Astypalaia Αστυπάλαια | |
|---|---|
 Astypalaia (harbour) | |
  Astypalaia Location within the region  | |
| Coordinates:36°33′N26°21′E / 36.550°N 26.350°E /36.550; 26.350 | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | South Aegean |
| Regional unit | Kalymnos |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 114.1 km2 (44.1 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 506 m (1,660 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Municipality | 1,376 |
| • Density | 12/km2 (31/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 859 00 |
| Area code(s) | 22430 |
| Vehicle registration | ΚΧ, ΡΟ, ΡΚ |
| Website | astipalea |
Astypalaia (Greek: Αστυπάλαια,pronounced[astiˈpalea]), is aGreek island with 1,334 residents (2011 census). It belongs to theDodecanese, an archipelago of fifteen major islands in the southeasternAegean Sea. However, many scholars recognize Astypalaia as an extension of theCyclades, as many cultural[2] and ecological[3] components of the island are more indicative of the Cyclades rather than the Dodecanese.
The island is 18 kilometres (11 miles) long, 13 kilometres (8 miles) across at its widest, and covers an area of 97 km2.[4] Along with numerous smaller uninhabited offshore islets (the largest of which areSýrna and Ofidoussa), it forms theMunicipality of Astypalaia, which is part of theKalymnos regional unit. The municipality has an area of 114.077 km2.[5] The capital and the previous main harbour of the island is Astypalaia or Chora, as it is called by the locals.
Astypalea was believed to be named afterAstypalaea, an ancientGreek mythological figure. The island is known inItalian asStampalia and inOttoman Turkish asİstanbulya (استانبوليه)
The coasts of Astypalaia are rocky with many small pebble-strewn beaches. A small band of land of roughly 126 metres wide almost separates the island in two sections at Stenó.
A new harbour has been built in Agios Andreas on the mid island from where now the connections are west and east with Athenian port ofPiraeus and the other islands of the Dodecanese. Flight connections withAthens are available from the airport close to Maltezana.
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InGreek mythology,Astypalaia was a woman abducted byPoseidon in the form of a winged fish-tailed leopard.[6] The island was colonized byMegara or possiblyEpidaurus, and its governing system and buildings are known from numerous inscriptions.[7]Pliny the Elder records that Rome accorded Astypalaia the status of a free state.[8] It was assigned to the AegeanRoman province ofInsulae.
During theMiddle Ages it belonged to theByzantine Empire. It is presumed that it was conquered by theLatins in the aftermath of theFourth Crusade in the early 13th century, but this is not documented. The island, known asStampalia by the Latins, is mentioned for the first time in 1334, during a devastating raid by the Turkish rulerUmur of Aydin.[9] It was only shortly before this raid that theVenetian nobleman Giovanni Querini had purchased the island, declared himself its lord, and built a castle and a palace there.[9] TheQuerini held the island until 1522, and added the name of the island to their family name, which becameQuerini Stampalia. Astypalaia was conquered by theOttoman Empire in 1522, and remained under Ottoman control until 1912, with two interruptions: from 1648 until 1668, during theCretan War, it was occupied by Venice, and from 1821 to 1828 during theGreek War of Independence, when it was part of theprovisional Greek republic.
On April 12, 1912, during theItalo-Turkish War, a detachment of theRegia Marina landed on Astypalaia, which thus became the first island of the Dodecanese to be occupied by Italy. From there the Italians, on the night between the 3rd and 4 May, landed onRhodes.[10] The island remained under Italian governance untilWorld War II. In a September 1943 naval battle near Astypalea, the Greek destroyerVasilissa Olga together with the British destroyersHMS Faulknor andEclipse sank a German convoy, consisting of the transportsPluto (2,000 tons) andPaolo (4,000 tons).
In 1947, through theTreaty of Paris, it became part of Greece along with the rest of the Dodecanese island group.
A single tusk of a largedwarf elephant belonging to the genusPalaeoloxodon, probably representing an endemic species, was excavated from the island during the 1990s.[11]
The religious and political center of the classical city-state of Astypalaia was the hill crowned by the Querini castle. The modern town of Chora occupies the same site, and worked stones from ancient monuments are reused in older houses as well as the castle. A one-room museum at Pera Gialos, on the shore near the old port, displays inscriptions, grave monuments, and other artifacts from the island. The earliest material on display is fragments ofNeolithic pottery. One case contains intact pottery, bronze weapons, and stone tools from a pair of richly furnishedMycenaean chamber tombs excavated at Armenochori (approximately 0.5 km (0.3 mi) west of the chapel of Agios Panteleimonas).
