Megalopolis, Greece
Ancient
Megalopolis, or now
Megalópoli (Μεγαλοπολη) is a town in the western part of the prefecture of
Arcadia. "Megalopolis" is a Greek word for
Great city. In ancient times, the town was indeed very large. It was famous for its amphitheater, known to have a capacity for 20 thousand people - the largest known.
The population in
2001 reached over 5,000. It is the only growing community in western Arcadia. Other villages towns reported a loss in population in 2001. Distance from
Tripoli, Greece is 30 km from 33, SE of
Andritsaina and from
Kalamata is 55 km NE on
Interstate 7, and
E65. The city has a square in the heart of the city. Its
area code is 27910 with 5 digits. The mountains surrounding Megalopolis are
Taygetus, and
Tsiberou. Its nearest television and communications tower are on top of mount
Tsiberou. Much of the area is isolated, and the forested valley contains about 10,000. It is one of the most underpopulated areas in the
Peloponnese. It is situated between the
Alfeios and the
Elisson rivers.
It is famous for its ancient ruins founded northwest which features an
ancient theatre which used to hold up to 20,000 people and was 30 m tall. Other landmarks include the Thersileon with 67 pillars and the temple (11.5 m × 5 m).
Megalopoli has three schools, lyceums, gymnasia, churches, banks, hotels, a post office and squares (
plateia). It also has a train station which is also has a freight yard 1 km from downtown. The track is not through to Tripoli, the line for Kalamata – Tripoli –
Argos –
Corinth is 4 km S.
It was founded in
371 BC by the
Theban general
Epaminondas in an attempt to form a political counterweight to
Sparta. It was one of the 40 places that were megále pólis (great city). Megalopolis became the seat of the
Arcadian League in
370 BC which in the
3rd century BC became the
Achaean League It used to be one of the about 20,000 places that have an ancient theatre. In
331 BC, Megalopolis was invaded by the
Spartans and had a battle with the
Macedonians which the Macedonians made it to help Megalopolis. The Macedonians defeated the Spartans. In
223 BC, the Spartan king
Cleomenes destroyed and burnt the city down but the inhabutants were saved by
Philopoemen. In
208 BC, Philipoemen as soldier of the
Achaean League The city fell during the
Middle Ages and was refounded after the
Greek Independence.
It was known as Sinanou (Σινάνο) until the
19th century.
In the mid-
1960s, the
Public Power Organization (DEI) and the government started construction on a power plant which took several years to opened two towers? in order to increase power consumption throughout Greece. The power plant is approximately 8 km NW of downtown. It was first opened in
1969. The area is about 0.2 to 0.3 km². It serves hydro to the southern portion of Greece. A
lignite mining area is situated around the plant. The power lines are near the plant. It is connected with GR-76 (Krestena – Andritsaina – Megalopoli). A part of the population are employees of this plant.
A wider highway southwest first opened in around the 1980s. Megalopolis is now bypassed by a new freeway connecting from
Kalamata and
Athens. Construction began in 1999 in the southwest and headad northeast in 2001 and was opened to traffic in 2002. The freeway now runs between the little villages Perivolia and Routsi, and there lies the Alfeios River.
In
1993, a brush fire burned much of eastern
Megalopolis and the
Tsiberou area. It burnt approximately 50 to 60 square kilometres of land.
*
Psari (west)
*
Makrisi (east)
*
Perivolia (ESE)
*
Vrysoules (SE)
*
Oresteio*
Anthochori*
Ano Karyes*
Chirades*
Choremi**
Apiditsa*
Chranes*
Gefyra*
Isari**
Petrovouni**
Chrysa*
Isoma Karyon*
Karatoula*
Kastanochori*Kato
Karyes*
Lykaio*
Lykosoura*
Makrysi**Kato Makrysi (pop: 119)
*
Mallota*
Marathoussa*
Megalopoli*
Nea Ekklisoula*
Neochori*
Paradeisia**
Fanaiti*
Perivolia**
Vrysoules*
Plaka*
Rapsommati*
Souli**
Derveni*
Thoknia*
Trilofos**
Palaiomoiri*
Tripotamia*
Vangos*
Vasta| Year | Communal population | Change | Municipal population | Change |
|---|
| 1920 | 1,776 | - | - | - |
| 1961 | 2,235 | 1,059/59.63% | - | - |
| 1981 | 4,875 | 2,640/113.06% | - | - | - |
| 1991 | 4,646 | -229/-4.7% | 8,888 | - |
| 2001 | 5,114 | 468/1.01% | - | - |
Megalopolis is also a province. It contains the communities of:
*
Amenodouri*
Ano Anavrito*
Issari*
Kato Anavrito*
Makrinisi?
*
Perivolia*
Rapsommati*
Routsi*
Tripotamia*
Vasta*
Vrysoules*
ZoniIt also contains the municipalities of:
*
traveljournals.net – Megalopoli*
3rd Megalopolis Public School (in Greek)
*
GTP – Municipality of Megalopoli*
Communities of Arcadia
