Pelopio ( el, Πελόπιο, before 1928: Κριεκούκι - ''Kriekouki''Name changes of settlements in Greece
/ref>) is a settlement in the municipality of

Ancient Olympia Olympia ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ολυμπία ; grc, Ὀλυμπία ), officially Archaia Olympia ( el, label=Modern Greek, Αρχαία Ολυμπία; grc, Ἀρχαία Ὀλυμπία, links=no; "Ancient Olympia"), is a small town in E ...

Elis Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...

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 ...

. Pelopio is 3 km east of Smila, 4 km northwest of Olympia and 5 km southwest of Chelidoni. The

Greek National Road 74 National Road 74 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 74, abbreviated as EO74) is a single carriageway road in southern Greece. It connects Pyrgos, Elis, Pyrgos with Tripoli, Greece, Tripoli, via Olympia, Greece, Olympia and Vytina. Its length is . It run ...

( Pyrgos -

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

) passes south of the village. Pelopio had a population of 976 in 2011.

History

The village was founded in the 15th century during the Ottoman rule. It was founded by Turkish-Albanians who named it originally "Kriekouki" which means "red head" in their language. In 1928 it was renamed to Pelopio after

Pelops In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus. He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Oly ...

, the mythical king of

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

. Pelopio suffered damage from the

2007 Greek forest fires The 2007 Greek forest fires were a series of massive forest fires that broke out in several areas across Greece throughout the summer of 2007. The most destructive and lethal infernos broke out on 23 August, expanded rapidly and raged out of con ...

and from a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

on 3 November 2009.European Severe Weather Database
/ref>

Population

The population slightly declined over the years due to the economical crises. Most inhabitants who left went to Athens while a few of them immigrated to Germany. It is noted also that others left during the sixties to Patras, Athens or Thessaloniki while a few immigrated to Switzerland, Germany the United States or Canada.

Persons

* Vyron Davos, writer, mainly wrote about Elis and its history

External links

Pelopio GTP Travel Pages

References

{{Ancient Olympia Populated places in Elis Olympia, Greece

History

Population

Persons

External links

See also

References