Sofades ( el, Σοφάδες) is a town and municipality in
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, Thes ...
, central
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 ...
belonging to the regional unit of
Karditsa
Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly.
Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...
. Its 2011 census population was 6,056 people and 18,864 for the municipality, including a large
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
community. Its elevation is around 120 m above sea level, and the economy is mainly agricultural (cotton, corn). It is the only municipality that has one municipal district with settlements. Sofades is located south of
Palamas
Palamas (Greek: Παλαμάς) is a town and a municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece. Population 16,726 (2011). Palamas is located south-southwest of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of Lamia, north of Sofades, east-nort ...
, southwest of
Larissa
Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...
, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of
Lamia
LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...
and southeast of
Karditsa
Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly.
Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...
and
Trikala
Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...
. Sofades is on
GR-30 (Karditsa -
Domokos
Domokos ( el, Δομοκός), the ancient Thaumacus or Thaumace (Θαυμακός, Θαυμάκη), is a town and a municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. The town Domokos is the seat of the municipality of Domokos and of the former Domokos Province. ...
-
Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
) as well as the road between
Mataragka and Palamas. It is on the
OSE railway line linking
Kalambaka
Kalabaka ( el, Καλαμπάκα, ''Kalabáka'', alternative transliterations are ''Kalambaka'' and ''Kalampaka'') is a town and seat of the municipality of Meteora in the Trikala regional unit, part of Thessaly in Greece. The population was ...
and the main line and has a station. The native
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 ...
inhabitants of the region are commonly known as
Karagounides
Karagounides ( el, Καραγκούνηδες; singular: Καραγκούνης, ''Karagounis'') are an ethnic Greek subgroup and are the native people of the western plains of Thessaly, Greece. More specifically, the term is used to refer to the ...
(Καραγκούνηδες).
History
The modern town is very close to the site of the ancient city of
Kierion ( el, Κιέριον) or Cierium, one of the most important cities of ancient
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, Thes ...
. The name "Sofades" was first recorded as "Sofou" (Σοφού) around 1454 AD. In the early 1800s the English traveler
William Martin Leake
William Martin Leake (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English military man, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British military, spending much of his career in the
Mediterrane ...
described the town as an administrative center consisting of around 150 houses and belonging to Abdim Bey of Larissa, but paying a yearly tribute to
Ali Pasha. Chief crops of the region were corn and sesame, from which the oil was a major product.
[Leake, William Martin. ''Travels in Northern Greece''. (1835).]
Much of the area is hilly and consists of farmland and woodland. Mountains lie to the south and east. A river flows to the north.
Municipality
The municipality Sofades was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:
*
Arni Arni may refer to:
Municipalities
* Arni, Tiruvannamalai, a town in Tamil Nadu, India
* Arni, Maharashtra, in Yavatmal district, Maharashtra State, India
* Arni, Karditsa, a municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece
* Arni, Aargau, a mun ...
*
Menelaida
Menelaida ( el, Μενελαΐδα) is a former municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sofades
Sofades ( el, Σοφάδες) is a town and municipality i ...
*
Rentina
*Sofades
*
Tamasio
The municipality has an area of 720.752 km
2, the municipal unit 241.255 km
2.
Subdivisions
The municipal unit of Sofades is divided into the following communities:
[
* Agia Paraskevi
* Agios Vissarios
*]Ampelos
Ampelos ( grc-gre, Ἂμπελος, lit."Vine") or Ampelus (Latin) was a personification of the grapevine and lover of Dionysus in Greek and Roman mythology. He was a satyr that either turned into a Constellation or the grape vine, due to Dionys ...
*Anogeio
Anogeio ( el, Ανώγειο, "High-land") is a village and a former municipality in the Preveza regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ziros, of which it is a municipal unit. The mu ...
*Dasochori
Dasochori ( el, Δασοχώρι) is a settlement in the Grevena regional unit, northern Greece. It is part of the municipality Deskati
Deskati ( el, Δεσκάτη) is a mountainous municipality in the Grevena regional unit. The current munici ...
* Filia
* Gefyria
* Kappadokiko
* Karpochori
* Mascholouri
* Melissochori
* Paschalitsa
*Sofades (Sofades, Tavropos)
Population
Transport
The town is served by Sofades railway station, with services to Palaiofarsalos, Larissa
Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...
, Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
, Kalambaka
Kalabaka ( el, Καλαμπάκα, ''Kalabáka'', alternative transliterations are ''Kalambaka'' and ''Kalampaka'') is a town and seat of the municipality of Meteora in the Trikala regional unit, part of Thessaly in Greece. The population was ...
& 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 ...
.
External links
Official website
(in Greek)
References
{{Sofades div
Cities in ancient Greece
Populated places in Karditsa (regional unit)
Municipalities of Thessaly