Arcadia is a rural, mountainous regional unit comprising about 18% of the land area of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is the peninsula's largest regional unit. According to the 2021 census, it has 77,592 inhabitants; its capital, Tripoli, has about 30,400 residents in the city proper, and about 44,000 total in the greater metropolitan area.[1]
Arcadia consists partly of farmland, and to a larger extent grassland and degeneratedshrubland. It also has three mountain ranges, with forestation mainly at altitudes above 1000 meters:Mainalo, a winter ski resort, situated in the central north;Parnon in the central south; andMount Lykaion, famous for the ancient history and myths associated with it, in the southwest.
Its climate features hot summers and mild winters in the east, the south, and those parts of the central area that are less than 1000 meters above sea level. Fall and winter are mostly rainy, except in the mountains to the west and north,Taygetus andMainalo, which are snowy in winter.
Closed Basin Vlacherna/Hotoussa/KandilaTemporary lakeArgon Pedion, March 2019
Arcadia is almost totally mountainous and part of the "carbonate platform" (calcareous orlimestone deposits) of the Peloponnese. The whole peninsula was formed by intensetectonics (faults,overthrusts and regionalmetamorphism).[2] In Arcadia's central part around the Tripoli region developed a special form of topography, a geologically fascinating phenomenon: There are several plains and "intra mountainous basins", even "closed basins": The 30 km long "Tripoli-Plateau", "Argon Pedion", Basin ofLevidi, Basin ofVlacherna Arcadia/Hotoussa/Kandila.[3]
The peculiarity of the plains and basins is a result of intensivekarstification: Water seeps into the underground, rather than eroding and draining the topography by surface waterways. All drainage runs throughponors (in Greek: καταβόθρες) and subterranean waterways.[4][5] The additional problem for rural activities in the basins: When winter rains are heavy, the ground is flooded or temporary lakes arise, even today, as drainage through katavothres is often too slow to start cultivation in due time.
After thecollapse of the Roman Empire in the west, Arcadia remained as part of the Greek-speakingByzantine Empire. Arcadia remained a beautiful, secluded area, and its inhabitants became proverbial as herdsmen leading simplepastoral unsophisticated yet happy lives, to the point thatArcadia may refer to some imaginary idyllic paradise, immortalized byVirgil'sEclogues, and later byJacopo Sannazaro in his pastoral masterpiece,Arcadia (1504); see alsoArcadia (utopia).
The Latin phraseEt in Arcadia ego, which is usually interpreted to mean "Even in Arcadia there am I", is an example ofmemento mori, a cautionary reminder of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death. The phrase is most often associated with a 1647 painting byNicolas Poussin, also known as "The Arcadian Shepherds". In the painting the phrase appears as an inscription on a tomb discovered by youthful figures in classical garb.
Commander Panagiotis Kephalas raising the Maniot flag in Tripoli (Tripolitsa), the capital of Arcadia, after the successfulsiege.
Arcadia was one of the centres of theGreek War of Independence which saw victories in their battles including one inTripoli. After a victorious revolutionary war, Arcadia was finally incorporated into the newly created Greek state. Arcadia saw economic growth and small emigration.
In the 20th century, Arcadia experienced extensive population loss through emigration, mostly to theAmericas. Many Arcadian villages lost half their inhabitants, and fears arose that they would turn into ghost towns. Arcadia now has a smaller population thanCorinthia. Demographers expected that its population would halve between 1951 and the early 21st century. The population has fallen to 87,000 in 2011.
An earthquake measuring 5.9 on theRichter magnitude scale shook Megalopoli and the surrounding area in 1965. Large numbers of buildings were destroyed, leaving people homeless. Within a couple of years, the buildings were rebuilt anti-seismically. This earthquake revealed an underground source oflignite in the area, and in 1967 construction began on theMegalopoli Power Plant, which began operating in 1970. The mining area south of the plant is the largest mining area in the peninsula and continues to the present day with one settlement moved.
