Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the
Ioannina regional unit and of
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
, an
administrative region in north-western
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 ...
. According to the 2011 census, the city population was 65,574, while the municipality had 112,486 inhabitants.
GOV. results of permanent population 2011
, p. 10571 (p. 97 of pdf), and in Excel format
Table of permanent population 2011
from the sit
Hellenic Statistical Authority
Archived
24 November 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-09. It lies at an elevation of approximately
above sea level, on the western shore of
Lake Pamvotis
Lake Pamvotida or Pamvotis ( el, Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα/Παμβώτις), commonly also Lake of Ioannina ( el, Λίμνη των Ιωαννίνων, ''Limni ton Ioanninon'') is the largest lake of Epirus, located in the central part o ...
(). Ioannina is located northwest of
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 ...
, southwest of
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
and east of the port of
Igoumenitsa
Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia.
Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...
in the
Ionian Sea.
The city's foundation has traditionally been ascribed to the
Byzantine Emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
in the 6th century AD, but modern archaeological research has uncovered evidence of
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
settlements. Ioannina flourished in the late Byzantine period (13th–15th centuries). It became part of the
Despotate of Epirus following the
Fourth Crusade and many wealthy Byzantine families fled there following the
sack of Constantinople
The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the ...
, with the city experiencing great prosperity and considerable autonomy, despite the political turmoils. Ioannina surrendered to the
Ottomans in 1430 and until 1868 it was the administrative center of the
Pashalik of Yanina
The Pashalik of Yanina, sometimes referred to as the Pashalik of Ioanina or Pashalik of Janina, was an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous Albanian Pashaliks, pashalik within the Ottoman Empire between 1787 and 1822 covering large a ...
. In the period between the 18th and 19th centuries, the city was a major center of the
modern Greek Enlightenment
The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment.
Origins
The Greek Enlightenment w ...
.
[Fleming Katherine Elizabeth]
''The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece''
Princeton University Press, 1999. . p. 63-66 Ioannina was ceded to Greece in 1913 following the
Balkan Wars.
The city is also characterized by various green areas and parks, including Molos (Lake Front), Litharitsia Park, Pirsinella Park (Giannotiko Saloni), Suburban Forest. There are two hospitals, the General Hospital of Ioannina "G. Hatzikosta", and the University Hospital of Ioannina. It is also the seat of the
University of Ioannina
The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a university located 5 km southwest of Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle Uni ...
. The city's emblem consists of the portrait of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian crowned by a stylized depiction of the nearby ancient theater of
Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
.
Name
The city's formal name, ''Ioannina'', is probably a corruption of ''Agioannina'' or ''Agioanneia'', 'place of St. John', and is said to be linked to the establishment of a monastery dedicated to
Saint John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, around which the later settlement (in the area of the current
Ioannina Castle
The Ioannina Castle ( el, Κάστρο Ιωαννίνων) is the fortified old town of the city of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. The present fortification dates largely to the reconstruction under Ali Pasha in the late Ottoman period, but i ...
) grew.
According to another theory, the city was named after Ioannina, the daughter of
Belisarius
Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terr ...
, general of the emperor
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
.
There are two forms of the name in Greek, ''Ioannina'' being the formal and historical name, while the colloquial and much more commonly used ''Υannena'' or ''Υannina'' ( el, Γιάννενα, Γιάννινα) represents the vernacular tradition of
Demotic Greek. The demotic form also corresponds to those in the neighboring languages (e.g., sq, Janina or , rup, Ianina, Enina or Enãna, mk, Јанина, tr, Yanya).
History
Antiquity and early Middle Ages
The first indications of human presence in Ioannina basin are dated back to the
Paleolithic period
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...
(24,000 years ago) as testified by findings in the cavern of Kastritsa. During classical antiquity the basin was inhabited by the
Molossians
The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On t ...
and four of their settlements have been identified there. Despite the extensive destruction suffered in Molossia during the Roman conquest of 167 BC, settlement continued in the basin albeit no longer in an urban pattern.
The exact time of Ioannina's foundation is unknown, but it is commonly identified with an unnamed new, "well-fortified" city, recorded by the historian
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...
as having been built by 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 ...
emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...
for the inhabitants of ancient
Euroia. This view is not supported, however, by any concrete archaeological evidence.
Early 21st-century excavations have brought to light fortifications dating to the
Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
, the course of which was largely followed by later reconstruction of the fortress in the Byzantine and
Ottoman periods. The identification of the site with one of the ancient cities of
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
has not yet been possible.
It is not until 879 that the name Ioannina appears for the first time, in the acts of the
Fourth Council of Constantinople, which refer to one Zacharias, Bishop of Ioannine, a
suffragan of
Naupaktos
Nafpaktos ( el, Ναύπακτος) is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mornos.
It is named for Naupaktos (, Latiniz ...
. After the
Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria
From ca. 970 until 1018, a series of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire led to the gradual reconquest of Bulgaria by the Byzantines, who thus re-established their control over the entire Balkan peninsula for the firs ...
, in 1020 Emperor
Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...
subordinated the local bishopric to the
Archbishopric of Ohrid
The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid
*T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276
*Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...
. The Greek archaeologist K. Tsoures dated the Byzantine city walls and the northeastern citadel of the
Ioannina Castle
The Ioannina Castle ( el, Κάστρο Ιωαννίνων) is the fortified old town of the city of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. The present fortification dates largely to the reconstruction under Ali Pasha in the late Ottoman period, but i ...
to the 10th century, with additions in the late 11th century, including the south-eastern citadel, traditionally ascribed to the short-lived occupation of the city by the
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
under the leadership of
Bohemond of Taranto
Bohemond I of Antioch (5 or 7 March 1111), also known as Bohemond of Taranto, was the prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, leading a contingent of Normans on the qu ...
in 1082.
In a
chrysobull to the
Venetians in 1198, the city is listed as part of its own province (''provincia Joanninorum'' or ''Joaninon''). In the
treaty of partition of the Byzantine lands after the
Fourth Crusade, Ioannina was promised to the Venetians, but in the event, it became part of the new
state of Epirus, founded by
Michael I Komnenos Doukas.
Late Middle Ages (1204–1430)
Under Michael I, the city was enlarged and fortified anew. The
Metropolitan of Naupaktos,
John Apokaukos
John Apokaukos ( el, Ἱωάννης Ἀπόκαυκος, ca. 1155 – 1233) was a Byzantine churchman and theologian. Having studied at Constantinople, he became bishop of Naupaktos and played a major role in the rivalry between the Epirote Chur ...
, reports how the city was but a "small town", until Michael gathered refugees who had fled
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
and other parts of the Empire that fell to the crusaders of the
Fourth Crusade, and settled them there, transforming the city into a fortress and "ark of salvation". Despite frictions with local inhabitants who tried in 1232 to expel the refugees, the latter were eventually successfully settled and Ioannina gained in both population and economic and political importance. In the aftermath of the
Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, much of Epirus was occupied by the
Empire of Nicaea, and Ioannina was placed under siege. Soon, however, the Epirote ruler
Michael II Komnenos Doukas
Michael II Komnenos Doukas, Latinized as Comnenus Ducas ( el, Μιχαήλ Β΄ Κομνηνός Δούκας, ''Mikhaēl II Komnēnos Doukas''), often called Michael Angelos in narrative sources, was from 1230 until his death in 1266/68 the rule ...
