Amarynthos (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Αμάρυνθος, , also called Βάθεια ''Váthia''), is a coastal town and a former municipality in

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Eretria Eretria (; el, Ερέτρια, , grc, Ἐρέτρια, , literally 'city of the rowers') is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th centur ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 109.909 km². In 2011 its population was 3,672 for the town and 6,723 for the municipal unit. The Amarynthos is 8 km east of

, 27 km southeast of Chalcis, 63 km northwest of

Karystos Karystos ( el, Κάρυστος) or Carystus is a small coastal town on the Greek island of Euboea. It has about 5,000 inhabitants (12,000 in the municipality). It lies 129 km south of Chalkis. From Athens it is accessible by ferry via Mar ...

and 10 km north of Kalamos, across the gulf. The

Greek National Road 44 National Road 44 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 44, abbreviated as EO44) is a single carriageway road in central Greece. It connects Thebes with Karystos on southern Euboea, via Chalcis and Eretria. The total length of the GR-44 is nearly 160 ...

( Thebes - Chalcis - Karystos) passes through the town.

History

The area of Amarynthos, along with the region of

, has a long and rich history. Many scientists place Eretria of the

Mycenaean period Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...

in the location of the present town of Amarynthos. The archaeological artifacts testify a permanent settlement in this location since the Late

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

period, around

3000 BC The 30th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 3000 BC to 2901 BC. Events * Before 3000 BC: An image of a deity (detail from a cong) recovered from Tomb 12 in Fanshan, Yuyao, Zhejiang, is made during the Neolithic period by the Li ...

, which was one of the most important

Helladic Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a h ...

settlements and a significant port on the island of Euboea, during the Early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. It had built its own trade with the Aegean Islands, concluded from the findings of

Cycladic art The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. Along with the Minoan civilization and Mycenaean Greece, the Cycladic people are counted among the three major Aegean cultures. Cycladic art there ...

in the region. During the Middle

Helladic period Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a h ...

, Amarynthos had developed its trade with mainland

and produced magnificent pieces of the Minyean art, while in the Late Helladic period it was one of the main areas of Euboea. During the

2nd millennium BC The 2nd millennium BC spanned the years 2000 BC to 1001 BC. In the Ancient Near East, it marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. The Ancient Near Eastern cultures are well within the historical era: The first half of the mil ...

, the

Ionians The Ionians (; el, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes'', singular , ''Íōn'') were one of the four major tribes that the Greeks considered themselves to be divided into during the ancient period; the other three being the Dorians, Aeolians, and Achaea ...

arrived in the southern parts of Greece and settled Euboea, while the name of Amarynthos is mentioned in

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets ( Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a sty ...

s with inscriptions in the Linear B script. Apart from the trade, the locals also occupied with agriculture, pastoralism, fishing and copper processing. In

ancient times Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

, there was a festival in Amarynthos called "Amarýnthia", dedicated to Amarysia

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, who was worshipped as the patron goddess of Amarynthos and whose shrine was located in the plain of the region, being one of the most important in

Central Greece Continental Greece ( el, Στερεά Ελλάδα, Stereá Elláda; formerly , ''Chérsos Ellás''), colloquially known as Roúmeli (Ρούμελη), is a traditional geographic region of Greece. In English, the area is usually called Central ...

. Parts of it were excavated between 1987 and 1992, hosted now at the Museum of Eretria. In

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Amarynthos was a man from Eretria who usually ran after Artemis because of his love for her, and his name was given to the town.

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

in his ''Description of Greece'', mentions, along with Amarynthos, a town in

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...

called Athmonia, where the Athenians also celebrated Amarysia Artemis in a festival as splendid as the one in Amarynthos
1.31.5
.

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

says that in Amarynthos, Artemis was worshipped as hornless (kolainis), because

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...

sacrificed to her a hornless ram made of wax, while

Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( grc, Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration ''Kláudios Ailianós''; c. 175c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severu ...

refers to the Eretrians who maimed animals to Artemis at Amarynthos. Strabo, in the '' Geographica'', locates the village of Amarynthos seven stadia distant from the walls of Eretria, to which the village belongs
10.1.10
. Amarynthos, like the whole of Euboea, was later ruled by the Macedonians, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, the Byzantines, the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks until it joined the modern Greek state around 1830. After the

Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) There have been several Greco-Turkish Wars: * Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), against the Ottoman Empire *Undeclared war in 1854 during the Crimean War, with Greek irregulars invading Ottoman Epirus (Epirus Revolt of 1854) and Thessaly * Fi ...

and the

population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...

, the arrival of Greek refugees from

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

in Euboea, many of which settled in Amarynthos, boosted the population of the town. In World War II, the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's troops burnt parts of the town.

Geography

The municipal unit Amarynthos is located in Central Euboea and stretches from the coast of the

South Euboean Gulf The South Euboean Gulf ( el, Νότιος Ευβοϊκός Κόλπος, ''Notios Evvoïkos Kolpos'') is a gulf in Central Greece, between the island of Euboea and the Greek mainland (Boeotia and Attica). With a total length of approximately 50& ...

into the mountainous inland. The area near the coast, around the town Amarynthos, is relatively flat and consists of farmlands. The Euboean Olympus overlooks the town, situated 10 km north of it. Amarynthos has a beach and several hotels, restaurants, bars and taverns can be found in the town. Amarynthos has several schools and shops, while the nearest hospital is in Chalcis.

Culture

Worth visiting in Amarynthos are the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

churches of "Koimisi tis Theotokou" (κοίμηση της Θεοτόκου), "Metamorphosi tou Sotiros" (μεταμόρφωση του Σωτήρος) and "Zoodochos Pigi" (Ζωοδόχος πηγή), while to the northeast of the town there is the Byzantine monastery of "Agios Nikolaos" (άγιος Νικόλαος), with wall paintings of the 12th century. A Macedonian tomb dating from the 4th century BC has been excavated in 1897 one kilometre outside of Amarynthos in a location called Vlychos. There is a 14th-century church named "Panagitsa" (Παναγίτσα) close to Ano Vatheia, and the famous "Skoteini Cave" (Σκοτεινή σπηλιά) located on a cliff 1.5 kilometre outside of the village Tharounia. Many new ancient monuments are revieled every year thanks to the escavations of the Swiss School of Archeology.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Amarynthos is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): *Amarynthos (Amarynthos, Galazia Nera) *Ano Vatheia (Ano Vatheia, Koukaki) *Gymno (Gymno, Metamorfosi) *Kallithea *

Seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for " bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. ...

(Seta, Kato Seta)

Historical population

References

Notes

External links

Official WebsiteEuboea prefectural councilAmarynthos at e-city.gr
{{Subdivisions of the municipality of Eretria Cities in ancient Greece Ancient Euboea Populated places in Euboea