Leontari ( gr, Λεοντάρι, before 1930: Κασκαβέλι - ''Kaskaveli''Name changes of settlements in Greece
/ref>) is a town in the municipal unit of

Thespies Thespies ( el, Θεσπιές; before 1934: ''Erimókastro'') is a village in Boeotia, Greece. A former municipality, which included the village, shared the same name. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Aliartos, ...

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its ...

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 ...

History

The city of Leontari was founded at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century by Albanian settlers, the so-called

Arvanites Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a bilingual population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They traditionally speak Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded as settl ...

, under the leadership of Zogra Kobili. Leontari was first attested as hamlet in the Ottoman census of 1466. Initially the village was named after its founder. Later, and until 1930, the town was named Kaskaveli or Kobili, variants of the name of the founder. In 1930 it was renamed to Leontari ("Lion" in Greek) after an 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 ...

artifact possibly related to the area.

Demographics

Notable people

Aristeidis Kollias Aristeidis P. Kollias ( el, Αριστείδης Π. Κόλλιας; sq, Aristidh Kola, July 8, 1944 October 1, 2000), was a Greece, Greek lawyer, publicist, historian and folklorist. He was also president of the Association of the Arvanites ''Ma ...

, Lawyer, Folklorist and Historian.

References

{{Aliartos div Populated places in Boeotia Aliartos Arvanite settlements