Didymoteichon, today a small town of approximately 12000 people, bears
a long and extremely noteworthy history.
The city is lying next to the Erythropotamos
river, on the western bank of the famous Hevros
river.
The first habitation was founded on the Hagia Petra hill at the Southeastern
end of the city in the Neolithic period, according to recent excavational evidence.
During the Early Iron Age two villages existed together in both hills of the city,
Hagia Petra and Kales, the second lying at the western end of today’s Didymoteichon.
Abundant quantities of ceramics (local, imported Attic & Thasian pottery
etc.) as well as other findings form the ancient historic times witness not only
the existence of a city at that period but, even more, its close relations with
the Greeks.
During the "Pax Romana" the emperor Traianos re-established
the city, honouring it with the name of his wife, Plotina. Plotinopolis became
one of the most important cities of Roman Thrace,
being itself under an autonomous regime. The city reached a remarkable status
of welfare, reflected on random findings or results of the few excavational works
done up to now: floor mosaics representing the Hercules deeds and the Zeus-Swan
and Leda legend, or the famous golden head of the emperor Septimus Severus. The
decadence of the Empire & the barbaric invasions & lootings caused the gradual
transportation of the city from the hill of Hagia Petra to that of Kales. It's
perhaps then that Didymoteichon took its last name, if we accept that it means
Twin (= δίδυμο) castles. During the Byzantine period the importance of the city
is growing, because of its crucial geostragetic position and its steep, impregnable
stronghold of Kales where it lied. This constantly growing significance is well
marked by writers of the Middle and Late Byzantine times Greeks as well as foreigners,
like Godfried Villeharduin, who stresses that "Ditymoteichon was the strongest
and one of the richest cities of Romania" (= the territory of the Byzantine
empire). Especially during the Paleologian period (13th and first half of the
14th century) Didymoteichon becomes the focus of the historical events: capital
of the emperors Andronicos the Third the Paleologos and Ioannis the Sixth Kantakouzenos
during the catastrophic civil wars of 1321 to 1354, also witnesses the birth of
"Purple-born" emperors, as well as royal weddings, imperial army, inauguration
of two emperors, etc. Unfortunately only recently excavations have began to bear
in light the expected traces of this glorious past:
An imperial foundation nest to Agios Athanassios post-byzantine church
where the excavation has revealed a peculiar structure and some unique fragments
of byzantine frescoes, the humble funeral chapel of Hagia Aikaterini, the hundreds
of rock-cut caves, shaped by the mediaeval inhabitants of the city as cisterns
or storerooms at the back of their houses and of course the byzantine walls retaining
building phases form Justinian time to the early Ottoman period on the surfaces
of the towers and in the castle one can still can see monograms of byzantine nobles,
imperial families etc.
The Turkish occupation holds for more than 550 years, from 1361 to
1920 and is characterized from an extraordinary early ottoman building activity,
parallel to the choice of the city as a temporary capital of the empire.
On the other hand the greek element has a thriving presence and through
the years becomes the dominating factor socially, economically & culturally as
is shown by the vast quantities of the exported Didymoteichon pottery and the
post byzantine churches with the marvelous wooden temples and icons, offered by
the powerful professional unions.
The city was liberated in 1920, 19th of May.
This text (extract) is cited September 2003 from the Municipality
of Didymoteichon tourist pamphlet (1995).
Large, unfinished rectangular building, built of well-cut blocks,
with a monumental entrance on the west side. Instead of built vaults it has a
pyramidal roof of lead leaves on a wooden frame, which stands on four built pillars.
The temenos was founded near the road linking Traianoupolis and Adrianople,
in the years of Mohammed I (1413-1421).
The lead leaves of the roof have been replaced, and the structure
has been reinforced with a metal tower inside. The wall paintings have been cleared.
Today the monument is used as a storeroom for the archaeological finds from the
area of Didymoteichon.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture URL below, which also contains image.
It is the historical continuity of ancient Plotinoupoli, it’s a city that was built from Traegnus (100 BC) on the area where a unknown Hellenic city used to exist, we came to this conclusion after the finding of classic Hellenic ceramic artifacts from the 5th BC century and mosaic floors that are presenting Lyda and the achievements of Hercules.The Bulgarians are destroying the town in the year 1206 and later it is used from the Frank conquerors. The emperor Ioannis Katakouzinos the 6th was crowned here in Didimoteicho he also was the first emperor who brought Ottoman mercenaries to Thrace to fight against Ioanni Palaiologo the 5th and his mother. It is here in Didimoteicho where the ending of the universal Hellenic culture starts, while its post- historical existence rises, the time of pain and sadness the time of the pogrom and the mass kidnapping of children, of the rapping’s and slaughtering, of the islamization and of the neo-martyrs. Here is the place where in the year 1520 the saint martyr Iakovos and his students the monks Iakovos and Dionisios were killed.
Didymoteichos (Didumoteichos), a Thracian town opposite to Plotinopolis,
situated not far from the point where the Eurus empties itself into the Hebrus,
on an island of the former. It is now called Demotica. (Nicet. Chr. p. 404.)
1325 - 1404
1193 - 1254
Emperor of the byzantine State of Nicaea (1222 - 1254).
1332 - 1391
Emperor ot the Byzantine Empire (1341 - 1376 and 1379 - 1391).
