Pedino, Limnos

Pedino or Palaio Pedino is a settlement of Lemnos. Administratively it belongs to the Municipality of Lemnos of the North Aegean Region (Kallikratis program).

From 1999 to 2010, according to the then administrative division of Greece, it belonged to the municipal district of Pedino of the Municipality of Nea Koutali. It used to belong to the prefecture of Lesvos.

Its original name was Pesperago and with this name it is mentioned at least since the 14th century. In 1955 it was renamed Pedino, because the old name was considered Turkish, although this is not the case. In 1968, after a large earthquake, it was demolished and abandoned by its inhabitants, who settled in a settlement that was built in a new location and was named New Pedino. In 2001, 5 residents were registered in the old village.

Name

With the old name Pesperagon, the village is mentioned from the end of the 14th century. In a census document of 1393 it is noted that the properties of the monastery Pantokratoros of Mount Athos bordered with "land ... given to the Pispiraginos", an expression that implies the existence of inhabitants.

The place name is of unknown etymology. In 1396 it is noted in the general: "near ... the village of Pisperago", a type that suggests that the name of the landowner from whom it came was third-class: Pisperax.

During the 19th century, the neutral type was established: the Pesperagon, but it is sometimes used as a masculine form: the Pesperago. An earlier version that the name came from a Pesper-Aga, owner of a tsifliki in the area, is not substantiated. After all, the name pre-existed the appearance of Turks in Lemnos.

The position

Initially, the village was located in the place of Ai-Giannis, northwest of Portiano, at the foot of the hill of Ai-Lias, where the remains of houses are preserved. It is unknown when and for what reasons - a common cause of relocation was the deadly epidemics - it was moved near the shallow salt lake that is a continuation of the Gulf of Moudros, which is now a wetland. There it is marked on the map of Choiseul-Gouffier in the late 18th century as Pisperago.

19th century

From the community records we know that in 1854 it was a settlement. The name of the priest is not mentioned, because most likely the parish was served by the priest of Agarion or Portianos. In 1856 he had 57 conscripts, who paid 782 groschen to avoid enlistment. In 1863 the village was inhabited by 40 families, which had decreased to 37 in 1874. In the same year there were only 44 houses and it belonged to the town hall (koli) Kondia.

The Pisperangians sent a representative to the Pallimni provincial assembly. In addition to livestock and agriculture, the inhabitants were also engaged in fishing and shipping. In 1875 sailboat owners, such as Diamantis, are also mentioned.

The church
The church of Ag. Ioannou.

The church of the village, Ag. Ioannou Prodromou, celebrates on June 24. It is of basilica style and has a remarkable carved iconostasis. According to a relevant inscription, it was built in 1862 "under Ioannis Dimitriou in memory of the mother of Elizabeth of Carlis, under the care of the son-in-law of Nikolaos Tziros".

Ioannis Dimitriou was an industrialist and cotton merchant in Egypt. He was a collector of Egyptian antiquities, which he donated to the Archaeological Museum of Athens and 10,000 Ptolemaic coins, which he donated to the Numismatic Museum of Athens in 1892. He is considered one of the great benefactors of Lemnos.

Nikolaos Tziros or Tziros was from Kontia, a member of a family of merchants and shipowners based in Alexandria and Manchester.
20th century

The hero of the fallen.

During the years of World War I near the village, in the place of Melangia, allied troops who participated in the operations of Gallipoli encamped. They set up camp, with a hospital, an aqueduct and other facilities, the remains of which survive to this day. Trading with the troops provided temporary economic prosperity to the village.

In 1918-21, hundreds of Russian emigrants and soldiers were hosted in the area between Pedino and Portiano. They sold their belongings to survive, lived in miserable conditions, and eventually 292 people died of the epidemic in 1920-21. They are buried in the Russian-Cossack cemetery near the coast.

Because it did not have a large population, Pesperago was originally included (1918-19) in the community of Portianos as a settlement. In 1919 the community of Pesperagos was formed, of which from time to time were separate settlements:

The Alexopyrgos metochi (1920-28).
Akrotiri (1920-28), where Russian emigrants had settled since 1918.
The refugee settlement of Nea Koutali (1928-47), created in the area of ​​Agia Marina.

The population of the village began to grow. In 1928 it had 230 inhabitants and in 1938 it had 60 houses and 300 inhabitants, who were mainly engaged in the cultivation of cereals and cotton. Water supply and road construction works were carried out, tree plantings, giving the village a very beautiful view, with the help of the abundant water it has.

In 1950, the shed was built in the square by Charalambos Kaliouris and Dimitrios Tsipelias. However, immigration also affected this village. In 1961 it had 179 inhabitants.
The school

In 1919 the village school was founded and in 1924 it was housed in a school built at the expense of the Egyptian Efstratios Kalogera. It operated as a car until 1973 when it merged with Nea Koutali.

Teachers: Emmanouil Ioannidis (1920-31) and Vassilios Kourniotis (1954-70) offered long-term service at the school of Pedinos.
The renaming and the earthquake

In 1955, many renamings of settlements were proposed, the names of which were considered to be of noisy or foreign origin. Among them, the renaming of Pesperagos to Pedino was proposed, due to the flat area that has been built. The old name was then considered Turkish, which is not the case as we know it today. The renaming was officially completed in 1956.

In 1968 a catastrophic earthquake turned most homes into rubble. The inhabitants were scattered, with the result that in 1971 only 24 people were registered! It was decided to build the village in a new location. The new village was named Neo Pedino and the original was gradually renamed Paleo Pedino.
Today's picture

In recent years, many return to the old village and repair their paternal homes for summer homes. In Old Pedino, its graphic character has remained unchanged. The cobbled streets, the cobbled square, the stone mansions with the stone-carved decorative motifs, the church of Ag. John attract many travelers. In addition to houses, there are taverns and the old winery of I. Kremmidas (since 1935).

The big appointment every summer is given on the feast of the Savior, when the catholic of Alexopyrgos celebrates. In addition to the ceremonies at the monastery, on this day the Association of Pedinians in Attica organizes a festival in the square of the old village.
Bibliography

Tourptsoglou-Stefanidou Vassiliki, "Travel and geographical texts for the island of Lemnos (15th-20th century)", Thessaloniki 1986.
Cdrom District of Lemnos: "Lemnos Beloved".
Th. Belitsou, Lemnos and its villages, 1994.
"LIMNOS: Historical & Cultural Heritage", published by G. Konstantellis, 2010.

See also: Limnos, island

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