Ardameri

Ardameri (Greek: Αρδαμέρι) is a village in the regional unit of Thessaloniki of Greece, at the foot of Mount Chortiatis, on the site of the Ancient city of Ardamerium.

Modern village

It is situated 38 km east of Thessaloniki. It is part of the municipality of Koroneia, which also includes the villages of Agios Vasileios, Gerakarou, Vasiloudi and Lagkadikia. It is a traditional Greek village with scattered houses and a maze of pathways often leading to a dead end. The village has some 900 registered voters, but only 125 permanent inhabitants.

History

Ardamerium (also called Herculea) was an Ancient city in Macedonia.

Ardamerium itself was destroyed during the Turkish conquest of Thessaloniki in 1430. It was again destroyed in the 1821 suppression of the Macedonian uprising, led by Emmanouel Pappas, during the Greek War of Independence.

Ecclesiastical history

As a city in the Roman province of Macedonia Prima, it was important enough to become a suffragan bishopric of its capital's Metropolitan Archbishopric of Thessalonica.

In the Notitia Episcopatuum of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886–912) the bishopric of Ardamerium (also called Herculea) is mentioned as the former see of Bishop Meletius, who signed the acts of the 1638 synod in Constantinople that condemned Cyril Lucaris for not having disowned the Calvinist Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith attributed to him.^[1]

It has two episcopal heirs.

Greek Orthodox eparchy

It is part of the Metropolis of Ierissos, Mount Athos and Ardameri, which depends from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the "New Lands" of Greece, administered by the Church of Greece.

Latin titular see

Ardamerium is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.^[2]

The diocese, whose Catholic apostolic succession was broken off, has been nominally restored as a titular bishopric of the lowest (episcopal) rank, but no incumbent is recorded yet.

Ardameri cultural association

The cultural association of Ardameri was founded in 1983. Its purpose is the harmonic development of the intellectual abilities of the inhabitants, and the maintenance and extension of the local tradition and customs. It pursues these aims by:

1. Three dance groups, with a total membership of 65 people of all ages, who are taught traditional dances and spread local customs and tradition;
2. Maintenance of a folklore gallery;
3. Publication of the periodical The News of Ardameri";
4. Performances of the dance groups in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, and elsewhere in Greece.

References

Sources and External links

• The official webpage of Ardameri
• Photos of gothic buildings in Ardameri
• GigaCatholic
• Mitropolis of Ierissos, Agio Oros and Ardameri
• Ardameri through satellite

Coordinates: 40°35′39″N 23°11′0″E / 40.59417°N 23.18333°E / 40.59417; 23.18333