Didymoteicho Διδυμότειχο | |
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 Panoramic view of Didymoteicho from the walls of thefortress May 2010. The structure with the pyramidal roof is theÇelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque. | |
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  Didymoteicho | |
| Coordinates:41°21′N26°30′E / 41.350°N 26.500°E /41.350; 26.500 | |
| Country | Greece |
| Geographic region | Thrace |
| Administrative region | Eastern Macedonia and Thrace |
| Regional unit | Evros |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Romylos Chatzigiannoglou[1] (since 2019) |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 565.4 km2 (218.3 sq mi) |
| • Municipal unit | 354.1 km2 (136.7 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 31 m (102 ft) |
| Population (2021)[2] | |
• Municipality | 16,060 |
| • Density | 28.40/km2 (73.57/sq mi) |
| • Municipal unit | 13,673 |
| • Municipal unit density | 38.61/km2 (100.0/sq mi) |
| • Community | 8,681 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 683 00 |
| Area code | 25530 |
| Vehicle registration | OP |
| Website | www.didymoteicho.gr |
Didymoteicho (Greek:Διδυμότειχο,romanized: DidymóteichoIPA:[ðiðiˈmotixo]) is a town located on the eastern edge of theEvros regional unit ofEastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeasternGreece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town (pop. 8,681 in 2021) sits on a plain and located south east ofSvilengrad, south ofEdirne,Turkey andOrestiada, west ofUzunköprü, Turkey, about 20 km north ofSoufli and about 90 km north ofAlexandroupoli. The municipality of Didymóteicho has a land area of 565.4 km2 and a population of 16,060 inhabitants.
"Didymoteicho" is themodern Greek form ofΔιδυμότειχον,Didymóteichon, fromδίδυμος,dídymos, "twin" andτεῖχος,teîchos, "wall". The name first appears in 591/592, and most resulted from the refortification of the city underJustinian I (seebelow).[3]
The corrupted short formDimotica orDemotica or variants thereof are attested in Western languages since the late 12th century (early formsTimoticon,Dimothicon,Dimodica),[4] and remained in use for the city until the 20th century.[5] The city was called ديمتوقه inOttoman Turkish and is still calledDimetoka inTurkish, which was its name during the rule of theOttoman Empire, andDimotika (fromBulgarian Димотика) by thePomaks of the region.
Forests dominate the banks and parts of the plain. Much of the area is used for farming. The main products are cattle, fruit and vegetables and some flowers. The hills dominate further west. Near the area lies the greatforest of Dadia. Didymoteicho is located around 12 km fromTurkey and the western banks of theEvros. It is the easternmost municipality on themainland of Greece (in its town ofPythio). In the west, much of the land is mountainous and forested, while farmlands are located in the central and the northern part. It is on the railway lineThessaloniki–Istanbul and the Greek road 51 (Alexandroupoli–Orestiada–Edirne in Turkey and Svilengrad in Bulgaria).
Didymoteicho has a hot-summerMediterranean climate (Csa) with hot, mostly dry summers and cool, wet winters.
| Climate data for Didymoteicho | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8 (46) | 9 (48) | 13 (55) | 18 (64) | 23 (73) | 28 (82) | 31 (88) | 31 (88) | 27 (81) | 20 (68) | 14 (57) | 9 (48) | 19 (67) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −1 (30) | 0 (32) | 3 (37) | 7 (45) | 12 (54) | 16 (61) | 19 (66) | 19 (66) | 15 (59) | 10 (50) | 6 (43) | 1 (34) | 9 (48) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 73 (2.9) | 57 (2.2) | 65 (2.6) | 55 (2.2) | 43 (1.7) | 31 (1.2) | 20 (0.8) | 10 (0.4) | 20 (0.8) | 60 (2.4) | 70 (2.8) | 73 (2.9) | 577 (22.9) |
| Source: Apple Weather | |||||||||||||
The municipality Didymoteicho was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units:[6]
The municipality has an area of 565.372 km2, the municipal unit 354.134 km2.[7]
The municipal unit Didymoteicho is subdivided into the following communities (constituent settlements in brackets):[6]
The largest settlements, other than Didymoteicho itself, are Sofikó (pop. 795), Metaxades (687), Koufóvouno (629), Lagós (620) and Ellinochóri (593).
