Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a

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 ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. ...

in the southern

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

. It lies (171

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s) from

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 ...

's port of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight from Athens, and about 20 miles to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Leros is part of the Kalymnos regional unit. The island has been also called in it, Lero. This island has population of 7,988

Geography

Front Arkoi Leipsoi Leros Back Agathonisi Farmakonisi Turkey coastline

The municipality has an area of . The municipality includes the populated offshore island of Farmakonisi (pop. 10), as well as several uninhabited islets, including

Levitha Levitha ( el, Λέβιθα), known in classical antiquity as Lebinthus or Lebinthos ( grc, Λέβινθος) is a small Greek island located in the east of the Aegean Sea, between Kinaros and Kalymnos, part of the Dodecanese islands. It is part of ...

and

Kinaros Kinaros ( el, Κίναρος; la, Cinarus or ''Cinara''; it, Zinari), is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, named after the artichoke (kinara) which it produced. It is located west of Kalymnos and Leros and east of Amorgos, 5.5 nautical mi ...

, and had a 2011 census population of 7,917, although this figure swells to over 15,000 during the summer peak. The island has a coastline of . It is known for its imposing medieval castle of the Knights of Saint John possibly built on a

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 ...

fortress. Nearby islands are

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northernmos ...

Lipsi Leipsoi ( el, Λειψοί, also: ''Lipsi''; anciently, Lepsia, grc, Λέψια) is an island south of Samos and to the north of Leros in Greece. It is well serviced with ferries passing between Patmos and Leros and on the main route for ferries ...

Kalymnos Kalymnos ( el, Κάλυμνος) is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese island chain, between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of ) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than ): ...

, and the small islands of Agia Kyriaki and Farmakos. In ancient times it was considered the island of Parthenos Iokallis and linked to the Hellenistic and Roman literature on Meleager and the Meleagrides. The administrative centre and largest town is Agia Marina, with a population of 2,672 inhabitants. Other sizable towns are Lákki (pop. 1,990), Xirókampos (908), Kamára (573), and Álinda (542).

Transportation

The

Leros Municipal Airport Leros Municipal Airport (Greek: Δημοτικός Αερολιμένας Λέρου, ''Dimotikós Aeroliménas Lérou'') is an airport serving the island of Leros in Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, ...

Partheni The Parthini, Partini or Partheni were an Illyrian tribe that lived in the inlands of southern Illyria (modern Albania). They likely were located in the Shkumbin valley controlling the important route between the Adriatic Sea and Macedonia, whic ...

connects the

multiple times a day with

(45 minute flight). There are also ferry connections to and from Piraeus and the other islands of the

, including the HighSpeed Ferry which connects directly to Mykonos during summer (4 hours). The Catamaran Dodekanisos Express connects Leros with most of the Dodecanese islands. Leros also has a range of connections to other nearby islands with airports, including Kos, Kalymnos, Rhodes and Samos, which are a short boat ride to Leros (1 – 2 hours).

Traditional music

Many local songs of Leros are among the most famous among the

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

(

nisiotika Nisiotika ( el, νησιώτικα, meaning "insular (songs)") are the songs and dances of Greek islands with a variety of styles, played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Turkey, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. The lyre is the dominant fo ...

)

music of Greece The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originated in the Byzantine period and Greek ...

. Among the most famous are ''Pote Tha'nixoume Pania'', "Pos to Trivun to Piperi" ''Mes tou Aegeou ta Nisia'' and ''Proutzos''.

Lerikos Lerikos ( el, Λέρικος) is a traditional Greek circle dance. Participants hold hands at the shoulder level and dance in a counterclockwise direction. See also *Greek music *Greek dances *Sousta *Greek folk music *Pentozali *Syrtos Syrto ...

is the name of local dance. In addition, the dance Issos is danced in Nisos Leros (Leros Island)The most loved instruments there are Tsampouna τσαμπούνα, lyra λύρα and violin.

Food

Leros is famous for food. Traditionally, this was due to the range of seabound trade that connected Leros to most other islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, and parts of Asia Minor and North Africa, guaranteeing fresh produce and a range of recipes and styles that made Leros cuisine unique. In more modern times, the Italian occupation led to Leros adding an Italian style to its cuisine, whereby now many restaurants in Leros provide a unique mix of Lerian, Greek and Italian restaurants, dishes and cooking styles. Some of the more unique offerings of Leros include gavafes, a unique tropical fruit that grows only in Leros,

mizithra Mizithra or myzithra ( ) is a Greek whey cheese or mixed milk- whey cheese from sheep or goats, or both. Barron, Rosemary (1991). ''Flavors of Greece.'' William Morrow, It is sold both as a fresh cheese, similar to Italian ''ricotta'', and as a ...

