Agios Alexandros ( el, Άγιος Αλέξανδρος) is a settlement in the northeastern part of the
Aegean island of
Lemnos
Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...
,
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 ...
. It is part of the municipal unit of
Moudros
Moudros ( el, Μούδρος) is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the entire eas ...
and the community of
Kontopouli
Kontopouli ( el, Κοντοπούλι) is a village and a community in the municipal unit of Moudros in the northeastern part of the island of Lemnos, Greece. In 2011 its population was 623 for the village and 634 for the community, which includes ...
. The population was 0 at the 2011 census. It is located north of the
Alyki Lagoon, 4 km southwest of
Panagia
Panagia ( el, Παναγία, fem. of , + , the ''All-Holy'', or the ''Most Holy''; pronounced ) (also transliterated Panaghia or Panajia), in Medieval and Modern Greek, is one of the titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern ...
and 5 km northeast of Kontopouli.
Population
Archaeological sites
Agios Alexandros was the most important of a series of villages that existed before in the extended region of Kontopouli, most of which are currently uninhabited. The former Monastery of Chloe was mentioned in a patriarchal document of 1320. The name survived in the nearby promontory of Chloi, west of Agios Alexandros, opposite the ancient city
Hephaistia
Hephaestia and Hephaistia ( grc, Ἡφαιστία), or Hephaestias or Hephaistias (Ἡφαιστίας), was a town of Ancient Greece, now an archeological site on the northern shore of Lemnos, Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It was name ...
. Here was the ancient sanctuary of the Kaveiron, which was excavated during the 1960s. Possibly, the Christian monastery of Chloe was founded at the site of the ancient sanctuary, which was common in Byzantine times.
In a nearby sea cave prehistoric remains have been found. The cave is commonly called the Cave of
Philoctetes although the location is not compatible with the ancient literary sources.
History
The village probably took its name from Saint Alexander, the patron saint of Lemnos according to manuscripts of the 15th century. The name of the saint survived as the name of the settlement, even though there is no church of Saint Alexander in the village. The main church of the settlement is dedicated to Saint
Pachomius
Pachomius (; el, Παχώμιος ''Pakhomios''; ; c. 292 – 9 May 348 AD), also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May ...
.
By the mid-19th century, the area north of Kontopouli was uninhabited. In 1858, the German traveller
Conze In 1858 the German traveler Conze found cultivation in major parts of the plain between Cape Plaka and Kontopouli but no settlement. There were only isolated huts, which locals called estates. When the estates passed into Christian ownership, settlements started to develop around them. One of them was Agios Alexandros, first marked on the 1904 map of Fredrich.
It had 34 inhabitants in 1951, 87 in 1961. Between 1959 and 1973 a small public school was operated in the settlement. The school also served pupils from nearby agricultural settlement: Dimosia, Agios Georgios Amniou, Neftina, Saravari and Geranos. It had 32 pupils in 1961. The rise of cotton production in the area brought prosperity to the area, but the decline of cotton production in the 1970s led to mass emigration. It had only one inhabitant in 1981. Presently most inhabitants only spend the summer months in the village.
See also
*
List of settlements in the Lemnos regional unit
Sources
*Vassiliki Tourptsoglou-Stefanidou: ''Journeys and Geographic Sources of the Island of Lemnos (15th-20th Centuries)''
*
Belitsos, Theodoros, ''Lemnos and its villages'' by Th. Belitsos 1994.
*''Lemnos/Limnos Province CD Rom'' (''Cdrom Επαρχείου Λήμνου'' = ''CD Rom Eparcheiou Limnou''): ''Lovable Lemnos''
*Belitsos, Theodoros: ''Historic route in Lemnos: Livadochori'',
Lemnos Newspapers, p 531 (June 10, 2008).
References
{{reflist
Populated places in Lemnos