Peloponnese

Lore & Background

The peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Its modern name derives from ancient Greek mythology, specifically the legend of the hero Pelops, who was said to have conquered the entire region. The Mycenaean civilization, mainland Greece's (and Europe's) first major civilization, dominated the Peloponnese in the Bronze Age from the palaces of Mycenae, Pylos, and Tiryns, among others. In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia, in Elis in western Peloponnese. During classical antiquity, the Peloponnese was at the heart of the affairs of ancient Greece, possessed some of its most powerful city-states, and was the location of some of its bloodiest battles. The major cities of Argos, Corinth and Sparta were located on the Peloponnese. In the 6th century BC, Sparta established its hegemony over most of the Peloponnese by founding the Peloponnesian League. Soldiers from the peninsula fought in the Persian Wars at the battles of Thermopylae under Leonidas, Salamis under Themistocles, and Plataea under Pausanias. The Peloponnesian League under Spartan leadership defeated the Athenians at the Peloponnesian War of 431–404 BC. The entire Peloponnese, with the notable exception of Sparta (which was forced to join later in 331 BC), joined Philip's League of Corinth in 338 BC and the following expedition of Alexander the Great against the Persian Empire. Along with the rest of Greece, the Achaean League fell to the expanding Roman Republic in 146 BC, when the Romans razed the city of Corinth and massacred its inhabitants. The Romans established the province of Achaea, comprising the Peloponnese and most of central Greece. After the partition of the Empire in 395, the Peloponnese became a part of the Byzantine Empire. The devastation of Alaric's raid in 396–397 led to the construction of the Hexamilion wall across the Isthmus of Corinth. The scale of the Slavic 'invasion' and settlement in the 7th and 8th centuries remains a matter of dispute, although it is nowadays considered much smaller than previously thought.

Reader's Guide

The Peloponnese is a peninsula located at the southern tip of the mainland, 21,549.6 sq km in area, and constitutes the southernmost part of mainland Greece. It is connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Corinth Canal was constructed in 1893. However, it is also connected to the mainland by several bridges across the canal, including two submersible bridges at the north and the south end. Near the northern tip of the peninsula, there is another bridge, the Rio–Antirrio bridge (completed 2004). The peninsula has a mountainous interior, although extensive lowlands are also found in the west, in the Evrotas Valley in the south, and in the Argolid Peninsula in the northeast. The Peloponnese possesses four south-pointing peninsulas: the Messenian, the Mani, the Cape Malea, and the Argolid in the far northeast of the Peloponnese. The Messenian Gulf, Laconian Gulf, and Argolic Gulf separate these peninsulas. Moreover, Mount Taygetus in the south is the highest mountain in the Peloponnese, at 2407 m. Other important mountains include Cyllene in the northeast (2376 m), Aroania in the north (2355 m), Erymanthos (2224 m) and Panachaikon in the northwest (1926 m), Mainalon in the center (1981 m), and Parnon in the southeast (1935 m). The entire peninsula is earthquake-prone and has suffered many earthquakes in the past. The longest river is the Alfeios in the west (110 km), followed by the Evrotas in the south (82 km), and also the Pineios, also in the west (70 km). The Peloponnese, with its indented coasts, is home to numerous spectacular beaches, which are a major tourist draw. Two groups of islands lie off the Peloponnesian coast: the Argo-Saronic Islands to the east, and the Ionian to the west. The island of Kythira, to the south of the Peloponnese, is considered to be part of the Ionian Islands. The island of Elafonisos used to be part of the peninsula but was separated in the aftermath of the 365 Crete earthquake. Since antiquity, and continuing to the present day, the Peloponnese has been divided into seven major regions: Achaea (north), Corinthia (northeast), Argolis (east), Arcadia (center), Laconia (southeast), Messenia (southwest), and Elis (west). Each of these regions is headed by a city, with the largest being Patras (pop. 170,000) in Achaia, followed by Kalamata (pop. 55,000) in Messenia.

Did You Know?

• The Peloponnese for the most part enjoys a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), while the Gulf of Corinth has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh).
• Rainfall is higher on the west coast, while the east of the peninsula is significantly drier.
• Average annual temperatures can reach up to 20.3°C while summer highs reach over 36.0°C in Sparta, within the Evrotas Valley.
• On 27 June 2007, Monemvasia registered a minimum temperature of 35.9°C, which is the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in mainland Greece and Continental Europe.