Volos

The return of the Argonauts by Constantine Volanakis (1837–1907).

Modern Volos is built on the area of the ancient cities of Demetrias, Pagasae and Iolcos. Demetrias was established in 293 BC by Demetrius Poliorcetes, King of Macedon.[3] Iolcus, or Iolkos, was known in mythology as the homeland of the hero Jason, who boarded the ship Argo accompanied by the Argonauts and sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece to Colchis.[4] To the west of Volos lie the Neolithic settlements of Dimini, with a ruined acropolis, walls, and two beehive tombs dating to between 4000–1200 BC, and Sesklo, with the remains of the oldest acropolis in Greece (6000 BC). The mound of Kastro/Palaia in western Volos is the site of a Bronze Age settlement, including a Mycenaean palace complex where a couple of preserved Linear B tablets have been found.[5][6]

Iolcus is still attested in the early Byzantine period but was eclipsed for most of the Middle Ages by Demetrias.[7] The Slavic tribe of the Belegezites settled in the area during the 7th century.[8]

Volos first appears again in 1333, as one of the cities captured by the Byzantine general John Monomachos in Thessaly, under the name "Golos" (Γόλος).[7] The name is of Slavic origin, from golo, golъ, "barren".[9][10] Another theory derives the name from Slavic golosh, "seat of administration".[11] Two alternative theories allude to a Greek origin through the words βολή (throw), as fishermen threw their nets into the sea from that area, and βώλος (piece of land) but the Greek scholar G. Hatzidakis considers them to be paretymologies at best.[9] The modern form of the name is first attested in 1540.[10]

The walls of medieval Golos follow the traces of the fortifications of ancient Iolcus, and many remnants of the ancient city have been found in the medieval citadel.[12]

Along with the rest of Thessaly, Volos fell under Serbian rule in 1348, governed by Gregory Preljub.[13] After Preljub's death Thessaly passed under the brief rule of Nikephoros II Orsini, followed by the Serbian rulers Simeon Uroš and John Uroš. After the latter's death in 1373, Thessaly returned under Byzantine rule for twenty years, until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid I.[14]

The port of Volos by Constantine Volanakis (c.1875).

Ottoman rule was not yet firm. The first period of Ottoman control lasted from 1393–1397, followed by another c. 1403, but it was not until 1423 that Volos was definitively incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.[11] The Ottoman name of the city was Ottoman Turkish: قلز, romanized: Quluz.[11] The Ottomans strengthened the town's fortifications against a possible Venetian attack, and installed not only a garrison, but also Muslim settlers from Anatolia.[11] The local Christian population in turn moved to the slopes of Pelion.[11] From this time on, Volos became the chief settlement on the Pagasetic Gulf.[12]

The city began to spread outside its walls in the late 16th/early 17th centuries, coinciding with a growth in commerce, helped by the city's famed twice-weekly local fair and the first works at the waterfront harbour.[11] The fortress was captured by the Venetians under Francesco Morosini in 1665, during the Cretan War, but recovered and refortified by the Ottomans.[11]

In May 1821, at the beginning of the Greek Revolution, the Greek rebels of Mount Pelion tried to capture the fortress but failed.[11] On 8 April 1827, the Greek fleet, under the command of the British philhellene Frank Abney Hastings, captured five Ottoman ships in the city's harbour and forced the local garrison to evacuate the fortress.[11] The provisional government of Greece claimed Volos as part of Greek national territory, but the Treaty of Constantinople (1832), which established a Greek independent state, set its northern boundary along a line running south from Arta to Volos.[15] Volos was incorporated into the Greek Kingdom in November 1881 with the rest of Thessaly.[11]

Photo of 1896

After its incorporation into the Greek Kingdom, the town had a population of only 4,900, but grew rapidly in the next four decades as merchants, businessmen, craftsmen and sailors gravitated toward it from the surrounding area. In the 1920s a large influx of refugees to the settlement took place, especially from Ionia, but also from Pontus, Cappadocia and Eastern Thrace. In 1882, Andreas Syngros established the Privileged Bank of Epirus and Thessaly, which the National Bank of Greece acquired in 1899 after its founder's death. Volos was occupied by Ottomans on 8 May 1897, during the Greco Turkish War.[16]

The city had a vibrant Jewish community in the early 20th century: from ≈500 in 1896, it rose to ≈2,000 in 1930, before falling drastically to 882 members in 1940, because of emigration to the great cities of Thessaloniki and Athens or abroad. During the Axis occupation of Greece, the prompt actions of the local chief rabbi, Moshe Pessach, and the Greek authorities saved about 700 of the local Jewish community from deportation to the Nazi death camps.[17]

After an aerial attack by Italian troops in November 1940 and another by the Germans in 1941, many of the city's inhabitants took refuge in the villages of Pelion. Abandoning Volos after Italy's capitulation in September 1943, the Italians left storerooms full of food, arms and ammunition. Large quantities of this material was transported with the Pelion railway to the mountain village Milies and under the supervision of ELAS loaded onto mules and taken to secure hideaways. When the Germans set off a column to Milies an officer and a soldier were killed by resistance fighters. In reprisal nearly the whole village was burnt down by German occupation troops on October 4, 1943. According to the official report of the municipality the Germans executed 25 men, and three inhabitants died in their houses from the flames.[18]

• 
  Modern sculpture of Argo, the mythic ship of the Argonauts, at the port
• 
  The church of Saints Constantine and Helen at the seafront
• 
  The city hall
• 
  St Nicholas, patron saint
• 
  Panoramic view

Volos is also well known for its assortment of mezedes and a clear alcoholic beverage known as tsipouro.

