Atalanti


Atalanti is the second largest town in Phthiotis, Greece. It is located southeast of Lamia, north of Livadeia and northwest of Chalcis. In 2011, it was incorporated into the municipality of Lokroi with an area of 614.7 km2 and a population of 19,623, of which it is the government seat and a municipal unit.

Geography

The town can be accessed via the Greek National Road 1. It is situated in central Greece, surrounded by Mt. Knimida to the north, Mt. Chlomo to the south, Mt. Parnassus to the west, and the northern Eubean Gulf to the east. The area is characterized by high concentrations of magnesium and iron in the soil.
The municipal unit has an area of 304.141 km2.

Economy

Atalanti is known as a market town and was the capital of the former Locris Province. The town's geography has garnered it a reputation in Greece as a notable wine-producing hub.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit, Atalanti, is subdivided into the following communities :
  • Atalanti
  • Exarchos
  • Kalapodi
  • Kyparissi
  • Kyrtoni
  • Megaplatanos
  • Tragana

    Historical population

Mythology

The capital of Locris province was the city of Opus. According to Hesiodus and Plutarch, the city was named Opus after the son of Locros and the great-grandson of Deucalion and Pyrrha. The Locrians from Opus participated in the Trojan War, providing 40 battle ships and four thousand warriors. The leader of the Locrians was Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus and grandson of Hodoedocus. Ajax excelled in the Trojan War, but while returning from Troy, he died in a storm. Another notable figure from Opus was Patroclus, son of Menoetius and best friend of Achilles. When he was still a child, Patroclus killed the nobleman Clysonymus, son of Amphidamas, during a game. Although he was a minor, Patroclus had to leave Opus in order to escape revenge. His father took him to Peleus, who raised him along with Achilles as his own child.
The name of the city is derived from the Greek mythology character Atalanta.

History

Neolithic Age

The first signs of organized human life in Atalanti's region can be traced back to the Neolithic era when the first town in the valley of Skala Atalanti was developing. All human activities of Neolithic man can be traced in this area: agriculture, stockbreeding, hunting, and fishing.

Bronze Age

The Early Helladic period saw the growth of trade and the development of pottery. The area of Atalanti was influenced by other places in mainland Greece and the islands. This area, as well as others of this period, was characterized by a hierarchically organized society.
In the Middle Helladic period, villages were destroyed. Because of this, retrogression, introversion and cultural isolation were noted.
Most possibly in the Late Helladic period, the Mycenaean city, Opus, was built. Its inhabitants main occupations were fishing and agriculture.
During the 11th century BC, there was an economic and demographic decline. Old villages were abandoned and new villages were built in different locations. This period is mostly characterized by an adherence to tradition. Pottery making remained the main occupation.

Protogeometric Period

Between the 10th and 8th century BC, the regime of Opus was aristocracy and oligarchy. Hierarchy was one of the key features of society in that time. It was a society where classes owed their existence primarily to the differentiation between the distinct occupations of its inhabitants. Trade and shipping were growing. Opus was heavily influenced by art from Athens, Corinth, Euboea, and Thessaly. A massive production of vases and the blooming of metallurgy are recorded. All these suggest the existence of a prosperous and wealthy society in the region of Locris.

Archaic Period

During the Archaic period the system of government in Opus remained an oligarchy with no political controversy. This can perhaps be termed a "conservative democracy" since there were no slaves in Locris. The main inhabitants' main occupations continued to be agriculture, livestock, fishing, pottery and wine production.

Classical period

In the Classical Period, and more specifically during the Peloponnesian War, the Locrians sided with Sparta. The Athenians attacked and destroyed the coastal cities of Locris. In 431 BC they fortified the island of Atalanti in order to curb the activities of Locrian pirates and to ensure the safety of the coast of Euboea. But an earthquake in 426 BC destroyed part of the walls and the fortress that were built in Atalantonisi.

Hellenistic and Roman Period

During the Hellenistic period an earthquake in 300 BC destroyed part of Opus. In 204 BC, the Roman general Gaius Flaminius seized Opus, but in 197 BC he restored independence to the Locrians. In 165 BC, the Common of Locris was founded. Another earthquake in 106 BC destroyed Opus, but it was rebuilt again. The end of the Hellenistic period was sealed by the raid of Sulla around 87/86 BC. Throughout this period Opus remained a mainly rural economy. At the same time, Atalanti was the main center of pottery production in the district. The invasion of Sulla prompted many residents of the cities of Locris to abandon their villages during the Roman period. The population mostly moved to the settlements of Opus and Kynos. In the area, large privately owned farms were created. In Atalanti, public baths and an aqueduct were built.

