Sofades ( el, Σοφάδες) is a town and municipality in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

, central

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 ...

belonging to the regional unit of

Karditsa Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly. Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...

. Its 2011 census population was 6,056 people and 18,864 for the municipality, including a large

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

community. Its elevation is around 120 m above sea level, and the economy is mainly agricultural (cotton, corn). It is the only municipality that has one municipal district with settlements. Sofades is located south of

Palamas Palamas (Greek: Παλαμάς) is a town and a municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece. Population 16,726 (2011). Palamas is located south-southwest of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of Lamia, north of Sofades, east-nor ...

, southwest of

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) 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 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of

Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

and southeast of

and

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

. Sofades is on GR-30 (Karditsa -

Domokos Domokos ( el, Δομοκός), the ancient Thaumacus or Thaumace (Θαυμακός, Θαυμάκη), is a town and a municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. The town Domokos is the seat of the municipality of Domokos and of the former Domokos Provinc ...

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

) as well as the road between Mataragka and Palamas. It is on the OSE railway line linking Kalambaka and the main line and has a station. The native

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

inhabitants of the region are commonly known as

Karagounides Karagounides ( el, Καραγκούνηδες; singular: Καραγκούνης, ''Karagounis'') are an ethnic Greek subgroup and are the native people of the western plains of Thessaly, Greece. More specifically, the term is used to refer to the ...

(Καραγκούνηδες).

History

The modern town is very close to the site of the ancient city of

Kierion Cierium or Kierion ( grc, Κιέριον) was a town and polis (city-state) in the district of Thessaliotis in ancient Thessaly, which according to some ancient commentators, such as Stephanus of Byzantium was the successor to the Homeric Arne, th ...

( el, Κιέριον) or Cierium, one of the most important cities of ancient

. The name "Sofades" was first recorded as "Sofou" (Σοφού) around 1454 AD. In the early 1800s the English traveler

William Martin Leake William Martin Leake (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English military man, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British military, spending much of his career in the Mediterran ...

described the town as an administrative center consisting of around 150 houses and belonging to Abdim Bey of Larissa, but paying a yearly tribute to

Ali Pasha Ali Pasha was the name of numerous Ottoman pashas named Ali. It is most commonly used to refer to Ali Pasha of Ioannina. People * Çandarlı Ali Pasha (died 1406), Ottoman grand vizier (1387–1406) * Hadım Ali Pasha (died 1511), Ottoman grand v ...

. Chief crops of the region were corn and sesame, from which the oil was a major product.Leake, William Martin. ''Travels in Northern Greece''. (1835). Much of the area is hilly and consists of farmland and woodland. Mountains lie to the south and east. A river flows to the north.

Municipality

The municipality Sofades was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units: * Arni * Menelaida * Rentina *Sofades *

Tamasio Tamasio ( el, Ταμάσιο) is a former municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sofades Sofades ( el, Σοφάδες) is a town and municipality in Thes ...

The municipality has an area of 720.752 km², the municipal unit 241.255 km².

Subdivisions

The municipal unit of Sofades is divided into the following communities: *

Agia Paraskevi Agia Paraskevi ( el, Αγία Παρασκευή, ''Agía Paraskeví'') is a suburb and a municipality in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the North Athens regional unit. Agia Paraskevi was named after ...

Agios Vissarios ''Agios'' ( el, Άγιος), plural ''Agioi'' (), transcribes masculine gender Greek words meaning ' sacred' or 'saint' (for example Agios Dimitrios, Agioi Anargyroi). It is frequently shortened in colloquial language to ''Ai'' (for example Ai St ...

Ampelos Ampelos ( grc-gre, Ἂμπελος, lit." Vine") or Ampelus ( Latin) was a personification of the grapevine and lover of Dionysus in Greek and Roman mythology. He was a satyr that either turned into a Constellation or the grape vine, due to Di ...

* Anogeio * Dasochori *

Filia Fyllia ( gr, Φυλλιά or ; tr, Serhatköy) is a village in Cyprus, 9 km east of Morphou. '' De facto'', it is under the control of Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Norther ...

* Gefyria * Kappadokiko * Karpochori * Mascholouri * Melissochori * Paschalitsa *Sofades (Sofades, Tavropos)

Population

Transport

The town is served by Sofades railway station, with services to Palaiofarsalos,

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, Kalambaka &

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

External links

Official website
(in Greek)

References

{{Sofades div Cities in ancient Greece Populated places in Karditsa (regional unit) Municipalities of Thessaly