Gardiki (

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 ...

: Γαρδίκη) is a village and a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in the Trikala regional unit of Greece's

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

region. It is part of the municipal unit of

Aithikes Aithikes ( el, Αίθηκες) is a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pyli, o ...

. The 2011 census recorded 58 residents in the village and 143 in the community.

Administrative division

The community of Gardiki comprises two settlements: *Gardiki (population 58, 2011 census) *Palaiochori (population 85, 2011 census)

History

The village occupies the site of the ancient town of Pellinaeum or Pelinna. The ancient town survived until the early

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 ...

period, but disappears thereafter only to reappear under the name of Gardiki in the 11th century. The Byzantine settlement was built on the ruins of the ancient citadel, with the foundations of the ancient wall providing the base of the later medieval fortifications. A ruined three-aisled

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

dedicated to St. Paraskevi from the 14th century also survives. In the late medieval and Ottoman periods, the area was settled by Aromanian (

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...

) Greeks, who remain the main group of the modern village.

Episcopal see

The town is attested as an episcopal see of the

Greek Church The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

since the 11th century as a

suffragan see A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, ...

of the

Metropolis of Larissa The Metropolis of Larissa and Tyrnavos ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Λαρίσης και Τυρνάβου) is a Greek Orthodox metropolitan see in Thessaly, Greece. History Christianity penetrated early to Larissa, though its first bishop ...

. It was often combined with the nearby see of Peristera (modern Taxiarches). Manuscript lists give the names of later Greek Orthodox bishops: Metrophanes, degraded in 1623; Gregorius or Cyrillus, 1623; Sophronius, 1646-1649; Gregorius, about 1700; Meletius, 1743; Paisius, 18th century; Gregorius, about 1852. When Thessaly was united with Greece (1881), the Greek Orthodox eparchy had been vacant since 1875 and was suppressed in 1899 through being absorbed into the

Metropolis of Phthiotis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

.Sophrone Pétridès, "Cardica"
in ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' (New York 1908)

Administrative division

History

Episcopal see

See also

References

External links