Methana ( el, Μέθανα) is a town and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

on the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...

peninsula,

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 wi ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Troizinia-Methana Troizinia-Methana ( el, Τροιζηνία-Μέθανα) is a municipality in the Islands regional unit, Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Galatas. The municipality was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the mer ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 50.161 km². Methana is situated on a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

(the

Methana Volcano The Methana volcano peninsula is situated approximately southwest of Athens in Greece. Geological history The Methana (Μέθανα) peninsula contains some 32 volcanoes, including the Methana volcano, that are mostly andesitic and dacitic la ...

)

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

, attached to the Peloponnese. Administratively, it belongs to the

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...

region. The town (pop. 892 in 2011) is located north of the road connecting to the rest of the Peloponnese and Galatas. The highest point is (Helona Mountain). The municipal unit has a land area of and a population of 1,657 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The largest settlements besides the town of Methana are Vathý (pop. 129), Megalochóri (115), Kounoupítsa (75), Kypséli (47), Ágioi Theódoroi (45), and Dritsaíika (205)

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Methana is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): *

Kounoupitsa Kounoupitsa ( el, Κουνουπίτσα) is a village and a community in the northern end of the Methana peninsula, northeastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is part of the municipality Troizinia-Methana. The community consists of the villages Kounoup ...

(Kounoupitsa, Agios Georgios, Agios Nikolaos, Makrylongos, Palaia Loutra) * Kypseli (Kypseli, Agioi Theodoroi) *Loutropoli Methanon (Methana, Dritsaiika) * Megalochori (Megalochori, Vathy, Kaimeni Chora, Megalo Potami)

Historical population

Half of the entire peninsula's population lives in Methana town.

Volcanic activity

The peninsula is entirely of

origin and contains over 30 volcanic eruption centers. The last volcanic eruption occurred near present-day

Kameni Chora Megalochori ( el, Μεγαλοχώρι) is a village and a community in the western part of the volcanic Methana peninsula, Greece. It is located 3 km northwest of Methana town. The community consists of the villages Megalochori, Vathy, Kaimen ...

in 3rd century BC. Famous writers such as

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

and

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

reported the last volcanic eruption in Methana. The peninsula is the northwesternmost of the arc of the Aegean islands of which the active volcanic areas are Methana,

Milos Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus d ...

Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira ( Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is t ...

and

Nisyros Nisyros also spelled Nisiros ( el, Νίσυρος, Nísiros) is a volcanic Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos. Its shape is a ...

. In the future, Methana (and the area of the

Saronic gulf The Saronic Gulf ( Greek: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of ...

) may expect other volcanic eruptions.

Geography

20090608 Methana peninsula Peloponnese view from the sea Greece

Since 1991, the peninsula has been investigated by the team of ETH Zürich geologically and cartographically. From this, a topographical map of the entire peninsula at a scale of 1:25,000 was made. An interactiv
3D map
was created and is on the World Wide Web. Also a rich photographic archive with about 10.000 color slides has been produced (see links below). The panorama of the northeastern part of

Argolis Argolis or Argolida ( el, Αργολίδα , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and part of the ...

, southeastern and eastern

Corinthia Corinthia ( el, Κορινθία ''Korinthía'') is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese. It is situated around the city of Corinth, in the north-eastern part ...

along with the southern part of the

peninsula and the

Saronic Islands The Saronic Islands or Argo-Saronic Islands is an archipelago in Greece, named after the Saronic Gulf in which they are located, just off the Greek mainland. The main inhabited islands of this group are Salamis, Aegina, Agistri, and Poros. The ...

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island an ...

and Salamis along with a smaller one and the mountains of the eastern tip of the neighboring peninsula. Much of the peninsula is mountainous and bushy and grassy. The mountain range covers the central part of the peninsula and has a small ridge north of the seat. The residential area is within the sea. The pastures are around Methana. A mountain ridge is founded in the west and is about long with a stream in the middle and a cliff in the south.

History

The earliest known settlement (near the village of Vathy) dates from 1500–1300 BC. The first survey was conducted by

Michael Deffner Joseph Michael Deffner ( el, Μιχαήλ Δέφνερ * 18 September 1848 in Donauwörth; † 15 October 1934 in Athens) was a German classical philologist and linguist, known for his studies exploring the Tsakonian language. Biography He studi ...

, who discovered a large

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the mon ...

, among other artefacts. Many ancient sites were identified through the archaeological survey conducted in the 1980s by the University of Liverpool in association with the British School at Athens. The

Acropolis Palaiokastro The Acropolis of ancient Methana (also known as Acropolis Paliokastro, el, Ακρόπολη Παλιόκαστρο) is located 1 km from the town of Megalochori in the volcanic peninsula of Methana. History It was first built in the Myc ...

is located near the village of Vathy. The fortress is in Kypseli at the coast Akropolis Oga at the principal pace of Nisaki (Νησάκι, meaning little island). A Mycenaean settlement was excavated by Helene Konstolakis-Jiannopoulou in 1990 along with the chapel of Agios Konstantinos and Elenis. Selected artifacts can be visited in the museums of Poros island and in Piraeus. This site dates between 1500 and 1300 BC. Methana ( grc, τὰ Μέθανα, Μεθώνη, or Μεθήνη) was in the territory of

Troezen Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the muni ...

. In his ''

History of the Peloponnesian War The ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens). It was written by Thucydides, an ...

'',

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

tells of an Athenian expeditionary force under

Nicias Nicias (; Νικίας ''Nikias''; c. 470–413 BC) was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy and had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was inve ...

that after defeating Corinth (in 425 BC) built a wall across the isthmus to cut the Methana peninsula off from the mainland. In the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

period, the peninsula became one of the Ptolemaic bases in the Aegean when it was renamed Arsinoe. When

visited in the 2nd century, he saw a temple of

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

, and statutes of

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...

and

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

in the

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order o ...

. Traditionally, the population of Methana were

Arvanites Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a bilingual population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They traditionally speak Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded as settl ...

Persons

* Giorgos Batis (1885–1967) singer *

Lina Nikolakopoulou Evangelia (Lina) Nikolakopoulou (Λίνα Νικολακοπούλου) is widely recognised as one of the foremost lyricists in Greece. She was born in Methana on 30 June 1958 and studied social and political sciences at the Panteion University i ...

* Paraskeuas Koutsikos

References

External links

*
Official website

The alternative Methana Website ProjectGTP Travel Pages (Community)
{{Authority control Spa towns in Greece Volcanoes of Greece Subduction volcanoes Stratovolcanoes Lava domes Troizinia-Methana Landforms of Islands (regional unit) Landforms of Attica Populated places in ancient Argolis Populated places in Islands (regional unit) Arvanite settlements