Peloponnese
The
Peloponnese or
Peloponnesus (
Greek: Πελοπόννησος
Peloponnesos; see also
List of traditional Greek place names) is a large
peninsula in southern
Greece, forming the part of the country south of the
Gulf of Corinth. It is also a
periphery of Greece, consisting of 5
prefectures. Note that the periphery Peloponnese covers only part of the peninsula Peloponnese.
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The Peloponnese as seen from space |
The Peloponnese covers an area of some 21,549 km² (8,320 square miles). It constitutes the southernmost part of mainland Greece, although technically it is an island since the construction of the
Corinth Canal in
1893. It has two land connections with the rest of Greece, a natural one at the
Isthmus of Corinth and an artificial one in the shape of the
Rio-Antirio bridge (completed
2004).
The peninsula has a mountainous interior and deeply indented coasts, with Mount
Taygetus its highest point. It possesses four south-pointing peninsulas,
Messenia, the
Mani Peninsula,
Cape Malea (also known as Epidaurus Limera), and
the Argolid in the far northeast of the Peloponnese.
Two groups of islands lie off the Peloponnesan coast: the
Argo-Saronic Islands to the east, and the
Ionian Islands to the west. The island of
Kythira, off the Epidaurus Limera peninsula to the south of the Peloponnese, is considered to be part of the Ionian Islands.
The peninsula has been inhabited since
prehistoric times. Its modern name derives from ancient
Greek mythology , specifically the legend of the hero
Pelops who was said to have conquered the entire region. The name
Peloponnesos means "Island of Pelops". During the
Middle Ages, the peninsula was known as the
Morea. According to folk etymology, this is because the
Crusaders found it densely planted with
mulberry trees (Greek:
moreai) used by the flourishing
silk industry.
Greece's first major civilizations, the
Aegean (or Mycenaean) civilization, dominated the Peloponnese in the
Bronze Age from the stronghold at
Mycenae in the north-east of the peninsula. During
classical antiquity, the Peloponnese was at the heart of the affairs of
ancient Greece, possessed some of its most powerful city-states and saw some of its bloodiest battles. It was the site of the cities of
Sparta,
Corinth,
Argos and
Megalopolis, and was the homeland of the
Peloponnesian League. The peninsula was involved in the
Persian Wars and was the scene of the
Peloponnesian War of
431 BC-
404 BC. It fell to the expanding
Roman Republic in
146 BC and became the province of
Achaea.
The Peloponnese was subsequently ruled by the
Byzantine Empire, though many parts were lost to invading
Venetians and
Franks. The Franks founded the
Principality of Achaea in the northern half of the peninsula in
1205, while the Venetians founded a number of ports around the coast such as
Monemvasia,
Pylos and
Koroni which lasted into the
15th century. The Byzantines retained control of the southern part of the peninsula, which they ruled from the fortified hill town of
Mystras near Sparta. They staged a revival from the mid-
13th century through to the mid-
15th century, when the
Ottoman Turks overran the Peloponnese between
1458-
1460. The Venetians occupied parts of the peninsula between
1699-
1718 but Turkish control was otherwise solid and opposed only by sporadic rebellions in the
Mani Peninsula, the southernmost part of the Peloponnese.
The Peloponnesians played a major role in the
Greek War of Independence – the war actually began in the Peloponnese, when rebels took control of
Kalamata on
March 23,
1821. The decisive naval
Battle of Navarino was fought off Pylos on the west coast of the Peloponnese, and the city of
Náfplio on the east coast became the seat of independent Greece's first parliament.
During the
19th and
20th century, the region became a relatively poor backwater and a significant part of its population left, heading for the cities, especially
Athens, and other countries such as the
United States and
Australia. It was badly affected by the
Second World War and
Greek Civil War, experiencing some of the worst
atrocities committed in Greece during those conflicts. Living standards have improved dramatically throughout Greece since then, especially after the country's accession to the
European Union in
1981.
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Greece and the Peloponnese |
The principal modern cities of the Peloponnese are ([2001] census):
*
Patras (169,242 inhabitants)
*
Kalamata (54,065 inhabitants)
*
Corinth (30,434 inhabitants)
*
Tripoli (28,976 inhabitants)
*
Argos (25,068 inhabitants)
*
Pyrgos (24,765 inhabitants)
*
Aigion (21,966 inhabitants)
*
Sparta (16,473 inhabitants)
*
Nafplio (13,124 inhabitants)
The Peloponnese possesses many important archaeological sites dating from the Bronze Age through to the Middle Ages. Among the most notable are:
*
Bassae (ancient town and the temple of Epikourios Apollo)
*
Corinth (ancient city)
*
Epidaurus (ancient religious and healing centre)
*
Messene (ancient city)
*
Mistra (ancient town near
Sparta)
*
Monemvasia (medieval fortress-town)
*
Mycenae (fortress-town of the
Aegean civilization*
Olympia (site of the
Olympic Games)
*
Pylos, (the palace of
Nestor)
*
Tegea (ancient religious centre)
*
Tiryns (ancient fortified settlement)
The Peloponnese is divided into seven prefectures (
Greek: νομοί). Five of these are in the 'periphery' of Peloponnese:
*
Arcadia*
Argolis*
Corinthia*
Laconia*
MessiniaThe other two belong to the
West Greece periphery:
*
Achaia*
ElisSome small parts of the eastern Peloponnese belong to the
Attiki prefecture.
*
Geography of Greece*
Prefectures of Greece*
Official Regional Government Website