, a local hard, salty cheese often cured in the sediment of red wine, Kolios Pastos, mackerel cured in sea salt, Lerian Thyme honey, a particularly flavourful honey derived from the thyme-filled hills of Leros, Pougkakia, a Lerian dessert offered at weddings (but commonly available in the many sweets shops in Leros), and Soumada, a sweet drink made of almonds. Mylos Taverna Leros Greece

History

Antiquity

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...

stressed the special importance of the bays and the harbours of Leros during the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

(431 BC – 404 BC), where Leros supported the democratic Athenians. After the end of the war, Leros came under the sovereignty of the Spartans. The island had a famous sanctuary of the greek goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

. It then followed the fate of the rest of the

Islands during the years of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

and his successors, the Roman years and the Byzantine period. After the division of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, Leros was part of the

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

. On the island of Farmaco east from Leros, a few miles from Didyma on the Turkish coast, Julius Caesar was held as a hostage by local pirates for forty days.

Venetian and Ottoman Era

During the

Age, the island was incorporated into the Theme of Samos. During the thirteenth century, the island was occupied by the Genoese and then by the Venetians. In the year 1309, the

Knights of St John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

seized and fortified Leros. In 1505, the Ottoman Admiral

Kemal Reis Kemal Reis (c. 1451 – 1511) was an Ottoman and Turkish privateer and admiral. He was also the paternal uncle of the famous Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, who accompanied him in most of his important naval expeditions. Backgrou ...

, with three galleys and seventeen other warships, besieged the castle but could not capture it. The operation was repeated in 1508 with more ships, but again nothing was achieved. Legend has it that then the island was rescued by the only surviving knight, barely 18 years old. He dressed women and children in the armor of the dead defenders, convincing the Ottomans that the garrison of Leros was still strong. Finally, on 24 December 1522, following the siege of Rhodes, a treaty was signed between Sultan Suleiman and the Grand Master of the Knights,

Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam Fra' Philippe de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam (1464 – 21 August 1534) was a prominent member of the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes and later Malta. Having risen to the position of Prior of the ''Langue of Auvergne'', he was elected 44th Grand ...

, and Leros, along with all the Aegean possessions of the Order, passed into Ottoman hands which ruled the island with brief interruptions during a period of four hundred years. During the Ottoman rule, and along with the other islands, Leros enjoyed a privileged regime, with partial autonomy and self–government. During 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 ...

of 1821, the island was liberated and became an important base for the re-supplying of the Greek Navy. Administratively, it came under the jurisdiction of the Temporary Committee of the

Eastern Sporades Eastern Sporades (Greek: ''Ανατολικές Σποράδες'') or Eastern Islands (Greek: ''Ανατολικοί Νήσοι'') was the name of one of the thirteen divisions (administrative districts) created in 1828 with the administrative div ...

With the Treaty of London, on 3 February 1830, however, which determined the borders of the newly established Greek state, the freed islands of the Eastern Sporades were given over to the Ottoman Empire again. According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the

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 Leros had a total population of 6.754, consisting of 6.623

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

, 18 Muslims and 113 foreign citizens. In the "Diary of the Prefecture of the Archipelago" of 1886, Leros, along with the islands of Patmos, Lipsos and Fournoi, belonged to the Ottomans. The island's administrative council was made up of both Greeks and Turks.

The Italian Period

In 1912, during the Libyan War against the Ottoman Empire, Italy occupied all of the

islands (except Kastelorizo). On May 12, 1912, the island was seized by the sailors of the

Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

cruiser '' San Giorgio''. The Greek inhabitants of the islands declared the autonomy of the islands under the title "The Aegean State", with the aim of unification with Greece, but with the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, these moves came to nothing, and Italy retained control of the islands. Lakki

From 1916 to 1918, the British used Leros as a naval base. In the

Venizelos–Tittoni agreement The Venizelos–Tittoni agreement was a secret non-binding agreement between the Prime Minister of Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos, and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tommaso Tittoni, in July 1919, during the Paris Peace Conference. Ma ...

of 1919, the island was to be returned to Greece, along with all of the Dodecanese except Rhodes, but after the Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War, Italy canceled the agreement. As a result, the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...

confirmed the Italian possession of Leros and the Dodecanese. The new Italian Fascist regime actively attempted to Italianize the Dodecanese, by making the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

compulsory, giving incentives to locals to adopt Italian nationality, and clamping down on Greek institutions. During the 31 years that the Italians remained in Leros, they set up a great plan to build and fortify the island, since its strategic position and its large natural harbours (the largest of which, Lakki, is the largest deepwater harbour in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

), made it an ideal naval base. The fortification of Leros and the creation of a major naval base ensured that the Italians had control over an area of vital interest to the Allies (the Aegean, the Dardanelles and the Near East). Mussolini, who called Leros "the Corregidor of the Mediterranean", saw the island as a crucial base for the Italian domination of the eastern

Portolago/Lakki

In the 1930s a new model town and major naval base, Portolago, was built by the Italian authorities. It is one of the best examples of Italian Rationalist architecture. Mussolini was said to have a mansion for himself in the town. After Leros was transferred to Greece, it was renamed Lakki.

