Agia, Preveza Explained
| Agia |
| Name Local: | Αγιά |
| Type: | community |
| Coordinates: | 39.3°N 41°W |
| Periph: | Epirus |
| Periphunit: | Preveza |
| Municipality: | Parga |
| Municunit: | Parga |
| Population: | 622 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Caption Skyline: | Castle of Ali Pasha, dating back to the 19th century |
Agia (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Αγιά) is a village in the municipality of Parga in Epirus, Greece. In addition to the settlement of Sarakiniko, it forms the local community of Agia.
A few hundred years ago, the actual settlement of Agia was located on the bay where Sarakiniko lies today. Since these always fell into the hands of pirates, Agia was rebuilt in that place where the village is today. This proves also the name of the town of Margariti, which is thought to come from the Pirate Margaritus of Brindisi.[1] Not so far away lies the Castle of Ali Pasha of Ioannina, who ruled over large parts of todays northern Greece.
In 1814 Agia was plundered by units of the Ottoman Albanian ruler Ali Pasha and the local inhabitants fled to nearby Parga.[2]
Agia was one of the Albanian Orthodox villages which either due to the absence of Greek or for reasons of demographic importance, would see Greek education expanded, through measures such as the establishment of kindergartens.[3] In the 1970s, the village was still home to a few monolingual speakers of Albanian.[4]
The community counts 622 inhabitants (2021).
References
- Balta, Oğuz & Yaşar 2011, p. 363: "The name of the Margariti citadel is thought to refer to ‘Margaritos’, a pirate and emir of the Sicilian fleet, known from late twelfth-century chronicles for his involvement in the affairs of the Crusader state in Jerusalem. The Normans surrendered their territories in the Ionian Sea to him in the twelfth century."
- Σμύρης . Γεώργιος . Το δίκτυο των οχυρώσεων στο Πασαλίκι των Ιωαννίνων: 1788 -1822 ιστορική - πολιτική - οικονομική και χωροταξική θεώρηση . National Technical University of Athens . 1 January 2000 . 171 . 10.12681/eadd/12426 . 19 July 2023 . Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο (ΕΜΠ). Σχολή Αρχιτεκτόνων Μηχανικών . el. 10442/hedi/12426 .
- Baltsiotis. The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece. 2011. "Parallel measures were taken at the same time regarding the language in Christian Albanian speaking villages. The most important and easily confirmed measure consisted of opening kindergartens in villages selected either by the absence of knowledge of Greek or by their demographic importance. According to a 1931 document, these villages included Aghia, Anthoussa, Eleftheri[o], Kanallaki, Narkissos, Psakka, Aghios Vlassios, Kastri (Dagh) and Draghani."
- Lukas Tsitsipis (1981). Language change and language death in Albanian speech communities in Greece: A sociolinguistic study. (thesis). University of Wisconsin. page. 16. "During my field work in Greece I took a short trip of two weeks to Epirus, northwestern Greece to become acquainted with the dialect spoken in this area." ; page. 124. "The Epirus Albanian speaking villages use a dialect of Tosk Albanian, and they are among the most isolated areas in Greece. In the Epiriotic village of Aghiá I was able to spot even a few monolingual Albanian speakers."
