Chalcis

Chalcis Χαλκίς
Chalcis' seafront
Chalcis
Location within the region
Coordinates: 38°28′N 23°36′E / 38.467°N 23.600°E / 38.467; 23.600Coordinates: 38°28′N 23°36′E / 38.467°N 23.600°E / 38.467; 23.600
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Central Greece
Regional unit	Euboea
Area
• Municipality	424.77 km2 (164.00 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	30.80 km2 (11.89 sq mi)
Highest elevation	5 m (16 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (2011)[1]
• Municipality	102,223
• Municipality density	240/km2 (620/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	59,125
• Municipal unit density	1,900/km2 (5,000/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	341 00
Area code(s)	22210
Vehicle registration	ΧΑ
Website	www.dimos-xalkideon.gr

Chalcis (/ˈkælsᵻs/;^[2] Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: Χαλκίς, Chalkís) or Chalkida (Modern Greek: Χαλκίδα, [xalˈciða]) is the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός (copper, bronze), though there is no trace of any mines in the area.^[3] In the late Middle Ages, it was known as Negropont, a name that was applied to the entire island of Euboea as well.

History

Ancient Greece

The archaeological museum of Chalcis

View of the Roman aqueduct

The earliest recorded mention of Chalcis is in the Iliad,^[4] where it is mentioned in the same line as its rival Eretria. It is also documented that the ships set for the Trojan War gathered at Aulis, the south bank of the strait nearby the city. Chamber tombs at Trypa and Vromousa dated to the Mycenaean period were excavated by Papavasiliou in 1910. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, colonists from Chalcis founded thirty townships on the peninsula of Chalcidice and several important cities in Magna Graecia, such as Naxos, Rhegion and Cumae. Its mineral produce, metal-work, purple and pottery not only found markets among these settlements, but were distributed over the Mediterranean in the ships of Corinth and Samos.

With the help of these allies, Chalcis engaged the rival league of its neighbour Eretria in the so-called Lelantine War, by which it acquired the best agricultural district of Euboea and became the chief city of the island. Early in the 6th century BC, its prosperity was broken by a disastrous war with the Athenians, who expelled the ruling aristocracy and settled a cleruchy on the site. Chalcis subsequently became a member of both the Delian Leagues.

Chalkis has had a Greco-Jewish presence since antiquity, which is sometimes claimed to have been continuous and to thus form Europe's oldest Jewish community,^[5] although there is no evidence of it through the early Middle Ages.^[6]

In the Hellenistic period, it gained importance as a fortress by which the Macedonian rulers controlled central Greece. It was used by kings Antiochus III of Syria (192 BC) and Mithradates VI of Pontus (88 BC) as a base for invading Greece.

Under Roman rule, Chalcis retained a measure of commercial prosperity.

Middle Ages and Early Modern period

Venetian map of Chalcis (Negroponte) (1597).

Church of Saint Paraskevi, patron saint of Chalkis

The Ottoman fortress of Karababa

The city is recorded as a city in the 6th-century Synecdemus and mentioned by the contemporary historian Procopius of Caesarea, who recorded that a movable bridge linked the two shores of the strait.^[7] In Byzantine times, Chalcis was usually called Euripos, a name also applied to the entire island of Euboea, although the ancient name survived in administrative and ecclesiastical usage until the 9th century; alternatively, it is possible that the name was given anew to a settlement that was founded in the 9th century in the location of the ancient city, after the latter had been abandoned in the early Middle Ages.^[7] The town survived an Arab naval raid in the 880s and its bishop is attested in the 869–70 Church council held at Constantinople.^[7]

By the 12th century, the town featured a Venetian trading station, being attacked by the Venetian fleet in 1171 and eventually seized by Venice in 1209, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade.^[7]

For Westerners, its common name was Negropont or Negroponte. This name comes indirectly from the Greek name of the Euripus Strait: the phrase στὸν Εὔριπον 'to Evripos', was rebracketed as στὸ Νεὔριπον 'to Nevripos', and became Negroponte in Italian by folk etymology, the ponte 'bridge' being interpreted as the bridge of Chalcis.^[8]

The town was a condominium between Venice and the Veronese barons of the rest of Euboea, known as the "triarchs", who resided there. Chalcis or Negroponte became a Latin Church diocese, the first bishop being Theodorus, the Greek bishop of the see, who entered communion with the see of Rome.^[9] In 1314, the Latin see was united with the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople, so that the patriarch, excluded from Constantinople itself since the Byzantine reconquest of the city, could have actual jurisdiction on Greek soil and exercise a direct role as head of the Latin clergy in what remained of Latin Greece.^[10] A large hoard of late medieval jewellery dating from Venetian times was found in Chalcis Castle in the nineteenth century and is now in the British Museum.^[11] The synagogue dated to around 1400.^[6]

Negroponte played a significant role in the history of Frankish Greece, and was attacked by the Principality of Achaea in the War of the Euboeote Succession (1257/8), the Catalan Company in 1317, the Turks in 1350/1, until it was finally captured by the Ottoman Empire after a long siege in 1470.^[7] That siege is the subject of the Rossini opera Maometto II. The Ottomans made it the seat of the Admiral of the Archipelago (the Aegean Islands). In 1688, it was successfully held by the Ottomans against a strong Venetian attack.^[12]

The modern town

The city hall

The modern town received an impetus in its export trade from the establishment of railway connection with Athens and Piraeus in 1904. In the early 20th century it was composed of two parts—the old walled town at the bridge over the Euripus, where a number of Turkish families continued to live until the late 19th century, and a sizeable Jewish community lived until World War II, and the more modern suburb that lies outside it, chiefly occupied by Greeks. The old town, called the Castro, was surrounded by a full circuit of defense walls until they were completely razed for urban development around the start of the 20th century.^[13][14]

Main sights

The church of Saint Paraskevi (the patron saint of the island) was the church of the Dominican Priory of Negroponte, one of the first two houses authorized for the Province of Greece in 1249. Started about 1250, this is among the oldest examples of early Dominican architecture surviving, and is one of the only early Dominican churches to retain its original form until the present.^[15][16] The central arch over the iconostasis and the ceiling and walls of the south chapel are the best examples of Italian Gothic stone-carving in Greece.^[17] Images of the Dominican saints, Dominic and Peter Martyr, stand at the base of the central arch.^[18] The north chapel holds the tomb of the founder of the senatorial Lippamano family of Venice. Some of the column capitals are Byzantine.

