Last modified: 2014-11-15 by ivan sache
Keywords: syros-ermoupoli |
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![[Flag]](../images/g/gr-ai-se.gif)
Flag of Syros-Ermoupoli - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 8 June 2014
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The municipality of Syros-Ermoupoli (21,507 inhabitants in 2011, 8,360 ha), covering the whole island of Syros, was formed in the 2011 local government reform as the merger of the former municipalities of Ermoupoli (Ερμούπολη, 13,400 inh.), Ano Syros ( Άνω Σύρος, 3,376 inh.), and Poseidonia (Ποσειδωνία, 3,006 inh.).
he island was first called Syra, then Syros or Siros, and appears in
ancient times to have been inhabited by the Phoenicians. In the Odyssey,
Syros was the country of the swineherd Eumaeus. The island was also the home of the philosopher Pherecydes, the teacher of Pythagoras. The island did not play an important role during antiquity.
The island, along with the other Cyclades, was devastated several times
during the Middle Ages by raiders from different directions including
Sicilians, Arabs, Turks, and Venetians.
In the Byzantine years Syros constituted part of the Aegean Dominion, along
with the rest of the Cycladic islands. After the overthrow of the Byzantium
in the Fourth Crusade by the Venetians and Franks in 1204, it was
definitively
conquered by the Venetians under the leadership of Marco Sanudo and as part
of the Duchy of the Archipelago.
In 1522 the corsair Barbarossa took possession of the island, which would be
known as Sire during the Ottoman rule. Negotiations of the local authorities
with the Ottomans gave the Cyclades substantial privileges, such as the
reduction of taxes and religious freedom. After the second half of the 17th
century, a period of economic recovery of the Aegean began. Due to its
crucial geographical position, Syros became known as a maritime way-point.
The special social, religious and institutional conditions
prevailing on the island led Syriots to neutrality at the beginning of the
Greek Revolution in 1821. After 1829, Syros was incorporated in the
newly founded Hellenic kingdom.
Olivier Touzeau, 8 June 2014
The flag of Syros-Ermoupoli (photo) was adopted in September 2013 (news report). The flag is in proportions 113:200, blue with the municipality emblem on a white disk in the middle, and the name of the
municipality, in white letters, beneath.
An earlier proposal for the flag of the new municipality (photo), rejected in May 2013, was white with a blue border and the emblem of the municipality in the
center.
Olivier Touzeau & Paraskevas Renesis, 8 June 2014