Early Christian Period

During early Christian times, the Diocess of Opus was founded invaded the area which had a negative effect on the local economy. Regression and in some cases abandonment of coastal settlements occurred.

Byzantine and Frankish periods

In 565, during the reign years of Justinian I, the name Talanti was first mentioned.
In the 9th century the Saracens raided the area and in the 10th century, the Bulgarians under Simeon I also attacked Locris.
Following the Fourth Crusade, a Frankish barony was established at Atalanti, under the Catalan noble Pere de Puigpardines. The Koulia tower and probably the paliopyrgos were built at this time. The barony was a part of the Aragonese Duchy of Athens and one of the four major ports of the Duchy, that was based in Talanti.
In 1311, the Duchy of Athens had fallen into the hands of Catalan mercenaries of the Catalan Company after the victorious Battle of Halmyros. In 1380, the Navarrese Company made raids against the Catalans of Atalanti. In 1385, the area of Phthiotis fell into the hands of the Serbs, except for Atalanti. In 1388, the region of Locris passed into the hands of the Florentine Acciaioli family, ending the Catalan domination.
In 1393, the Diocese of Talanti was established. The same year the Ottoman Turks began their raids. The Duchy of Athens was abolished by the Ottomans in 1458, and the period of Ottoman rule for Atalanti and Locris in general began.

Ottoman period

According to the census of 1466, Atalanti had 248 families all of whom were Christians. In the census of 1506, there were 449 Christian and 13 Ottoman homes. In 1521, 435 Christian and 30 Ottoman homes were recorded. The residents of Atalanti did not pay any taxes as they were a waqf, while their children were free from the compulsory levy of children in the Ottoman army, in order to join the Janissaries. In return, the inhabitants of Atalanti had to protect the narrow sea and the coast when pirates attacked. Ottoman Archives also verify this statement and Muslim landlords of Talanda prevented the levy of children. For example, in 1646, the trustee of the waqf of Grand Vizier Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha, requested from the authorities that the devshirme officers should not disrupt the locals of the villages in Talanda, since they belonged to the Mustafa Pasha waqf and were exempt from devshirme.
According to the census of 1571 there were 622 Christian and 77 Ottoman homes in Atalanti. This made it the largest settlement across Locris, with a population of about 3,000 people. This also explains the upgrading of Atalanti during the next century which included the surrounding villages. The main occupations of the inhabitants were agriculture, cultivation of flax, cotton and vegetables, as well as apiaries and livestock.
In 1688, during the Ottoman–Venetian war, Kourmas and the Bishop of Amfissa Philotheos temporarily seized Atalanti. The same year, plague broke out in Atalanti. The Turks reclaimed the city in a short time. Fearing retaliation, several families relocated to the Venetian Peloponnese between 1691 and 1697. Knowledge about the period of the 18th and early 19th century is limited and it is mostly based on reports by travellers.
One of them, William Martin Leake, visited Atalanti in 1805 and he wrote:
There are 300 houses in the town, one third of which is Turkish. Some of the houses are big and surrounded by a garden. They seem very pretty from a far distance. But most of them are abandoned and ruined, partly because of a plague that wiped out entire families a few years ago. The ruler is Isset Bey, a son of Kapicilar Kahyasi of Ali Pasha. The Greek neighborhood is separated from the Turkish. The Bishop of Atalanti which comes under the Bishop of Athens is the head of the Greek community and has a sustainable house, with a garden of orange, lemon and other fruit trees. A garden, that despite its ferocity, is the best place here, something extraordinary in that area. The valley is very fertile, but not cultivated, because of the absence of people. In low parts of the area, towards the sea, corn, excellent wheat, grapes from which they make a tolerable wine and a few olives grow perfectly. The average wage here is the same as that one in Athens and Livadeia. The administrative area includes thirty to forty villages, most of them very small, and not fully inhabitant, since most of their residents migrate to areas of Livadeia and Athens, since Ali Pasha took over the place. Incomes are now in the hands of Veli, who is trying to bring back immigrants, promising tax cuts.

Francois Pouqueville reports: "Atalanti is built on the foothills of Mount Chlomos. Two mosques and a church are the only remarkable things you can see. The importance of the city is that twenty one villages depend on it."
According to other sources in 1800 there were more than 200 Ottoman families living in their own settlement in the western part of town. In this part of the town, the Turkish governor, treasurer, judge and a small Turkish guard of about 150 men were located.
Kodjabashis of Talanti were: Lambros Alexandrou, Constantinos Sakellion and Alexis Michalis. Nikolaos Metaxas, or Neophytos of Athens, was ordained Bishop of Talanti in 1803.
In 1810 the Ottoman doctor Hasan Agha Kourtalis was known to offer his services to both Greeks and Ottomans without any discrimination.