A street in a sister city, Rostov-on-Don, bears the name Улица Греческого Города Волос (Street of the Greek City of Volos), weaving through a mix of early 20th-century buildings with characteristic inner yards, tiered balconies and open iron stairs that lend the old Rostov its characteristic Mediterranean look.

In September 2023 the city of Volos was flooded by massive rain.[19]

The province of Volos (Greek: Επαρχία Βόλου) was one of the provinces of the Magnesia Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipalities Volos, Rigas Feraios, South Pelion and Zagora-Mouresi.[22] It was abolished in 2006.

Volos experiences a Csa hot-summer Mediterranean climate, with neither particularly high nor extremely low temperatures throughout the year. Its climate is one of fairly low humidity, favorable for all kinds of activities. Measurable rainfall occurs on average around 89 days per year. Thunderstorms occur sparsely throughout the year, more often during the warmer months. Snow occurs more or less every year on a few occasions, though it usually doesn't cause disruption to daily life. The Pelion mountain, with its own microclimate, affects the city's weather, acting as a rain shadow to the north-easterly winds thus limiting the amount of precipitation the city receives in comparison to the eastern side of the mountain.[23] Average temperature values, like in most regions, have slightly increased in more recent periods.

Several European countries have established consulates in Volos including:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands

Volos is twinned with:[28]

• Archaeological Museum of Volos[30]
• Volos Natural History Museum
• Modern History Museum of Volos City[31][32]
• Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre
• Thessaly Railway Museum, Railway Station of Volos
• The Rooftile and Brickworks Museum N. & S. Tsalapatas, National Museum of Industrial History[33]
• Entomological Museum of Volos [34]
• Theofilos Museum, Anakasia (works of the artist Theofilos Hatzimikhail)[35]

One of the main characteristics and most widely known specialities of Volos is its traditional drink, tsipouro, and the seafood that is served accompanying the drink.

Local specialities include:

• Boubari
• Spetzofai
• Melachrini (dessert)
• Spoon sweets
• Tsipouro (drink)

Volos, taking advantage of its physical setting by the sea, has a significant presence in Greek sporting history in the areas of rowing and sailing. The city also has two covered and one open sporting swimming pools, with a long history in swimming and water polo. Additionally, Volos has clubs and facilities in several sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and horseriding. The most popular clubs, with significant contributions to the sporting and cultural history of the city and significant successes in football, are Olympiakos Volou and Niki Volou. The main clubs of Volos are shown below :

With its sporting traditions, Volos was one of the five cities that played host to the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Since 2004, Volos's facilities have hosted significant sports events, such as the 27th European Championship of Artistic Gymnastics in 2006, the FIBA European Youth Championship (2015), when Greece won the gold medal, and the Finals of Greek Football Cup, in 2007 and 2017.

Volos is linked through Greece's E75 Highway Axis (most often known as PATHE) with Northern and Southern Greece. Beyond this, the Axis E65 will be the gateway to Western Greece and the port of Igoumenitsa, through the plains of inner Thessaly, when this part of the E65 link is completed.

The city of Volos, along with the rest of Central Greece, is linked to the rest of Greece and Europe by the Nea Anchialos National Airport. The airport has the second longest commercial runway in Greece after Eleftherios Venizelos.

Volos is the first city in Europe to feature Seaplane Services through Argo Airways, which is based in Volos. The seaplanes connect Volos with Skiathos, Skopelos, Allonisos, Athens and Thessaloniki.

Today, the city is served by direct lines to the rest of Greece, and the railway complex houses facilities for train maintenance. Volos is directly linked with Athens once per day, with Thessaloniki twice per day, and with Larissa 15 times a day. In the past, Volos was served by railway lines of three different gauges, the metre gauge line of Thessaly Railways to Kalampaka, the standard gauge line to Larissa and the 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) gauge line to Pelion. Remnants of triple gauge lines still exist near the station. Currently, the Pelion railway line operates for tourist reasons every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday from mid-April to the end of October. The train runs every day during July and August.

• Iason, mythological hero
• Peleus, mythological hero
• Chiron, centaur

• Giorgio de Chirico, painter (1888–1978)
• Vangelis, composer (1943–2022)
• John Argyris, pioneer in engineering, Professor of Imperial College London and University of Stuttgart (1913–2004)
• Fotis Kouvelis, politician, leader of the Democratic Left
• Dimitrios Trichopoulos, medical doctor, Professor of Harvard School of Public Health
• Georgios Kartalis, politician (1908–1957)
• Yorgos Foudoulis, musician and composer (1964)
• Moshe Pesach, rabbi of Volos and Chief Rabbi of Greece
• Lavrentis Mahairitsas, musician and songwriter (1956-2019)
• Artemis Alexiadou, linguist (1969)
• Yorgo Moutsiaras, orchestral conductor (1976)
• Apostolia Zoi, singer (1980)
• Andromache (Mary) Mavroyeni Papanicolaou, (1890-1982), wife of George N. Papanicolaou, MD, PhD and first cytotechnologist

• Vasileios Polymeros, rower, olympic medalist (1976)
• Nikolaos Skiathitis, rower, olympic medalist (1981)
• Olga Vasdeki, triple jumper (1973)
• Spyridon Vasdekis, long jumper (1970)
• Paraskevi Tsiamita, triple, long jumper (1972)
• Nikos Boudouris, basketball player (1971)
• Panagiotis Liadelis, basketball player (1974)
• Athanasios Kostoulas, football player (1976)
• Efthalia Koutroumanidou, beach volleyball player (1982)
• Evanthia Makrygianni, synchronized swimmer (1986)
• Christos Volikakis, track cyclist (1988)
• Adam Tzanetopoulos, football player (1995)