Greek islands

Number by catalogue:  Michel: 2264   Yvert: 2242   Scott: 2166  

Perforation type: 14x13 ¾

Subject:

3 cents. View of Karpathos Island*

Additional:

*Karpathos (Greek: Κάρπαθος) is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. The island is comprised of the municipality of Karpathos plus the community of Olympos. Part of Olympos also extends north to the neighboring Saria Island.

 

The island is located about 47 kilometers southwest of Rhodes, in the part of the Mediterranean which is called, after it, the "Carpathian Sea" (Carpathium Mare). Karpathos comprises 10 villages. All villages preserve intensively the traditional style of the island. In the southeast of the island you can find Pigadia (Officially: Karpathos City), capital and main port of the island. The capital is surrounded by the villages of Menetes, Arkasa, Aperi, Volada, Othos, and Pyles. In the North one can find Mesochori, Spoa and Olymbos the last village in the North of the island, of great folkloric and architectural interest. There are two ports in the island; one is in the town of Karpathos and the other in the north of the island next to Olympos named Diafani.

 

War and conquest define Karpathos' history. Karpathians fought with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC and lost their independence to Rhodes in 400 BC. In 42 BC the island fell to Rome. In the following centuries, Karpathos was ruled in turn by the Arabs, the Genovese pirate Moresco, the Venetians, and the Ottoman Empire. It was both in ancient and medieval times closely connected with Rhodes; it was held by noble families under Venetian suzerainty, notably the Cornaro from 1306 to 1540, when it finally passed into the possession of the Turks. From its remote position Karpathos has preserved many peculiarities of dress, customs and dialect, the last resembling those of Crete and Cyprus. Ottoman rule ended when the Italians conquered the island, together with the whole Dodecanese, during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. Karpathos even found itself ruled by the Italians years before the end of World War II. Karpathos became Greek territory in 1948. Its current name is mentioned, with a slight shift of one letter, in Homer's Iliad as Krapathos (Οι δ'αρα Νίσυρον τ'είχον Κράπαθον τε Κάσον τε).

Despite such a scattered past, the last half-century has been pivotal in the development of the island's character. A war-ravaged economy sent many a Karpathian to the U.S. eastern seaboard cities; Karpathos today has a significant Greek-American constituency who have returned to their beloved island and invested heavily. As a result, Pigadia and other towns successfully infuse modern elements into a traditional setting. In the mountains to the north, a world unto itself, residents preserve tradition almost religiously.