World War II

From 1940, when Italy entered the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

on the side of Germany, Leros suffered bombing raids by the British, including Port Laki, on 26 November 1940, by the Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) - Swordfish aircraft of 815 and 819 Squadrons, operating from HMS Illustrious. As a result of the excellent anchorage provided to warships by the many natural coves, the island was the second most bombed during World War Two (after

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

). On 8 September 1943, as Italy could not continue the war on the German side, it signed an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

and came over to the Allied camp. After the Italian armistice, British reinforcements arrived on Leros and other Dodecanese islands and the island suffered continuous German aerial bombardment. One of the largest attacks was on the Greek Navy's flagship, the , sunk by German bombers on Sunday, September 26, 1943, along with , while they were anchored in Portolago. The island of Leros was finally captured by German troops during Operation Taifun in airborne and amphibious assaults between 12–16 November 1943. The forces involved were paratroop units and a battalion from the elite

Brandenburg division ''Brandenburg Division'' (german: Division Brandenburg) is a 1960 West German war film directed by Harald Philipp and starring Hanns Ernst Jäger, Wolfgang Reichmann and Heinz Weiss.Giesen p.273 It depicts members of the German commando unit Bra ...

. The ground troops were supported by bombers of the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

''. Among them I. and II. group of Stuka-Wing 3. I. Group operated from Megara Air Base. The island remained under German occupation until the end of the war. The 1957 novel and subsequent 1961 film '' The Guns of Navarone'' by

Alistair MacLean Alistair Stuart MacLean ( gd, Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a 20th-century Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably '' The ...

was contextually based on the

Battle of Leros The Battle of Leros was the central event of the Dodecanese campaign of the Second World War, and is widely used as an alternate name for the whole campaign. After the Armistice of Cassibile the Italian garrison on the Greek island Leros was str ...

Post-war history

After the Germans evacuated the island, Leros came under British administration until 7 March 1948 when Leros, together with the other Dodecanese Islands, was united with Greece. During the post-war years, the Greek government utilized numerous buildings in Leros for various reasons. In 1959, the mental hospital of Leros was founded in Lepida. During the junta of the Colonels, the island was used as a place of internal exile for political dissenters, with old Italian barracks of the island used as an

internment 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 simply ...

During the dictatorship period of Greece (1967-1974), 4,000 political prisoners were exiled in the same spaces of the mental hospital which were used as a concentration camp. In 1989, Leros came to Europe-wide attention as a result of a scandal involving embezzlement of funds and the maltreatment of about 3,000 mental patients at the mental hospital on the island. Funding from the government led to a rapid and substantial improvement in conditions. A June 2009 BBC report suggests these improvements have not all been sustained. In December 2015, during the

European migration crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the cont ...

, the Greek Government along with the Alternate Migration Policy Minister (Ioannis Mouzalas) and the Mayor of Leros (Michalis Kolias), decided to build a refugees’ reception centre. The camp is termed a “hotspot” and is able to shelter up to 1,000 individuals. The presence of asylum-seekers on Leros is controversial. Greek locals have attacked and harassed asylum-seekers and humanitarian aid workers alike. The hotspot of Leros is located near the mental hospital which has been internationally known as “Europe's guilty secret”, as coined in an

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

article. In the same space of Lepida (after almost 15 years of implementing deinstitutionalisation programmes financed by EU), about 200 patients are still accommodated in small rehabilitation structures.

Notable people

Demodocus of Leros Demodocus (; grc-gre, Δημόδoκος, ''Demodokos'') of Leros was an ancient Greek poet who is believed to have lived during the sixth century BC. on the small island of Leros in the Aegean sea. He composed in elegiac couplet, elegiacs and iam ...

, a sixth-century BC gnomic poet * Pherecydes of Leros *

Georgios Roussos Georgios (, , ) is a Greek name derived from the word ''georgos'' (, , "farmer" lit. "earth-worker"). The word ''georgos'' (, ) is a compound of ''ge'' (, , "earth", "soil") and ''ergon'' (, , "task", "undertaking", "work"). It is one of the most ...

, lawyer and politicianΕπίτομο Γεωγραφικό Λεξικό της Ελλάδος (Geographical Dictionary of Greece), Μιχαήλ Σταματελάτος, Φωτεινή Βάμβα-Σταματελάτου, εκδ. Ερμής, ΑΘήνα 2001 *

Totis Filakouris Panagiotis "Totis" Filakouris (born 1 March 1947) is a Greek former footballer who played as a forward. Fylakouris played for Panathinaikos for ten years from 1965 until 1975 and was a member of the team that played in the final of the Europ ...

, footballer for Panathinaikos during the years 1965–1975 *Olympia Karagiorgia, poet and conservation activist * Ourania Rebouli, a marathon runner at the 2016 Olympics

References

* Hans Peter Eisenbach (2009) Fronteinsätze eines Stuka-Fliegers, Mittelmeer und Ostfront 1943–1944. Germany Helios Verlag . 18,50 €uro. The book describes exactly the Stuka missions of I. StG 3 against Leros and Samos and against the Royal Navy in 1944. The book is based on the flight log book of a stuka pilot.

External links

*
Leros Airport Guide
{{Authority control Islands of Greece Municipalities of the South Aegean Populated places in Kalymnos (regional unit) Landforms of Kalymnos (regional unit) Islands of the South Aegean Dodecanese Members of the Delian League Greek city-states Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands