History of Patras
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents |
[edit] Antiquity
The first traces of settlement in Patras date to the 3rd millennium BC, in modern Aroe. During the Middle Helladic period (the first half of the 2nd millennium BC) another settlement was founded in the region. Patras flourished for the first time during the Post-Helladic or Mycenean period (1580–1100 BC). Ancient Patras was formed by the unification of three Mycenaean villages located in modern Aroe, Antheia and Mesatis. The foundation of Patras goes back to prehistoric times, the legendary account being that Eumelus, having being taught by Triptolemus how to grow grain in the rich soil of the Glaucus valley, established three townships, Aroe (i.e. "ploughland"), Antheia ("the flowery"), and Mesatis ("the middle settlement") united by the common worship of Artemis Triclaria at her shrine on the river Meilichus.
Mythology further tells us that after the Dorian invasion, a group of Achaeans from Laconia, led by the eponymous Patreus, established a colony. The Achaeans, having strengthened and enlarged Aroe, called it Patrae, as the exclusive residence of the ruling families, and it was recognized as one of the twelve Achaean cities. During antiquity, Patras remained a farming region but in Classical times it became an important port. In 419 BC the town was, on the advice of Alcibiades, connected with its harbour by long walls in imitation of those at Athens.
After 280 BC, and prior to the Roman occupation of Greece, Patras played a significant role in the foundation of the second "Achaean League" (Achaike Sympoliteia) together with the cities Dyme, Triteia and Pharai. As a consequence, the initiative of political developments was transferred for the first time to western Achaea. However, the League's armed force was destroyed by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus after the defeat of the Achaeans at Scarpheia in 146 BC, and many of the remaining inhabitants forsook the city; but after the battle of Actium Augustus restored the ancient name Aroe, established a military colony of veterans from the 10th and 12th legions (not, as is usually said, the 22nd), and bestowed the rights of colonists on the inhabitants of Rhypae and Dyme, and all the Locri Ozolae except those of Amphissa.
Colonia Augusta Aroe Patrensis became one of the most populous of all the towns of Greece; its colonial coinage extends from Augustus to Gordian III. A cadastral map was drawn up, privileges were granted, crafts were created, the most important being that of earthen oil lamps which were exported almost to the whole world of that time, two industrial zones were created, temples were built, roads that rendered Patras a communication center were opened, streets were paved with flagstones, foreign religions were introduced. Patras was by then a cosmopolitan city. But at the end of the 3rd century AD it fell into decline, probably because of a strong earthquake that struck the whole of northeastern Peloponnese in 300 AD. According to the Christian tradition, Saint Andrew came to Patras to preach Christianity during the reign of Emperor Nero and was crucified as a martyr. He is ever since considered to be the patron saint of the city. Two temples built in his honor, an old byzantine-style basilica and a new monumental church, completed in the 1970s, mark the traditional place of his crucifixion. Like Corinth, it was an early and effective centre of Christianity; its archbishop is mentioned in the lists of the Council of Sardica in 347.
[edit] Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman times
During the Byzantine times Patras continued to be an important port as well as an industrial center. In 551 AD it was laid in ruins by an earthquake. In 807 AD it was able without external assistance to repulse a Slavonian siege, though most of the credit of the victory was assigned to St Andrew, whose church was enriched by the imperial share of the spoils, and whose archbishop was made superior of the bishops of Methone, Lacedaemon and Corone. Besides, one of the most scholarly philosophers and theologians of the time, Arethas of Caesarea was born at Patrae, at around 860. In the 9th century there is a sign that the city was prosperous: the widow Danielis from Patras had accumulated immense wealth in land ownership, carpet and textile industry and offered critical support in the ascent of Basil I the Macedonian to the Byzantine throne.
In 1204 Patras was conquered by the Fourth Crusade, and became the seat of the Latin Duchy of Achaea within the Principality of Achaea. Captured in 1205 by William of Champlitte and Geoffrey I Villehardouin, the city became the capital and its archbishop the primate of the principality of Achaea. In 1387 Jean Fernandez de Heredia, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes, endeavoured to make himself master of Achaea and took Patras by storm. In 1408, the city became Venetian. At the close of the 15th century the city was governed by the Latin archbishop in the name of the Pope; in 1428 the joint despots of Morea, Constantine and Theodore, sons of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, managed to get possession of it for a time. It was seized again by the Despotate of Morea in 1430, who was immediately contested by the Ottoman Empire.
