THE SACRED CITY OF GREECE |
Messolonghi the capital of the
prefecture of Aetolia and Akarnania is a small town situated in central western
Greece on the coast of the famous lagoon of Messolonghi and Aetoliko. Aetoliko
is a smaller town on an island of the same lagoon.
The area of the broader municipality
extends between the two well known rivers Acheloos and Evinos and also between
the lagoon and the mountain Arakinthos.
On the slopes of Arakinthos two very
important greek cities had been flourishing for
centuries since early antiquity. Calydon and Plevron had participated in the
two great ancient greek expeditions, those of the
Argonauts and against Troy.
Also Hercules had worked here to tame
river Acheloos and in exchange the King of Calydon Oeneas
gave him his beautiful daughter Deianira, as wife.
Today the impressive walls and the
other monuments of the two towns are alive, and their two theaters may be
visited. Besides one more important city, Alicyrna
had been built between the two others during later times. Its remains had been
found recently during the construction of the new National Highway.
If we add the remains of one more
important ancient town, Oiniades, on the other side of Acheloos with its big
theater we understand that the area had been the center of a very important
ancient civilization.
More recently, but still since a lot
of centuries, two new important towns have been built on small islands in the
lagoon, Messolonghi and Aetoliko, while a lot of other villages surround them in
the very fertile land between the two rivers.
Messolonghi has been the center of
the greek revolution against Ottoman Turks (1821 – 29)
in Western Greece and has resisted their military pressure from 1822 up to
1826.
On April 10, 1826 (April 23 of the new
calendar) after a siege of one year by the joint forces of the Ottomans and
those of the Pasha of Egypt the defenders of the City decided to not surrender
but to try to fight through the enemy forces. Their plans had been betrayed and
only a few had been able to run to the mountain and to Liberty. More than 3000
men had been killed while more than 6000 women and children had been sold as
slaves.
The Exodus of Messolonghi has been
one of the most heroic acts of the Greek Revolution and has influenced greatly
its successful end with the intervention of Russia, France and Great Britain in
favour of the Greeks. This is why the town has been named the Sacred City of
Greece.