaptured by the Spartans three days later.

In 219 BC, Philip V of Macedon
Philip V of Macedon
Philip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Rome. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man...

 tried to capture the city but without success. Under Nabis
Nabis
Nabis was ruler of Sparta from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the War against Nabis. After taking the throne by executing two claimants, he began rebuilding Sparta's power. During the Second Macedonian War, he sided with King Philip V of Macedon and...

, Gythium became a major naval arsenal and port. During the Roman-Spartan War, Gythium was captured after a lengthy siege. After the war finished, Gythium was made part of the Union of Free Laconians under Achean protection. Nabis recaptured Gythium three years and the Spartan fleet defeated the Achean fleet outside of Gythium. Gythium was liberated by a Roman fleet under the command of Aulus Atilius Serranus
Aulus Atilius Serranus (consul 170 BC)
Aulus Atilius Serranus was a Roman consul in the year 170 BCE, together with Aulus Hostilius Mancinus.Atilius Serranus began as a praetor to the city of Rome in 173 BCE. The next year, he was charged with ensuring that a part of the Roman army in Brundusium was successfully moved to Macedonia in...

.

Subsequently Gythium formed the most important of the Union of Free Laconians, a group of twenty-four, later eighteen, communities leagued together to maintain their autonomy against Sparta and declared free by Caesar Augustus. The highest officer of the confederacy was the general, who was assisted by a treasurer (rauias), while the chief magistrates of the several communities bore the title of ephors.

In Roman times Gythium remained a major port and it prospered as a member of the Union. As purple dye was popular in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Gythium exported that as well as porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...

 and rose antique marble.. Evidence of the ancient Gythium prosperity can be found by the fact that the Romans built an ancient theatre which is well preserved today and is still used occasionaly. The ancient theatre, as well as the city's Acropolis (west to the location of the theatre) discovered by the archeologist Dimitris Skias on 1891. Some time in the 4th century AD, Gythium was destroyed. What happened to Gythium is not recorded but it is thought to have been either sacked by Alaric
Alaric I
Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....

 and Visigoths, pillaged by the Slavs or destroyed by the massive earthquake that struck the area in 375 AD.

After the earthquake Gythium was abandoned. It remained a small village throughout the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 and Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 times. Its importance grew when Tzannetos Grigorakis built his tower at Cranae
Cranae
Cranae is an island off the coast of Gytheio connected to the land by a causeway built in 1898. According to legend, when Paris of Troy abducted Helen from Sparta they spent their first night in Cranae. When Gytheio became the major port of Sparta Cranae became a resting spot for traders...

 and more people came and settled at Gytheio. But during the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

, refugees flooded into Mani
Mani Peninsula
The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...

 and made Gytheio a major town.

The modern Gytheio opened a port in the 1960s. Ferries sail from Gytheio to Kythira
Kythira
Cythera is an island in Greece, once part of the Ionian Islands. It lies opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is administratively part of the Islands regional unit, which is part of the Attica region , Greece.For many centuries, while naval travel was the only means...

 almost daily and also to Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 twice a week. It is the See
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

 of the Diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 of Gytheion and Oitylo
Oitylo
Oitylo is a village and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. It is one of the oldest towns in the Mani Peninsula. It was mentioned in the Iliad by Homer as Oetylοs ,...

, headed by a Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

 Church of Greece
Church of Greece
The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...

. Gytheio is the largest and most important town in Mani. Most of the ruins of ancient Gythium are now submerged in the Laconian Gulf.
Some walls' remains can be seen today on the sandy beach of Valtaki and in the shallow waters, where the well known Dimitrios shipwreck
Dimitrios shipwreck
- The "Dimitrios" shipwreck :Dimitrios is a famous shipwreck in Greece due to its picturesque location on an easily accessible sandy beach near Gythio....

 lies stranded. It is also the capital of the municipality of Gytheio.

From 2003 to 2004, the show which was broadcast on Mega Channel
Mega Channel
Mega Channel, also known as Mega TV or just Mega, is a major television network in Greece. Teletypos S.A. was founded in 1989 under the name Teletypos Television Programmes S.A...

 Vendetta, a drama-like show which is about a person that has its relatives in the Mani Peninsula
Mani Peninsula
The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...

 was filmed here for a few episodes.

Persons

  • Alexandros Othonaios
    Alexandros Othonaios
    Alexandros Othonaios was a distinguished Greek general, who became briefly Prime Minister of an emergency government during an abortive coup in 1933.- Early life and career :...

     (1879–1970), general and former Prime Minister of Greece
    Prime Minister of Greece
    The Prime Minister of Greece , officially the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic , is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The current interim Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former Vice President of the European Central Bank, following...

