Marathokampos village

Fast facts

Population 2021: 1.690 inhabitants
Older Censuses 2011: 1.931, 2001: 1.960, 1991: 1.892, 1981: 2.080, 1928: 3.622, 1886, 3.750, 1828, 3.147 inhabitants
Population density per Km²  35 inhabitants
Village altitude  270 m
Region averege altitude 169 m, mountain
Village land area  0,16 km²
Region land area 48,07 km²
Parish churches 4 orthodox, Agia Paraskevi (three-aisled Basilica with a dome), Agia Triada (Double-aisled from 1798), Agios Antonios (~18th century) and Prophet Elias (with four aisles).
Economy relies mainly agriculture & tourism, less in fishing, with many sailors.In the past, they produced anise, silkworms and carobs for animal feed. Until the end of the 19th century it had a large commercial fleet of wooden boats and significant trade.

Description

Marathokampos village (Greek: Μαραθόκαμπος), is located at the eastern foothills of Kerkis mountain, on the southerly hillside “Fterias”.  

The distances are:  from Samos town 44 km, from Karlovasi town 13 Km and from Pythagorio town 33 Km.  It’s the southwestern-most municipality of Samos (till 2011) and current “center of Marathokampos municipal unity”.

Administratively consists,the municipal community of Marathokampos, which belongs to Marathokampos municipal unit, of West Samos Municipality with Karlovasi capital.

Is built amphitheatrically, with stunning view to Aegean sea till the islands of Fourni, Patmos, Arki, Lipsi, Agathonisi Samiopoula even in Leros and kalimno, when the weather permits.

The beautiful traditional village houses are built very close to each other, thus creating a maze of streets, which was one way of defense against pirate attacks.

The village preserves elements of the local traditional architecture and since 2002, has been characterized by the Greek goverment, as settlement of special natural beauty (4754 / 30-4-2002), with many restrictions on the houses construction and repair.

History

The first settlement of the area in the middle of the 16th century, was “Loukeika“, from the name of the settler, near Kampos Marathokampou. It was soon abandoned, probably for security reasons by pirate raids, and its inhabitants moved to Marathokampos, which was just beginning to form.

Marathokampos was first inhabited at the end of the 16th c., according to reports about the village. In 1624 the abbot of the Monastery of Hozoviotissa, Theodosios, writes in his will that he was born in Marathokampos, while in 1666-1671 Archbishop Joseph Georgirinis mentions in a book that Marathokampos had 200 houses and two churches.

Among the first settlers of the village were the Chians and the Chiosamians, that is, the Samians who had taken refuge to Chios, during the desolation of Samos, who with their arrival brought the cult, but also the icons of Saint Matrona, which located in the parish Church of the Prophet Elijah (Elias).

At about the same period, settlers followed from the area of ​​Vatika, in the southeastern Peloponnese, where it came from and the settlement name “Vatikiotika” (=from Vatika). The war situation that prevailed at that time in the Peloponnese, between the Venetians and the Turks, and the late domination of the Turks, led many Peloponnesians to emigrate persecuted by the Ottoman Turks. Many of them chose Samos in order to gain freedom and free land, according to the privileges offered by Kilic Ali Pasha, with the recolonization of the island from 1562.

Apart the Chians and the Peloponnesians, other smaller groups of settlers followed and settled in Marathokampos, as from the islands of Karpathos, Crete, Ikaria, Kalymnos, Karystos, Patmos and Cyprus according to Em. Kritikidis in the Topography of Samos (1869).

Kritikidis mentions that the first settlers came from Gytheio, or Marathonisi, (as the area called that time) in Peloponnese, from where Marathokampos took its name. This view is probably not valid since at that time the area of Gythio was completely deserted from human life and moreover according to research by Ep. Stamatiadis, who reports in Samiaka (1886), did not find population movements from the wider area of Gytheio to Samos .

Marathokampos during 18th and 19th c. was one of the most economically prosperous towns of the island, with a large merchant fleet of wooden boats and significant trade, but in 1834, with the proclamation of Samos as hegemony, a deep crisis was created in the village economy, with serious socio-economic upheavals, causing a large wave of migration.