At Kylindra, on the west flank of the castle hill, a unique graveyard has been excavated by the Greek archaeological service. At least 2700 newborns and small children, below the age of two, were buried in ceramic pots between approximately 750 BC and Roman times. Since 2000, a team from University College London has undertaken systematic study of these remains and those of a contemporary cemetery for adults and older children excavated at Katsalos nearby.[12]
Kylindra was first excavated in 1996 by the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, who dated Kylindra from the Late Archaic to the Early Classical periods, and is also the largest child and infant cemetery in the world. They dated the nearby adult cemetery, Katsalos, from the Geometric to the Roman Period. Skeletal remains of infants are rare amongst most cemetery excavations; Ancient Greeks buried their infants in trade pots, such as amphorae, which contributed to the preservation of the remains from Kylindra. The collection of child and infant remains is currently housed at University College London, where the growth and development of the children and infants through development of tissues, bones, teeth structures are studied.[13]
The well-preserved mosaic floor of an early Christianbasilica, decorated with geometric designs, lies underneath the chapel ofAgia Varvara about 700 meters north of the small port of Analipsi (Maltezana). Its monolithic columns and marble column bases were evidently reused from a Hellenistic or Roman-period religious building nearby. A few meters east of the harbor of Analipsi, at a site known as Tallaras, are the remains of a late Roman-era bath. Its mosaic floors, including aHelios surrounded by the signs of the Zodiac, have been reburied by the Greek Archaeological Service (as of 9/2013), but photographs are on display at the museum. Mosaic floor fragments remain in situ at the ruined early Christian basilicas of Karekli (Schoinountas) and Agios Vasilios (south of Livadi).
Road signs lead to the inconspicuous, inaccessible remains of a pre-Venetian fortification on Mount Patelos opposite the monastery of Agios Ioannis at the western extreme of Astypalaia.[14]
Astypalaia's treaty with Rome, made in 105 BC, has survived in an inscription found on the island.[15]A noteworthy feature of this treaty is its formal assumption ofsovereign equality between Rome and Astypalaia: the Astypalaians would not aid the enemies of the Romans or allow such enemies passage through their territory, and likewise the Romans would not aid the enemies of the Astypalaians or allow such enemies passage through their territory; in case of an attack on Astypalaia, the Romans would come to its aid, in case of an attack on Rome the Astypalaians would come to its aid; etc. Rome at the end of the second century BC still maintained the forms - if not the substance - of reciprocity in its dealings with Greek city-states. Since there was no reason for the Romans to single out Astypalaia for such formal courtesy, it is assumed that this treaty followed a standard formula used in treaties with other Greek city states, whose texts did not survive.
In 2023, the Greek government announced an agreement with theVolkswagen Group to transform Astypalea into "a model island for climate-neutral mobility", as a laboratory for developing sustainable mobility. Substantial grants will be given to replace cars and vans withelectric vehicles, andride-sharing anddemand-responsive transport will be introduced. To support this, a 3.5 megawattphotovoltaic power station withbattery storage will be built.[16][17]
Astypalaea became a Christian bishopric and is mentioned as such in a 10th-centuryNotitia Episcopatuum.[18] It was asuffragan of the MetropolitanRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Rhodes, the capital of the AegeanInsulae province.
As a diocese that is no longer residential, it is listed in theAnnuario Pontificio amongtitular sees.[19]
In 1933 it was nominally restoredTitular bishopric under the name ofAstypalæa.
It has been vacant for decades, having had a single incumbent of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Astropalia".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 819.
| Regional unit ofAndros |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Regional unit ofKalymnos | ||
| Regional unit ofKarpathos-Kasos | ||
| Regional unit ofKea-Kythnos | ||
| Regional unit ofKos | ||
| Regional unit ofMilos | ||
| Regional unit ofMykonos | ||
| Regional unit ofNaxos | ||
| Regional unit ofParos | ||
| Regional unit ofRhodes | ||
| Regional unit ofSyros | ||
| Regional unit ofThira | ||
| Regional unit ofTinos | ||
| ||
