Listed 3 sub titles with search on: History for wider area of: "KASSANDRA Municipality HALKIDIKI" .
AFYTIS (Ancient city) KASSANDRA
The area of Athytos has been uninterruptedly settled for at least
5000 years. Around the middle of the 8th century B.C. settlers from Euboea
arrived. Aphytis, one of the most significant cities in Pallini
(the ancient name of Cassandra), is mentioned by the ancient writers Herodotus,
Thucydides, Xenophon, Aristotle, Pausanias, and Strabo among others.
The city became well known for its Temple of Dionysus, which appears
to have been built in the second half of the 8th century B.C. In the same area
stood the Temple of Ammon Zeus, whose few remaining ruins date to the 4th century
B.C. structure.
The Temple of Dionysus, which dates to the Euboean settlement, and
the growth of Aphytis are mentioned for the first time by Xenophon in his "Hellenica".
In 381 B.C. Agesipolis, king of the Lacedaemonians, besieged Torone.
During the siege he suffered serious burns, and asked to be taken to the "shady
lodgings and sparkling waters" of the Temple of Dionysus, where, according
to Xenophon, Agesipolis died a week later. He was placed in a storage jar full
of honey and taken to his homeland for the official burial.
During archaic and classical times Aphytis was a prosperous city,
minting its own coins, which depicted the head of its patron, Ammon Zeus, the
city's economy appears to have been mainly based on farming and vine-culture.
Aristotle mentions the "agricultural law" of the Aphytians, a special,
singular and interesting chapter in the history of ancient Greek public finances.
Shipping must have played an important role in the economy of Aphytis
if one is to judge by the size of its port, now silted up, which lies in the area
of the small pine forest along the beach.
According to Herodotus, during the Persian Wars (5th cent. B.C.) Aphytis
was forced to support Xerxes sending soldiers and ships, as did other cities in
Chalkidiki. However, it revolted
against the Persians after the Battle of Plataea
(479 B.C.) and joined the Athenian Confederacy. As a member of the Confederacy,
Aphytis paid three talents annually to the Temple of Delos, a substantial sum
for that time.
An Athenian "resolution" found in Athytos gives a picture
of the relations between Aphytis and Athens.
This resolution, dated 423 B.C. gave directions concerning the minting of cons
and currency relations in general.
As a result of joining the Athenian Confederacy, Aphytis was besieged
during the Peloponnesian War by the Lacedaemonian general Lysander. According
to Pausanias, the patron of Aphytis, Ammon Zeus, appeared in a dream to Lysander
and urged him to raise the siege, which he did.
It is likely that Aphytis was destroyed by Philip of Macedon in 348
B.C., as were the rest of the cities in Chalkidiki. However, the construction
of the Temple of Ammon Zeus during the second half of the 4th cent. B.C. implies
that the city was prosperous. It has also been suggested that the Macedonian kings
contributed to the construction of the temple. During Hellenistic and Roman times
the city minted coins again; an event possibly related to the fame of the Temple
of Ammon Zeus. Strabo mentions Aphytis among the five cities, which existed in
Pallini in the first century
B.C. (Cassandrea, Aphytis,
Mendi, Scioni
and Sani).
(text: Gerakina N. Mylona)
This text (extract) is cited November 2003 from the Community
of Athytos tourist pamphlet (1994).
AFYTOS (Village) HALKIDIKI
Strabo mentions Aphytis among the five cities, which existed in Pallini
in the first century B.C. (Cassandrea,
Aphytis, Mendi, Scioni
and Sani).
A long interim period followed for which we have on records of Aphytis.
Traces of the Mediefal wall in the citadel. The present "Koutsomylos",
as well as the continuous use of the same name prove that there was uninterrupted
life in Aphytos also during the Middle Ages. The first written information about
Aphytos comes from Mount Athos
documents of the 14th century in which it is mentioned as "Aphetos".
In 1307-1309, it appears that the village was destroyed by the Catalans,
and for a while its people settled in their farms.
The chapel of the Archangels, frescoed in 1647 (demolished in 1954)
indicated that Athytos was flourishing financially at that time.
Athytos participated in the Revolution of 1821, sending men and suffering
casualties. However, it also met the same fate as the rest of Cassandra:
it was burnt. After the destruction, its people scattered to various parts of
the country, mainly Skopelos,
Skiathos and Atalanti.
Around the year 1827 the refugees started returning, and Aphytos,
mainly due to its position, was a long time the principal village of Cassandra.
In Aphytos settled Captain Anastasis, who ruled the peninsula up to 1834.
(text: Gerakina N. Mylona)
This text (extract) is cited November 2003 from the Community
of Athytos tourist pamphlet (1994).
MENDI (Ancient city) KASSANDRA
Mende a town in Pallene and a colony of the Eretrians
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