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Skaramagkas (also spelled Skaramagas, Greek: Σκαραμαγκάς) is a small town in the western part of Athens, Greece. It is part of the municipality of Chaidari. The town has a refinery and a neighboring shipyard and docks to carry oil production to other parts of the Mediterranean and the world. The bay area is one of the most productive oil-producing areas in Greece. The town is located east of Eleusis, south of Attiki Odos (highway 6), west of Athens, north of Piraeus and northeast of Perama.

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Access

Athinon Avenue, part of Greek National Road 8A/E94 runs to the north. An interchange connecting it to the road to Piraeus is in the central part of town. In the future, Skaramagas will be accessed via the Aigaleo Ring (highway 65) of Attiki Odos.
Nearest places

Aspropyrgos, north
Chaidari, east
Nikaia, southeast
Keratsini, south southeast
Perama, southwest

Environs

Mixed farming was common until urban development replaced much of the farmlands between the 1960s and the 1980s. The environment is rocky and bushy to the north and south while the Dafni forest lies to the east. More forests are to the southwest. Mountains are to the north and diagonally to the south. The residential area lies in the northeast and western part of the valley while shops are in the central part. There is an industrial area.
Skaramangas Bay

Skaramangas Bay (Greek: Όρμος Σκαραμαγκά Ormos Skaramagka) connects the southeastern part of the Elefsina Bay and the northeastern part of the Saronic Gulf. Part of the bay is a lagoon to the northeast. Part of the area near the bay is forested. The Hellenic Navy (then the Royal Hellenic Navy) founded the Royal Hellenic Naval Shipyard (RNHS) (now the Hellenic Naval Shipyard) in 1939 to construct two torpedo vessels. The facility is now known as the Skaramagkas Shipyard (Greek: Ναυπηγεία Σκαραμαγκά Nafpigeia Skaramagka).

In 1973, the Skaramagas naval base was the scene of an experiment carried out by Greek scientist Ioannis Sakkas, to test whether or not it was possible for Archimedes to use focused sunlight as "a heat ray" to burn Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse. This event is mentioned in ancient accounts but often doubted by modern historians. In the 1973 experiment at Skaramagas's naval base, 70 mirrors with a copper coating, such as were available in Archimedes' time, did focus enough sunlight to set on fire a plywood mock-up of a Roman warship at a distance of around 50 metres (160 ft).

Between November 1978 and May 1979, the ship Tombazis underwent structural modifications at Hinder IV shipyard.

On September 9, 2001, the port was put up for sale, and the privatization was signed a month later. On March 6, 2002, the port became entirely owned by a German group of investors under the industrial leadership of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, which became a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp in 2005.[2]

The Aspropyrgos Refinery is near Skaramangas Bay, with oil depots near the refinery. Most of the oil is exported.
Historical population
Year Population
1991 2,606?
2001 968
See also

Communities of Attica, including settlements

References

^ Detailed census results 2001 PDF (39 MB) (Greek) (English)
^ The Sale of the Shipyard to the Germans - Ta Nea (Greek)

External links

Official website of Municipality of Chaidari (Greek)
Hellenic Shipyards Co.

Ancient Greece

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