, aided by his younger son
John I Doukas
John I Doukas ( gr, Ἰωάννης Δούκας, Iōánnēs Doúkas), Latinized as Ducas, was an illegitimate son of Michael II Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus in –1268. After his father's death, he became ruler of Thessaly from to his own ...
, managed to recover their capital of
Arta and relieve Ioannina, evicting the Nicaeans from Epirus. In or , John I Doukas, now ruler of
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, The ...
, launched a raid against the city and its environs, and a few years later an army from the
restored Byzantine Empire unsuccessfully laid siege to the city. Following the assassination in 1318 of the last native ruler,
Thomas I Komnenos Doukas
Thomas I Komnenos Doukas ( Latinized as Comnenus Ducas) ( el, Θωμάς Α΄ Κομνηνός Δούκας, translit=Thōmas I Komnēnos Doukas) (c. 1285–1318) ruler of Epirus from c. 1297 until his death in 1318.
Thomas was the son of N ...
, by his nephew
Nicholas Orsini
Nicholas Orsini ( gr, Νικόλαος Ορσίνι, ''Nikolaos Orsini'') was count palatine of Cephalonia from 1317 to 1323 and ruler of Epirus from 1318 to 1323.
Nicholas was the son of Count John I Orsini of Cephalonia by Maria, a daughter o ...
, the city refused to accept the latter and turned to the Byzantines for assistance. On this occasion, Emperor
Andronikos II Palaiologos elevated the city to a
metropolitan bishopric
A metropolis religious jurisdiction, or a metropolitan archdiocese, is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces.
...
, and in 1319 issued a chrysobull conceding wide-ranging autonomy and various privileges and exemptions on its inhabitants. A Jewish community is also attested in the city in 1319. In the Epirote revolt of 1337–1338 against Byzantine rule, the city remained loyal to Emperor
Andronikos III Palaiologos. Soon afterwards Ioannina fell to the
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
ruler
Stephen Dushan and remained part of the
Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire ( sr, / , ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state.
Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the ...
until 1356, when Dushan's half-brother
Simeon Uroš
Simeon Uroš ( sr-cyr, Симеон Урош, gr, Συμεών Ούρεσης; 1326–1370), nicknamed Siniša (Синиша), was a self-proclaimed Emperor of Serbs and Greeks, from 1356 to 1370. He was son of Serbian King Stephen Uroš III a ...
was evicted by
Nikephoros II Orsini
Nikephoros II Orsini - Doukas (Greek: Νικηφόρος Β΄ Δούκας, ''Nikēphoros II Doukas''), was the ruler of Epirus from 1335 to 1338 and from 1356 until his death in 1359.
Life
Nikephoros was the son of John Orsini of Epirus and ...
. The attempt of Nikephoros to restore the Epirote state was short-lived as he was killed in the
Battle of Achelous against
Albanian tribes., but Ioannina was not captured. It thus served as a place of refuge for many Greeks of the region of
Vagenetia Vagenetia or Vagenitia ( gr, Βαγενετία, Βαγενιτία) was a medieval region on the coast of Epirus, roughly corresponding to modern Thesprotia. The region likely derived its name from the Slavic tribe of the Baiounitai. It is first a ...
. In 1366–67 Simeon Uroš, having recovered Epirus and Thessaly, appointed his son-in-law
Thomas II Preljubović
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
as the new overlord of Ioannina. Thomas proved a deeply unpopular ruler, but he nonetheless repelled successive attempts by Albanian chieftains including a surprise attack in 1379, whose failure the Ioannites attributed to intervention by their patron saint, Michael.
After Thomas' murder in 1384, the citizens of Ioannina offered their city to
Esau de' Buondelmonti
Esau de' Buondelmonti ( gr, Ησαύ Μπουοντελμόντ) was the ruler of Ioannina and its surrounding area (central Epirus) from 1385 until his death in 1411, with the Byzantine title of Despot.
Life
Esau was the son of the Florentin ...
, who married Thomas' widow,
Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
. Esau recalled those exiled under Thomas and restored the properties confiscated by him. In 1389, Ioannina was besieged by
John Bua Spata, and only with the aid of an Ottoman army was Esau able to repel the Albanians. Despite the ongoing Ottoman expansion and the conflicts between Turks and Albanians in the vicinity of Ioannina, Esau managed to secure a period of peace for the city, especially following his second marriage to Spata's daughter Irene in . Following Esau's death in 1411, the Ioannites invited the
Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos
The County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos existed from 1185 to 1479 as part of the Kingdom of Sicily. The title and the right to rule the Ionian islands of Cephalonia and Zakynthos was originally given to Margaritus of Brindisi for his serv ...
,
Carlo I Tocco Carlo I Tocco was the hereditary Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1376, and ruled as the Despot of Epirus from 1411 until his death on July 4, 1429.
Life
Carlo I was the son of Count Leonardo I Tocco of Cephalonia and Leukas by Madda ...
, who had already been expanding his domains into Epirus for the last decade, as their new ruler. By 1416 Carlo I Tocco had managed to capture Arta as well, thereby reuniting the core of the old Epirote realm, and received recognition from both the Ottomans and the Byzantine emperor. Ioannina became the summer capital of the Tocco domains, and Carlo I died there in July 1429. His oldest bastard son, Ercole, called on the Ottomans for aid against the legitimate heir,
Carlo II Tocco. In 1430 an Ottoman army, fresh from the
capture of Thessalonica, appeared before Ioannina. The city surrendered after the Ottoman commander, Sinan Pasha, promised to spare the city and respect its autonomy.
Ottoman period (1430–1913)
Under Ottoman rule, Ioannina remained an administrative centre, as the seat of the
Sanjak of Ioannina
The Sanjak of Ioannina (variously also Janina or Yanina, ota, Sanjak-i Yanya) was a sanjak (second-level province) of the Ottoman Empire whose capital was Ioannina in Epirus.
Administration
The Sanjak of Ioannina consisted of the following ...
, and experienced a period of relative stability and prosperity. The first Ottoman tax registers for the city dates to 1564, and records 50 Muslim households and 1,250 Christian ones; another register from 15 years later mentions Jews as well.
In 1611 the city suffered a serious setback as a result of a peasant revolt led by
Dionysius the Philosopher
Dionysios Philosophos (Διονύσιος ο Φιλόσοφος, Dionysios the Philosopher) or Skylosophos ( el, Διονύσιος ο Σκυλόσοφος; c. 1541–1611), "the Dog-Philosopher" or "Dogwise" ("skylosophist"), as called by his r ...
, the
Metropolitan 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 ...
. The Greek inhabitants of the city were unaware of the intent of the fighting as previous successes of Dionysius had depended on the element of surprise. Much confusion ensued as Turks and Christians ended up indiscriminately fighting friend and foe alike. The revolt ended in the abolition of all privileges granted to the Christian inhabitants, who were driven away from the castle area and had to settle around it. From then onwards, Turks and
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
were to be established in the castle area. The ''School of the Despots'' at the Church of the Taxiarchs, that had been operating since 1204, was closed. Aslan Pasha also destroyed the monastery of St. John the Baptist within the city walls in 1618 erected in its place the
Aslan Pasha Mosque
The Aslan Pasha Mosque ( el, τζαμί Ασλάν Πασά) is an Ottoman-built mosque in the city of Ioannina, Greece. The mosque was built in 1618 in the city's castle, replacing the Church of Saint John, which was torn down after the failed ...
