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= Karyes, Laconia =

Karyes (Greek: Καρυές, before 1930: Αράχωβα - Arachova) is a village of the Peloponnese peninsula, which is located in the southern part of Greece. The Peloponnese is made up of a number of states and Karyes belongs to the state of Laconia in which Sparta is the capital. Karyes gets its official name from the word ‘walnut’ due to the village having many walnut trees. It has been spelled a number of ways such as Karyes, Karyai, Karya, Caryes and Caryai and should not be confused with some other villages in Greece which go by the same name such as Caria of Asia Minor, Karyes, Mount Athos and Karya of Argos. Karyes also goes by the name of Arahova which was thought to have originated from the Slavic word for walnut (not to be confused with Arahova of Boetia, Greece). Karyes is the birthplace of the six ‘caryatid maidens’ which are featured in architecture in the place of columns on the ancient and world famous Erectheion of the Acropolis.

The Caryatids
The original caryatid maidens of the Acropolis were replaced by replicas due to air pollution and the originals are now housed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, except one which was stolen by the command of British Lord Elgin and is now held in the British Museum in London. There are two different views for the meaning behind the caryatid maidens in the literature, the first being a dancer from the village of Karyes and the second an imprisoned slave. Geographer Pausanias’ historical account provides evidence for the history behind the Caryatid statues as representing dancers as he states every year the Lacedaemonian, virgin dancers would perform the dance of ‘caryatis’ in service to the goddess Artemis Caryatis at a summer festival in Karyes called Karyateia. The original caryatids were dancers from Karyes but later, any female from the Laconian area who performed this dance was called a caryatid. The goddess Artemis was sacred in the Peloponnese area and there were many temples and sanctuaries dedicated to her and the nymphs.

Roman architect Vitruvius had his own opinion on the history behind the caryatids maiden statues. Vitruvius' less accepted view was that the caryatids represent the maidens of Karyes who were carried away and held in captivity as slaves, as a form of punishment for siding with the Persian enemies against the Spartans. He believes they were later depicted in Greek architecture as holding a great burden for being traitors and their portrayal in architecture was a way of commemorating this betrayal. Other authors and scholars reject Vitruvious' view such as German poet and critic Lessing who critiqued this theory as he could find no historical evidence or documents to support his claims and thus argued that his view was a myth and confabulation. Frank Granger suggested that he perhaps confused Karyes for another town called Caria, of Asia Minor which was said to have been implicated in collaborating with the Persian enemy.

Ottoman Period and the burning of Arachova
Greece was under Ottoman occupation for hundreds of years from the 1400s until the Greek War of Independence began in 1821. In an attempt to stop the revolution by the Greeks, the Peloponnese was invaded in 1826 by a Turkish army which was lead by a general named Ibrahim. They came to destroy and siege the whole area and on the 12th May they invaded Karyes and they burnt the village down. The inhabitants of the village fled to the mountains with whatever possessions they could carry and hid in caves. Karyes was burnt down to the ground with the exception of seven or eight houses and the church of St. Paraskevi. The Turkish troops returned three months later and there was 1500 men. This time they were attacked by the Greek forces and took a big loss, where 185 soldiers were killed, many Greek prisoners were released and Ibrahim and his army were chased out of the village.

World War II
World War II occurred in Southern Europe in 1941 and the Nazi Axes forces entered Greece. Karyes was invaded by them for the first time on Decemeber the 18th and many of the residents fearing for their lives took refuge in huts they had built in the mountains. The Italians who were allies with Germany terrorised the villagers by kidnap, torture and shooting and they burned down majority of the houses, the local school and blew up the town clock before leaving the village. Some of the soldiers stayed in the village where they tortured, bribed and threatened the inhabitants that were left for provisions such as food, wine and livestock.

On 19th of September 1943 Karyes was invaded again. The German troops arrived at the village at 5am and started waking up the villagers at which point it was too late for them to escape to the mountains. The village was seized by panic as flares and machine guns fired and grenades exploded. Twelve people were killed, four were injured and thirty one people were taken as hostages. The invasion was brought to an end when an International Red Cross representative named Alexander Perrson visited Karyes.

Current - 2020
There is now around 800 permanent residents living in Karyes, which is a lot less than the pre-war population of 2180. Majority of people from the village work as farmers producing vegetables and fruit and looking after their livestock such as goats, sheep, chickens and tending to their bee farms. The current Karyes features a main town square where there are coffee shops, bars and restaurants where the villagers gather to socialise and the elderly play cards and other board games. 40 metres from the Town Square there is a beautiful church called Saint Andreas and 100 metres from the Town Square there is another shopping area which consists of a supermarket, fruit market, bread shop and cake shop. Karyes holds an annual festival on 26th and 27th of July to celebrate two religious Saint's days where there are feasts, music, dancing and other festivities.

Geography
As mentioned above, Karyes is located in the southern part of Greece within the Peloponnese peninsula. More precisely it is about 40 km North-East from the major city of Sparta and near the border of the two states, Laconia and Arcadia. Karyes is situated at the foot of Mountain Parnonas around 980 metres above sea level and is made up of a partly flat and partly mountainous, picturesque terrain with some of the houses being built on hills and slopes. Northwest of the village there is a hill with a church on top of it called St Elias Hill and East of the village there is a hill with another church at the top of it called St Constantine.

** Insert pic of terrain**

Climate

It snows in the Winter and in the Summer it gets hot during the day reaching up to 40 degrees *** and cools down in the evening.

Municipality
Karyes is now part of the municipality of Sparta. Prior to government reform the municipality was Oinoundos (Kallikratis law 2010).

Places of Interest --ADD PICS
Karyes has a number of sights and places of interest which tourists may be interested in seeing or learning more about

- Caryatids monument --

This it the front view of the caryatids monument in Karyes which is a marble replica of the Caryatids of the Erectheion of the Parthenon.

- Church of Assumption

This church is now dedicated to Jesus' mother Mary (Panagia) and was built in the 1900's. According to Pausanias where this church stands was once the temple of Artemis Caryatis.

- The old castle

-- Read Meidanis reference

- Clock tower

This clock tower has been in Karyes since ** It rings every hour and tells the time for the whole village.

- Eternal plane trees

Legend says that these eternal plane trees were planted by King Menelaus, King of Sparta around 1100 BC, but their exact age has not been determined.

similarly, Pausanias also mentions some plane trees planted by King Menalaus closeby to a spring in Arcadia.

- The monument of the 118

This monument represents 118 people who were shot dead by the Nazi Forces. The story behind this monument was that there were 118 people taken as prisoners, including one surgeon who completed his studies in Germany. When the Nazi's learned this they were going to let him go but he said he will not leave unless all the people were also set free. The Nazi soldiers then shot dead all 118 people. --- ADD THE REFERENCE

Gallery
The gallery will include photos of the village