Filiates (; ) is a town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Thesprotia Thesprotia (; , ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity. His ...

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 in the northernmost part of the regional unit, bordering western Ioannina regional unit and southern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Name

The region of Filiates was known as Cestrine prior to the

Ottoman period The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...

. The region is named for the ancient town of Cestria, in

ancient Epirus Epirus (; Epirote Greek: , ; Attic Greek: , ) was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in parts of north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bor ...

, other ancient names for which were Cammania, Ilion, Epirus, and Troia; the site of ancient Cestria is probably over the Albanian frontier. The modern name Filiates is the result of the conversion of a surname. According to Johann Georg von Hahn,

Eqrem Çabej Eqrem Çabej (; 6 August 1908 – 13 August 1980) was an Albanian historical linguist and scholar who, through the publication of numerous studies gained a reputation as a key expert in research on Albanian language, literature, ethnology and l ...

, Idriz Ajeti and Ali Dhrimo, the toponym Filat contains the Albanian suffix -at, widely used to form toponyms from personal names and surnames. According to Konstantinos Giakoumis, it applies to a certain ''Filios'' (

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of '' Theofilos'') with the addition of the Greek ending -άτες or -άταις.

Local tradition Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

from the 19th century documents a person named ''Filios''; he was a

farrier A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adju ...

and allegedly the first inhabitant of Filiates.Πατσέλης, Νικόλαος Β. "Το Τιμαριωτικόν Σύστημα Εις Ήπειρον Επί Τουρκοκρατίας". In Μάνος, Μ. Χ., & Κόκκινος, Δ. (1967).
Ηπειρωτική Εστία: μηνιαία επιθεώρησις εν Ιωαννίνοις, τεύχος 183-184-185
' p. 174 Athanasios Petrides and Dimitrios Kampouroglou opined that the name descends from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''filius''. Filiates is known as Filat in Albanian, "Filiates (alb. Filat)" and as Filat in Ottoman Turkish. "Filat"

Geography

Filiates is located in a largely mountainous area. The

Mourgana Mourgana ( or Όρη Τσαμαντά - ''Ori Tsamanta'', ) is a mountain range in northwestern Greece and southern Albania. Its highest elevation is 1,806 m. Geography and location It is drained by tributaries of the river Thyamis towards th ...

mountains lie to the north, on the border with Albania. Filiates is located southwest of

Konitsa Konitsa (, see also Konitsa#Name, names in other languages) is a town of Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina in Epirus (region), Epirus, Greece. It is located north of the capital Ioannina and near the Albanian Border crossings of Albania, border. ...

, west of

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

, northeast of

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa () is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, connecting northwestern Main ...

and southeast of

Sarandë Sarandë (; sq-definite, Saranda; ) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Sarandë Municipality. Geographically, the city is located on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea within the Mediterrane ...

. The

Greek National Road 6 Greek National Road 6 (, abbreviated as EO6) is a national road in north-central Greece. It begins at the port of Igoumenitsa and ends at Volos, passing through the towns Ioannina, Metsovo, Trikala and Larissa. The section between Metsovo and V ...

(

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

- Ioannina - Igoumenitsa) and the A2 motorway (Alexandroupoli - Thessaloniki - Ioannina - Igoumenitsa) pass south of the municipal unit. The municipal unit Filiates has a land area of 495.727 km² and a population of 4,676 (2021 census). The population of the community Filiates, one of the biggest towns in the area, was 2,244. The largest other villages in the municipal unit are Keramítsa (pop. 107), Palaiochóri (153), Vrysélla (253), Leptokaryá (171), Trikóryfon (174), Aetos (134),

Keramitsa Keramitsa () is a village and a community in the regional unit of Thesprotia, Epirus, Greece. Since the 1997 Kapodistrias reform, it is part of the municipality of Filiates. Because of its high altitude (~850m) location on a west-facing slope, Filiates has one of the wettest climates in

Municipality

The present municipality Filiates was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets): *Filiates (Achladea, Aetos, Agios Nikolaos, Agioi Pantes, Ampelonas, Anavryto, Charavgi, Faneromeni, Filiates, Foiniki, Gardiki, Giromeri, Gola, Kallithea, Kato Xechoro, Kefalochori,