, today housing the
Municipal Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina
The Municipal Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina is a museum in Ioannina, Greece.
It is housed in the Aslan Pasha Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Ali Pasha, in the Ioannina Castle
The Ioannina Castle ( el, Κάστρο Ιωαννίνων) is ...
.
[Γεώργιος Ι. Σουλιώτης ''Γιάννινα (Οδηγός Δημοτικού Μουσείου και Πόλεως'' 1975] The Ottoman reprisals in the wake of the revolt included the confiscation of many ''
timar
A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service ...
s'' previously granted to Christian ''
sipahi
''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial '' timarli sipahi'', which constituted ...
s''; this began a wave of conversions to Islam by the local gentry, who became the so-called ''Tourkoyanniotes'' (Τoυρκογιαννιώτες). The Ottoman traveller
Evliya Çelebi
Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...
, who visited the city in , counted 37 quarters, of which 18 Muslim, 14 Christian, 4 Jewish and 1 Gypsy. He estimated the population at 4,000 hearths.
Center of Greek Enlightenment (17th–18th centuries)
Despite the repression and conversions in the 17th century, and the prominence of the Muslim population in the city's affairs, Ioannina retained its Christian majority throughout Ottoman rule, and the
Greek language
Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...
retained a dominant position;
Turkish was spoken by the Ottoman officials and the garrison, and the Albanian inhabitants used Albanian, but the ''
lingua franca'' and native language of most inhabitants was Greek, including among the ''Tourkoyanniotes'', and was sometimes used by the Ottoman authorities themselves.
The city also soon recovered from the financial effects of the revolt. In the late 17th century Ioannina was a thriving city with respect to population and commercial activity. Evliya Çelebi mentions the presence of 1,900 shops and workshops. The great economic prosperity of the city was followed by remarkable cultural activity. During the 17th and 18th centuries, many important schools were established.
[Π. Αραβαντινού, ''Βιογραφική Συλλογή Λογίων της Τουρκοκρατίας'', Εκδόσεις Ε.Η.Μ., 1960.] Its inhabitants continued their commercial and handicraft activities which allowed them to trade with important European commercial centers, such as
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
and
Livorno, where merchants from Ioannina established commercial and banking houses. The Ioannite diaspora was also culturally active: Nikolaos Glykys (in 1670), Nikolaos Sarros (in 1687) and Dimitrios Theodosiou (in 1755) established private printing presses in Venice, responsible for over 1,600 editions of books for circulation in the Ottoman-ruled Greek lands, and Ioannina was the centre through which these books were channeled into Greece. These were significant historical, theological as well as scientific works, including an algebra book funded by the
Zosimades brothers, books for use in the schools of Ioannina such as the ''Arithmetica'' of
Balanos Vasilopoulos, as well as medical books. At the same time these merchants and entrepreneurs maintained close economic and intellectual relations with their birthplace and founded charity and education establishments. These merchants were to be major national benefactors.
Thus the ''Epiphaniou'' School was founded in 1647 by a Greek merchant of Ioannite origin resident in Venice, Epiphaneios Igoumenos. The ''Gioumeios'' School was founded in 1676 by a benefaction from another wealthy Ioannite Greek from Venice, Emmanuel Goumas. It was renamed ''Balaneios'' by its rector,
Balanos Vasilopoulos, in 1725. Here worked several notable personalities of the
Greek Enlightenment
The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment.
Origins
The Greek Enlightenment w ...
, such as
Bessarion Makris, the priests
Georgios Sougdouris
Georgios Sougdouris ( el, Γεώργιος Σουγδουρής; 1645/7–1725) was a Greek philosopher and theologian.
Biography
Sougdouris was born in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, where he finished ground level studies. He continued his studie ...
(1685/7–1725) and Anastasios Papavasileiou (1715–?), the monk
Methodios Anthrakites
Methodios Anthrakites ( el, Μεθόδιος Ανθρακίτης; 1660–1736) was a Greek Orthodox cleric, author, educator, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher.
He directed the Gioumeios and Epiphaneios Schools in Ioannina. ...
, his student
Ioannis Vilaras
Ioannis "Yianis" Vilaras ( el, Ἰωάννης (Γιάνης) Βηλαράς; 1771–1823) was a Greek doctor, lyricist and writer who often discussed linguistic matters (see Greek language question) and maintained ties with many figures of the M ...
and
Kosmas Balanos
Kosmas Balanos ( el, Κοσμάς Μπαλάνος) (1731–1808) was a Greek mathematician, author and school director. He continued the work of his father Balanos Vasilopoulos, and was among Greece's leading scholars of his time.
Life
He was b ...
. The ''Balaneios'' taught philosophy, theology and mathematics. It suffered financially from the
dissolution of the Republic of Venice by the French and finally stopped operation in 1820. The school's library, which hosted several manuscripts and epigrams, was also burned the same year following the capture of Ioannina by the troops the Sultan had sent against
Ali Pasha. The Maroutses family, also active in Venice, founded the
Maroutsaia School
The Maroutsaia School ( el, Μαρουτσαία Σχολή) or Maroutsios was a Greek educational institution that operated in Ioannina from 1742 to 1797. The school reached its peak under Eugenios Voulgaris, one of the main representative of t ...
, which opened in 1742 and its first director
Eugenios Voulgaris championed the study of the
physical sciences
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences".
Definition
Phy ...
(physics and chemistry) as well as philosophy and Greek. The ''Maroutsaia'' also suffered after the fall of Venice and closed in 1797 to be reopened as the
Kaplaneios School
The Kaplaneios School ( el, Καπλάνειος Σχολή) was a Greek educational institution that operated in Ioannina from 1797 to 1820/1. The school evolved into the most significant intellectual center of the city through the work of Athan ...
thanks to a benefaction from an Ioannite living in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, Zoes Kaplanes. Its schoolmaster,
Athanasios Psalidas had been a student of
Methodios Anthrakites
Methodios Anthrakites ( el, Μεθόδιος Ανθρακίτης; 1660–1736) was a Greek Orthodox cleric, author, educator, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher.
He directed the Gioumeios and Epiphaneios Schools in Ioannina. ...
and had also studied in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. Psalidas established an important library of thousands of volumes in several languages and laboratories for the study of
experimental physics and
chemistry that aroused the interest and suspicion of Ali Pasha. The ''Kaplaneios'' was burned down along with most of the rest of the city after the entry of the
Sultan's armies in 1820. These schools took over the long tradition of 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 ...
era, giving a significant boost to the
Greek Enlightenment
The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment.
Origins
The Greek Enlightenment w ...
. "During the 18th century",
Neophytos Doukas
Neophytos Doukas or Dukas ( el, Νεόφυτος Δούκας; 1760 – 1 January 1845) was a Greek priest and scholar, author of many books and translations from ancient Greek works, and one of the most important personalities of the modern Greek ...
wrote with some exaggeration, "every author of the Greek world, was either from Ioannina or was a graduate of one of the city's schools."
