Gytheio ( ) or Gythio, also the ancient Gythium or Gytheion (), is a town on the eastern shore of the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese of southern Greece, in the historical and administrative region of Laconia. It is the largest and most important town in Mani. Gytheio is the seat of the municipality of East Mani. Gytheio is significant in the history of Mani and the Maniots.

Ancient Gytheio was the seaport of Ancient Sparta, approximately north. Gytheio continued to be a major port until its destruction in the 4th century CE, possibly by an earthquake. Its strategic location made it a coveted possession for foreign powers into the 20th century.

The small island of Cranae, where, according to myth, Paris and Helen spent their first night together before departing for Troy, lies off the coast of Gytheio.

Gytheio was formerly a municipality in Laconia. Since a nationwide 2011 government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 197.313&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.

Historical population

{| class=wikitable

! Year !! Town !! Municipality

|-

| 1830 || 500-700 || -

|-

| 1910 || 2,000+ || -

|-

| 1981 || 4,354 || -

|-

| 1991 || 4,259 || 7,542

|-

| 2001 || 4,717 || 7,106

|-

| 2021 who frequently appear on its coins or in other legends, and Castor and Pollux: the former of these names may point to the influence of Phoenician traders from Tyre, who visited the Laconian shores at a very early period. It is thought that Gytheio may have been the center of their purple dye trade because the Laconian Gulf had a plentiful source of murex. In classical times it was a community of the Perioeci caste, politically dependent on Sparta, though doubtless with a municipal life of its own.

In 455 BC during the First Peloponnesian War (460 – 445 BCE) between Sparta and Athens Gytheium was burned by the Athenian admiral Tolmides, who besieged the city with 50 ships and 4,000 hoplites. It was rebuilt and likely became the shipyard for the Spartan fleet in the Second Peloponnesian War (431 — 404 BCE). In 407 BC, Alcibiades landed there and saw the thirty triremes the Spartans were building. In 370 BC, the Thebans under the command of Epaminondas besieged the city successfully for three days after ravaging Laconia, Nabis recaptured Gythium three years and the Spartan fleet defeated the Achean fleet outside of Gythium. Gythium was liberated by a Roman fleet under the command of Aulus Atilius Serranus.

Subsequently, Gythium formed the most important of the Union of Free Laconians, a group of twenty-four, later eighteen, communities leagued together to maintain their autonomy against Sparta and declared free by Caesar Augustus. The highest officer of the confederacy was the general, who was assisted by a treasurer (rauias), while the chief magistrates of the several communities bore the title of ephors.

In Roman times Gythium remained a major port and it prospered as a member of the Union.

The modern Gytheio opened a port in the 1960s. Ferries sail from Gytheio to Kythira almost daily and also to Crete twice a week. It is the See of the Diocese of Gytheion and Oitylo, headed by a Metropolitan bishop of the Orthodox Church of Greece. Gytheio is the largest and most important town in Mani. Most of the ruins of ancient Gythium are now submerged in the Laconian Gulf.

Some walls' remains can be seen today on the sandy beach of Valtaki and in the shallow waters, where the well known Dimitrios shipwreck lies stranded. It is also the capital of the municipality of Gytheio.

Province

thumb|right|The former province of Gytheio within the Peloponnese.

The province of Gytheio () was one of the provinces of the Laconia Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipal units Gytheio and East Mani. It was abolished in 2006.

Notable people

  • Alexandros Othonaios (1879–1970), general and former Prime Minister of Greece
  • Tzannis Tzannetakis (1927–2010), politician and former Prime Minister of Greece

International relations

Gytheio is twinned with:

  • Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France

Notes

Citations

Sources

Primary

  • Livy, translated by Henry Bettison, (1976). Rome and the Mediterranean. London: Penguin Classics. .
  • Pausanias, translated by W.H.S Jones, (1918). Pausanias Description of Greece. London: Harvard University Press. .
  • Polybius, translated by Frank W. Walbank, (1979). The Rise of the Roman Empire. New York: Penguin Classics. .

Secondary

  • Collitz-Bechtel, Sammlung d. griech. Dialekt-Inschriften, iii. Nos. 4562-4573; British School Annual, x. 179 foll.
  • Paul Cartledge and Antony Spawforth, (2002). Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A tale of two cities. London: Routledge.
  • E. Curtius, Peloponnesos, ii. 267 foll. Inscriptions: Le Bas-Foucart, Voyage archéologique, ii. Nos. 238-248 f.
  • Patrick Leigh Fermor, (1984). Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese. London: Penguin.
  • Peter Greenhalgh and Edward Eliopoulos, (1985). Deep into Mani:Journey to the southern tip of Greece. London: Trinity Press
  • Peter Green, (1990). Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, (2nd edition). Los Angeles: University of California Press. .
  • Rosemary Hall, Paul Hellander, Corinne Simcock and David Willet. Lonely Planet: Greece. Singapore: SNP Printing Pte Ltd.
  • Kyriakos Kassis, (1979). Mani's History. Athens: Presoft
  • William Leake, Travels in the Morea, i. 244 foll.
  • Maria Mavromataki, (2001). 8,500 Years of Civilization: Greece: Between Legend and History. Athens: Haïtalis.
  • G. Weber, De Gytheo et Lacedaemoniorum rebus navalibus (Heidelberg, 1833)