Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brief history
Anciently known as the
Moreas
, from the resemblance of its outline to the leaf of a
mulberry tree (
mouriá
), the Peloponnese was home to some of the most powerful rulers
in ancient Greece. During the
Mycenaean period
(around 2000-1100 BC), the peninsula
hosted the semi-legendary kingdoms of Agamemnon at Mycenae, Nestor at Pýlos and
Menelaus at Sparta. In the
Dorian
and
Classical
eras, the region's principal city-state was
Sparta, which, with its allies, brought down Athens in the ruinous Peloponnesian War.
Under
Roman
rule, Corinth was the capital of the southern Greek province.
From the decline of the Roman Empire to the Ottoman conquest, the Peloponnese
pursued a more complex, individual course from the rest of Greece. A succession of
occupations and conquests
, with attendant outposts and
castles
, left an extraordinary
legacy of medieval remains. It retained a nominally Roman civilization well after
colonial rule had dissipated, with Corinth at the fore until it was destroyed by two
major
earthquakes
in the fourth and sixth centuries.
he
Byzantines
established their courts, castles and towns from the ninth century
onward; their control, however, was only partial. The
Venetians
dominated the coast,
founding trading ports at Monemvasiá, Pýlos and Koróni, which endured, for the most
part, into the fifteenth century. The
Franks
, fresh from the sacking of Constantinople
in the Fourth Crusade, arrived in 1204 and swiftly conquered large tracts of the
peninsula, dividing it into feudal baronies under a prince of the Moreas.
Towards the mid-thirteenth century, there was a remarkable
Byzantine renaissance
,
which spread from the court at Mystra to reassert control over the peninsula. A last
flicker of “Greek” rule, it was eventually extinguished by the
Turkish conquest
between
1458 and 1460, and was to lie dormant, save for sporadic rebellions in the perennially
intransigent Máni, until the nineteenth-century
Greek War of Independence
.
2
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries
The Peloponnese played a major part in the revolt against the Turks, with local heroes
Theodhoros Kolokotronis
and
Petros Mavromihalis
becoming important military
leaders. At Pýlos, the international but accidental naval battle at
Navarino Bay
in 1827
decided the war, and the
first Greek parliament
was convened at Náfplio. After
independence, however, power swiftly drained away from the Peloponnese to Athens,
where it was to stay. The peninsula became disaffected, highlighted by the
assassination
of Kapodhistrías
, the first Greek president, by Maniots in Náfplio.
hroughout the
nineteenth
and
early twentieth centuries
, the region developed
important ports at Pátra, Kórinthos and Kalamáta, but its interior reverted to
backwater status, starting a population decline that has continued up to the present. It
was little disturbed until
World War II
, during which the area saw some of the worst
German atrocities; there was much brave resistance in the mountains, but also some of
the most shameful collaboration. The subsequent
civil war
left many of the towns
polarized and physically in ruins; in its wake there was substantial
emigration
from
both towns and countryside, to North America and Australia in particular.
Earthquakes
still cause considerable disruption, as at Kórinthos in 1981, Kalamáta in 1986, and
Éyio in 1995.
Today, the southern Peloponnese has a reputation for being one of the most
traditional and politically
conservative
regions of Greece. The people are held in rather
poor regard by other Greeks, though to outsiders they seem unfailingly hospitable.
ARRIVAL AND GETTING AROUND
THE PELOPONNESE
By bus
Buses from Athens (hourly, 1hr) to the Peloponnese
run along the highway past Elefsína and over the Corinth
Canal to the Isthmós KTEL station 6km east of the modern
town of Kórinthos. If you're going on to Mycenae, Árgos or
Náfplio as well as to Nemea, change here rather than at
Kórinthos (see opposite). Once on the peninsula bus
services are fast and regular on the main routes between
the seven provincial capitals, Kórinthos, Náfplio, Trípoli,
Spárti, Kalamáta, Pýrgos and Pátra.
By train
Athens' commuter train network, the Proastiakos,
