Last modified: 2019-07-06 by ivan sache
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Flag of Trikala - Image by Tomislav Šipek, 8 May 2019
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The municipality of Trikala (81,355 inhabitants in 2001; 60,759 ha) was formed in the 2011 local government reform as the merger of the former municipalities of Estiaiotida (Εστιαιώτιδα, 2,976 inh.), Faloreia (Φαλωρεία, 4,085 inh.), Kallidendro (Καλλίδενδρο, 2,456 inh.), Koziakas (Κόζιακας, 2,894 inh.), Megala Kalyvia (Μεγάλα Καλύβια, 3,169 inh.), Paliokastro (Παληόκαστρο, 3,461 inh.), Paralithaioi (Παραληθαίοι, 3,689 inh.), and Trikala (62,154 inh.).
Ivan Sache, 14 June 2014
The flag of Trikala (photo) is white with the municipal emblem.
The lower legend on the emblem reads "Asklepios - Trikke", recalling
that the old town of Trikke was the alleged birth place and main
residence of Asclepius, god of medicine.
The emblem represents Asclepius in front of an asclepeion, Asclepius'
healing temple. Little has remained from Trikala asclepeion; the
building on the emblem appears to have been modeled after Paros asclepeion.
Ancient Trikki, an important city of the Thessalian tetrarchy of
Estiaotida, sprawled between the Lithaios river - which still crosses
today's modern city - and on the Kastro hill where probably the
ancient citadel was. In the city there was one of the oldest healing
temples of Asclepius. The earliest proof about Trikki is in the Homeric
List of Ships, which mentions that the city participated in the
expeditionary force of the Greeks in the Trojan War with 30 ships
commanded by the two sons of Asclepius, Mahaonas and Podalerios, who had
been taught medicine by their father.
The connection of the city with Asclepius - the antiquity of the city
was known as "ancient and prominent", according to the geographer of the 1st century. B.C. Strabo - gave Trikki a special radiance in Greece.
The archaeological excavation began to bring to light and reconstruct
the image of ancient Trikki from the late 19th century, when (following
the excavation of the Asclepius of Epidaurus) the researchers were interested in the revelation and the same name of the ancient Asclepius
of Trikki. The archaeological excavations that were carried out on the
site on adjacent, private plots from 1902 to 1992 had a rescue character
and brought to light three buildings of early Roman times and one
belonging to the Byzantine period.
A stoic building, one with mosaic floors, a bath and a small Byzantine
temple, has been revealed. The first three buildings were recognized by
the excavators as a public landmark and were reserved for the wider
complex of the city's asclepeion. These buildings, which belong to the
town of late Hellenistic and early Roman times, have been partially
revealed, while parts of them are remaining under the modern streets and
private buildings that surround the archaeological site.
The post-Hellenistic stoic building is located in the central spot of
the site, and parts of its south and west sides have been revealed, as
well as a part of the open-plan, decking floor, central courtyard,
surrounded by galleries at least on both sides of it. The building was
built in the first half of the 1st century. B.C. and ceased to be used
at the end of the 3rd century A.D., when a Roman bath was built in the
southern part of the courtyard. With regard to its use, it is likely
that, according to the excavator, it is about the high school of ancient
Trikki.
Part of the large mosaic flooring, called "building A", was revealed in
the northwest of the Late Hellenistic Stoic Building. Two building
phases have been distinguished, of which the earliest dates back to the
first half of the 1st century B.C. and the second in the second quarter
of the 3rd c. A.D. From the last phase of the building comes the
so-called "mosaic of Lycurgus", depicting the mythical King Lycurgus,
occupied by mania and holding a double ax, preparing to attack the wet
nurse of god Dionysus, nymph Ambrose, as well as another mosaic with a
representation also from the Dionysian circle (a standing young satyr
and an old man on a mule).
From the compound of the Roman bath (built at the end of the 3rd
century AD, on the south part of the atrium of the post-Hellenistic
stoic building, and was repaired at the end of the 4th c. A.D.) parts of
the heating places have been revealed, the "praefurnium" and a squared
swimming pool. Apart from today's visible parts of the bath, they had
been discovered during the construction of an adjacent building, and
four tepid water halls and a rest room. At the southwest end part of the
archaeological site has come to light a small Byzantine temple dating
back to the 12th and 13th century AD.
[Municipal website]
Paliokastro
Flag of Paliokastro - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 14 June 2014
The flag of Paliokastro (Kokkonis website) was white with the municipal emblem, showing a castle, and the name of the municipality.
Olivier Touzeau, 14 June 2014
Paralithaioi
Flag of Paralithaioi - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 9 December 2014
The seat of the municipality was in Rizoma (Ρίζωμα, 1,380 inh.).
The flag of Paralithaioi (Kokkonis website) was white with the municipal emblem in the center.
Olivier Touzeau, 9 December 2014