In July and August 2007forest fires caused damage in Arcadia, notably in the mountains.
In 2008, a theory proposed by classicist Christos Mergoupis suggested that the mummified remains of Alexander the Great (not his actual tomb), may in fact be located in Gortynia-Arkadia, in the Peloponnese of Greece. Since 2008, this research is ongoing and currently being conducted in Greece. The research was first mentioned on CNN International in May 2008.[6][7]
When, during theGreek Dark Ages (c. 1200 BC–800 BC),Doric Greek was introduced to the Peloponnese, the olderArcadocypriot Greek language apparently survived inArcadia. Arcadocypriot never became a literary dialect, but it is known from inscriptions.Tsan is a letter of theGreek alphabet occurring only in Arcadia, shaped like CyrillicИ; it represents anaffricate that developed fromlabiovelars in context where they becamet in other dialects.
TheTsakonian language, still spoken on the coast of modern Arcadia (but in the Classical period considered the southernArgolid coast immediately adjoining Arcadia), is a descendant of Doric Greek, and as such is an exceptional example of a surviving regional dialect of archaic Greek. The principal cities ofTsakonia are the Arcadian coastal towns ofLeonidio andTyros.
As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Arcadia was created out of the formerprefecture Arcadia (Greek:Νομός Αρκαδίας). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.[8]
A thermoelectric power station which produces electricity for most of southern Greece, operates to the south ofMegalopolis, along with a coal mine.
In agriculture, potato farms (dominant in central and northcentral Arcadia), mixed farming, olive groves, and pasture dominate the plains of Arcadia, especially in the area around Megalopolis and between Tripoli and Levidi.
Arcadia has two tunnels. TheArtemisio Tunnel opened first, followed by the tunnel east of Megalopolis; both serve traffic flowing betweenMessenia andAthens.
Nikitas StamatelopoulosNikitaras o Tourkofagos (Nikitaras the Turk-Eater) (1784–1849), Greek revolutionary, nephew of Theodoros Kolokotronis (Tourkoleka)
The area of the prefecture were featured in severalERT programs including documentaries on the Megalopoli Mine and Ladon Lake.
Marianas Trench refers to Arcadia, in their 2009–2010 song "Acadia", referring to it as a "unspoiled, harmonious wilderness".
The rescue boat fromResident Evil 4 - Afterlife that appears near the end of the movie is named "Arcadia" and broadcasts a recorded help message that the survivors in Los Angeles will receive. Reaching the Arcadia will become their main objective in order to avoid being attacked by more zombies.
The 2014 TV seriesResurrection takes place in a real town,Arcadia, Missouri. The choice of setting likely is a reference to the Latin phraseEt in Arcadia ego, since the premise of the show deals with questions of life, death, and people being resurrected from the dead.
^Jaboshagen, V. (ed), Geologie von Griechenland… See Literature
^I. Mariolakos (Greek geologist) describes these special geological phenomena of Arcadia and relates them to local ancient myths. See "Literature" and "External Links"</
COST 621, Final Report, Groundwater Management of coastal karst aquifers, Brussels 2005.
Ford, D. C. and Williams, P., Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology, Chichester, 2007, 4th, rev. ed.
Jacobshagen, Volker (ed), Geologie von Griechenland, Beiträge zur regionalen Geologie der Erde, Stuttgart, 1986. in German/English
Mariolakos, Ilias. Geomythological Sites and Prehistoric geotechnical and hydraulic Works in Arkadia, 12th International Congress of the Geological Society of Greece, Field Trip Guide, Patras May 2010 in Greek
Morfis, A. (Athens), Zojer, H. (Graz). Karst Hydrogeology of the Central and Eastern Peloponnesus (Greece). Steirische Beiträge zur Hydrogeologie 37/38. 301 Seiten, Graz 1986.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, English Translation by W.H.S. Jones + H.A. Ormerod, London, 1918.
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