Avia (, ) is a village and a former

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

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

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

West Mani West Mani () is a municipality in the Messenia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Kardamyli. The municipality has an area of 402.809 km2. It comprises the northwestern part of the geographic and histori ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 179.828 km². The seat of the municipality was in Kampos. Avia is a popular tourist destination. It also has a large olive production. Avia is situated on the east coast of the

Messenian Gulf The Messenian Gulf (, ''Messiniakós Kólpos'') is a sea that is part of the Ionian Sea. The gulf is circumscribed by the southern coasts of Messenia and the southwestern coast of the Mani peninsula in Laconia. Its bounds are Venetiko Island ...

, southeast of

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

, southwest of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

and northwest of

Kardamyli Kardamyli (, variously transliterated as ''Kardamyle'', ''Cardamyle'', ''Kardhamili'', and ''Kardamili'', and sometimes called "Skardamoula", especially on old maps) is a town by the sea thirty-five kilometers southeast of Kalamata, Greece. It i ...

History

Ancient Abia

In the location where Paliochora is located today, the Homeric city of Ire (Ιρή) is supposed to have stood (''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' I 150 and I 292). The 2nd century traveller Pausanias mentioned in his ''Description of Greece'' that the city Ire was renamed Abia by

Cresphontes In Greek mythology, Cresphontes (; ) was a son of Aristomachus, husband of Merope, father of Aepytus and brother of Temenus and Aristodemus. He was a great-great-grandson of Heracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack on Mycenae in t ...

, king of

Messene Messene (Greek language, Greek: Μεσσήνη 𐀕𐀼𐀙 ''Messini''), officially Ancient Messene, is a local community within the regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') of Messenia in the region (''perifereia'') of Peloponnese (region), P ...

, after Abia, the nursemaid of his great-grandfather

Hyllus In Greek mythology, Hyllus (; Ancient Greek: Ὕλλος, ''Hyllos'') or Hyllas (Ὕλλᾱς, ''Hyllas'') was a son of Heracles and Deianira and the husband of Iole. Mythology Heracles, whom Zeus had originally intended to be ruler of Arg ...

, son of

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

. Abia was disputed between the Messenians and the

ns. Abia became a member of the

Achaean League The Achaean League () was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era confederation of polis, Greek city-states on the northern and central Peloponnese. The league was named after the region of Achaea (ancient region), Achaea in the northwestern Pelopon ...

in 181 BCE. In the city was a temple of

Asclepius Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...

. It continued to be a place of some importance down to the reign of

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

, as we learn from an extant inscription of that period. After Pausanias' time, Abia was not mentioned in sources. It was probably destroyed during barbarian invasions.

Later period

In the early 15th century, the Venetians built the castle of

Mantineia Mantinea (; ''Mantineia''; also Koine Greek ''Antigoneia'') was a city in ancient Arcadia, Greece, which was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history. In modern times it is a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, ...

at the location of the ancient city. It was the seat of the barony with the same name. Mantineia was abandoned by its inhabitants to escape pirate raids, and they settled in the inland village of Megali Mantineia. The ruined castle town received the name ''Palaiochora''. In 1775, the Church of the Dormition was built at the site of the temple of Asclepius. From the mid-19th century, the inhabitants of Megali Mantineia began to settle in the beach area again, in the settlements ''Palaiochora'', ''Archontiko'' and ''Kopanoi'' (the modern ''Akrogiali''). Palaiochora became the seat of the community of Megali Mantineia in 1924. In 1926 both the settlement Palaiochora and the community were renamed to Avia. In 1998, the community Avia merged with 7 other communities to form the new municipality Avia, with its seat in Kampos.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Avia is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): *Avia (Avia, Akrogiali, Megali Mantineia) * Altomira *

Doloi Doloi () is a community of the municipality West Mani, in Messenia, southern Greece. The community consists of the villages Kato Doloi, Ano Doloi, Kitries, Kalianaiika and Geranou. Doloi is located in the northwestern part of the Mani peninsula, on ...

(Ano Doloi, Kato Doloi, Kalianaiika, Kitries) * Kampos (Kampos, Orovas, Platoma, Toumpia) * Kentro (Kentro, Anatoliko, Chora Gaitson, Voreio) * Pigadia (Pigadia, Dendra, Krya Vrysi, Rizana) * Stavropigi (Stavropigi, Malta) * Sotirianika (Sotirianika, Charavgi, Drosopigi, Kouris)

Population

Points of interests

*Saint George Monastery on a panoramic location *Santava Cape *Beaches: Archontiko, Koukkinos, Lykotropia (Λυκοτροπία), Paliochora, Portela, Patsourou (Πατσούρου), Poliana (Πολιάνα), Akrogiali and Santava or Sandova (Σάντοβα)

People

* Alexandros Koumoundouros, Prime Minister of Greece

Sources

*Stavrou Kapetanaki ''I Mandinies tis Manis'' (''Οι Μαντίνειες της Μάνης'' = ''The Mantineies of Mani'') * Theodoros Belitsos ''Mantineia in 1700, Economy, Demographics and Onomatological Origins'' *Theodoros Belitsos ''The Marriage Book of Megali Mantineias near Avia (1869-1891)''

References

{{Avia Populated places in Messenia West Mani