At the end of the 19th c. Marathokampos had public and municipal services, a district court (to which Karlovasi also belonged), a primary school, a gymnasium, a girls’ school and seven parish churches. Its economy relied on 403 farmers, 50 merchants, 14 landowners, 300 sailors, 280 craftsmen, 14 priests and 4 teachers, while operating 6 olive mills, a soap factory (at Ormos Marathokampou that still operates) and many shipbuilding and repair units (shipyards) at Ormos Marathokampou.

Ep. Stamatiadis, in Samiaka (1886) characterizes the inhabitants of Marathokampos, as large sized, with physical strength, healthy, brave and long-lived, many of whom were over 100 years old. Characteristically, he mentions the residents, Ignatios Papalexandris who died at the age of 108, his wife 105 years old and Georgios Harakas 110 years old.

Marathokampos is the birthplace of brothers Antonis and Stamatis Georgiadis or Captain Stamatis, pioneers of the Samian revolution against Othomans Turks at 1821. Captain Stamatis was born in 1775 in Marathokampos, originally from the Peloponnese. During the period of the Samian revolution, he was appointed as a major by Lycurgus Logothetis and later honored by the Greek government with the rank of colonel, the medal of the Struggle and the golden cross of the Savior. He died in 1861, at the age of 86 in Chalkida,of Evia.

Name

Marathokampos (Μαραθόκαμπος) in Greek means fennel (=marathos) plain (=kampos).

Most likely, the name of the village comes from the fennel plant that grows in abundance at the wider area, this is also evidenced by the names “Aintovali” or “Marathron” that Othoman-Turks was used, for the village. In addition, the abundance of fennel was a major source of income for the village economy, as they was collecte the seeds of the plant, that served to flavoring the cooking, the candies, and especially at ouzo, instead of anise, with which it has the same essential oils and aromas.

Kritikidis mentions that the name of the village came from the first inhabitants of the village who came from Gytheio, or Marathonisi, (as the area called that time) in Peloponnese. This view is probably not valid since at that time the area of Gythio was completely deserted from human life and moreover according to research by Ep. Stamatiadis, who reports in Samiaka (1886), did not find population movements from the wider area of Gytheio to Samos.

Settlements

Eight settlements belong to Marathokampos village,
> Sevasteika settlement, 4 Km north-east from the village (now uninhabited).  It is a family settlement whose name came from the surname of the first settler Sevastakis. At the end of the 19th century it had 15 houses, a temple and 34 inhabitants.
> Velanidia settlement, 5 Km south-east from the village, with 74 inhabitants,
> Ormos Marathokampou settlement 4,5 Km south from the village with 35 inhabitants,
> Kampos Marathokampou settlement  7 Km south-west from the village with 489 inhabitants,
> Isomata settlement 9 Km south-west from the village (in between Kampos & Limnionas) with 6 inhabitants,
> Limnionas settlement 13 Km south-west from the village with 35 inhabitants,
> Agia Kiriaki settlement 13 Km south-west from the village with 42 inhabitants and
> Paleochori settlement 19 Km south-west from the village with 15 inhabitants.

Until 1950, the family settlement Sakleika or Sakkouleika belonged to the periphery of the village, which today belongs to Karlovasi town. Its name came from the first settler surname Sakklas or Sakkoulas according to Ep. Stamatiadis. At the end of the 19th century it had 15 houses, a temple and 82 inhabitants.

Sklavnareika, and Stamouleika were two more family settlements that belonged to the village, which its desolate any more. The first took its name from the surname Sklavounos and the second from the surname Stamoulos.

Tips

• It is worth a walk in the narrow winding streets of the village, with its picturesque arches and impressive architecture, you will definitely be impressed.
• Visit the oldest church of the village, Agios Athanasios, or Aithanasakis, as it’s called from the villagers, one of its the aisles of which is dedicated to Agia Varvara.
• You can also visit the ornate marble public fountain of “Luga”, with the age-old plane tree, built during the reign of the ruler Kon. Adosidis, in 1881.
• Visit the monastery, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, built in the early 19th century.
• Following the uphill road next to the parking lot of the village (to the Police station) and after a very beautiful, asphalt road 4.5 km, you will find yourself in the cave of Pythagoras, at the foot of Mount Kerkis. From there the road continues to Kampos Marathokampou, but it is a dirt road.
• Continuing the route next to the parking lot of the village, you will end up in the picturesque village of Ormos Marathokampou and then in Kampos Marathokampou with the beautiful beaches.
• Do not miss the impressive custom of “bombshell” the next day of the Orthodox Easter

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