The province of Didymoteicho (Greek:Επαρχία Διδυμοτείχου) was one of theprovinces of the Evros Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Didymoteicho and the municipal unitOrfeas.[8] It was abolished in 2006.
The area around the town was inhabited inNeolithic times.[citation needed] It was later an importantThracian andHellenistic town, sacked by theRomans in 204 BC. In the early 2nd century, theRoman emperorTrajan created a new city on the banks of theEvros river, between two surrounding hills, near modern TurkishUzunköprü, and named itPlotinopolis after his wifePompeia Plotina. The ruins of the ancient city are now known as theKale, after the Turkish for "castle". A solid gold bust of EmperorSeptimius Severus found on the site of Plotinopolis in 1965 is now in the museum atKomotini.
The city had been built in a very strategic position, because it had for exploitation a very fertile plain and also controlled a passage of Erythropotamos, through which passed a branch of the via Egnatia leading in the middle and upper valley of Evros river and on the shores of theBlack Sea.[9]
The city would later be one of the most important towns in Thrace, having its own assembly, and an episcopal see (suffragan ofAdrianople).
The first bishop of the city, Hierophilus, is mentioned in the 430s.[3]
According toProcopius of Caesarea, EmperorJustinian I (r. 527–565) improved the fortifications of Plotinopolis. It was probably at that time that the nearby higher, rocky and hence more defensible hill was alsofortified.[3] The name "Didymoteichon" ("twin fortification") appears in 591/592, and probably referred to this double fortified settlement.[3] Given the exposed lowland location of Plotinopolis, the site was soon abandoned in favour of the more recent fortress, a process that was possibly completed already in the 7th century.[10] The name "Plotinopolis" survived for the episcopal see until the 9th century, before it too was replaced.[3]
In summer 813, during hisinvasion ofThrace, theBulgarian rulerKrum captured the town,[3] but in 879 it was a bishopric whose incumbent, Nikephoros, participated in theNinth Council of Constantinople.[3] A 9th-century seal attests to the presence of akommerkiarios in the city.[3] A century later, the town served as a place of exile for the general and rebelBardas Skleros, who unsuccessfully tried to oust Byzantine EmperorBasil II. Bardas and his brother Constantine died there in March 991.[10][11]
In winter 1100/01,Alexios I Komnenos allowed theLombards of theCrusade of 1101 to resupply at the city.[4] During the 12th century, members of thePetraliphas family are known to have lived in the city.[4] On 24 November 1189, the city was captured and largely destroyed by the forces of theThird Crusade underFrederick VI, Duke of Swabia, who had captured Adrianople two days before.[4] In the1198 chrysobull granted to theRepublic of Venice, Didymoteicho and Adrianople are mentioned as forming a single province.[4] In 1205, French writerGeoffroi de Villehardouin wrote of the important of the city, referring to Didymoteicho “was the most powerful and one of the richest Romanic cities”.
Following thefall of Constantinople to theFourth Crusade in April 1204, the newLatin Emperor,Baldwin of Flanders, garrisoned the city in summer, but it was soon after surrendered by a local Greek to Baldwin's rival,Boniface of Montferrat, who held it in ransom until his claims against Baldwin were satisfied.[4] In thePartitio Romaniae the city belonged to the portion accorded to the individual Crusaders.[4] The city was finallygiven as a fief toHugh IV of Saint Pol.[12]
In February 1205, however, the locals rose up in revolt in Didymoteicho, Adrianople and other cities, evicted their Latin garrisons, and acknowledged the suzerainty of the Bulgarian TsarKalojan. Baldwin of Flanders responded by marching into Thrace and besieging Adrianople, but at the subsequentBattle of Adrianople (14 April 1205) the Latin army suffered a crushing defeat and Baldwin was taken prisoner.[13][14] The city, effectively autonomous, served as a place of refuge for the local population fleeing the depredations of Kalojan following his victory.[4] A Latin siege of the city was broken up in September 1205 due to a flood of the Evros (or the Erythropotamos),[4] but after Kalojan's massacres of the inhabitants of the cities ofSerres andPhilippopolis, the Thracian cities turned to the new regent of the Latin Empire,Henry of Flanders (r. 1205–1216). Thus in early 1206 Didymoteicho and Adrianople submitted to the Greek lordTheodore Branas, who was in the Latin Emperor's service. Kalojan besieged Didymoteicho in early summer, and was on the point of taking the city when a relief army under Henry arrived. Before Branas had time to repair the fortifications, however, in early autumn, Kalojan returned and sacked the city. Henry of Flanders managed to rescue the inhabitants as they were being taken prisoner to Bulgaria, but before he withdrew from the city, Kalojan ordered the town's fortifications razed, making it useless as a military base.[4][15][16]
