Astakos ( el, Αστακός, meaning "

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

") is a town and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Aetolia-Acarnania Aetolia-Acarnania ( el, Αιτωλοακαρνανία, ''Aitoloakarnanía'', ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the histor ...

West Greece Western Greece Region ( el, Περιφέρεια Δυτικής Ελλάδας, translit=Periféria Dhitikís Elládhas, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It comprises the western part of continental Greece and the northw ...

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 with ...

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

Xiromero Xiromero municipality ( el, Δήμος Ξηρομέρου) is a municipality in the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, West Greece region, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Astakos. Its borders do not coincide with the historical regi ...

, of which it is a municipal unit.Kallikratis law
Greece Ministry of Interior The municipal unit has an area of 345.099 km². It is located on a bay on the eastern shore of the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...

, near the southern end of the

Acarnanian Mountains The Acarnanian Mountains ( el, Ακαρνανικά όρη, ''Akarnanika ori'') is a mountain range in the northwestern part of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit in western Greece. It stretches from the village Monastiraki, near Vonitsa, in the ...

. It takes its name from the

ancient Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today i ...

n town

Astacus ''Astacus'' (from the Greek , ', meaning "lobster" or "crayfish") is a genus of crayfish found in Europe and western Asia, comprising three extant (living) species and three extinct fossil species. Due to the crayfish plague, crayfish of thi ...

( grc, Ἄστακος - ''Astakos''), and was named ''Dragamesti'' in the Middle Ages. It is speculated to be the site of ancient

Dulichium Dulichium ( grc, Δουλίχιον ''Doulíkhion''),Hom. Il2.625/ref> also called Dolicha (Δολίχα ''Dolíkhā'') or Doliche (Δολίχη ''Dolíkhē''), was a place noted by numerous ancient writers that was either a city on, or an islan ...

. It is 16 km southeast of

Kalamos (island) Kálamos (Greek: Κάλαμος, known in antiquity as Καρνος – ''Karnos'') is a mountainous island and a former community in the Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lefkada, of w ...

, 30 km southwest of

Agrinio Agrinio ( Greek: Αγρίνιο, , Latin: ''Agrinium'') is the largest city of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit of Greece and its largest municipality, with 106,053 inhabitants. It is the economical center of Aetolia-Acarnania, although its c ...

, 35 km northwest of

Missolonghi Missolonghi or Messolonghi ( el, Μεσολόγγι, ) is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis ...

and 55 km southeast of

Preveza Preveza ( el, Πρέβεζα, ) is a city in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located on the northern peninsula at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is part of the region of Epiru ...

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Astakos is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): * Agrampela *Astakos (Astakos, Valti) *

Bampini Bampini ( el, Μπαμπίνη) is a village located in the northern part of the municipal unit of Astakos in the western part of Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece. It is located on a hillside, 5 km southeast of Fyteies, 15 km northeast of Astakos, 23 km ...

*Karaiskakis *Machairas *Chrysovitsa *

Palaiomanina Palaiomanina (, rup, Cutsombina) is an Aromanian (Vlach) village and a community of the Xiromero municipality. Since the 2011 local government reform it was part of the municipality Astakos, of which it was a municipal district. The 2011 census ...

*Prodromos *Skourtou *

Strongylovouni Strongylovouni (, rup, Sturnari) is an Aromanian (Vlach) village and a community of the Xiromero municipality.

(Strongylovouni, Manina Vlizianon) *Vasilopoulo *Vliziana

Economy

The city has a port able to hold ferries. The countryside mainly produces wheat, corn and few grapes. Fishing is an important source of income.

Historical population

Noteworthy persons

Leo Leandros Leo Leandros (born 23 August 1926) is a Greek musician, composer and producer. Born in Astakos, Greece, Leandros left in the 1950s for Germany to pursue a career in singing and Musical composition, composing. He had some success, but shifted his ...

(b. 1926), singer and composer

In popular culture

*Astakos is also the birthplace of the fictional characters Xeones and Diomache in

Steven Pressfield Steven Pressfield (born September 1, 1943) is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays, including his 1995 novel ''The Legend of Bagger Vance'' and 2002 non-fiction book '' The War of Art''. Early life Pressfie ...

's novel ''

Gates of Fire ''Gates of Fire'' is a 1998 historical fiction novel by Steven Pressfield that recounts the Battle of Thermopylae through Xeones, a perioikos (free but non-citizen inhabitant of Sparta) born in Astakos, and one of only three Greek survivors ...

''. Cousins Xeones and Diomache both survive the sack of Astakos by

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

(cir. 500 BC); Xeones later becomes a

perioikoi The Perioeci or Perioikoi (, ) were the second-tier citizens of the ''polis'' of Sparta until 200 BC. They lived in several dozen cities within Spartan territories (mostly Laconia and Messenia), which were dependent on Sparta. The ''perioeci'' ...

of Sparta and serves at the

Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae ( ; grc, Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, label=Greek, ) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting o ...

as a

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a ...

to the

Spartiate A Spartiate (cf. its plural Spartiatae 'Spartans') �spärshēˈātē(z)or Spartiate �spärshēˌāt(from respectively the Latin and French forms corresponding to Classical- el, and pl. Σπᾰρτῐᾱ́ται) or ''Homoios'' (pl. ''Homoioi ...

Dienekes Dienekes or Dieneces ( el, Διηνέκης, from διηνεκής, Doric Greek: διανεκής "continuous, unbroken") was a Spartan soldier who fought and died at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. He was acclaimed the bravest of all the G ...

External links

Municipality of Astakos

References

{{Xiromero div Populated places in Aetolia-Acarnania Acarnania