Vatheia ( el, Βάθεια ; also ''Vathia'') is a village on the

Mani Peninsula The Mani Peninsula ( el, Μάνη, Mánē), also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna (Μαΐνη), is a geographical and cultural region in Southern Greece that is home to the Maniots (Mανιάτες, ''Maniátes'' in Greek), who cla ...

, in south-eastern

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...

. The local community of Vatheia is named after this village. The aforementioned local community is a subdivision of the municipal unit of

Oitylo Oitylo ( el, Οίτυλο, pronounced Ítilo), known as "Βίτσουλο", pronounced Vitsoulo, in the native Maniot dialect, is a village and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part ...

. It is known for its tower-houses built on a hill dominating the surrounding countryside. Vatheia is linked by road north to

Areopoli Areopoli ( el, Αρεόπολη; before 1912 , ) is a town on the Mani Peninsula, Laconia, Greece. The word ''Areopoli'', which means "city of Ares", the ancient Greek god of war, became the official name in 1912. It was the seat of Oitylo mu ...

and

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

and south to

Cape Matapan Cape Matapan ( el, Κάβο Ματαπάς, Maniot dialect: Ματαπά), also named as Cape Tainaron or Taenarum ( el, Ακρωτήριον Ταίναρον), or Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Cape Matapa ...

also known as Tenaro. In the northern and eastern direction, the southern reaches of the Sangias mountain range overlook the village. Farmland and

maquis shrubland 220px, Low maquis in Corsica 220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia ( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; hr, makija; ; ) is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs. Maquis is char ...

cover the hill slopes. On the hills and mountain sides around Vatheia proper are clusters of abandoned houses, towers and chapels known as the perichora, meaning environs. Currently, Vatheia is a tourist attraction during spring and summer due to the abundance of wild flowers that cover the nearby hills and its scenic views. Moreover, it is an iconic example of the south Maniot vernacular architecture as it developed during the 18th and 19th centuries. The nearest villages are Kyparissos, Alika and

Gerolimenas Gerolimenas ( el, Γερολιμένας) is a picturesque small coastal village and a community in the municipal unit of Oitylo, at the southern end of the Mani Peninsula, in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', offi ...

to the north-west and Lagia to the north-east.

History

Vathia is first mentioned in 1571, by a Venetian diplomatic mission, as "casale di Vathia". In 1618, an unofficial census was conducted by an agent of Charles, Duke of Nevers named Philipe de Lange Châteaurenault in cooperation with a prominent Maniot clan leader named Pietro Medici. The village was recorded as "vatia" with 20 hearths. In 1700, the Grimani census was carried out for the newly established

Kingdom of the Morea The Kingdom of the Morea or Realm of the Morea ( it, Regno di Morea) was the official name the Republic of Venice gave to the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece (which was more widely known as the Morea until the 19th century) when it was c ...

. The Venetians recorded a total population of 212 persons distributed in 54 families. The reasons for this substantial population growth over the 17th century are unclear. On 13 April 1805,

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 ...

by-passed Vatheia ("Βάθια" in text) on the way to

, using the sea-side road, but his journey was briefly interrupted by a band of local armed men. His guides, being Maniots themselves, negotiated passage and informed him that Vatheia has been divided in two warring parties for the past 40 years. They estimated that about 100 men had been killed since the beginning of this clan war. Leake also informs us that Vatheia and its environs consist of three adjacent villages. Between 1750 and 1900 the main nuclei of habitation, apart from the village itself, were several hamlets spread over the whole region controlled by the Vathia clans and their allies. Of the eight clans, in total, the four larger were living in Vatheia proper and its environs (Karabatiani, Michalakiani, Kaledoniani, Koutrigari) while the rest were mostly restricted in some of the aforementioned hamlets. Below follows a list of the clans with their constituent families: Vathia Mani Greece

On 15 August 1806, representatives of many prominent Maniot clans gathered in Marathonisi to sign an oath of fealty to Andonis Grigorakis, Bey of Mani. The entry for Vatheia was as follows: "Michalakiani, Gerandoniani and Karabatiani and the environs, we abide collectively".Anonymous, Ιστορικαί Αλήθειαι Συμβάντων Τινών της Μάνης, τύποις Φ. Καραμπίνη & Κ. Βάφα, 1858, p. 45 The communal decision to swear fealty to the Bey might have signalled the end of the war mentioned by Leake a year earlier. Furthermore, this is the only known mention of the Gerandoniani clan. The local clan war that started in 1764 was the catalyst in the formation of the clans which dominated the region from the 19th century until its, nearly total, abandonment during the post-

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 opposin ...

years. In several places around the modern village as well as in other locations within the periphery of the local community, earlier habitation is evident by the megalithic remains of housing clusters. The closest to modern Vatheia are the Palaiochora built along a stream below the modern village, the Kostakianika Kalyvia built on the hillside a short distance to the north-west and Pachia a similar hamlet on the mountainside just opposite the hill of modern Vatheia. They belong to the category of megalithic structures named after the large, roughly-hewn blocks of stone used by the builders. This is a term used throughout Mani to describe the older abandoned settlements sharing the aforementioned characteristic construction.

Historical population

References

{{East Mani div Populated places in Laconia Populated places in the Mani Peninsula East Mani

History

Historical population

See also

References