Iraia () is a former municipality in
Arcadia,
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...
,
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 ...
. Since the 2011 local government reform it became a municipal unit of the municipality of
Gortynia
Gortynia () is a municipality in the Arcadia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Dimitsana. The municipality has an area of 1,050.882 km2.
Municipality
The municipality Gortynia was formed at the 20 ...
.
The municipal unit has an area of 144.002 km
2.
Its population is 960, according to the
2021 census. The seat of the municipality was in
Paloumpa. The municipality is named after the ancient Arcadian city of
Heraia. The region was known in recent times for the construction workers (''mastori'') who came from the villages of Servos and
Lyssarea.
Pausanias describes the ancient cities of
Heraia and
Melaineai and their buildings.
[ Pausanias ''Description of Greece'' 8.26] An excavation near Lyssarea uncovered buildings, mosaics, as well as gold and silver coins.
Subdivisions
The municipal unit of Iraia consists of 17 communities:
[
* Agios Ioannis
* Arachova
* Chrysochori
* Kakouraiika
* Kokkinorrachi
* Kokkoras
* Liodora
* Loutra Iraias
* Lykouresis
* Lyssarea
* Ochthia
* Paloumpa
* Psari
* Pyrris
* Raftis
* Sarakini
* Servos
]
Notable people
The village of Loutra Iraias is the birthplace of the film-maker Constantinos Gavras (Costa-Gavras
Konstantinos "Kostas" Gavras (; born 12 February 1933), known professionally as Costa-Gavras, is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for political films, such as the political thril ...
).
References
External links
History of Irea (in Greek)N. I. Kostaras's talk about the history of Irea (in Greek)
Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese
Gortynia
{{Peloponnese-geo-stub