Arcadia

Arcadia (Greek Αρκαδία, Arkadia) is a peripheral unit of Greece, in the Peloponnese region. Until January 1, 2011, it was one of the 51 prefectures into which the country was divided. It received its name from the mythological hero Arcas. Its capital is Tripoli.

Contemporary Arcadia

It is the largest prefecture on the Peloponnese peninsula. At present it covers 18% of the surface of the peninsula, although it reached up to 25%.

There is a ski resort on Mount Menalo. Arcadia is connected by the GR-7, E-55 motorway, which was built in 1997. There is a coal-fired power station and a nuclear power station located near Megalopolis that supply most of southern Greece with electricity. There is also a coal mine.

Arcadia has two tunnels. The first to open was the Artemisio tunnel, and the other is the eastern Megalopolis tunnel. Both connect traffic between Messinia and Athens.

The largest cities in the region are: Tripoli, Astros, Vytina, Dimitsaina, Langadi, Leonidi, Leontari, Levidi, Sinanu and Stremnitsa.

Geography

The prefecture is made up of mountain ranges, limestone plateaus with abundant chasms (the catavothres), valleys (the one of the Alfeo river), and humid depressions. The slopes are covered with pastures and forests of the Mediterranean type.

History

The regions of the Peloponnese in Antiquity. In the center of the peninsula is Arcadia.

The original settlers of Arcadia were the Pelasgians, a patriarchal pastoral people who resisted the hegemony of Sparta and who were organized as a confederation of republics, which remained independent. Megalopolis was founded in 370 B.C. C. by Epaminondas, and became the capital of Arcadia. After Roman domination, it was Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish, until it was integrated into the Republic of Greece.

It was a rural and humble town, so when it came to honoring fertility they couldn't do it with a bull, like the rest of the cultures that inherited the Mycenaean rites, so they chose to worship the male goat.

Over time, this figure was assimilated to that of the god Pan, represented as a goat, whose name comes from Paon, which means 'he who feeds' in the name of the god Pan. or 'shepherd'.

The fertility rites of the god Pan were adopted by Athens after the Persian war by the so-called Bacchae.

Today, arcadio is synonymous with brave and persevering.

Television

• Arkadiki Radiophonio Teleorassi - ART

Population

• 1951: 154.361 (density: 34.93/km2)
• 1961: 134,950
• 1971: 111.263
• 1991: 103,840
• 2005: 100,611 (density: 23.09/km2)

Municipalities

Since 2011 it is divided into 5 municipalities:

• Gortynia
• Megalopolis
• North Kynouria
• Kynouria Sur
• Tripoli