The Mesogeia or Mesogaia ( el, τα Μεσόγεια, η Μεσόγαια/Μεσογαία, "Midlands") is a geographical region of
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...
in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...
.
History
The term designates since antiquity the inland portion of the Attic peninsula.
The term acquired a technical meaning with the reforms of
Cleisthenes in , when each of the ten
Attic tribes was in territory composed of three zones (''
trittyes''), urban (''
asty'', the main city of Athens), interior (''mesogeia'') and coastal (''
paralia Paralia ( el, Παραλία, ''Paralía'') is a Greek term meaning "beach" or "coastline".
Towns
* Paralia, Achaea
* Paralia, Pieria
* Paralia Distomou
* Paralia Lygias
* Paralia Skotinas
* Paralia Avdira
* Paralia Panteleimonos
* Paralios Kaisar ...
'').
In the
Classical period, the ''mesogeia'' comprised about 47 settlements (''
demoi'').
In modern usage, the term refers to the central portion of
East Attica, separated from the Athens basin by
Mount Hymettus, and delineated to the north by
Mount Penteli and to the south by the mountains of south Attica (Merenta, ,
Laureotic Olympus
Laureotic Olympus (named for the region of Laurium, also Όλυμπος Αττικής "Attic Olympus", Σκόρδι) is a hill in Attica, just north of Anavyssos, in Saronikos municipality, East Attica, Greece.
At a height of 487 m ...
). To the east the Mesogeia reaches the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans an ...
at the
Petalioi Gulf, but is separated from the actual coastline by a line of low hills. In the late
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, the area was the site of
Albanian (
Arvanite) settlement, as can be seen from toponyms such as
Spata or
Liopesi.
Before the 2011
Kallikratis reform, the area comprised the municipalities of
Gerakas,
Glyka Nera,
Anthousa,
Pallini,
Paiania,
Pikermi, Spata,
Artemida, Rafina,
Markopoulo Mesogaias,
Keratea,
Koropi,
Kalyvia Thorikou,
Vari,
Kouvaras, and
Voula. Its main settlement is Spata, and its main harbour is Rafina. The
Athens International Airport is also located near Spata.
Maps
File:CarteAttiqueApresClisthene.jpg, The division of Attica into urban (pink), inland (green), and coastal (blue) zones by Cleisthenes
File:Mesogia Morphological Marking b.jpg, The modern extent of the Mesogeia area
See also
*
Mesogeia Painter
*
Mesogeion Avenue
References
Sources
*
Ancient Athens
Geography of ancient Attica
Geography of East Attica
{{AncientAttica-geo-stub