In 1458 Patras was conquered by Sultan Mehmet II. Under the Ottomans, it was called Baliabadra (from Greek Παλαιά Πάτρα, the old town, as opposed to Νέα Πάτρα, the fortress). Though Mehmet granted the city special privileges and tax reductions, it never became a major center of commerce. Venice and Genoa attacked and captured Patras several times during the 15th and 16th centuries, but never re-established their rule effectively.[1].
On 7 October 1571, the Ottoman fleet on the one side, and the fleet of the Christian Holy League on the other, clashed in the Gulf of Patras in the Battle of Lepanto. The Ottomans were defeated, but the Holy League did not seize the city of Patras. The news of the Ottoman defeat were celebrated in Patras, but a revolt organized by five of the elders of the town and metropolitan Germanos I of Old Patras (1561-1572) was put down and its instigators were executed.[2]. Venice captured Patras from the Turks to the Venetians in 1687, during the Great Turkish War, and made it the seat of one of the seven fiscal boards into which they divided the Morea. In 1714 it again fell, with the rest of the Morea, into Turkish hands.
Generally, the first period of Turkish rule (1460-1687) was miserable, but from 1715 and on there was a revival of commerce, and so in the 18th century Patras became again an economically prosperous town, based on agriculture and trade.
Patras played a crucial role in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans (1821-29). It was at Patras that the Revolution is held to have officially began on March 25, 1821, when the then archbishop of Old Patras, and member of the Filiki Eteria, Germanos swore in the first freedom warriors in the chapel of Agios Georgios. [3] The Turks, confined to the citadel, held out until 1828.
[edit] Modern times
Patras was liberated on 7 October 1828 by the French expeditionary force in the Peloponnese, under the command of General Maison. In 1829 the then Governor of Greece, John Capodistria approved a very ambitious new urban plan for the city - which was still in ruins - presented to him by the French army engineer Stamatis Vulgaris. The plan was not carried out until the mid-19th century and then only with great adaptations conforming to the interests of powerful land owners. Patras developed as the second largest urban centre in late 19th century Greece after Athens.[4]
The city benefited from its role as the main export port for the agricultural produce of the Peloponnese[5]. It was the main centre for the organisation of production of raisin, offering warehouse, banking and insurance services. However, this early era of prosperity was short lived; the completion of the Corinth Canal in 1893 challenged the predominance of its port. Besides, in 1894 raisin export prices in the international markets began to plummet, due to overproduction and international circumstances, which triggered a prolonged crisis with deep financial, political and social repercussions, known as the Great raisin crisis[6]. Trade with western Europe, mainly Britain, France and Italy, did much to shape the city's early identity as a significant port and cosmopolitan urban centre in early 20th century Greece.
In the early 20th century, Patras developed fast and became the first Greek city to introduce public streetlights and electrified tramways [7]. The war effort of the first World War hampered the city's development and also created uncontrollable urban sprawl with the influx of refugees from Minor Asia. During the Second World War Patras was a major target of Italian air raids. At the time of the Axis occupation, a German military command was established and German and Italian troops were stationed in the city. On 13th December 1943, in the nearby town of Kalavryta, the German troops executed all the male population and set the town ablaze. After the liberation city grew fast to recover, but in later years was increasingly overshadowed by the urban pole of Athens.
[edit] References
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam s.v. Baliabadra
- ^ Chasiotis,Ioannis "Revolutionary efforts in the Greek area after the naval battle", Istoria tou Ellinikou Ethnous, Ekdotiki Athinon, vol. 10, pp. 320-321, Athens 1974
- ^ General Makrygiannis, "Memoirs", Book A, Chapter I, Athens, 1849, http://www.snhell.gr/testimonies/writer.asp?id=102
- ^ Triantafyllou, Κ.Ν., Historic Lexicon of Patras
- ^ Kounenaki Pegy, "19th Century Patras: how the character of the city changed with the development of the port after 1828" Kathimerini 14-10-01 http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_491371_14/10/2001_3252
- ^ Nasi Balta, "The civilization of raisin. Raisin cultivation in 19th century Peloponnese, the economic crisis, and the revolt of the farmworkers. The political, cultural and social framework" To Vima 06/02/2000 Page S03 http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=12838&m=S03&aa=1
- ^ Thomopoulos, St.N, History of the City of Patras from Antiquity to 1821, Patrai 1952, (ed. Triantafyllou, K.N.)
