Arnissa (, before 1926: , ''Ostrovon'';) is a town in the Pella regional unit of

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is located near the

Lake Vegoritida Lake Vegoritida (, ''Limni Vegoritida''), also historically referred to as Lake Ostrovo (, ''Limni Ostrovou''), is one of the largest natural lakes in northern Greece. Located in the region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, it lies 6 km northeast ...

and Mount Kaimakchalan and is the seat of the

Vegoritida Vegoritida () is a former municipality in the Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Edessa, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 289.987 km2. Populatio ...

Municipality. It has a population of 1,370 (as of 2021).

History

The settlement is first mentioned by

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

as one of the most ancient Macedonian cities, which is identified with the ancient ruins near the present-day village of the same name, specifically on the small peninsula of Lake Vegoritida, where various archaeological findings (architectural members and inscriptions) were found. The region came under the control of the

Roman empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

in the 1st century BC. The

Battle of Ostrovo The Battle of Ostrovo occurred in 1041 near Ostrovo, an area close to the lake of the same name in modern Northern Greece. History In 1040 Peter Delyan, an illegitimate relative of Samuel, the Bulgarian Tsar, led an uprising against the By ...

was fought near the town in 1041. At the end of the 14th century, with the Ottoman conquest, Ostrovo became the seat of a mudirlik. In 1798 it came under the jurisdiction of Ali Pasha. At the end of the 19th century, approximately 300 families lived in the settlement, of which 200 were Christian and the rest Muslim, while the population was Slavic-speaking. At the same time, tensions had begun between the patriarchal and

Bulgarian Exarchists Bulgarian millet () was an ethno-religious and linguistic community within the Ottoman Empire from the mid-19th to early 20th century. The semi-official term, was used by the Sultan for the first time in 1847, and was his tacit consent to a ...

, with the latter occupying by force the two most important holy sites of the village. During the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

, some Ostrovites participated in the Greek guerrilla forces, with the main Macedonian fighters being the chieftain

Christos Stogiannidis Christos Stogiannidis (), also known by the nom de guerre captain Lilis or Iason was a Greek chieftain of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia. Biography Stogiannidis was born in 1884 in Ostrovo (now Arnissa) of Pella.Άγιος Αθανάσιος ( ...

. Clashes took place in the area between the Greek and Turkish armies on 3 and 4 November 1912 during the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

.Σταματελάτος Μιχαήλ - Βαμβά Σταματελάτου Φωτεινή, ''Γεωγραφικό Λεξικό της Ελλάδας'', ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, 2012, Α' τόμος, σελ. 101.

Sights

In 1953 , when the waters of the lake receded, the ruins of a prehistoric necropolis were revealed , which are also one of the attractions of the area. The holy churches of the Assumption (1860) and of the Holy Trinity (built in 1865) are also worth mentioning .

Geography

Arnissa is located at an altitude of 560 meters, it is 20 km from Edessa and is located on the border with the prefecture of Florinis , while a short distance away, at an altitude of 1,150 meters, is the old settlement of Agios Athanasios , one of the most famous tourist places in the area.

Economy

Arnissa is known for its apple crops, while there is also a women's cooperative that produces, using traditional means, pasta, spoon sweets, pickles, paprika and compotes.

Transport

The settlement is served by

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

and

Proastiakos The Proastiakos (; "suburban") is Greece's commuter rail service, run by Hellenic Train, on rail infrastructure owned by the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) (lines) and GAIAOSE (buildings and Trains). These services connect a participating ...

services to

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

and

Florina Florina (, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the Florina regional uni ...

References

External links

Populated places in Pella (regional unit) Edessa, Greece {{CMacedonia-geo-stub