Ieropigi ( el, Ιεροπηγή, before 1927: Κοστενέτσι - ''Kostenetsi''
) is a village in
Kastoria Regional Unit,
Macedonia,
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 ...
.
The Greek census (1920) recorded 563 people in the village.
Following the
Greek-Turkish population exchange
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 ...
, in 1926 within Kostenetsi there were 11 refugee families from
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos may refer to:
* Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea)
* Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology
* Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...
.
The Greek census (1991) recorded 501 village inhabitants.
There were 12 refugee families (53 people) in 1928.
By the 1950s, the Greek government assisted a group of nomadic transhumant
Aromanians
The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Alba ...
to settle in depopulated villages of the area like Ieropigi.
Aromanians are now the only inhabitants of the village.
[ "In the early 1950s, in an effort to repopulate the border areas, the state helped those wandering Arvanitovlachs to settle down in villages around the Prespa lakes; which is why we find Arvanitovlachs today in... Ieropiyi (Kostenetsi)... in Kastoria prefecture. In some of those villages, such as Ieropiyi... they are the only inhabitants."]
References
{{Kastoria div
Populated places in Kastoria (regional unit)
Kastoria
Aromanian settlements in Greece