Molaoi, Lakonia

Molaoi (Μολάοι) Lakonia

Molaoi is a town in the prefecture of Laconia and the seat of the beautiful Municipality of Monemvasia. The settlement is located 61 km southeast of Sparta, built at an altitude of 200 meters, west of the homonymous plain. [1] The population is 3,021, which according to the 2001 census. The name of the settlement came from a corruption of the Latin word mola which means mill. [1]

Historical data

The settlement, with a slight corruption of the name - in the Mola type - is found for the first time in a text of 1209 and specifically in the so-called Sapienza Treaty. This treaty was concluded between Gidefredo Villehardouin, the leader of the Franks, and the Venetians, who helped the Crusaders to overthrow the Byzantine Empire and conquer Morea. In this Treaty, the Principality and the Venetian possessions are delimited, and at some point Godfrey declares that "... he already possesses the city of Mola, while the whole of Lacedaemon ..." 1

During the Orlofiks, the Molaois suffered great damage from the invasions of the Turkalvans. They were almost liberated at the beginning of the 1821 revolution, but were destroyed in 1825 by Ibrahim's invasion of the region. With the liberation of Greece, they evolved into an administrative center, initially as the seat of the Municipality of Asopos and from 1864 as the seat of the province of Epidaurus Limira. [1] Recently, they were the seat of the homonymous municipality, while since 2011 they have been the seat of the Kallikratiko Municipality of Monemvasia.

Archeological findings

Although today it has the appearance of a completely modern city, there are at the same time several points that convince us that it has its roots deep in history. Such are: tombs and rich Mycenaean finds at the Gagania Position, its mineral mineral wealth in the same place, Wigla Hill with remnants of an ancient citadel on top of it, the "old tower" - a medieval building on the reddish, mostly Agia Paraskevi rock the gorge named Larnaca that crosses the city. In this area of ​​the gorge, which even had its own source water - from the source called the "mother" - it seems that the first settlement core developed, which later, in the Byzantine years, developed into a large enough and economically robust settlement. It even had a castle, which the inhabitants resorted to in cases of enemy raids and from which they controlled the plain up to Monemvasia.

References

Molaoi Municipal Unit, Molaoi [dead link]

Sources

Monemvasia and its Inland. (Volume BD). Koutsogiannopoulos 2001

See also:

Theodor Kallifatides

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