Late 13th c.-1383
Son of Theodora Kantakouzini and nephew of the great general Ioannis
Synadinos, from whom he received his military training, married Irini Kantakouzini
(empress before 1320) with whom he had six children (including Mathaios, Manouil
Palaiologos and the future empress Eleni Kantakouzini). During the civil war waged
by Andronikos III Palaiologos against his grandfather Andronikos II, he sided
with the former. To this end he contracted an alliance in 1320 with Theodoros
Synadinos, Syrgiannis Palaiologos Philanthropinos and Alexios Apokaukos and became
governor of Adrianoupolis (Adrianople), while between 1325(?) and 1341, he was
emerged as Megas Domestikos. After the death of Andronikos III in 1341, he was
declared emperor at Didymoteicho. During the civil strife that followed his enemies
were the widowed empress Anna Palaiologina, Apokaukos and the patriarch Ioannis
Kalekas. He sought refuge with the Serbian tsar Stephan I Uressi and was supported
by Omour, emir of Aidinion and Orhan, the Osmanli sultan. In 1347 he entered Constantinople,
was crowned emperor by patriarch Isidoros Boucheiras and granted a general amnesty.
In 1351, declaring himself a follower of Grigorios Palamas, leader of the Hesychasts,
he headed the synods in which his teachings on Orthodoxy were proclaimed. When
in 1354 Ioannis V Palaiologos entered the city, he withdrew from public life and
became a monk under the name Ioasaph and shortly afterwards went to Mystra with
his sons Manouil and Mathaios. In 1379-1381 the Genoese ordered his arrest but
he later returned to the Peloponnese, where he died in 1383. He was the author
of "The Histories" and several rhetorical texts, among which was a Commentary
on the Hesychasts.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Thracian Electronic Thesaurus URL below, of Democritus University of Thrace
1281 - 1343
18/1/2002
13/9/2002 - 14/9/2002
28/8/2002
The Monday before Shrove Monday
(Following URL information in Greek only)
1/8 - 15/8
Tel: +30 25530 20280, 22100
Fax: +30 25530 25600
Tel: +3025533 50602
Fax: +3025530 24424
Didymoteichon, today a small town of approximately 12000 people, bears
a long and extremely noteworthy history.
The city is lying next to the Erythropotamos
river, on the western bank of the famous Hevros
river.
The first habitation was founded on the Hagia Petra hill at the Southeastern
end of the city in the Neolithic period, according to recent excavational evidence.
During the Early Iron Age two villages existed together in both hills of the city,
Hagia Petra and Kales, the second lying at the western end of today’s Didymoteichon.
Abundant quantities of ceramics (local, imported Attic & Thasian pottery
etc.) as well as other findings form the ancient historic times witness not only
the existence of a city at that period but, even more, its close relations with
the Greeks.
During the "Pax Romana" the emperor Traianos re-established
the city, honouring it with the name of his wife, Plotina. Plotinopolis became
one of the most important cities of Roman Thrace,
being itself under an autonomous regime. The city reached a remarkable status
of welfare, reflected on random findings or results of the few excavational works
done up to now: floor mosaics representing the Hercules deeds and the Zeus-Swan
and Leda legend, or the famous golden head of the emperor Septimus Severus. The
decadence of the Empire & the barbaric invasions & lootings caused the gradual
transportation of the city from the hill of Hagia Petra to that of Kales. It's
perhaps then that Didymoteichon took its last name, if we accept that it means
Twin (= δίδυμο) castles. During the Byzantine period the importance of the city
is growing, because of its crucial geostragetic position and its steep, impregnable
stronghold of Kales where it lied. This constantly growing significance is well
marked by writers of the Middle and Late Byzantine times Greeks as well as foreigners,
like Godfried Villeharduin, who stresses that "Ditymoteichon was the strongest
and one of the richest cities of Romania" (= the territory of the Byzantine
empire). Especially during the Paleologian period (13th and first half of the
14th century) Didymoteichon becomes the focus of the historical events: capital
of the emperors Andronicos the Third the Paleologos and Ioannis the Sixth Kantakouzenos
during the catastrophic civil wars of 1321 to 1354, also witnesses the birth of
"Purple-born" emperors, as well as royal weddings, imperial army, inauguration
of two emperors, etc. Unfortunately only recently excavations have began to bear
in light the expected traces of this glorious past:
An imperial foundation nest to Agios Athanassios post-byzantine church
where the excavation has revealed a peculiar structure and some unique fragments
of byzantine frescoes, the humble funeral chapel of Hagia Aikaterini, the hundreds
of rock-cut caves, shaped by the mediaeval inhabitants of the city as cisterns
or storerooms at the back of their houses and of course the byzantine walls retaining
building phases form Justinian time to the early Ottoman period on the surfaces
of the towers and in the castle one can still can see monograms of byzantine nobles,
imperial families etc.
The Turkish occupation holds for more than 550 years, from 1361 to
1920 and is characterized from an extraordinary early ottoman building activity,
parallel to the choice of the city as a temporary capital of the empire.
On the other hand the greek element has a thriving presence and through
the years becomes the dominating factor socially, economically & culturally as
is shown by the vast quantities of the exported Didymoteichon pottery and the
post byzantine churches with the marvelous wooden temples and icons, offered by
the powerful professional unions.
The city was liberated in 1920, 19th of May.
This text (extract) is cited September 2003 from the Municipality
of Didymoteichon tourist pamphlet (1995).
Tel: +30 25530 20250-4
Fax: +30 25530 23666
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