Dionysos, Greece

Dionysos (Διόνυσος) is a northern suburb of the Athens agglomeration and a municipality in northeastern Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Agios Stefanos.

Geography
Dionysos is situated on the northeastern slopes of the forested Penteliko Mountains. It is 5 km south of Agios Stefanos, 9 km west of Nea Makri, on the Aegean Sea coast, and 18 km northeast of Athens city centre. Its built-up area is continuous with those of the neighbouring suburbs Drosia and Rodopoli to the northwest. Even though the town is located only 20 Kilometres away from central Athens, it has a completely different climate, with weather being significantly cooler, including frequent snowfall during the winter. Motorway 1 (Athens – Lamia – Thessaloniki) and the railway from Athens to Thessaloniki pass through the western part of the municipality, near Agios Stefanos. There is a railway station at Agios Stefanos. Dionysos is connected to Kifisia by the 536 Dionysos-Kifisia bus service.

Climate
Dionysos has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). Thrakomakedones experiences hot, relatively dry summers and cool, wet winters.

History
The town was known by the Arvanitika name Tzamali (Τζαμάλη) up until 1928 when it was renamed Dionysos. The sanctuary of Dionysus of Icaria was rediscovered by archaeology in 1888.

Culture
Dionysos hosts an annual open summer festival usually every July, featuring art exhibitions, theatrical performances, musical shows, sculpture painting and other arts. The public library of Dionysos is located in the town hall, includes over 3500 books available to registered residents to borrow for free. It is run by local volunteers.

Municipality
The municipality Dionysos was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 7 former municipalities, that became municipal units:
 * Agios Stefanos
 * Anoixi
 * Dionysos
 * Drosia
 * Kryoneri
 * Rodopoli
 * Stamata

The municipality has an area of 69.360 km2, the municipal unit 21.410 km2.

Notable people

 * Thespis, (6th century BC) actor
 * Kostas Martakis, singer
 * Aristi Tsipras, mother of the former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras