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Aetos

COUNTY: Messinia MUNICIPALITY: Trifylia

Clouds
18.49ºC

Population

100 - 500

Infrastracture

Medical Centre

Distance from nearest city

10-35km

TL;DR

A quaint, picturesque village near Kyparissia, with a long history dating back to the prehistoric times, many churches and other archaeological sites.

A mountainous village of 360 residents, built on an altitude of 377 metres, 24 kilometres from Kyparissia. In 1883 cyclopean walls were unearthed in the Agrilies location, proving that the area was inhabited since prehistoric times. Stone Age shells and a huge number of ceramics also support this. More findings show that the area was inhabited after that age; these include a small marble statue of a naked teen, a white marble torso of a man, a marble statue of a woman, with missing head and limbs, wearing a pleated tunic, among other stone tools.

Proof of inhabitation during Byzantine times also exist. A Byzantine church, dedicated to Mary the Mother of God, built in the 10th century and decorated with beautiful murals. Next to it, is the church of Agios Dimitrios, built in 1825. During the Byzantine period, a castle was built on the old acropolis of the city, named Castle of the Eagle (Aetos in Greek). Other findings come from the Venetian period, as well.

In 1454, the village was destroyed by Mehmed the Conqueror, and it was destroyed again by the Turks in 1647, during a local rebellion. In the 11th of September 1945, the army of the Germans bombarded and then set on fire the village, as a revenge for the deaths of the German soldiers on the hands of the rebels.

The village of Aetos has seen much violence, more than most places of Greece, suffering greatly under the German Occupation. The village itself, as it stands today, is quaint and picturesque, with many stone houses, while the surrounding area is full of verdant forests, springs and perennial plane trees.