In 1225, the city was captured by the ambitious Greek ruler ofEpirus andThessalonica,Theodore Komnenos Doukas, but after his defeat and capture at theBattle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 it fell toIvan Asen II of Bulgaria.[4] As such,Dimotiko is mentioned in a grant of trading privileges issued by Ivan Asen to theRepublic of Ragusa.[4]
Finally theEmpire of Nicaea returned Didymoteicho to Byzantine control by capturing it around 1243, during the reign ofJohn III Doukas Vatatzes.[10] In 1255/56,Theodore II Laskaris used the city as a base of operations for his campaigns against Bulgaria.[4] The city was once again the centre of military operations in 1306, whenMichael IX Palaiologos campaigned against theCatalan Company,[4] and again during theByzantine civil war of 1321–1328 betweenAndronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328) and his grandson,Andronikos III (r. 1328–1341). The latter made Didymoteicho his main base and residence during the conflict, and the city remained a stronghold and was frequently visited by Andronikos III during his reign.[4] The city also served as a secure place of exile and incarceration of the emperor's opponents, from his uncleConstantine Palaiologos in 1322 to the disgraced chief ministerTheodore Metochites in 1328.[4]
During theByzantine civil war of 1341–47, it served as the base of Andronikos III's chief lieutenant,John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347–1354), who was crowned emperor in the city on 26 October 1341. Pressed by his enemies, Kantakouzenos was forced to abandon the city in March 1342, leaving his wife and a few close relatives in charge. With the aid ofUmur Bey, ruler of the Turkishbeylik of Aydin and owner of a considerable fleet, repeated attempts by the Bulgarian TsarIvan Alexander and Kantakouzenos' Byzantine opponents, headed byAlexios Apokaukos, were defeated, and the city remained in his hands throughout the conflict, serving as his main stronghold in Thrace.[10][17] After the war, the city became part of the Thracianappanage ofMatthew Kantakouzenos,[10] who provided it with strong fortifications.[18] In 1352, it was assigned toJohn V Palaiologos (r. 1341–1391), but he quickly clashed with Matthew Kantakouzenos, and only after anotherround of warfare in 1352–57 did the city finally come into Palaiologan hands.[19] TheBattle of Demotika, theOttomans' first victory in Europe, was fought before the city in 1352 during the civil war.
The city was the birthplace of emperorsJohn III Doukas Vatatzes (born c. 1193) andJohn V Palaiologos (born 18 June 1332).[20]
The city—known as Dimetoka or Demotika under Ottoman rule—was captured by the Ottomans in 1359 and again, this time permanently (probably by the commanderHadji Ilbeg), in 1361.[10][18] Reportedly, the Serbian rulerJovan Uglješa besieged the city sometime after.[19] In 1373, following afailed joint revolt against their fathers, the Ottoman princeSavcı Bey and the Byzantine princeAndronikos IV Palaiologos fled to the city, which was then conquered by Savcı's father,Murad I (r. 1362–1389). Murad made the city his residence, at least until 1377.[19][18]
It nevertheless remained a "favourite resort of early Ottoman rulers" due to its rich hunting grounds even after the capital moved to Adrianople andConstantinople. As such the city was rebuilt, with the Byzantine walls repaired and a royal palace constructed, and beautified, an effect still evident in 1443, when the French travellerBertrandon de la Broquiere visited it.[18] SultanBayezid II (r. 1481–1512) was born there and was on his way there to retire after abdicating in favour of his son,Selim I (r. 1512–1520), when he died (probably of poison).[18]
