Tzermiado, Lasithi

Tzermiado (Τζερμιάδον) Lasithi

Tzermiado or Tzermiadon is a village and community of the regional unit of Lasithi in Crete, seat of the Municipality of Lasithi Plateau (Province of Lasithi). According to the 2011 census it has 637 inhabitants. It has a high school and lyceum, a health center, bank branches and a post office, while the primary school ceased to operate in 2014 due to a lack of students and merged with that of Agios Georgios. Its inhabitants are mainly engaged in the cultivation of potatoes and other fruits and vegetables. It is located 49 km west of Ag. Nikolaou and 55 km east of Heraklion at an altitude of 850 m.

Historical data

In the area of ​​the village there are traces of habitation from the Neolithic era. The cave of the Bank, also known as Kronion, east of the village, is considered to have been inhabited since the Neolithic-Early Minoan period. Burials and houses dating from the Neolithic to the Middle Minoan period have been found at Kastelos, east of the village. Neolithic to Late Minoan shells have been found in the cave in the Argoulia district. Neolithic burials have also been found in the cave at Skafidia. It is considered that with the residence in Kastelos, the cave of the Bank was turned into a burial place and as a sanctuary and in it I have found offerings and votive offerings, such as early Minoan ivory figurines. Before the end of the Middle Minoan period, however, it was abandoned and its place as a sanctuary was taken by Diktaion Andron, near the village of Psychro. At the site of Ponta Agia Anna there are Late Minoan shells and at the surface of the ground archaic and Hellenistic bronze objects and Roman coins. [1]

In the census of Kastrofylakas (K105), in 1583, the settlements of Alogospilio, Gaitanou and Skafindia are mentioned, toponyms which today are preserved as districts of the village. The oldest mention in the name of Tzermiado is made by Francesco Bazilicata, who mentions it in 1630 as Zermiades, which was the largest village in the province. Stergios Spanakis considers that the name Tzermiado comes from the surname of the first settlers of the village, the Tzermiades. [1] In the Turkish census of 1671 it is referred to as Cermyado. In the Egyptian census of 1834, 100 Christian families were enumerated. During the 1866 revolution, in 1867, the Turks had surrounded Korakas in Tzermiado, and in the ensuing battle, Tzermiado was also destroyed. [1] In 1879, the municipality of Tzermiado (Pode Municipality) was created based in the settlement of the same name, which included half of the villages of the Plateau from Pinakiano to Agios Konstantinos, while the other villages from Agios Georgios to Kato Metochi formed Pera Municipality. Until then, the capital of the Lasithi Plateau during the Turkish occupation was Mesa Lasithi. [1] In the 1881 census, it had 894 Christian inhabitants and 4 Turks, who were the tax collectors. [1]

Population censuses

Population course according to the censuses: [1]
Census 1900 1920 1928 1940 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 1991 2001 2011
Population 918 1163 1331 1243 1246 1129 1060 747 637

References

Spanakis, Stergios (1993). Cities and villages of Crete over the centuries, volume V. Heraklion: Graphic Arts G. Detorakis. pages 761–3.

Sources
"Mesa Lasithi - a historic village of the Lassithi Plateau", by Emm. I. Farsaris

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