Ali Pasha's rule (1788–1822)
In 1788 the city became the center of the
territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
ruled by
Ali Pasha, an area that included the entire northwestern part of Greece, southern parts of
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
,
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, The ...
as well as parts of
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 ...
and the
Peloponnese. The Ottoman-Albanian lord Ali Pasha was one of the most influential personalities of the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Born in
Tepelenë, he maintained diplomatic relations with the most important European leaders of the time and his court became a point of attraction for many of those restless minds who would become major figures of the
Greek Revolution
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted b ...
(
Georgios Karaiskakis
Georgios Karaiskakis ( el, Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), born Georgios Karaiskos ( el, Γεώργιος Καραΐσκος; 1782 – 1827), was a famous Greece, Greek military commander and a leader of the Greek War of Independence.
...
,
Odysseas Androutsos
Odysseas Androutsos ( el, Οδυσσέας Ανδρούτσος; 1788 – 1825; born Odysseas Verousis el, Οδυσσέας Βερούσης) was a Greek military and political commander in eastern mainland Greece and a prominent figure of the ...
,
Markos Botsaris
Markos Botsaris ( el, Μάρκος Μπότσαρης c. 1788 – 21 August 1823) was a chieftain of the Souliotes and hero of the Greek War of Independence, and general of the Greek army.Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism ...
and others). During this time, however, Ali Pasha committed a number of atrocities against the Greek population of Ioannina, culminating in the sewing up of local women in sacks and drowning them in the nearby lake, this period of his rule coincides with the greatest economic and intellectual prosperity of the city. As a couplet has it "''The city was first in arms, money and letters''".
When the French scholar
François Pouqueville
François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville (; 4 November 1770 – 20 December 1838) was a French diplomat, writer, explorer, physician and historian, member of the Institut de France.
First as the Turkish Sultan's hostage, then as Napoleon Bo ...
visited the city during the early years of the 19th century, he counted 3,200 homes (2,000 Christian, 1,000 Muslim, 200 Jewish). The efforts of Ali Pasha to break away from the
Sublime Porte
The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire.
History
The name ...
alarmed the Ottoman government, and in 1820 (the year before the
Greek War of Independence began) he was declared guilty of
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and Ioannina was besieged by Turkish troops. Ali Pasha was assassinated in 1822 in the monastery of St Panteleimon on the island of the lake, where he took refuge while waiting to be pardoned by Sultan
Mahmud II
Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839.
His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...
.
Last Ottoman century (1822–1913)
The ''
Zosimaia'' was the first significant educational foundation established after the outbreak of the
Greek War of Independence (1828). It was financed by a benefaction from the
Zosimas brothers and began operating in 1828 and fully probably from 1833. It was a School of Liberal Arts (Greek, Philosophy and Foreign Languages). The mansion of Angeliki Papazoglou became the ''Papazogleios'' school for girls as an endowment following her death; it operated until 1905.
In 1869, a great part of Ioannina was destroyed by fire. The marketplace was soon reconstructed according to the plans of the German architect Holz, thanks to the personal interest of Ahmet Rashim Pasha, the local governor. Communities of people from Ioannina living abroad were active in financing the construction of most of the city's churches, schools and other elegant buildings of charitable establishments. The first bank of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, the
Ottoman Bank
The Ottoman Bank ( tr, Osmanlı Bankası), known from 1863 to 1925 as the Imperial Ottoman Bank (french: Banque Impériale Ottomane, ota, بانق عثمانی شاهانه) and correspondingly referred to by its French acronym BIO, was a bank ...
, opened its first branch in
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 ...
in Ioannina, which shows the power of the city in world trade in the 19th century. As the 19th century came to a close, signs of national agitation emerged among some parts of the city' s population. In 1877 for example, Albanian leaders sent a memorandum to the Ottoman government demanding, among other things, the establishment of Albanian language schools and various Muslim Albanians of the Vilayet formed in Ioannina a
committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
which aimed at defending Albanian rights.
The Greek population of the region authorized a committee to present to European governments their wish for union with Greece; as a result
Dimitrios Chasiotis published a memorandum in Paris in 1879.
According to the Ottoman censuses of 1881–1893, the city and its environs (the central ''
kaza
A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough')
* bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза
* el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also ()
* lad, kaza
, ...
'' of the Sanjak of Ioannina), had a population comprising 4,759 Muslims, 77,258 Greek Orthodox (including both Greek and Albanian speakers), 3,334 Jews and 207 of foreign nationality. While a number of Turkish-language schools were established at the time, Greek-language education retained its prominent position. Even the city's prominent Muslim families preferred to send their children to well-established Greek institutions, notably the ''Zosimaia''. As a result, the dominance of the Greek language in the city continued: the minutes of the city council were kept in Greek, and the official newspaper, ''Vilayet'', established in 1868, was bilingual in Turkish and Greek.
During the Ottoman period (''turcokracy'') the religious-linguistic minority of "Turco-yanniotes" (
Τουρκογιαννιώτες) existed in Ioannina and neighbouring areas. These were islamized "Yaniotes" (= people from Ioannina), who spoke Greek. There is a limited number of texts written with Greek alphabet in their idiom.
Modern period (since 1913)
Ioannina was incorporated into the Greek state on 21 February 1913 after the
Battle of Bizani in the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
. The day the city came under the control of the Greek forces, aviator
Christos Adamidis
Christos Adamidis ( el, Χρήστος Αδαμίδης, 1885–1949) was a Hellenic Army officer and pioneer of military aviation. He was one of the first Greek officers that received aviation training in France and later participated in air o ...
, a native of the city, landed his
Maurice Farman MF.7 biplane in the Town Hall square, to the adulation of an enthusiastic crowd.
Following the
Asia Minor Catastrophe
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
(1922) and the
Treaty of Lausanne, the Muslim population was
exchanged with 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 ...
. A small Muslim community of Albanian origin continued to live in Ioannina after the exchange, which in 1940 counted 20 families and had decreased to 8 individuals in 1973.
[ p. 56. "The population exchange between Greece and Turkey which followed removed all those of Turkish origin so that, by 1940, only some twenty Muslim families of Albanian origin were left. In 1973, only eight Muslim remained, living together in an ancient house in the centre of Ioannina. The local authorities, we are told, had refused to allow them to use one of the remaining mosques for worship, their estates remain sequestered and a long battle for what they regard as their rights has so far come to nothing. Although Albanian, they could hope for no sympathy from the present regime in Albania and there was nowhere else for them to go."]
In 1940 during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the capture of the city became one of the major objectives of the Italian Army. Nevertheless, the Greek defense in
Kalpaki
Kalpaki ( el, Καλπάκι) is a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pogoni, of which it is a municipal unit. It is situated about northwest o ...
pushed back the invading Italians. In April 1941 Ioannina was intensively bombed by the German forces even during the negotiations that led to the capitulation of the Greek army. During the subsequent
Axis occupation of Greece, the city's Jewish community was rounded up by the Germans in 1944 and mostly perished in the concentration camps. On 3 October 1943, the German army murdered in reprisal nearly 100 people in the village of Lingiades, 13 kilometres distant from Ioaninna, in what is known as the
Lingiades massacre
The Lingiades massacre, on 3 October 1943, was a Nazi German war crime committed by members of the 1st Mountain Division of the ''Wehrmacht Heer'' during the Axis occupation of Greece. The village of Lingiades ( el, Λιγκιάδες), near ...
.