The Ottoman travellerEvliya Çelebi visited the town in 1670. The town was the seat of akadi and administrative centre of the local district (nahiye). Evliya also provides a description of the fortress. The upper fortress, where the disused royal palace was located, measured some 2,500 paces in circumference, with double stone walls and "a hundred" towers; the sole Muslim living there was the commander, the rest of it, some 100 households, being inhabited solely by non-Muslims. The citadel within it (Iç Kale) was arranged on two levels, one of which was known as the "Maiden's Castle" (Kız Kalesı). The outer town (Varoş) counted 600 multi-storey houses and was divided into 12 wards (mahalle). There were several mosques and mesjits, of which theBayezid Mosque was the most important, as well as fourmadrasahs, one of which was established by SultanBayezid I. From Evliya's references, the area of Didymoteicho appears to have been a major centre of theBektashidervishes. Of the localhamams, the most notable was the so-called "Whisper Bath" (fısıltı hamamı), with its "Ear ofDionysus"; it survived at least until the 1890s. The town had a marketplace but nobezesten; its chief produce were grapes and quinces, but also local pottery and glassware, which had a great reputation.[18]
Swedish kingCharles XII stayed in the town from February 1713 to October 1714 after his flight from theBattle of Poltava, but otherwise the town became an unimportant provincial backwater in early modern times.[18]
In 1912 the town was briefly occupied by the Bulgarians during theFirst Balkan War, only to return to Ottoman control in theSecond Balkan War. The Ottoman Governmentoffered the city to Bulgaria in 1915, as a reward for enteringWorld War I on the side of theCentral Powers. Under the terms of the 1919Treaty of Neuilly, Didymoteicho, along with the rest of Western Thrace,[21] came under the temporary management of a multinationalEntente military force led by the French General Charles Antoine Charpy. In the second half of April 1920, as a result of theSan Remo conference of the leaders of the main allies of the Entente powers (except the United States), the region of Western Thrace was annexed byGreece. TheSecond World War devastated Didymoteicho. In May 1943, 731 Jews from the city were deported toAuschwitz concentration camp.[22]
Modern Didymoteicho is home to numerous descendants ofGreek refugees fromEastern Thrace, now in Turkey, as well as members of Greece's Turkish-speakingMuslim minority (Turks of Western Thrace). Like thePomaks ofEast Macedonia and Thrace, the Turkish population of Didymoteicho dates to the Ottoman period and, unlike theTurkish Muslims andGreek Muslims ofMacedonia andEpirus, was exempted from the 1923Greek-Turkish population exchange following theTreaty of Lausanne.
The town was considerably affected by the Evros river flooding of 17 to 22 February 2005. Flood warnings were reported at that time. The flood affected much of the town on Wednesday, 2 March 2005 and continued for several days. On Friday, 4 March, flood waters began to ebb slowly. Over 5,000 mm of rainfall caused the river to overflow its banks. Buildings, properties and stores were flooded, leaving people stranded. It was the worst flood in nearly 50 years. The railway line south of Didymoteicho and near the station was also flooded and was closed. Serious flooding was also experienced in March 2006 and November 2014, while in theEvros floods of 2021 the largest floods took place throughout the city and the general Evros andErythropotamos river areas.
Didymoteicho is just 2 kilometers away from the Greek-Turkish border, and as a result it is home to many Greek military units andHellenic Army training centers. Hundreds of thousands of Greek men had to either receive military training or spend part of their military service here (seeconscription in Greece). The famous 1991George Dalaras andLavrentis Machairitsas songDidymoteicho Blues (Greek:Διδυμότειχο Μπλουζ) pays homage to the personal stories and experiences of these soldiers while offering a more general commentary about life in the Army.[23]
The town is served by astation on theAlexandroupoli–Svilengrad Line.
| Year | Municipal unit | Municipality |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 19,450 | – |
| 2001 | 18,998 | – |
| 2011 | 16,078 | 19,493 |
| 2021 | 13,673 | 16,060 |
Places adjacent to Didymoteicho | |
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Administrative division of theEastern Macedonia and Thrace Region | ||
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| Regional unit ofDrama |  | |
| Regional unit ofEvros | ||
| Regional unit ofKavala | ||
| Regional unit ofRhodope | ||
| Regional unit ofThasos | ||
| Regional unit ofXanthi | ||
| ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