Keramitsa Keramitsa () is a village and a community in the regional unit of Thesprotia, Epirus, Greece. Since the 1997 Kapodistrias reform, it is part of the municipality of Filiates.Milea, Palaiochori, Palaiokklisi, Palampas, Pigadoulia, Plaisio, Platanos,

Raveni Raveni () is a village in Thesprotia, Greece. The village is situated on the right bank of the river Thyamis, which flows into the Ionian Sea near Sagiada. It was the ancient city of Phanote, part of the kingdom of Thesprotia. It lies in the foo ...

, Rizo, Sideri, Trikoryfo, Tsamantas, Vavouri, Vrysella, Xechoro) *

Sagiada Sagiada () is a village and a former municipality in Thesprotia, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Filiates, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 87.803 km2. In ...

(Asprokklisi, Kestrini, Ragi, Sagiada, Smertos) The municipality has an area of 583.530 km², the municipal unit 495.727 km². The province of Filiates () was one of the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of Thesprotia. It had the same territory as the present municipality. It was abolished in 2006.

History

Ancient history

In antiquity, the area of Filiates was inhabited by the Epirot

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

tribe of the

Chaonians The Chaonians () were an Ancient Greeks, ancient Greek people that inhabited the historical Epirus, region of Epirus which today is part of northwestern Greece and southern Albania.; ; ; ; ; Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, the ...

. In antiquity the area round the city was known as Cestrine (or ''Kestrine'') (), separated from

by the River Thyamis. The region was named from the ancient town of Cestria, which was also known as Cammania, Cestria, Filiates, Ilion, Epirus, Troy, Epirus and Troia, Epirus. According to Pausanias (''

Description of Greece ''Description of Greece'' () is the only surviving work by the ancient "geographer" or tourist Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias (c. 110 – c. 180). Pausanias' ''Description of Greece'' comprises ten books, each of them dedicated to some ...

''), Cestrine took its name from Cestrinus, the son of

Helenus In Greek mythology, Helenus (; , ''Helenos'', ) was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. Mythology Early years In the ...

, having previously borne the appellation of Cammania. The site of the ancient town of Cestria probably lies over the Albanian border.

Medieval and modern history

In 15th century Filiates came under Ottoman rule and became part of Sanjak of Ioannina. During 17th and 18th century Ottoman rule a significant part of the town's population converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. According to

Panagiotis Aravantinos Panagiotis Aravantinos (, 1809 or 1811 – 1870) was a Greek scholar and educator who was born in Parga. He worked primarily in Epirus, which was then under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. As with many Greek names, his names appears in English lite ...

(1856), who visited the region, there were 200 Muslim and 30 Christian families in Filiates. Vassilis Zotos (1878), reported that there were about 500 Muslim families and 100 Christian families in Filiates with a total population of 4,000 people (3,000 Muslims and 1,000 Christians). During the suppression of the Greek revolt of 1854 in Epirus by the Ottoman authorities armed groups of

Cham Albanians Cham Albanians or Chams (; , ), are a sub-group of Albanians who originally resided in the western part of the region of Epirus in southwestern Albania and northwestern Greece, an area known among Albanians as Chameria. The Chams have their ow ...

inflicted extensive damage to the town. In 1907, Qamil Çami also starting working as a teacher and teaching written

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

secretly. On August 25, 1908, along with other rilindas opened the first Albanian-language school of Filiates and became its headmaster. The funds were provided by the people of Filiates, such as Musa Demi, rilindas of the area and by other notable Cham Albanians like Rasih Dino, son of Abedin Dino. In 1911 during the period of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Albanians of Filiates formed ''çetes'', armed guerilla groups fighting for autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, the local Greek population displayed tolerance towards actions by the Albanians that didn't reveal chauvinist inclinations. Population movements to the town that occurred from the middle of the 19th century weakened the Muslim elite and led to the gradual Hellenization of former Albanian-majority towns in the area such as Filiates in the 1920s. During the interwar period, Filiates was mainly an Albanian-speaking small town that after 1939 increasingly became Greek-speaking. "The market towns of Filiates and Paramythia were mainly Albanian in speech before 1939, but Greek speech was beginning to flow back to them."; p
83
The capital of the area is Filiates, a small Albanian speaking town." In 1930, a Cham Albanian committee from Filiates requested to the Greek government for the use of Albanian in public schools, for its use to be allowed among students and for the right to open private schools in Filiates. The inhabitants of Filiates then went on and submitted their petition to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

