Lamia (referred to from the 8th to the 19th century as Zitouni) is a city and capital of the Regional Unit of Fthiotida. It has a population of 52,006 inhabitants and is located on the slopes of Mount Othris, near the river Sperchios. It is a center of fertile rural and livestock area. With the implementation, on January 1, 2011, of the local government program "Kallikratis", Lamia remained as the seat of the enlarged Municipality of Lamia, which has a population of 75,235 inhabitants (official Census 2011). It also remained the seat of the Region of Central Greece, accumulating all the services provided.
Toponym
According to mythology, Lamia was built by Lamos, the
son of Hercules and Omphalis, the vile widow - queen of Lydia who
bought Hercules from Hermes. Another version is that it was built by
Lamia, the Queen of Trachinia, daughter of Poseidon. The word Lamia
etymologically is related to "laimos" or "lamos", which means chasm,
abyss or even insatiable, greedy. It is known that a large and deep
stream passed through the city. On the northeastern side of People's
Square, a recent excavation for reconstruction revealed a deep gorge
with running water. After all, its plane trees are also indisputable
witnesses. It is not excluded, therefore, that Lamia was named after
this stream and the many Lamias that lived in those years in its
dense vegetation. Another theory is the one mentioned by Aristotle.
The word Lamia is feminine, adjective name and means the area, the
country, the city located between two hills. Around 19 AD. Lamia for
the first time loses its name and is called Sevasti in honor of the
Roman emperor ("Sevastos" was the Greek rendering of the Latin title
Augustus).
We do not know when it was renamed Lamia, nor do
we know when and by whom it was renamed Zitouni. Perhaps this change
took place in the time of Justinian. We first respond to it as a
Zitouni in the HD Ecumenical Council, in 869. It appears with a
variety of variants, such as: Zitounion, Zirtounion, Zitonion,
Gipton (during Byzantine times), Situn (during the Frankish period),
El Sito (during short occupation of the Catalans) and Izdin during
the Turkish occupation. Many historians have tried to give some
explanation as to the origin of the word. Some believe it comes from
the Turkish or Arabic Zeitun which means olive. Others say that it
comes from the Slavic word sitonion, which means the granary area or
"land beyond the river".
History
Pre-Christian times
Lamia is built in a strategic position, on the southern slopes of
Mount Othris. Recent excavations have shown that the area has been
inhabited since at least the Bronze Age (2800-1100 BC). It must have
flourished significantly from 413 BC. Already from the end of the
5th c. It must have been fortified, according to sections of
fortifications on the citadel and in the present city.
However, the oldest written testimony about the fortification of
Lamia comes from Diodoros Sikeliotis. The fortification was intended
to monitor the valley of Sperchios, the coastal road and the narrow
passage that leads to Thessaly. The city after the middle of the 4th
c. e.g. came under the rule of Philip II of Macedonia. In 323 BC.
Lamia will go down in history as the city of the "Lamian War", as
there was the great conflict of the Macedonian army with the army of
the Greek cities that fought the Macedonians. In 302 BC. was
liberated by Demetrius the Besieger and until its occupation by the
Romans remained under the influence of Thessaly and Aetolia.
Christian times
We do not have much historical information about
its life in Christian times, apart from the fact that it was the
seat of a diocese during the 5th and 6th centuries. From the 9th
century (869-870), the city appears in the sources as Zitouni. In
1204, with the overthrow of Byzantine rule after the fall of
Constantinople by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, it passed
into the hands of the Franks, who founded the Baroness of Zitouni
there, under the name Girton. The fortification of the citadel
(Acrolamia) is mentioned for the first time as a Castle in a letter
of Pope Innocent III (early 13th century). In 1218, it was occupied
by the Despot of Epirus Theodoros Komninos Doukas. In 1275 the
Castle was handed over by the ruler of Thessaly, John I Doukas, as a
dowry to the later Duke of Athens, William de la Ross. In 1311, the
Castle of Zitouni passed into the hands of the Catalans under the
auspices of the kingdom of Naples, under the name El Cito. From 1446
it passed into the hands of the Turks until the liberation of the
city in 1832-1833. In 1658, perhaps even earlier, the well-known
bazaar with pan-Hellenic and pan-Balkan radiation began to operate
in Lamia. From 1884 until World War II the Castle was used as a
barracks. In 1973 the site was handed over from the Ministry of
National Defense to the Ministry of Culture and in 1984 the
Municipality of Lamia undertook its renovation and repair of the
barracks, in order to house the Archaeological Museum of the city.
World War II - Liberation
October 18, 1944, on the day of the
religious holiday of St. Luke, the city of Lamia is liberated, after
the withdrawal of the Nazi troops and their retreat to the north.
