History of Pelion
Pelion in Ancient Greece
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Regarding Pelion in Mythology and Ancient Greek times, we don't go deep, as there is plenty of info in the internet. We only mention some key facts:
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Home of the Centaurs, bloodthirsty mythological creatures always in war with neighboring tribes. The only civilized, wise and knowledgeable centaur was Chiron, mentor and educator of Achilles (hero of the trojan war), Asclepius (god of medicine), Jason (leader of the Argonauts).
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Wedding place between the immortal nymph Thetis and the mortal king Peleus (mother and father of Achilles), where a misunderstanding between the invited and uninvited greek gods, finally, led to the trojan war.
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Ancient greek towns mentioned to be in Pelion are: Casthanea, Olizon, Spalathra, Methone, Coracae.
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The war fleet of ancient Persians, suffered a terrible storm and severe damages while crossing the east coast of Pelion, during the expedition of Xerxes the first against ancient Athens in 480 BC.
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The sea battle of Artemisium took place in south Pelion, when ancient Greek ships attacked the Persian fleet. It happened the same exact days with the battle of Thermopylae and the 300 hundred Spartans and its objective was to help the Greeks in Thermopylae, keeping the persian warships away from Evia strait.
Recent history of Pelion​
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Until medieval times Pelion has been ​a very poor place to live. The ease that the land could get overgrown, was not permitting any cultivation in the ancient times, resulting in low population. Only in the Byzantine era, christian orthodox monasteries started being established on both sides of Pelion mountain. That was the time that the first modern settlements were formed outside the monasteries. It was those communities and settlements that later were transformed in the 24 villages that we have today. That era it felt very vulnerable and dangerous to be on the coast. Pirate raids and attacks, especially on the remote east Pelion coast, were constant. So, local inhabitants (of especially East Pelion) established their villages on the mountain, away from sea, in an altitude between 300 and 400 meters above sea level. Additionally, they built the houses very dispersed, leaving a lot of distance between them, with the intention to hide the houses inside the thick vegetation and the villages not to be spotted by the pirate ships. Another reason for choosing that altitude, was that there were the best conditions and fertile lands for the fruits plantations, where local economy was mostly based.
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Pelion thrived in the Ottoman times and especially after the year 1668 AC, when sultan Mehmet 4th visited Pelion and specifically Portaria. The sultan, impressed by its natural beauty, gave Pelion to his mother as a gift, and since then Pelion was under the direct rule of the sultan mother and not the ruler (Pasha) of Larisa. That meant, that the villages of Pelion had special privileges, less taxes, more autonomy. As a result, people from suppressed parts of Greece started moving to Pelion. The economy started to grow and focus was given to education. Taking advantage of those privileges, in 1773 in Milies village, the School of Milies was established, with a very modern, scientific and liberal study program. That school played very important role in the ideological preparation of the greek revolution against the Ottomans in 1821, as many Greek intellectuals, who wrote revolutionary books and articles, graduated first the School of Milies.
The same period and during all 19th century, people of Pelion started moving to colonial Egypt. There they were becoming entrepreneurs in various business sectors dispersed all over Egypt. Although living in Egypt, they kept strong ties with Pelion, visiting their mother-village often, building and maintaining rich mansions, establishing schools, funding cobbled paths and community buildings. They were considered the local aristocracy.
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​All parts of Pelion participated in all revolutions against the Ottomans in 1821 and 1878, and finally became part of the Greek state in 1881. The main income of the locals at that time was coming from the cultivation of the silkworm and the production of silk, fishing, shipping, plantations of potatoes, walnuts, cherries, chestnuts, pears, apples and production of charcoal.
In 1896 the little railway of Pelion was built connecting Volos and Milies by train. The railway was built by the engineer Evaristo de Chirico, whose sons Giorgio de Chirico and Alberto Savinio became leading artists of the metaphysical painting movement which later led in surrealism. Both artists lived their childhood in Volos and the cultural influence of Pelion is very clear in their paintings.
The little train of Pelion helped west Pelion develop significantly. It served also the inhabitants of east Pelion, who would go first to Milies on a mule and then by train to Volos. Big cargos though, would continued to be transported to east Pelion by ships, making ship owner and merchant the most profitable profession until second world war. All this lasted more or less until 1960's when car road arrived slowly slowly in East Pelion.
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It was exactly those years (1960's) that tourism made its appearance and transformed local economy and business activity. Tourist numbers were increasing every year with the conditions though remaining pretty primitive until the beginning of 1990's. In 1990's the rapid development of the local infrastructure pushed tourism sector too, shaping Pelion of what it is today.