Heraklia, Ilia

Heraklia (Greek: Ηράκλεια "Irakl(e)ia", accented form: "Irákl(e)ia"), older form: Herakleia is a village in the municipality of Ancient Olympia, Ilia Prefecture, Greece. Its 2001 population was 388 for the village and the municipal district.

Nearest places

*Grammatiko, north
*Pournari, southeast
*Latzoio, northwest
*Smila, southwest

Population

Location and transportation

Heraklia is located 10 km northwest of Olympia, 15 km northeast of Pyrgos and about 115 km south of Patras. It is connected by the old GR-74 (Tripoli - Olympia - Pyrgos).

The village has about 3 km of paved road and about 4 km of gravel road. It has about 4 km of hydro lines, phone lines are around 3 km.

Geography

Its geography compromises of groves and almost the whole crop, farmlands that covers the western portions including some hills, forests are to the west near the municipal district boundary and the remains of a swamp area that once covered the flat part of northern Elis. They are made up of grasses, marshes and bushes lie to the northeast.

History

Herakleia was well known during the ancient times and also dates back. It was the capital of Ancient Elis and today a village built in the rubble of the ancient cities. The seat was located around 50 stadia (modern 10 km) northwest of Olympia built by the Kythiros river. In the vicinity had several springs which still exists into the present. In the springs had the holy Ionian nymphs (Calliphaeia, Synallasia, Pegaea). The spring water believed that cures all the sicknesses and pain for some reasons. The nymphs were named in that fashion from Ion, son of Athenian Gragettus which he settled in the city [Pausanias "Eleaka" II] [Strabo V] . Between the sacking of the village in the 4th century AD and the Greek War of Independence, the village was poorly recorded, sometimes unrecorded. The area was under Ottoman rule until independence. It was administered into the municipality of Olympia in the 1830s which lasted until 1913 and did not recreated until 1997. Agriculture and economy improved during that period.

After World War II and the Greek Civil War, most of its buildings were rebuilt. Electricity, radio and automobiles were introduced in the mid-20th century, television in the late-20th century and computer and internet at the turn of the millennium. During the creation and recreation of the municipalities under the Capodistrian Plan in 1997, it became a part of the municipality of Olympia and its commune or community was transformed into a municipal district. Heraklia was affected by the furious forest fire, though the area was uncertain that most of the forests were burnt but portions escaped that furiosity, also uncertain was the number of houses burnt. The fire occurred on Monday August 27.

Today, the ruins are built as the village of Heraklia.

Economy

Its main economy is agriculture, its main production includes olives, citrus and cattle.

Other

Heraklia has a school, a church, a post office, and a square ("plateia"). Its nearest school, lyceum (middle school) and gymnasium (secondary school) are in Olympia and Varvasena.

ee also

*List of places in the Ilia prefecture
*Administrative divisions of the Ilia prefecture

References

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=4446 Heraklia at the GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.696&longitude=21.5038&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/mapz.aspx?&lats1=37.696&longs=21.5038&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.696,21.5038 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.696&lon=21.5038&mag=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.696,21.5038&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.696|21.5038&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Heraklia's coordinates is at: coord|37|41|40|N|21|31|15|E|type:city(388)_region:GR