Already on October 17, forces of ELAS Roumelis (group of the XIII
Division of ELAS) clashed with the Germans in Megali Vrysi where
nine fighters were killed: Athanasios Psomas (Lamia), Dimitrios
Varsos (Lamia), Elias Devesiadis (Lamia) Stylida), Ioannis
Giannoutsos (Stylida), George Manolopoulos (Lamia), Ioannis
Panoutsos (Lamia), Tzinavas (Lamia) and Thanasis Psomas who was
seriously injured and later succumbed to his injuries. In the
afternoon of the same day in Lamia, an SS team met at the railway
line two young people from Lamia, Argyris Daitsiotis and Costas
Gaitani. They were chased, captured by Gaitanis and executed on the
spot shortly before the liberation bells rang.
On the night
of October 18, the last German soldiers leave Lamia under the
pounding of the divisions of the XIII Division that enter the city
at dawn.
First came the regiment of Thymios Zoulas with the
captain of ELAN Sotiris Begnis, but almost simultaneously from the
other entrance of the city entered the section of Nikiforos
(Dimitris Dimitriou) with the captain-Atromitos (Dimitris
Kaperonis). On October 19, the III battalion of the 42nd regiment of
Fotis Vermaios (Phoebus Grigoriadis) arrived in Lamia with its
captain Pericles (George Chouliaras) and the 36th regiment of the
XIII Division from Amfissa. Aris Velouchiotis arrived at dusk on
October 20 in his hometown of Lamia, where the people welcomed them
triumphantly.
Shortly before leaving, the Nazis had sabotaged
the bombing of ammunition depots in the old barracks complex
(Tsaltaki camp). The plan to blow up the ammunition and the city of
Lamia, however, failed as the Austrian keyman Josef Blechinger
(Elias Kokkinos) who worked on the railway (along with an Italian
named Mario, as Kokkinos has stated) cut the ignition cord of the
saboteurs. and saved the city from destruction.
The
liberation of Lamia was bloodless, thanks to the heroism of this man
and the ELAS forces that fought against the Nazis. In 1946, the
Mayor of Lamia, Stavros Charalambopoulos, announces the intention of
the Municipality to appoint the Evangelist Luke the patron saint of
the city and the 18th of October, a local holiday. On June 25, 1948,
a Royal Decree was published "On the recognition as a permanent
local religious celebration of the ceremony of the Evangelist Luke
of Lamia", by which the Evangelist Luke was appointed patron saint
of the city.
On 18/10/1979, during the town hall of Ant.
Friend, Elias Kokkinos was honored with the Medal of the City for
his contribution to the city of Lamia (which was now his homeland)
and its inhabitants.
The Castle of Lamia
Specifications
The fortification system of Lamia consisted of two zones, the
citadel and the wall of the lower city. The surviving fortification
enclosure has a triangular plan and is preserved in good condition
due to continuous repairs. Its perimeter reaches 600m. and its
height varies reaching the NW corner at 13 meters.
The
thickness of the masonry is on average 1.35m. and ends in jagged
ramparts. The Castle has two gates, one to the SE, the so-called
"iron gate", through which it communicated with the lower city and
one to the NE that led to Orthry.
Reinforcing towers are
erected near the gates, at the corners of the wall and at all
patient points for defense. Internally, the space was divided by two
transverse walls into three parts. The northern part (citadel) is
located higher and served as the last refuge of the defenders of the
Castle. The plateau of the SW corner served in the Middle Ages as a
bastion and had a tank. Remains of glass are kept in the same place.
In the time of Otto, a two-storey rectangular building was erected
in the center of the middle plateau, which was a barracks until the
beginning of World War II.
Building Phases
The fortified enclosure presents several
construction phases. The oldest part of a polygonal system, dating
to the 5th c. BC, is located in the NW corner of the west side. At
the base of the NW tower there is an isodomic trapezoidal building
system that can be dated from the end of the 5th to the beginning of
the 4th c. e.g. An isodomic rectangular system meets several other
points at the base of the wall. It remains uncertain whether there
was any renovation of the wall in the time of Justinian. The masonry
sections with intermediate use of binder mortar and tiles belong to
repairs probably of Byzantine times, but also of the Franks and the
Catalans. New additions and repairs were made during the Turkish
occupation. The gates were formed at the same time. The additions of
the Ottoman Empire are distinguished by the abundant use of plaster
as a binder.
The ancient currency of Lamia
Lamia had
minted a coin and several ancient coins have survived.
A
silver Aeginian half drachma of the 4th c. e.g. depicts the left
profile of the bust of Dionysus at a young age. She has long hair
and wears an ivy wreath. The back side bears the inscription LAMIE
on in two parts, left and right respectively and depicts an amphora,
and below an ivy leaf. On the right, a winemaker. The coin has a
diameter of 16 mm and weighs 2.77 grams.
A silver Aeginian obol
of the 4th c. e.g. presents the same features as the previous
currency. It has a diameter of 11 mm and weighs 0.89 grams.