User:Aggelos Tselios/Kostakioi

Kostakioi (Greek: Κωστακιοί, /kostaˈkʲi/) or Kostakii is a small town and formerly a village in the municipality of Arta, Greece, in the countryside of Arta, having a distance of 3 kilometers from the city itself. It has a population of 2036, according to the 2011 census.

After the Kapodistrias reform, Kostakioi was incorporated in the municipality of Arta, where it remained after the new regional divisions of the Kallikratis reform. Kostakioi, along with the settlements of Siggouneika and Thanaseika form the local community of Kostakioi with a total population of 2.133.

Ancient History
Kostakioi, along with the rest of the villages of the plane is located in a location which was inhabited in antiquity from the Dryopes, a Thesprotian tribe, that were forcefully removed in 625 BCE from the Corinthians. The findings of an archeological research, justify the existence of housing in the local area. Further diggings that were made in Paleokklisi of Kostakioi brought to light a mosaic floor from the Roman period.

17th - 19th century
The first source that makes us aware of the existence of the village is a book note where a reference is made to the Hieromonk Eugene from Kostakioi, who, in October of 1670, went to the monastery of Coronesia and built the cells of the monastery, as well as contentranting the monks.

According to Venetian sources, in 1697, Kostakioi along with numerous other villages of Arta paid a tax to the Venetian administration in exchange for protection from pirate raids. An example can be given from the Maniat pirate Limberakis Gherakaris, who, in 1696, plundered Arta and other villages of the plain. The Arteans sent letter to the Doge of Venice and informed him regarding the raid of Gherakaris, which was signed, along with others, from the priest of the village.

William Turner visited Kostakioi in 1813 and references that the 40 houses of the village were well-maintained with aesthetic gardens. The village reminded him heavily of the villages in the English countryside, also noting that he met women working and children playing outside the houses, while simultaneously he informs us about the nice-looking church that existed in Kostakioi.

According to Spyridonas Aravantinos' "History of Ali Pasha from Tepeleni", Kostakioi was personal property of the Pasha of Ioannina, who owned most of the plain. Similarly, the work of Constantine Diamantis with title "Η Άρτα και τα περίχωρα αυτής κατά τους χρόνους της επανάστασης" (Arta and the villages around it during the revolution years), Kostakioi was an important settlement with 90 families when the Greek War of Independence broke out.

Liberation and modern history
The Greek army finally liberated the village during October 1912, amidst the First Balkan War, along with Preveza and other areas of South-Western Epirus.