Lakka Souliou ( el, Λάκκα Σουλίου is a former municipality in the
Ioannina regional unit,
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 ...
,
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 ...
. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality
Dodoni
Dodoni ( el, Δωδώνη) is a village and a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Agia Kyriaki (community Theriakisi).
The modern village of Dodoni is located near the ancient c ...
, of which it is a municipal unit.
The municipal unit has an area of 158.578 km
2.
Its population was 2,405 according to the census of 2011. Lakka Souliou is a historical site in the wider area of
Souli
Souli ( el, Σούλι) is a municipality in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town of Paramythia.
Name and History
The origin of the name Souli is uncertain. In the earliest historical text about Souli, written b ...
.
History
Ancient times
Lakka Souliou has been inhabited since the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
period, as it is testified by the fossils which were found in the region, like axes made of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
and
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
y and
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
weapons, vessels of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
as well. There are traces of
Pelasgic walls in many places of the region, like in Achladea, Bestia, Sistrouni, Alepochori and Paleochori Botsari. In addition to these, there are several
acropoleis, ancient boxy tombs and coins of the ancient
Epirotes
Epirus (; Epirote Greek: , ; Attic Greek: , ) was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bordered by ...
found throughout Lakka Souliou. It is supposed that the plains of the region were covered by sea about 500 million years ago.
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
mentions that the first historical people who inhabited the region were the
Pelasgians in the early 3rd millennium BC, while several
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 ...
tribes started to migrate there from
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 ...
in the early
2nd millennium BC
The 2nd millennium BC spanned the years 2000 BC to 1001 BC.
In the Ancient Near East, it marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.
The Ancient Near Eastern cultures are well within the historical era:
The first half of the mil ...
, among which the
Selloi,
Chaonians
The Chaonians ( grc, Χάονες, Cháones) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus currently part of north-western Greece and southern Albania.; ; ; ; ; . Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, they formed ...
,
Thesprotians
The Thesprotians ( grc, Θεσπρωτοί, Thesprōtoí) were an ancient Greek tribe, akin to the Molossians, inhabiting the kingdom of Thesprotis in Epirus. Together with the Molossians and the Chaonians, they formed the main tribes of the nort ...
and
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 ...
were included. The Thesprotians dominated upon the other tribes and they expanded eastward from their initial settlement, to the
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 ...
coastline and present-day Lakka Souliou was included in their possession.
In the 5th century BC, the Molossians began to strengthen and under the reign of
Tharrhypas
Tharrhypas (Greek: ''Θαρύπας'', 430 - 392 BC) was a king of the Molossians and ancestor of Alexander the Great.
He is mentioned by Thucydides as a minor in 429 BC.
He was the father of Alcetas I, and is said to have been the first to intr ...
, in 429 BC, they overrode and definitely fended the Thesprotians from the region. During the reign of Tharrypas and his son
Alcetas I
Alcetas I ( el, Ἀλκέτας) (390/385 – 370 BC) was a king of Epirus, the son of Tharrhypas.
Biography
Alcetas was expelled from his kingdom for unknown reasons, and took refuge with Dionysius I of Syracuse, by whom he was reinstated. ...
(390 - 370 BC), the Molossians founded the Molossian League, in 385 BC, with the joining of the Chaonians and Thesprotians. That league grew to be the
Epirote League
The Epirote League ( Epirote: , ''Koinòn Āpeirōtân''; Attic: , ''Koinòn Ēpeirōtôn'') was an ancient Greek coalition, or ''koinon'', of Epirote tribes.
History
The coalition was established between 370 and 320 BC (firstly as the Moloss ...
in 325 BC, part of which was the region of Lakka Souliou.
The Epirotes made a treaty with
Macedon
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...
and their alliance was cemented in 357 BC with the marriage of the
Macedonian basileus,
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
, to
Olympias, the daughter of the basileus of Epirus,
Neoptolemus I. In 286 BC, the kingdom of Epirus took control over the kingdom of Macedonia, and it expanded later to the west, in
Magna Græcia
Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; the ...
