Iraia ( el, Ηραία) is a former municipality in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
,
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
,
Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it became a municipal unit of the municipality of
Gortynia
Gortynia ( el, Γορτυνία) is a municipality in the Arcadia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Dimitsana. The municipality has an area of 1,050.882 km2.
Municipality
The municipality Gortynia w ...
.
The municipal unit has an area of 144.002 km
2.
It consists of 27 villages. Population 1,552 (2011). The seat of the municipality was in
Paloumpa
Paloumpa ( el, Παλούμπα, also ''Palouba'') is a town in Arcadia, southern Greece. It is situated on a mountain slope overlooking the valley of the river Alfeios. It was the seat of the former municipality of Iraia. The town is in a remote a ...
. The municipality is named after the ancient Arcadian city of
Heraia. The region was known in recent times for the construction workers (''mastori'') who came from the villages of Servos and
Lyssarea
Lyssarea ( el, Λυσσαρέα; before 1927: Μπουγιάτι ''Bougiati'') is a village in Southwestern Arcadia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Iraia. It is built on the slopes of two hills called ''Agios Lias'' and ''Skylaras'' an ...
.
Pausanias describes the ancient cities of
Heraia and
Melaineai
Melaeneae or Melaineai ( grc, Μελαινεαί),, comp. 5.7.1, 8.3.3. or Melaenae or Melainai (Μελαιναί), was a town of ancient Arcadia, in the territory of Heraea, and on the road from Heraea to Megalopolis. It was distant 40 stadia fro ...
and their buildings.
[ Pausanias ''Description of Greece'' 8.26] An excavation near Lyssarea uncovered buildings, mosaics, as well as gold and silver coins.
Notable people
The village of Loutra Iraias is the birthplace of the film-maker Constantinos Gavras (
Costa-Gavras).
References
External links
History of Irea (in Greek)N. I. Kostaras's talk about the history of Irea (in Greek)
Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese
{{Peloponnese-geo-stub