The
University of Ioannina
The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a university located 5 km southwest of Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle Uni ...
was founded in 1970; until then, higher education faculties in the city had been part of the
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
.
Jewish community
According to the local Greek scholar
Panayiotis Aravantinos, a synagogue destroyed in the 18th century bore an inscription, which dated its foundation in the late 9th century AD.
The existing
synagogue is located in the old fortified part of the city known as ''"Kastro"'', at 16 Ioustinianou street. Its name means "the Old Synagogue". It was constructed in 1829. Its architecture is typical of the
Ottoman era, a large building made of stone. The interior of the synagogue is laid out in the Romaniote way: the
Bimah (where the
Torah scrolls
A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tor ...
are read out during service) is on a raised
dais
A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)[dais]
in the Random House Dictionary< ...
on the western wall, the
Aron haKodesh (where the
Torah scrolls
A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tor ...
are kept) is on the eastern wall and at the middle there is a wide interior
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...
. The names of the Ioanniote Jews who were killed in the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
are engraved in stone on the walls of the synagogue.
There was a
Romaniote Jewish community living in Ioannina before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, in addition to a very small number of
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
. According to
Rae Dalven
Rachel Dalven (25 April 1904, Preveza, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire – 27 July 1992, New York City), also known as Rae Dalven, was a Romaniote writer who came to the United States as a child. She is best known for her translations of Cavafy's ...
, 1,950 Jews were living in Ioannina in April 1941. Of these, 1,870 were deported by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
to
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
s on 25 March 1944, during the final months of German occupation. Almost all of the people deported were murdered on or shortly after 11 April 1944, when the train carrying them reached
Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 181 Ioannina Jews are known to have survived the war, including 112 who survived Auschwitz and 69 who fled to join the resistance leader
Napoleon Zervas
Napoleon Zervas ( el, Ναπολέων Ζέρβας; May 17, 1891 – December 10, 1957) was a Hellenic Army officer and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League (EDES), the second most signi ...
and the
National Republican Greek League
The National Republican Greek League ( el, Εθνικός Δημοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος (ΕΔΕΣ), ''Ethnikós Dimokratikós Ellinikós Sýndesmos'' (EDES)) was one of the major resistance groups formed during t ...
(EDES). Approximately 164 of these survivors eventually returned to Ioannina.
Today the remaining community has shrunk to about 50 mostly elderly people.
["The Holocaust in Ioannina"](_blank)
Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum retrieved 5 January 2009[Raptis, Alekos and Tzallas, Thumios, ''Deportation of Jews of Ioannina'', Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, 28 July 2005](_blank)
URL accessed 5 January 2009 The Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue remains locked, only opened for visitors on request. Emigrant Romaniotes return every summer and open the old synagogue. The last time a
Bar Mitzvah (the Jewish ritual for celebrating the
coming of age of a child) was held in the synagogue was in 2000, and was an exceptional event for the community. A monument dedicated to the thousands of Greek Jews who perished during the Holocaust was constructed in the city in a 13th-century Jewish cemetery. In 2003 the memorial was vandalized by unknown anti-Semites. The Jewish cemetery too was repeatedly vandalized in 2009. As a response to the vandalisms, citizens of the city formed an initiative for the protection of the cemetery and organized rallies.
In the municipal election of 2019, independent candidate
Moses Elisaf
Moses Elisaf ( el, Μωυσής Ελισάφ; born 17 July 1954) is a Greek pathologist, academic, and politician. He has served as mayor of Ioannina since September 2019, making him Greece's first Jews, Jewish mayor.
Early life
Elisaf was bor ...
, a 65-year-old doctor was elected mayor of the city, the first
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
elected mayor in Greece. Elisaf won 50.3 percent of the vote. Elisaf received 17,789 votes, 235 more than his runoff opponent.
Geography
Ioannina lies at an elevation of approximately
above sea level, on the western shore of
Lake Pamvotis
Lake Pamvotida or Pamvotis ( el, Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα/Παμβώτις), commonly also Lake of Ioannina ( el, Λίμνη των Ιωαννίνων, ''Limni ton Ioanninon'') is the largest lake of Epirus, located in the central part o ...
(). It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the capital of
Ioannina regional unit and the region of
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
. Ioannina is located northwest of
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 ...
, southwest of
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
and east of the port of
Igoumenitsa
Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia.
Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...
in the
Ionian Sea.
The municipality Ioannina has an area of 403.322 km
2, the municipal unit Ioannina has an area of 47.440 km
2, and the community Ioannina (the city proper) has an area of 17.335 km
2.
Districts
The present municipality Ioannina was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 6 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets):
* Ioannina (Ioannina, Exochi, Marmara, Neochoropoulo, Stavraki)
*
Anatoli
Anatoli ( el, Ανατολή) is a town and a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southe ...
(Anatoli, Bafra, Neokaisareia)
*
Bizani
Bizani ( el, Μπιζάνι) is a village and a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ioannina, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit ...
(Ampeleia, Bizani, Asvestochori, Kontsika, Kosmira, Manoliasa, Pedini)
*
Ioannina Island
Ioannina Island ( el, Νήσος Ιωαννίνων) is an island in the Lake of Ioannina, Epirus, Greece, a municipal unit of the municipality of Ioannina. Its area is 0.2 km2, with biggest length 800 meters and biggest width 500 meters. Unt ...
(Greek: ''Nisos Ioanninon'')
*
Pamvotida
Pamvotida ( el, Παμβώτιδα) is a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ioannina, of which it is a municipal unit. It is named after the La ...
(
Katsikas
Katsikas ( el, Κατσικάς) is the largest village of the municipal unit Pamvotida, in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, northern Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ioannina. Its population is 3, ...
, Anatoliki, Vasiliki, Dafnoula, Drosochori,
Iliokali,
Kastritsa
Kastritsa ( el, Καστρίτσα, before 1927: Μπαρκμάδι - ''Barkmadi'') is a village in the municipal unit of Pamvotida, Ioannina regional unit in Greece. In 2011 its population was 557. It is situated on a hillside near the southern ...
, Koutselio, Krapsi, Longades, Mouzakaioi, Platania, Platanas, Charokopi)
*
Perama (Perama, Amfithea, Kranoula, Krya,
Kryovrysi, Ligkiades, Mazia, Perivleptos, Spothoi)
Climate
Ioannina has a borderline
humid subtropical
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cfa'') and
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(''Csa'') in the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, and is tempered by its inland location and elevation. Summers are typically hot and moderately dry, while winters are wet and colder than on the coast with frequent frosts and occasional snowfall. Ioannina is the wettest city in Greece. The absolute maximum temperature ever recorded was , while the absolute minimum ever recorded was .
Demography
Population of the Municipality of Ioannina.
Population censuses, 1981–2011.
