Summary
Velestino (Greek: Βελεστίνο; Aromanian: Velescir) is a town in the Magnesia regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Rigas Feraios.
Velestino
Βελεστίνο Velescir | |
|---|---|
  Velestino | |
| Coordinates: 39°22.9′N 22°44.7′E / 39.3817°N 22.7450°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | Thessaly |
| Regional unit | Magnesia |
| Municipality | Rigas Feraios |
| Municipal unit | Feres |
| Elevation | 120 m (390 ft) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
| • Community | 3,202 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 37 500 |
| Area code(s) | 24250 |
Location edit
It is situated at 120 metres (390 ft) elevation[2] on a hillside, at the southeastern end of the Thessalian Plain. It is 17 km (11 mi) west of Volos and 40 km southeast of Larissa. Velestino has a train station on the local line from Larissa to Volos.[3] The Motorway 1 (Athens - Larissa - Thessaloniki) passes east of the town. The Greek writer and revolutionary Rigas Feraios was born in Velestino in 1757.[4]
History edit
Velestino is built on the site of ancient Pherae.[5] The ancient settlement is still attested in early Byzantine times, but was apparently abandoned following the Slavic invasions of the 7th century.[6]
The current settlement appears with its current name—probably of Slavic origin[7]—for the first time in 1208, in a letter by Pope Innocent III mentioning its Frankish ruler, Berthold of Katzenelnbogen.[6] In c. 1213 it was part of the jurisdiction of the Latin bishop of Gardiki, Bartholomew (Cardicensis episcopus et Valestinensis).[6] At about the same time, it became a Greek Orthodox episcopal see as well, being attested thereafter in episcopal lists and acts of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.[6] In 1259 an imperial estate (kouratoria) is attested in the area, as part of the province (thema) of Halmyros; by the 1280s, Velestino itself is listed as a separate thema.[6] Very few traces remain of the medieval town today.[6]
Under the Ottoman Empire, Velestino was called Velestin and was the seat of a kaza within the Sanjak of Tirhala.[citation needed]
With the rest of Thessaly, Velestino was ceded to Greece in 1881 by the Convention of Constantinople.
The Battle of Velestino was fought here during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.
Velestino is a village partly populated by people of Aromanian heritage. Reportedly, as of 1911, Velestino was predominantly Aromanian.[8]
References edit
- ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
- ^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-21.
- ^ "TrainOSE - 2012 schedules" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
- ^ Keridis, Dimitris (2009). Historical Dictionary of Modern Greece. Scarecrow Press. p. 67. ISBN 9780810859982.
- ^ Smith, William (1854). "Pherae (Φέραι) (1)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: Walton and Maber.
- ^ a b c d e f Koder, Johannes; Hild, Friedrich (1976). Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 1: Hellas und Thessalia (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. p. 133. ISBN 978-3-7001-0182-6.
- ^ Vasmer, Max (1941). Die Slaven in Griechenland (in German). Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften. p. 108.
- ^ Wace, A. J. B.; Thompson, M. S. (1911). "The distribution of early civilization in Northern Greece" (PDF). The Geographical Journal. 37 (6): 631–636. Bibcode:1911GeogJ..37..631W. doi:10.2307/1778256. JSTOR 1778256.