The bridges

The Chalcis' Bridge connecting the island with the mainland of Greece.

The town is now connected to the mainland Greece by two bridges, the "Sliding Bridge" in the west at the narrowest point of the Euripus Strait and a suspension bridge.

The Euripus Strait which separates the city and the island from the mainland was bridged in 411 BC with a wooden bridge. In the time of Justinian the fixed bridge was replaced with a movable structure. The Turks replaced this once again with a fixed bridge. In 1856, a wooden swing bridge was built; in 1896, an iron swing bridge, and in 1962, the existing "sliding bridge"; the construction works of the 19th century destroyed the most part of the medieval castle built across the bridge. The cable stay suspension bridge which joins Chalcis to the mainland to the south was opened in 1993.

A special tidal phenomenon takes place in the strait, as strong tidal currents reverse direction once every six hours, creating strong currents and maelstroms.^[19][20]

Climate

Municipality

The municipality Chalcis was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:^[22]

• Anthidona
• Avlida
• Chalcis
• Lilantia
• Nea Artaki

The municipality has an area of 424.766 km², the municipal unit 30.804 km².^[23]

Transportation

M/V Arktos at Chalkis Shipyards.

• GR-44
• GR-77
• GR-1/E75 is south and west about 10 km (6 mi) from Chalcis in Boeotia.

In 2003, a bypass of Chalcis was opened from the southern part of the bridge to connect with GR-77, also with access to GR-44.

Chalcis is also the northern terminal of line 1 of Athens suburban railway (Proastiakos).

Historical population

Notable residents

Bust of philosopher Aristotle, from Chalcidice, apoikia of Chalkis.

• Aristotle (384-322 BC) ancient philosopher, lived in Chalcis the last year of his life (323-322 BC)
• Giovanni Maria Angiolello from Vicenza, Italy, 15th century.
• Yiannis Anastasopoulos (1931–present) author
• Sotiria Bellou (1921–1997) singer
• Angelos Basinas (1976–present) professional footballer
• Mordehai Frizis (1893–1940) military officer
• Konstantinos Kallias (1901–2004) politician
• Orestis Makris (1898–1975) actor and tenor
• Georgios Papanikolaou (1883–1962) physician, Pap smear test founder
• Nikos Skalkottas (1901–1949) composer
• Giannis Skarimpas (Agia Efthymia, 1893–1984) author
• Dimitris Theocharis (1977–present) photographer

Sports teams

Chalcis also has a water polo team named NC Chalkida, a football team named Chalkida F.C., as well as a junior football team named Evoikos Chalkida.

The Chalkida football team merged with Lilas Vasilikou for a period of two years (2004–2006). The team was finally dissolved because of financial difficulties. Although there was a team created with the same name (AOX) it does not represent the glorious team of the past.

Chalcis also has a basketball team (AGEX), which previously played in the Greek A2 Basketball League. For a while, Chalkida hosts the basketball team Ikaros Chalkidas that played in the top Greek Basket League.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Chalcis is twinned with:

• Wuhan

References

Citations

Bibliography

• "Euboeia", Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. VIII, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1878, pp. 647–9 .
• "Chalcis", Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. V, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911, p. 804 .
• "Chalcis", The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. III, New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1902, p. 661 .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chalkida.

• Photos from Chalcis, Evoia
• Herodotus Project: B+W photo essay of ancient Chalcis

		North Euboean Gulf	Nea Artaki
	Anthidona		Lilantia
		Chalcis (municipal unit)
	Avlida	South Euboean Gulf

Administrative division of the Central Greece Region
Area 15,549 km2 (6,004 sq mi) Population 547,390 (as of 2011) Municipalities 25 (since 2011) Capital Lamia
Regional unit of Boeotia	Aliartos Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra Livadeia Orchomenos Tanagra Thebes
Regional unit of Euboea	Chalcis Dirfys-Messapia Eretria Istiaia-Aidipsos Karystos Kymi-Aliveri Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna Skyros
Regional unit of Evrytania	Agrafa Karpenisi
Regional unit of Phocis	Delphi Dorida
Regional unit of Phthiotis	Amfikleia-Elateia Domokos Lamia Lokroi Makrakomi Molos-Agios Konstantinos Stylida
Regional governor Kostas Bakoyannis (since 2014) Decentralized Administration Thessaly and Central Greece

Prefectural capitals of Greece
Agios Nikolaos Alexandroupoli Amfissa Argostoli Arta Athens Chalcis Chania Chios Corfu Corinth Drama Edessa Eleusis Ermoupoli Florina Grevena Heraklion Igoumenitsa Ioannina Kalamata Karditsa Karpenisi Kastoria Katerini Kavala Kilkis Komotini Kozani Lamia Larissa Lefkada Livadeia Missolonghi Mytilene Nafplion Pallini Patras Piraeus Polygyros Preveza Pyrgos Rethymno Rhodes Serres Sparta Thessaloniki Trikala Tripoli Vathy Veria Volos Xanthi Zakynthos