Landmarks and sights
Isle of Lake Pamvotis
One of the most notable attractions of Ioannina is the inhabited island of
Lake Pamvotis
Lake Pamvotida or Pamvotis ( el, Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα/Παμβώτις), commonly also Lake of Ioannina ( el, Λίμνη των Ιωαννίνων, ''Limni ton Ioanninon'') is the largest lake of Epirus, located in the central part o ...
which is simply referred to as
Island of Ioannina. The island is a short ferry trip from the mainland and can be reached on small motorboats running on varying frequencies depending on the season. The monastery of St Panteleimon, where
Ali Pasha spent his last days waiting for a pardon from the
Sultan, is now a museum housing everyday artefacts and relics of his period. There are six monasteries on the island: the monastery of St Nicholas (Ntiliou) or Strategopoulou (11th century), the Monastery of St Nicholas (Spanou) or Philanthropinon (1292), St John the Baptist (1506), Eleousis (1570), St Panteleimon (17th century), and of the Transfiguration of Christ (1851). The monasteries of Strategopoulou and Philanthropinon also functioned as colleges. Alexios Spanos, the monks Proklos and Comnenos, and the Apsarades brothers Theophanis and Nektarios are among those that taught there.
The school continued its activities until 1758, when it was superseded by the newer collegial institutions within the city. The island's winding streets are also home to many gift-shops, tavernas, churches and bakeries.
Ioannina Castle
At the south-eastern edge of the town on a rocky peninsula of
Lake Pamvotis
Lake Pamvotida or Pamvotis ( el, Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα/Παμβώτις), commonly also Lake of Ioannina ( el, Λίμνη των Ιωαννίνων, ''Limni ton Ioanninon'') is the largest lake of Epirus, located in the central part o ...
, the castle was the administrative heart of the
Despotate of Epirus, and the Ottoman
vilayet
A vilayet ( ota, , "province"), also known by various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated ...
. The castle was in constant use until the late Ottoman period and the fortifications underwent several modifications throughout the centuries. The most extensive alterations where conducted during the rule of
Ali Pasha and were completed in 1815. Several monuments such as the Byzantine baths, the Ottoman baths, the Ottoman library, and the
Soufari Sarai are found within the castle's walls. There are two citadels in the castle. The south-eastern citadel, which bears the name ''Its Kale'' (Ιτς Καλέ, from Turkish ''
Iç Kale'', 'inner fortress') is where the
Fethiye Mosque, the tomb of
Ali Pasha, and the
Byzantine Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum ( el, Βυζαντινό και Χριστιανικό Μουσείο, links=no) is situated at Vassilissis Sofias Avenue in Athens, Greece. It was founded in 1914, and houses more than 25,000 exhibits with rare ...
are located.
The north-eastern citadel is dominated by the
Aslan Pasha Mosque
The Aslan Pasha Mosque ( el, τζαμί Ασλάν Πασά) is an Ottoman-built mosque in the city of Ioannina, Greece. The mosque was built in 1618 in the city's castle, replacing the Church of Saint John, which was torn down after the failed ...
and also contains a few other monuments dating from the Ottoman period.
The old
Jewish Synagogue of Ioannina is within the walls of the castle and is one of the oldest and largest buildings of its type surviving in Greece.
The city
Several religious and secular monuments survive from the Ottoman period. In addition to the two mosques surviving within the walls of the castle, two further mosques are preserved outside the walls. The
Mosque and Madrassa of Veli Pasha are in the centre of the city, and
Kaloutsiani Mosque can be found in the area of the city with the same name. The now derelict "House of the Archbishop", near the football stadium, is the only old mansion that survived the fire of 1820. Some of the notable landmarks in the city centre also date from the late Ottoman period. The municipal clock tower of Ioannina, designed by local architect Periklis Meliritos, was erected in 1905 to celebrate the Jubilee of sultan
Abdul Hamid II. The adjacent building houses the
VIII Division headquarters. It dates from the late 19th century. Some
neoclassical buildings such the post office, the old
Zosimaia School
The ''Zosimaia'' School ( el, Ζωσιμαία Σχολή, ''Zosimaía Scholí'') of Ioannina (in Epirus) has been one of the most significant Greek middle-level educational institutions (high schools) during the last period of Ottoman rule in th ...
, the Papazogleios Weaving School, and the former Commercial School date from the late Ottoman period as do a few
arcades in the old commercial centre of the city like Stoa Louli and Stoa Liampei. The churches of the
Assumption of the Virgin at Perivleptos,
Saint Nicholas of Kopanon and
Saint Marina were rebuilt in the 1850s by funds from Nikolaos Zosimas and his brothers on the foundations of previous churches that perished in the great fire of 1820. The
Cathedral of St Athanasius was completed in 1933. It was built on the foundations of the previous Orthodox cathedral which was destroyed in the fires of 1820. It is a three-aisled
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
.
Culture
Museums and galleries
Some of the most important museums of the city are within the walls of the castle. The
Municipal Ethnographic Museum is hosted in
Aslan Pasha Mosque
The Aslan Pasha Mosque ( el, τζαμί Ασλάν Πασά) is an Ottoman-built mosque in the city of Ioannina, Greece. The mosque was built in 1618 in the city's castle, replacing the Church of Saint John, which was torn down after the failed ...
in the north-east citadel. It is divided into three departments, each one representing one of the main communities that inhabited the city: Greek, Ottoman Muslim, and Jewish. The
Byzantine Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum ( el, Βυζαντινό και Χριστιανικό Μουσείο, links=no) is situated at Vassilissis Sofias Avenue in Athens, Greece. It was founded in 1914, and houses more than 25,000 exhibits with rare ...
is in the south-eastern citadel of the castle. The museum opened in 1995 in order to preserve and present artefacts of the wider region of Epirus covering the period from the 4th to the 19th century. The newest addition to the city's museum, the silversmithing museum, is also in the south-eastern citadel. It is housed in the western bastion of the citadel and outlines the history of the art of silversmithing in Epirus.
Outside the walls of the castle, close to the town centre, one will find the
Archaeological Museum of Ioannina
The Archaeological Museum of Ioannina is a museum located in Litharitsa Park in the centre of Ioannina, Greece.
The museum contains many artifacts unearthed in the surrounding area such as Palaeolithic tools, from Kokkinopilos, Asprochaliko and ...
. It is in the Litharitsia fortress area. It includes archaeological exhibits documenting the human habitation of Epirus from prehistoric times through the late Roman Period, with special emphasis placed on finds from the
Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
sanctuary. The
Municipal Art Gallery of Ioannina (Dimotiki Pinakothiki) is housed in the Pyrsinella neoclassical building dating from around 1890. The gallery's collection displays major modern works of painters and sculptors, collected through purchases and donations from various collectors and artists. This includes about 500 works, paintings, drawings, prints, pictures and sculptures. The
Pavlos Vrellis Greek History Museum
The Pavlos Vrellis Greek History Museum ( el, Μουσείο Ελληνικής Ιστορίας Παύλου Βρέλλη) also known as Pavlos Vrellis Museum of Wax Effigies is a privately owned wax museum in Ioannina regional unit, Greece. It ...
is south of the city. It is a
wax museum
A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes.
Some wax museums have a special section dubb ...
which covers events and personalities from Greek history as well as the history of the region and is the result of the personal work of Pavlos Vrellis.
Education
The
University of Ioannina
The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a university located 5 km southwest of Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle Uni ...
(
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 ...
: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a university five kilometres southwest of Ioannina. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
and became an independent university in 1970. Today, the university is one of the leading academic institutions in Greece.
[Top 500 (401 to 500) – The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011–201]
/ref>[UniversityRankings.ch (SERI) 2015 – University of Ioannin]
Retrieved in 3 February 2016.
As of 2017, there was a student population of 25,000 enrolled at the university (21,900 at the undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
level and 3,200 at the postgraduate
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree.
