Didymoteicho ( , ) is a town located on the eastern edge of the Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town (pop. 8,681 in 2021) sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, Turkey, about 20 km north of Soufli and about 90 km north of Alexandroupoli. The municipality of Didymóteicho has a land area of 565.4 km<sup>2</sup> and a population of 16,060 inhabitants.

Etymology

"Didymoteicho" is the modern Greek form of , Didymóteichon, from , dídymos, "twin" and , teîchos, "wall". The name first appears in 591/592, and most resulted from the refortification of the city under Justinian I (see below).

The corrupted short form Dimotica or Demotica or variants thereof are attested in Western languages since the late 12th century (early forms Timoticon, Dimothicon, Dimodica), and remained in use for the city until the 20th century. The city was called ديمتوقه in Ottoman Turkish and is still called Dimetoka in Turkish, which was its name during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and Dimotika (from Bulgarian Димотика) by the Pomaks of the region.

Geography

Forests dominate the banks and parts of the plain. Much of the area is used for farming. The main products are cattle, fruit and vegetables and some flowers. The hills dominate further west. Near the area lies the great forest of Dadia. Didymoteicho is located around 12 km from Turkey and the western banks of the Evros. It is the easternmost municipality on the mainland of Greece (in its town of Pythio). In the west, much of the land is mountainous and forested, while farmlands are located in the central and the northern part. It is on the railway line Thessaloniki–Istanbul and the Greek road 51 (Alexandroupoli–Orestiada–Edirne in Turkey and Svilengrad in Bulgaria).

Climate

Didymoteicho has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) with hot, mostly dry summers and cool, wet winters.

Municipality

thumb|left|500px|Panoramic view of the town from the [[Didymoteicho Fortress|fortress walls, photographed in June 2012.]]

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

  • Didymoteicho
  • Metaxades

The municipality has an area of 565.372&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, the municipal unit 354.134&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.

Communities

The municipal unit Didymoteicho is subdivided into the following communities (constituent settlements in brackets): It was abolished in 2006.

History

Antiquity

thumb|right|upright=1|Roman mosaics from Plotinopolis

The area around the town was inhabited in Neolithic times. It was later an important Thracian and Hellenistic town, sacked by the Romans in 204 BC. In the early 2nd century, the Roman emperor Trajan created a new city on the banks of the Evros river, between two surrounding hills, near modern Turkish Uzunköprü, and named it Plotinopolis after his wife Pompeia Plotina. The ruins of the ancient city are now known as the Kale, after the Turkish for "castle". A solid gold bust of Emperor Septimius Severus found on the site of Plotinopolis in 1965 is now in the museum at Komotini.

The city had been built in a very strategic position, because it had for exploitation a very fertile plain and also controlled a passage of Erythropotamos, through which passed a branch of the via Egnatia leading in the middle and upper valley of Evros river and on the shores of the Black Sea.

The city would later be one of the most important towns in Thrace, having its own assembly, and an episcopal see (suffragan of Adrianople).

The first bishop of the city, Hierophilus, is mentioned in the 430s.

Medieval era

thumb|right|180px|Emperor [[Justinian I's refortification of Plotinopolis marks the beginning of the modern settlement of Didymoteicho and gave the city its name]]

According to Procopius of Caesarea, Emperor Justinian I () improved the fortifications of Plotinopolis. It was probably at that time that the nearby higher, rocky and hence more defensible hill was also fortified. The name "Didymoteichon" ("twin fortification") appears in 591/592, and probably referred to this double fortified settlement. Given the exposed lowland location of Plotinopolis, the site was soon abandoned in favour of the more recent fortress, a process that was possibly completed already in the 7th century. The name "Plotinopolis" survived for the episcopal see until the 9th century, before it too was replaced.

In summer 813, during his invasion of Thrace, the Bulgarian ruler Krum captured the town, but in 879 it was a bishopric whose incumbent, Nikephoros, participated in the Ninth Council of Constantinople. A 9th-century seal attests to the presence of a kommerkiarios in the city. A century later, the town served as a place of exile for the general and rebel Bardas Skleros, who unsuccessfully tried to oust Byzantine Emperor Basil II. Bardas and his brother Constantine died there in March 991. In 1352, it was assigned to John V Palaiologos (), but he quickly clashed with Matthew Kantakouzenos, and only after another round of warfare in 1352–57 did the city finally come into Palaiologan hands. The Battle of Demotika, the Ottomans' first victory in Europe, was fought before the city in 1352 during the civil war.

The city was the birthplace of emperors John III Doukas Vatatzes (born c. 1193) and John V Palaiologos (born 18 June 1332).

