Sofades () is a town and municipality in

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

, central

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 ...

belonging to the regional unit of Karditsa. Its 2011 census population was 6,056 people and 18,864 for the municipality, including a large Romani community. Its elevation is around 120 m above sea level, and the economy is mainly agricultural (cotton, corn). Sofades is located south of Palamas, southwest of

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) 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 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of Lamia and southeast of Karditsa and

Trikala Trikala () is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios. According to the Greek Natio ...

. The native

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

inhabitants of the region are commonly known as Karagounides (Καραγκούνηδες).

History

The modern town is very close to the site of the ancient city of Kierion () 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 FRS (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English soldier, spy, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British Army, spending much of his career in the Mediterrane ...

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. 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 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 * Agios Vissarios * Ampelos * Anogeio * Dasochori * Filia * Gefyria * Kappadokiko * Karpochori * Mascholouri * Melissochori * Paschalitsa *Sofades (Sofades, Tavropos)

Population

Transport

Sofades is on Greek National Road 30 (Karditsa - Domokos -

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

), and the A3 motorway ( Xyniada - Karditsa -

) passes west of the town. The town is served by Sofades railway station on the Palaiofarsalos–Kalambaka railway, with services to Palaiofarsalos,

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

, Kalambaka and

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

References

External links

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