The organization and ...
level) and 580 faculty members, while teaching is further supplemented by 171 teaching fellows and 132 laboratory staff. The university administrative services are staffed with 420 employees.
Local products
* Ioannina is known throughout Greece for its silverwork, with a number of shops selling silver jewelry, bronzeware, and decorative items (serving trays, recreations of shields and swords.)
* Hookahs (''nargiles'', ναργιλές) are sold to tourists as novelty items and vary in size from small (three inches in height) to quite large ( tall).
Cuisine
* The area is famous for its spring water from Zagori
Zagori ( el, Ζαγόρι; rup, Zagori), is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some and contains 46 villages known as ...
, sold throughout 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 ...
.
* The region of Ioannina is well known for the production of feta
Feta ( el, φέτα, ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it ...
cheese.
* Ioannina is also famous for its baklava.
Media
* Epirus TV1
* '' Ipirotikos Agon'', a locally published newspaper.
* '' Proinos Logos'', a locally published newspaper.
Consulates
The city hosts consulates
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...
from the following countries:
* Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
* Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
* Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
Ioannina compromise
An informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the states of the European Union took place in Ioannina on 27 March 1994, resulting in the Ioannina compromise.
Notable people from Ioannina
* Michael Apsaras, 14th century Greek noble.
* Simon Strategopoulos 15th-century noble and governor of Ioannina.
* Epifanios Igoumenos (1568–1648), scholar.
* Nikolaos Glykys (1619–1693), merchant and book publisher.
* Nikolaos Sarros (1617–1697), book publisher, owner of one of the first Greek printing-houses in Venice
* Bessarion Makris (1635–1699), scholar.
* Georgios Sougdouris
Georgios Sougdouris ( el, Γεώργιος Σουγδουρής; 1645/7–1725) was a Greek philosopher and theologian.
Biography
Sougdouris was born in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, where he finished ground level studies. He continued his studie ...
(1645/7–1725), scholar.
*Methodios Anthrakites
Methodios Anthrakites ( el, Μεθόδιος Ανθρακίτης; 1660–1736) was a Greek Orthodox cleric, author, educator, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher.
He directed the Gioumeios and Epiphaneios Schools in Ioannina. ...
(1660–1736), scholar.
* Balanos Vasilopoulos (1694–1760), scholar.
* Dimitrios Theodosiou (-1782, book publisher.
* Zosimades brothers, benefactors, founders of the Zosimaia School.
* Maroutsis family, traders and benefactors.
* Kyra Frosini (1772–1800), socialite and heroine.
* Lambros Photiadis (1752–1805), scholar.
* Zois Kaplanis (1736-1806), merchant, founder of the Kaplaneios School
The Kaplaneios School ( el, Καπλάνειος Σχολή) was a Greek educational institution that operated in Ioannina from 1797 to 1820/1. The school evolved into the most significant intellectual center of the city through the work of Athan ...
*Kosmas Balanos
Kosmas Balanos ( el, Κοσμάς Μπαλάνος) (1731–1808) was a Greek mathematician, author and school director. He continued the work of his father Balanos Vasilopoulos, and was among Greece's leading scholars of his time.
Life
He was b ...
(1731–1808), scholar.
*Grigorios Paliouritis Grigorios or Gregorios ( el, Γρηγόριος “watchful; alert; awake”, from ''ἐγρήγορᾰ'' ), and the variant Grigoris (Γρηγόρης), are the Greek forms of the name Gregory. It can refer to:
* Grigoris (catholicos), 4th-centu ...
(1778–1816), scholar.
*Ioannis Vilaras
Ioannis "Yianis" Vilaras ( el, Ἰωάννης (Γιάνης) Βηλαράς; 1771–1823) was a Greek doctor, lyricist and writer who often discussed linguistic matters (see Greek language question) and maintained ties with many figures of the M ...
(1771–1823), poet and scholar.
* Athanasios Psalidas (1767–1829), scholar, of the main contributors of the Modern Greek Enlightenment
The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment.
Origins
The Greek Enlightenment w ...
.
* Georgios Hadjikonstas (1753–1845), benefactor.
* Vasileios Goudas (1779–1845), fighter of the Greek War of Independence.
*Athanasios Tsakalov
Athanasios Tsakalov ( el, Αθανάσιος Τσακάλωφ) was a member of the Filiki Eteria ("Society of Friends"), a Greek patriotic organization against Ottoman rule. (''retrieved from University of California Library'')
Biography
Tsakalov ...
(1790–1851), one of the three founders of Filiki Eteria
Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends ( el, Φιλικὴ Ἑταιρεία ''or'' ) was a secret organization founded in 1814 in Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow the Ottoman rule of Greece and establish an independent Greek state. (''ret ...
.
* Michael Christaris (1773–1851), scholar.
* Elisabeth Kastrisogia (1800–1863), benefactor.
*Georgios Stavros
Georgios Stavros ( el, Γεώργιος Σταύρος, 1788–1869) was a banker, benefactor and revolutionary from modern-day Greece. He was one of the founders and the first governor of the National Bank of Greece.
Early years
Stavros was bor ...
(1787–1869), benefactor, founder of the National Bank of Greece
The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece.
85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...
.
* Leonidas Palaskas (1819–1880), Hellenic navy officer.
*Reshid Akif Pasha
Reshid Akif Pasha ( tr, Reşit Akif Paşa, sq, Reshid Aqif Pasha; 1863 – 15 April 1920), was an Ottoman statesman of Albanian descent during the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. Throughout his career as a politician, Reshid Akif Paşa ser ...
(1863-1920), Ottoman statesman.
* Georgios Hatzis (Pelleren) (1881–1930), author and journalist.
*Josef Elijia Josef may refer to
*Josef (given name)
*Josef (surname)
* ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film
*Musik Josef
Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura, and is the only company in Japan spe ...
(1901–1931), Jewish Greek poet.
*Patriarch Nicholas V of Alexandria
Nicholas V (1876–1939) served as Greek Patriarch of Alexandria between 1936 and 1939.
He worked very hard on the internal reorganization of the philanthropic institutions of the Church and the harmonious operation of the educational institute ...
(1876–1939)
*Wehib Pasha
Wehib Pasha also known as Vehip Pasha, Mehmed Wehib Pasha, Mehmet Vehip Pasha (modern Turkish: ''Kaçı Vehip Paşa'' or ''Mehmet Vehip (Kaçı)'', 1877–1940), was a general in the Ottoman Army. He fought in the Balkan Wars and in several thea ...
(1877–1940), Ottoman general.
*Christos Adamidis
Christos Adamidis ( el, Χρήστος Αδαμίδης, 1885–1949) was a Hellenic Army officer and pioneer of military aviation. He was one of the first Greek officers that received aviation training in France and later participated in air o ...
(1885–1949), pioneer aviator and Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is th ...
General.
* Mid’hat Frashëri (1880–1949), politician and writer.
*Mehmet Esat Bülkat
Esat Pasha Janina (18 October 1862 – 2 November 1952; ota, أسعد باشا یانیه), known as Mehmed Esad Bülkat () after the 1934 Surname Law, was an Ottoman general during the First Balkan War, where he led the Yanya Corps, and in Wo ...
(1862–1952), Ottoman general.
* İzzettin Çalışlar (1882–1951), officer of the Ottoman Army.
