Almopia ( el, Αλμωπία), or Enotia, also known in the Middle Ages as Moglena (Greek: Μογλενά, Macedonian and Bulgarian: Меглен or Мъглен), is a municipality and a former

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

(επαρχία) of the

Pella Pella ( el, Πέλλα) is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is best-known for serving as the capital city of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great. On site of the ancient cit ...

regional unit in

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 traditional geographic reg ...

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 ...

. The seat of the municipality is the town

Aridaia Aridaía (; mk, С'ботско, ''S'botsko''; bg, Съботско) is a town and a former municipality in the Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Almopia, of which it is a mu ...

. The municipality has an area of 985.817 km².

Name and history

The name Almopia ( grc, Ἀλμωπία, ''Almōpia'') derives from the Almopes (), a Paeonian tribe that originally inhabited the area before being expelled from the region during the reign of

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

(r. 498–454 BC) when Almopia was incorporated into the ancient Macedonian kingdom. The Almopes traced their descent to the eponymous mythological figure of Almops, son of the Greek God

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

and Helle. The 2nd-century astronomer and geographer

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importan ...

records three cities in the region in his ''

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

'': Horma (), Europos () and

Apsalos Apsalus or Apsalos ( grc, Ἄψαλος) was a town of Almopia in ancient Macedonia Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the ...

(). In the early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

period, the area was renamed to Enotia (Greek: Ενωτία) after a nearby fortress, probably in the vicinity of modern

Notia Nótia ( el, Νότια, formerly Νώτια; ruq, Nânti or ) is a village in the Exaplatanos municipal unit of the Pella regional unit, Central Macedonia, Greece. Lying at an altitude of 595 metres in the Upper Karadjova Plain, it was for cen ...

. The name was revived between 1915 and 1927 for the Greek province as well. In the later

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 known as Moglena (Greek: Μογλενά, mk, Меглен, bg, Мъглен), from the Slavic word for "fog". Until the early 11th century, Moglena was a province of the First Bulgarian Empire. Captured by the Byzantine emperor

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar ...

in 1015, it is attested as the seat of a bishopric in 1020, and as capital of its own theme in 1086. The area remained under Byzantine rule until the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, when it was captured by Tsar

Kaloyan Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ioannitsa or Johannitsa ( bg, Калоян, Йоаница; 1170 – October 1207), was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was the younger brother of Theodor and Asen, who led the anti-Byzanti ...

of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conqu ...

. It was incorporate in the

Serbian Empire The Serbian Empire ( sr, / , ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the ...

Stefan Dušan Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gre ...

in 1346. Moglena was inhabited mainly by

Megleno-Romanians The Megleno-Romanians, also known as Meglenites ( ruq, Miglinits), Moglenite Vlachs or simply Vlachs ( ruq, Vlaș), are a small Eastern Romance people, originally inhabiting seven villages in the Moglena region spanning the Pella and Kilkis ...

and Slavic people. In Ottoman times, the region was also known by its Turkish name Karacova or Karadjova valley ("Black Valley", Greek: Καρατζόβα) or in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed exten ...

: كاراجاوا. Until the

Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...

and the

population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...

in 1924, Muslim

Pomaks Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...

and

Vlachs "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easte ...

made up part of the population. Theodor Capidan,
''Meglenoromânii, istoria şi graiul lor''
, vol. I, București, 1925, p.5, 19, 21-22) https://docs.google.com/document/d/18Eh2Z9rLnJgEq9lq_sdheHYO3HbZAzveGYWEUSeakiE/edit?usp=drivesdk

Municipality

The municipality Almopia was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units: *

Exaplatanos Exaplatanos ( el, Εξαπλάτανος; Macedonian: Капињани, ''Kapinjani'';,Todor Hristov Simovski, ''The Inhabited Places of the Aegean Macedonia'' (Skopje 1998), , p. 90. tr, Kapinyari) is a village and a former municipality in the P ...

Province

The province of Almopia (Επαρχία Αλμωπίας) was one of the three provinces of Pella Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality of Almopia. It was abolished in 2006.

References

External links

Current locations of Almopia region
{{Prefectures and provinces of Greece Upper Macedonia Municipalities of Central Macedonia Populated places in Pella (regional unit) Provinces of Greece

Name and history

Municipality

Province

See also

References

External links