Goudi (, since 2006; formerly Γουδί ) is a residential

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

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 ...

, on the eastern part of town and on the foothills of Mount

Hymettus Hymettus (), also Hymettos (; el, Υμηττός, translit=Ymittós, pronounced ), is a mountain range in the Athens area of Attica, East Central Greece. It is also colloquially known as ''Trellós'' (crazy) or ''Trellóvouno'' (crazy mountain) ...

History

The name of the area derives from the 19th century Goudi (Γουδή) family, who owned a large estate in the area. It was home to a large army camp of the same name (where the ''

Trial of the Six The Trial of the Six ( el, Δίκη των Έξι, ''Díki ton Éxi'') or the Execution of the Six was the trial for treason, in late 1922, of the Anti-Venizelist officials held responsible for the Greek military defeat in Asia Minor. The tria ...

'' defendants were executed in 1922), three university hospitals (Laiko and two children's hospitals) and the main campuses for the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dentistry, of the

Athens University The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

School of Health Sciences. The area's main square is St. Thomas' Square, with the church of St. Thomas in its middle. The Goudi army camp was decommissioned and turned into parkland and sports facilities, hosting the

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

and

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

venues for the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. During 2012, 'Goudi' became a catchcry during some political extremist rallies in Greece, with protesters chanting it to express their hostility to mainstream politicians who they perceived as traitors to the country during the Euro Crisis, alleging that they deserved a similar fate as the

defendants.

Dispute over correct name

The use of the name ''Γουδί'', treated as if it were a neuter noun (rather than as a

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of the surname ''Γουδή'' from which it derives) was widespread until translator Vasiliki Karagianni led a campaign to change to the correct use. Even during the years when the Goudi family were alive, popular opinion still led to its treating as a neuter noun, similar to other towns and cities whose name derived from surname such as

Kapandriti Kapandriti ( el, Καπανδρίτι) is a town in the north of East Attica in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oropos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 36.789 k ...

, Tatoi and

Galatsi Galatsi ( el, Γαλάτσι, ''Galátsi'' ), called in Katharevousa Galatsion ( el, Γαλάτσιον, ''Galátsion''), is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica (region), Attica region. The municipality has an a ...

. Karagiannis' campaign was ultimately successful and the city council of Athens approved the form change without objection in 2006. This led to a change in certain road signs and bus line names.

References

Neighbourhoods in Athens {{Athens-geo-stub