  • Tzannis Tzannetakis
    Tzannis Tzannetakis
    Tzannis Tzannetakis was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989.-Biography:Tzannetakis was born in Gytheio in the region of Mani in 1927...

     (1927–2010), politician and former Prime Minister of Greece
  • Deane Jordan aka "Green Deane" of "Eat The Weeds" is a Greek American and the most watched wild food forager in the world. His grandparents are from the Gythio area, the Tsapatsaris family in Karea and Karantzalis from Konahia.

Other

The geography of Gythio includes houses aligned with the hill and the Laconian Gulf
Laconian Gulf
The Laconian Gulf , is a gulf in the south-eastern Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the southernmost gulf in Greece and the largest in the Peloponnese. In the shape of an inverted "U", it is approximately 58 km wide east-west, and 44 km long north-south...

. The port is situated around its main street which is also GR-37 which links Areopoli
Areopoli
Areopoli is a town on the Mani Peninsula, Laconia, Greece. The word Areopoli means "city of Ares", the ancient Greek god of war. It was the seat of Oitylo municipality. Areopoli was called Tsimova by the invading Slavs during the 7th century AD...

 and GR-86. Pine trees are situated in the west and rocky mountains in the north.

Gytheio is well known for its delicious sea food and for the city's large number of very attractive women.

Primary Sources

  • Livy
    Livy
    Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

    , translated by Henry Bettison, (1976). Rome and the Mediterranean. London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044318-5.
  • Pausanias
    Pausanias (geographer)
    Pausanias was a Greek traveler 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 classical...

    , translated by W.H.S Jones, (1918). Pausanias Description of Greece. London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-14-044362-2.
  • Polybius
    Polybius
    Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

    , translated by Frank W. Walbank, (1979). The Rise of the Roman Empire. New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044362-2.

Secondary Sources

  • Collitz-Bechtel, Sammlung d. griech. Dialekt-Inschriften, iii. Nos. 4562-4573; British School Annual, x. 179 foll.
  • Paul Cartledge
    Paul Cartledge
    Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge....

     and Antony Spawforth, (2002). Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A tale of two cities. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26277-1
  • E. Curtius, Peloponnesos, ii. 267 foll. Inscriptions: Le Bas-Foucart, Voyage archéologique, ii. Nos. 238-248 f.
  • Patrick Leigh Fermor
    Patrick Leigh Fermor
    Sir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...

    , (1984). Mani: Tavels in the Southern Peloponnese. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-011511-0
  • Peter Greenhalgh and Edward Eliopoulos, (1985). Deep into Mani:Journey to the southern tip of Greece. London: Trinity Press ISBN 0-571-13524-2
  • Peter Green
    Peter Green (historian)
    Peter Green is a British classical scholar noted for his works on Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age of ancient history, generally regarded as spanning the era from the death of Alexander in 323 BC up to either the date of the Battle of Actium or the death of Augustus in 14 AD...

    , (1990). Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, (2nd edition). Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-500-01485-X.
  • Rosemary Hall, Paul Hellander, Corinne Simcock and David Willet. Lonely Planet: Greece. Singapore: SNP Printing Pte Ltd. ISBN 0-86442-527-9
  • Kyriakos Kassis, (1979). Mani's History. Athens: Presoft
  • William Leake
    William Leake
    William Leake, father and son , were London publishers and booksellers of the late sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries...

    , Travels in the Morea, i. 244 foll.
  • Maria Mavromataki, (2001). 8,500 Years of Civilization: Greece: Between Legend and History. Athens: Haïtalis. ISBN960-8284-01-5
  • G. Weber, De Gytheo et Lacedaemoniorum rebus navalibus (Heidelberg, 1833)

North: Smynos
Smynos
Smynos is a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 1,917 ....

West: Oitylo
Oitylo
Oitylo is a village and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. It is one of the oldest towns in the Mani Peninsula. It was mentioned in the Iliad by Homer as Oetylοs ,...

 & Lefktro
Lefktro
Lefktro is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality West Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 5,558 . The seat of the municipality was in Kardamyli. The village Lefktro is located above...

Gytheio East: Laconian Gulf
Laconian Gulf
The Laconian Gulf , is a gulf in the south-eastern Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the southernmost gulf in Greece and the largest in the Peloponnese. In the shape of an inverted "U", it is approximately 58 km wide east-west, and 44 km long north-south...

South: East Mani
East Mani
East Mani is a municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Its seat of administration is the town Gytheio. The municipality is located in the eastern part of the Mani Peninsula...

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