Nea Kios () is a small town and former municipality in

Argolis Argolis or Argolida ( , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese penin ...

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 is part of the municipality

Argos-Mykines Argos-Mykines () is a municipality in the Argolis regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the city of Argos. The municipality has an area of 1002.508 km2. The mayor is Ioannis Maltezos, who won the election for the fi ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The emblem of the town is

Argo In Greek mythology, the ''Argo'' ( ; ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid, and some ancient sources describe her as the first ship to sail the seas. The ''Argo'' carried the Argonauts on their quest fo ...

. The municipal unit has an area of 5.700 km². It was founded by

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s from

Cius Cius (; ''Kios''), later renamed Prusias on the Sea (; ) after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis (now known as the Sea of Marmara), in Bithynia and in Mysia (in modern northwestern Turkey), and had a ...

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

after the expulsion of the Greeks from Asia Minor.

Geography

Nea Kios is situated in a plain on the coast of the

Argolic Gulf The Argolic Gulf (), also known as the Gulf of Argolis, is a gulf of the Aegean Sea off the east coast of the Peloponnese, Greece. It is about 50 km long and 30 km wide. Its main port is Nafplio, at its northwestern end. At the entrance ...

, at the mouth of the rivers Inachos and Erasinos. The rivers' waters create marsh in the surrounding area. It is 4 km northwest of Myloi, 6 km south of Argos and 6 km northwest of

Nafplio Nafplio or Nauplio () is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important tourist destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the Middle Ages du ...

. It is considered the seaport of Argos. Near Nea Kios is the site of the ancient town of Temenium.

History

Nea Kios is the historical continuation of

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, a city of 15,000 residents built at the head of the gulf of Cius in

Propontis The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

, seat of the Metropolis of

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

and seaport of

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

. Refugees of Cius, after the Asia Minor disaster of 1922, transferred to Kalamaria where they stayed few years before most of them move out for Argolis when they were given space to settle. The establishment of Nea Kios started in 1926, following the actions of a special commission following the actions of a special committee set up in 1925, chaired by Christos Delis. The settlement began in 1927 and was recognized as a settlement in 1928.

Historical population

Since its establishment, the actual population of Nea Kios according to ELSTAT is:

Culture

Since 1982 a museum operates in Nea Kios, named Laskarideio Folklore Museum, which houses costumes and various items from Cius of Asia Minor. The name of the museum is a reference to ''Evristhenis Laskaridis'', a doctor who published books on the history of Cius.

Sports

Two sport clubs are based at Nea Kios, A.C. Argonaftis Nea Kios (="''Α.Ο. Αργοναύτης Νέας Κίου''"), established in 1933 and Nea Kios Sports Club (="''Αθλητικός Όμιλος Νέας Κίου''"), established in 1979, which operates under Argonaftis.

Town partnerships

Nea Kios fosters partnerships with the following places: * Meddersheim,

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

::The partnership agreement between Nea Kios and Meddersheim was read out by mayors Georgios Maninis (Nea Kios) and Tilo Krauß (Meddersheim) and signed amid much festivity on 15 July 2008 in Meddersheim.Partnership with Meddersheim

References

{{Argos-Mykines div Populated places in Argolis Argos-Mykines