Ottoman era

thumb|right|upright=1|The Çelebi Sultan Mehmed or [[Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque|Bayezid Mosque]]

The city—known as Dimetoka or Demotika under Ottoman rule—was captured by the Ottomans in 1359 and again, this time permanently (probably by the commander Hadji Ilbeg), in 1361. came under the temporary management of a multinational Entente military force led by the French General Charles Antoine Charpy. In the second half of April 1920, as a result of the San Remo conference of the leaders of the main allies of the Entente powers (except the United States), the region of Western Thrace was annexed by Greece. The Second World War devastated Didymoteicho. In May 1943, 731 Jews from the city were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp.

Modern Didymoteicho is home to numerous descendants of Greek refugees from Eastern Thrace, now in Turkey, as well as members of Greece's Turkish-speaking Muslim minority (Turks of Western Thrace). Like the Pomaks of East Macedonia and Thrace, the Turkish population of Didymoteicho dates to the Ottoman period and, unlike the Turkish Muslims and Greek Muslims of Macedonia and Epirus, was exempted from the 1923 Greek-Turkish population exchange following the Treaty of Lausanne.

The town was considerably affected by the Evros river flooding of 17 to 22 February 2005. Flood warnings were reported at that time. The flood affected much of the town on Wednesday, 2 March 2005 and continued for several days. On Friday, 4 March, flood waters began to ebb slowly. Over 5,000&nbsp;mm of rainfall caused the river to overflow its banks. Buildings, properties and stores were flooded, leaving people stranded. It was the worst flood in nearly 50 years. The railway line south of Didymoteicho and near the station was also flooded and was closed. Serious flooding was also experienced in March 2006 and November 2014, while in the Evros floods of 2021 the largest floods took place throughout the city and the general Evros and Erythropotamos river areas.

Didymoteicho is just 2 kilometers away from the Greek-Turkish border, and as a result it is home to many Greek military units and Hellenic Army training centers. Hundreds of thousands of Greek men had to either receive military training or spend part of their military service here (see conscription in Greece). The famous 1991 George Dalaras and Lavrentis Machairitsas song Didymoteicho Blues () pays homage to the personal stories and experiences of these soldiers while offering a more general commentary about life in the Army.

Landmarks

  • The Didymoteicho Fortress, the medieval citadel or "old town", situated in the northwestern part of town
  • The Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque or Beyazid Mosque, completed in 1420.
  • Didymoteicho Folklore Museum
  • The Silent Baths or Oruç Pasha Hamam, the oldest hamam in Europe. Today there are only ruins of the baths but a European Union project has been initiated to restore them.
  • International Centre of Young Artists of Eastern Europe, Website
  • Central Square, next to the town hall
  • Feridun Ahmed Bey Hamam
  • Golden Bust of Septimius Severus discovered in Didymoteicho, now in Archaeological Museum of Komotini
  • Didymoteicho Military Museum
  • Municipal Theatre, on Georgios I Street
  • The ruins of the ancient city of Plotinopolis.
  • Oruç Pasha türbe

Transport

Rail

The town is served by a station on the Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad Line.

Historical population

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year !! Municipal unit !! Municipality

|-

| 1991 || 19,450 || –

|-

| 2001 || 18,998 || –

|-

| 2011 || 16,078 || 19,493

|-

| 2021 || 13,673 || 16,060

|}

Notable people

  • Balım Sultan, Bektashi sufi
  • Bayezid II (1481–1512) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
  • John III Doukas Vatatzes (c. 1192–1254), emperor of Nicaea
  • John V Palaiologos (1332–1391), Byzantine Emperor
  • Eugenios Eugenidis (1882–1954), shipping magnate
  • Sürmeli Ali Pasha (c. 1645–1695), Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
  • Konstantinos Gatsioudis, javelin thrower
  • Zoi Dimoschaki, swimmer from Isaakio, a village near Didymoteicho

<gallery>

File:20120603 Vasilopoula tower Kale Didymoteixo Evros Greece Panoramic.jpg|Vasilopoula Byzantine tower

File:Church entrance, Didymoteicho, Evros.JPG|The entrance of the church with a statue of Constantine XI Palaiologos

File:Church and arch in Didymoteicho, Evros.JPG|The church with the remains of an arch

File:Church interior, Didymoteicho, Evros.JPG|Church interior

File:Church dome interior, Didymoteicho, Evros.JPG|Church dome interior

File:20100523 mosque Didymoteicho Evros Greece 1.jpg|Alaca mosque

File:Das Byzantinische Museum von Didymoticho.jpg|Byzantine Museum of Didymoteicho

</gallery>

See also

  • List of settlements in the Evros regional unit

References

Sources

  • Official website
  • Official website
  • Official website
  • Official website
  • Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Didymoticho