Komnina ( el, Κομνηνά) is a town in the Kozani regional unit,

West Macedonia Western Macedonia ( el, Δυτική Μακεδονία, translit=Ditikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia. Located in north-western Greece, it is divided into the regional unit ...

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 ...

. It was the seat of the municipality of Vermio. As of 2011, it had a population of 690 permanent residents. The town's altitude is 688 meters (2260 feet) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. In the square of the village exists a splendid park with the Monument of the Fallen and the Municipal School. The vast majority of the population is Pontian. The predominant language of the area is the Pontian language, a dialect of ancient

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 ...

that was spoken in

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 ...

. Between the 1950s and 1990s about half of the population emigrated abroad, mostly to

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Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and the

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. The name Komnina refers to the residents, who are considered descendants of Emperor Komninos of Trapezounta (Trabzon). Previously, Komnina was referred to as Paleohori in the Byzantine era, before it was destroyed after the conquest of

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. During the Ottoman rule, Komnina was known as Utsena or Üçane, from the Turkish words üç(three) and ane(mother).

Archeological sites

In the top of the mountain Mavro Pouli is a small cave, called the Crypt of Kara-Ali'. Traces of the walls of two fortresses and settlements exist in the vicinity of Komninos. The first is the hill DELTA and the second is Ovon (Pontian for egg). Their existence is testified to by objects such as shells of vessels, copper coins, the base of a pillar, various marbles from buildings, two rings made of glass, a small cupbearer from

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 ...

times and a marble

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

, in which is pictured a feminine form with

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...

, helmet, spear and shield.

References

Populated places in Kozani (regional unit) Eordaia Byzantine sites in Greece Populated places in ancient Greece Archaeological sites in Macedonia (Greece) {{Greece-archaeology-stub