without success. In 1928, representatives from the Cham Albanian communities in Paramythia, Karvounari and Filiates, requested the opening of two Muslim schools which they would fund themselves. The Greek authorities officially rejected the request, fearing that these Muslim schools would serve Albanian state propaganda by promoting an anti-Greek sentiment among the Chams of Greece. Regardless, the Greek government allowed their operation unofficially because it could close them as illegal at any time, and could also claim that their function fulfilled demands for Albanian schools in

Chameria Chameria (; , ''Tsamouriá'') is a term used today mostly by Albanians to refer to parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and Greece, traditionally associated with the Albanian ethnic subgroup of the Chams.Elsie, Robert and Be ...

. During the

Greek-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Kingdom of Italy, Italy and Kingdom of Greece, Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 Apri ...

the town of Filiates was burned by collaborationist Cham Albanian bands (October 28-November 14, 1940). Filiates region was until 1944, home to a Cham Albanian community. Almost the entire population of them fled during the liberation of Greece, because a large part of the community collaborated with Nazi forces. In September 1944, during the Axis withdrawal, the EDES resistance managed to quickly overcome the remaining Cham collaborator units stationed in the town. After the initial chaos and destruction that lasted for five days, the town's Cham community fled to Albania. The Cham leaders had managed to retreat together with the German troops. Almost all Cham Albanian monuments of Filiates were destroyed during World War II.

Population

Notable people

* Anthimus VII of Constantinople (1835–1913),

Ecumenical Patriarch The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

. *

Osman Taka Osman Taka (died 1887) was a Cham Albanian dancer and unclear personage from 19th century. The Dance of Osman Taka is named after him. His early life is not clear. He belongs to the Taka clan of Filiates, also known for Alush Taka, an Albanian ...

, Albanian Dancer and Rebel * Qamil Çami, teacher and poet of era of the

Albanian National Awakening The Albanian National Awakening ( or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political, and social movement in the Albanian history where the Albanian ...

. *

Ali Demi Ali Demi (18 January 1918 – 29 December 1943) was an Albanian hero of World War II and a communist. He was killed in battle fighting German forces in Vlora, Albania in 1943. Biography He was born in Filiates, Greece ( Çamëria), to a C ...

, Albanian

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

(

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

). * Musa Demi, revolutionary and important figure of the

. * Niazi Demi, minister of trade of

. * Rexhep Demi, leading member of the Albanian independence movement and signatory of the

Albanian Declaration of Independence The Albanian Declaration of Independence (Albanian language, Albanian: ''Deklarata e Pavarësisë'') was the declaration of independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire. Independent Albania was proclaimed in Vlorë on 28 November 1912. Six da ...

. * Tahir Demi, high-ranking member of the

Party of Labour of Albania The Party of Labour of Albania (PLA), also referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the Communist Party of ...

and representative of Albania at

Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, often abbreviated as Comecon ( ) or CMEA, was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of states, Easter ...

. * Nicholas Gage,

Greek American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

author and investigative journalist. * Vassiliki Kontaxi, Greek wife of Ali Pasha and member of the patriotic organization

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria () or Society of Friends () was a secret political and revolutionary organization founded in 1814 in Odesa, Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in Ottoman Greece, Greece and establish an Independenc ...

Μουσείο Ελληνικής Ιστορίας Παύλου Βρέλλη
. vrellis.gr * Fanis Moulios, Greek poet and writer. * Alekos Papadopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician. * Ioannis Papakostas, Greek revolutionary and participant of

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

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 ...

and the autonomist struggle of Northern Epirus.

References

Sources

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Epirus (region) Populated places in Thesprotia Provinces of Greece Former Cham settlements