*Abdülhalik Renda
Mustafa Abdülhalik Renda (29 November 1881 – 1 October 1957) was a Turkish civil servant and politician of Tosk Albanian descent.
Biography
Renda was born in Yanya, in the Janina Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. Renda was of Albanian orig ...
(1881-1957), Chairman of the Turkish National Assembly.
* Markos Avgeris (1884–1973), poet.
* Amalia Bakas (1897–1979), singer.
*Dimitrios Hatzis
Dimitrios Hatzis ( el, Δημήτριος Χατζής, 13 November 1913 – 20 July 1981) was a Greek novelist and journalist.
Hatzis was born in Ioannina (Epirus) northwestern Greece, the son of the author and journalist, Georgios Hatzis. He ...
(1913–1981), novelist.
* Dimosthenis Kokkinos (1926–1991), Poet and author.
*Fatma Hikmet İşmen
Fatma Hikmet İşmen (1918 – May 9, 2006) was a Greek-born Turkish agricultural engineer with a specialization in plant pathology, as well as a politician who served as a senator for the socialist Workers Party of Turkey from 1966 to 1975.
...
(1918-2006), engineer.
* Pavlos Vrellis (1922–2010), sculptor.
*Dinos Constantinides
Dinos Constantinides ( el, Ντίνος Κωνσταντινίδης; 10 May 1929 – 20 July 2021) was a Greek-American composer of contemporary classical music.
Constantinides was born in Ioannina, Greece. He studied violin and music theory ...
(1929–2021), classical music composer.
*Takis Mousafiris
Takis Mousafiris ( el, Τάκης Μουσαφίρης; 1936 – 11 March 2021) was a Greek composer, lyricist and songwriter. He collaborated with several notable Greek singers such as Stratos Dionysiou, Dimitris Mitropanos, Rita Sakellariou ...
(1936–2021), Greek composer and songwriter
*Matsas family, Romaniote Jewish family; most known Minos Matsas
In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...
*Hierotheos (Vlachos)
Hierotheos Vlachos ( el, Ιερόθεος Βλάχος; born Georgios Vlachos, el, Γεώργιος Βλάχος, 1945) is a Greek Orthodox metropolitan and theologian.
Biography
He was born in 1945 in Ioannina, Greece. He graduated from the T ...
, theologian.
*Moses Elisaf
Moses Elisaf ( el, Μωυσής Ελισάφ; born 17 July 1954) is a Greek pathologist, academic, and politician. He has served as mayor of Ioannina since September 2019, making him Greece's first Jews, Jewish mayor.
Early life
Elisaf was bor ...
(b. 1954), elected mayor in June 2019.
* Vana Barba, actress.
* Marios Oikonomou
Marios Oikonomou ( el, Μάριος Οικονόμου; born 6 October 1992) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a centre-back.
Club career
PAS Giannina
Born in Ioannina, Oikonómou began playing football with PAS Giannina. He sign ...
, international football player, played for PAS Giannina
PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...
, AEK Athens
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...
and Italian clubs like Cagliari, Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Bari, SPAL
Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system.
Founded in 1907, sinc ...
.
* Georgios Dasios
Georgios Dasios ( el, Γεώργιος Ντάσιος; born 12 May 1983) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back.
Career
Born in Ioannina, Dasios has spent his entire career playing for local side PAS Giannina and ...
played for PAS Giannina
PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...
and became the Director of the club.
* Stefanos Ntouskos
Stefanos Ntouskos ( el, Στέφανος Ντούσκος; born 29 March 1997) is a Greek competitive rower. He won a gold medal in the Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's single sculls, men's single sculls, at the 2020 Summer Olympics. ...
(b 1997), gold medal in the Men's single sculls, at the 2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
.
*Amanda Tenfjord
Amanda Klara Georgiadis Tenfjord ( el, Αμάντα Γεωργιάδη, Amánta Georgiádi; born 9 January 1997) is a Greek-Norwegian singer and songwriter. She represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song " Die Together ...
(b 1997), singer and songwriter, Greek representative at Eurovision 2022
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...
Sports
Ioannina is home to a major sports team called PAS Giannina
PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...
. It's an inspiration for many of old as well as new supporters of the whole region of Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
, even outside Ioannina.
Rowing is also very popular in Ioannina; the lake hosted several international events and serves as the venue for part of the annual Greek Rowing Championships.
Transport
* Ioannina is served by Ioannina National Airport
Ioannina Νational Airport ( el, Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Ιωαννίνων) is an airport located four kilometers from the city center of Ioannina, Greece. Its full name is Ioannina Νational Airport - King Pyrrhus.
250px, Old ...
.
* The Egnatia Odos highway, part of the E90, passes by Ioannina. It links the west coast port of Igoumenitsa
Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia.
Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...
with the borders.
Air Sea Lines
flew from Lake Pamvotis
Lake Pamvotida or Pamvotis ( el, Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα/Παμβώτις), commonly also Lake of Ioannina ( el, Λίμνη των Ιωαννίνων, ''Limni ton Ioanninon'') is the largest lake of Epirus, located in the central part o ...
to Corfu with seaplanes. Air Sea Lines has suspended flights from Corfu to Ioannina since 2007.
* Long-distance buses ( KTEL) travel daily to 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 ...
(6–6.5 hours) and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
(3 hours).
In popular culture
*"Yanina" figures prominently in the Alexandre Dumas' novel "The Count of Monte Cristo".
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Ioannina is twinned with:
* Požarevac
Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čačalica (208m). As of 2011 ...
, Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
* Ayia Napa
Ayia Napa ( el, Άγια Νάπα tr, Aya Napa, ), officially romanised Agia Napa, is a tourist resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus.
Etymology
The name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian-era monastery of the sam ...
, Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
* Limassol
Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...
, Cyprus
* Himara, Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
* Kiryat Ono
Kiryat Ono ( he, קִרְיַת אוֹנוֹ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel. It is located east of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of .
Modern Kiryat Ono is not to be confused with the biblical Ono, which was located in the ar ...
, Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
* Nizhyn
Nizhyn ( uk, Ні́жин, Nizhyn, ) is a city located in Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine along the Oster River. The city is located north-east of the national capital Kyiv. Nizhyn serves as the administrative center of Nizhyn Raion. It ...
, Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
* Schwerte
Schwerte ( Westphalian: ''Schweierte'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Schwerte is situated in the Ruhr valley, at the south-east border of the Ruhr Area. South of Schwerte begins the mountainous ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
See also
* Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
* Maroutsaia School
The Maroutsaia School ( el, Μαρουτσαία Σχολή) or Maroutsios was a Greek educational institution that operated in Ioannina from 1742 to 1797. The school reached its peak under Eugenios Voulgaris, one of the main representative of t ...
* Uprising in Yanina
* Zagori
Zagori ( el, Ζαγόρι; rup, Zagori), is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some and contains 46 villages known as ...
, region and municipality near Ioannina
Citations
General sources
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External links
Official
Municipality of Ioannina
Travel
Ioannina
– The Greek National Tourism Organization
Ioannina travel guide
Historical
"Here Their Stories Will Be Told..." The Valley of the Communities at Yad Vashem, Ioannina
at Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
website
{{Authority control
Greek prefectural capitals
Greek regional capitals
Historic Jewish communities
Municipalities of Epirus (region)
Populated places in Ioannina (regional unit)