Nea Anchialos
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Nea Anchialos Νέα Αγχίαλος |
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Panoramic View from the hills surrounding Nea Anchialos
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 Nea Anchialos
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Location within the regional unit
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| Coordinates: 39°16′N 22°49′E / 39.267°N 22.817°ECoordinates: 39°16′N 22°49′E / 39.267°N 22.817°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | Thessaly |
| Regional unit | Magnesia |
| Municipality | Volos |
| • Municipal unit | 80.462 km2 (31.067 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Municipal unit | 6,819 |
| • Municipal unit density | 85/km2 (220/sq mi) |
| Community | |
| • Population | 6,131 (2011) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Postal code | 374 00 |
| Area code(s) | 24280 |
| Vehicle registration | ΒΟ |
Nea Anchialos (Greek: Νέα Αγχίαλος) is a town and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Volos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is situated southwest of Volos and north of Almyros, on the coast of the Pagasetic Gulf. It is located on the national highway Athens-Lamia-Volos. The area of the municipal unit is 80.462 km2 (31.067 sq mi) and its population 6,819 people (2011).
The modern town is built on the ruins of the ancient city of Pyrasos (Πύρασος), and is associated with the nearby city of Thessalian or Phthiotic Thebes, near the modern village of Mikrothivai.
Homer mentions Pyrasos in his list of ships (Iliad B.695) together with Phylace and Itona, which belonged to the kingdom of Protesilaus. According to Strabo (IX.435), who discusses its topography, "well-harboured Pyrasos" (εὑλίμενος Πύρασος) was 20 stadia from Phthiotic Thebes.
Pyrasos is scarcely known from historical sources, except that it was an active harbour and featured a famous temple of Demeter and Kore, after which the harbour was later known as Demetrion. The only excavation which took place on the hill of Magoula, the old acropolis, southeast of Nea Anchialos, proves that the site was peopled since the earliest Neolithic period (6th millennium BC) by fishermen and agriculturalists. Archaeologically, the remains of Pyrasos are scant, and the city is barely known in historical times. An arm from an oversized statue, which came into light in 1965, was attributed to Demeter. Possibly the most identical finding is a small fragment of an ancient epigraph, discovered in the debris of the big Basilica D with the name Pyrasos, confirming the location of the city.
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Wikipedia