, under the leadership of
Pyrrhus. In the struggle of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
against Macedon, Epirus was an alliant of the latter, but both were defeated in the
battle of Pydna
The Battle of Pydna took place in 168 BC between Rome and Macedon during the Third Macedonian War. The battle saw the further ascendancy of Rome in the Hellenistic world and the end of the Antigonid line of kings, whose power traced back to ...
in 168 BC. In the same year the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
general,
Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, ordered the sacking of 70 epirote towns, among them several towns of modern Lakka Souli, and 150,000 people were enslaved or killed. Epirus was left to bankruptcy and led to decline.
Byzantine era and Ottoman rule
During the Byzantine times, the region of Lakka Souli 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 ...
and saw several raids against it of foreign tribes. After the
Fourth Crusade and the capture of
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 ( ...
in 1204, it became part of the
Despotate of Epirus.
In 1449, the region and whole Epirus came under the
Ottoman rule
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
. It is then that the inhabitants of the
Souli
Souli ( el, Σούλι) is a municipality in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town of Paramythia.
Name and History
The origin of the name Souli is uncertain. In the earliest historical text about Souli, written b ...
area, the famous
Souliotes
The Souliotes were an Orthodox Christian Albanian tribal community in the area of Souli in Epirus from the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, who via their participation in the Greek War of Independence came to identify with the ...
began the ceaseless struggle against the
Ottoman Turks and later, around 1600, they formed the Souliote Confederation, an autonomous confederacy dominating a large number of neighbouring villages in the remote mountainous areas of Epirus, where they could successfully resist Ottoman rule. In 1611, 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 ...
came close to the liberation of
Ioannina. In that revolt the Lakkiotes are recorded to have taken part.
During the attacks of the Ottomans against Souli in 1732 - 1778 and 1792–1803, Lakka Souli was the "watchtower" of the Souliotes, so as
Ali Pasha wanted to occupy this place because of its strategical location. After the Fall of Souli, Ali Pasha gave some lands of the region to squires: Alepochori Botsari, Paleochori Botsari and Romano to Jamali Aga and Acladea to P. Sakellariou, while Georgani and Derviziana remained in the state of Ali Pasha until his death. Epirus was finally liberated in 1913.
After 1913
In the
Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) There have been several Greco-Turkish Wars:
*Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), against the Ottoman Empire
*Undeclared war in 1854 during the Crimean War, with Greek irregulars invading Ottoman Epirus ( Epirus Revolt of 1854) and Thessaly
* Fi ...
many Lakkiotes took part and were honored for their bravery. In 1940, the Lakkiotes were also involved in the war against the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
, the defeat of the invasion of
Benito Mussolini's forces to Greece and the pushing of them back to
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 ...
, in
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 ...
, and they fought along with
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 ...
against
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, while Lakka Souli suffered a lot during the
Axis occupation of Greece.
Municipality
At the 1997
Kapodistrias reform Kapodistrias reform ( el, Σχέδιο Καποδίστριας, "Kapodistrias Plan") is the common name of law 2539 of Greece, which reorganised the country's administrative divisions. The law, named after 19th-century Greek statesman Ioannis Kapod ...
, the municipality ''Derviziana'' was formed out of 14 previously independent communities. The seat of the municipality was the village Derviziana. In 2003, this municipality was renamed to ''Lakka Souliou''. At the 2010
Kallikratis reform
The Kallikratis Programme ( el, Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης, Prógramma Kallikrátis) is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the count ...
, the municipality ''Lakka Souliou'' was merged into the municipality
Dodoni
Dodoni ( el, Δωδώνη) is a village and a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Agia Kyriaki (community Theriakisi).
The modern village of Dodoni is located near the ancient c ...
, of which it became a municipal unit.
[
The communities of the municipal unit Lakka Souliou are:][
* Achladies
* Alepochori
* Ardosi
* Bestia
* Derviziana
* Elafos
* Georganoi
* Palaiochori
* Pentolakkos
* Romanos
* Seriziana
* Sistrouni
* Smyrtia
* Vargiades
]
References
External links
Official website of Lakka Souliou Municipality
{{Dodoni div
Populated places in Ioannina (regional unit)