Eordaia () is a municipality in the

Kozani Kozani (, ) is a town in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas, Aliakmonas riv ...

regional unit,

Western Macedonia Western Macedonia (, ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. Located in north-western Greece, it is divided into the regional units of Greece ...

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 ...

. The seat of the municipality is the town

Ptolemaida Ptolemaida (, Katharevousa: Πτολεμαΐς, ''Ptolemaïs'') is a town and a former municipality in Kozani regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Eordaia, of which it i ...

. The municipality has an area of 708.807 km². The population was 42,515 in 2021.

Municipality

The municipality Eordaia was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units: * Agia Paraskevi * Mouriki *

* Vermio * Vlasti

Province

The province of Eordaia () was one of the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of the Kozani Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Eordaia, and a few villages of the municipality

. It was abolished in 2006.

History

The history of Eordaia can be found stretching long before 2000 BCE when the first

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

known as the Mycenean Greeks began to inhabit this area. Remnants of copper mines exploited from 2700 up until 1200 BCE indicate strongly that the

inhabited Eordaia for many years. Iron mines have also been exploited in the region.D. C. Samsaris, Les mines et la metallurgie de fer et de cuivre dans la province romaine de Macédoine, Klio 69(1987), 1, p. 154, 156–157, 169–170

Recent discoveries

Within a 50-year period, paleontologists and archaeologists have made many discoveries due to the industrial development of the Eordaian countryside. In particular, the skeletal

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

of a prehistoric mammoth, a prehistoric

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

, and

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

tools have all been found within the province of Eordaia. These finds add to knowledge on the variety of animal species and human artifacts in this particular region of western Macedonia. In addition, two ancient Macedonian tombs have been excavated within Eordaia. The first was located in a rural area of the village of Spilia,Macedonian Tomb at Spelia
odysseus.culture.gr while the second was located in the village of Pyrgoi.

References

External links

Official website
Municipalities of Western Macedonia Populated places in Kozani (regional unit) Provinces of Greece {{WMacedonia-geo-stub