Narta or Arta of Vlora or even Old Arta, is one of the two Greek villages within a short distance of the city of Vlora, which together with neighboring Zvernica constitute two separate Greek entities far from the rest of the compact northern Epirus Hellenism, which still preserve (although the place there experiences foreignness) the intact Greek language, morals, customs and Orthodox faith.
Below is a remarkable piece of research from the website of the village of Mikrospilia Tzoumerka, which concerns Arta of Avlona and which brings to the fore a historical place that continues to persist despite the times and circumstances.
About five kilometers northwest of the city of Vlora, in southern Albania, lies a village called Arta or Old Arta…
Referring to Arta Avlona (hereinafter referred to as AA), the Arabinian (1856 Β΄: 121-122) records it as Old Arta and notes: "A commune of Avlonos situated ¾ of an hour away from the coast where there is a bay called Porto Novo, in which the ruins of an ancient acropolis of old Arnisi are preserved, from which Arta, or of Orestic Argos, was named, since in imitation of Amphilochian Arta, it was also interceded in this way."
Also, according to a report from the Greek Consulate in Vlora to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated May 9, 1903, “The village of Arta, one hour from Vlora, is inhabited by a thousand inhabitants, all Greek-speaking and Orthodox. The Albanian language is unknown there. It has two churches and a school” (Kontis 1995: I 103).
Οι κάτοικοι του χωριού αυτού, σε αντίθεση με τους άλλους οικισμούς που εκτείνονται γύρω από την πόλη Αυλώνα, χρησιμοποιούν την ελληνική γλώσσα ως μέσο επικοινωνίας και έχουν ταυτόχρονα ήθη και έθιμα ελληνικά. Εξαιτίας του γεγονός αυτού, όποιος επισκέπτεται την Αρτα απορεί και δικαίως αναρωτιέται: μήπως το χωριό αυτό αποτελεί μία «πελεκούδα» που ξεπήδησε από της ελληνικές αποικίες που υπήρχαν στον κόλπο της Αυλώνας κατά την αρχαιότητα και με το πέρασμα των αιώνων άντεξε στην εθνική αφομοίωση και επέζησε μέχρι της ημέρες μας… ή μήπως οι κάτοικοί του προέρχονται από την Ελλάδα, κάτι που διαπιστώνεται άλλωστε και από την ονομασία που ταυτίζεται με την Αρτα της Ηπείρου; Υπάρχουν δύο διαφορετικές απόψεις όσον αφορά την καταγωγή των κατοίκων της Αρτας της Αυλώνας.
Read his interesting article Vasilis Vindou:
FIRST VIEW: The Greek historian P. Aravantinos states that the village Of Palaia arta consists Of 160 families and that its inhabitants "they are Greeks in language and diet.» (Description of Epirus, Ioannina 1984, part C, p. 361.). In addition, he states: «The county of Old Arta was established at the beginning of the Ottoman Empire by fishermen and coastal Greeks of Ambracia, who settled there to establish and maintain saltworks and fish farms along the Avlona lagoon.» (Ibid. p. 361).
As one can see, there is a contradiction in the above statement by the Greek historian. While he claims that the Artini of Avlona derive their origin from the Amvrakikos gulf, he calls the village Palaia Arta. Let us not forget, however, that P. Aravantinos knew the villages of the Amvrakikos Gulf well.
SECOND VIEW: The metropolitan of Arta, S. Xenopoulos states: "And in the province of Avlon there is a city, called Old Arta, where the Greek language is spoken, situated three quarters of an hour away from the coast, where there is a bay called Porto Novo, where the ruins of an ancient Acropolis, the old city of Arnisi, are preserved, from which this Orestikon Argos was named Arta.» (Historical essay on Arta and Preveza, p. 2).
If we could conduct a study and then evaluate all the historical, folklore, linguistic, archaeological and anthropological data related to the village of Arta in Avlona and compare the findings we extracted, we would come to one and only conclusion (this way of thinking in scientific terminology is called induction), that the inhabitants of this village originate from the Arta of Epirus, as reported by the Greek writer P. Aravantinos. This conclusion is confirmed mainly by the idiomatic language and the customs and traditions that are identified with the inhabitants of the Amvrakikos Gulf.
Until the year 2000 I was a supporter of this theory, until one day my fellow villager George Tsianos he told me that his father, the respected Panagiotis Tsianos, the 1938 had recorded in a notebook the books of the sleeping men of the two churches of the village, of Agios Ioannis and Agia Kyriaki, as well as the notes that the priests of these churches had kept from time to time in the old gospels (during the communist regime these books were burned by the barbarians of Albania). As I was reading, therefore, the book of the sleeping men of the church of Agios Ioannis, originally recorded by the priests of 1834 and then by panagiotis tsianos In 1938, i Was unimaginably surprised. The bimi Family, had 33 generations of ancestors. In addition, the families Koritzi, Nano, Politi, Toti, Czech, Doupi etc. had from 24 to 27 generations of ancestors. If we take into account that one generation lasts about 30 years, then we understand that the ancestors of the aforementioned families have settled in the village of Arta since 11th to 13th century, that is, the period of creation of the monastery of ZvernetsiouThis proves that indeed some residents from the village of Arta in Vlora lived in the past in cape Treporti, as reported by Greek authors Z. Molossos, S. Xenopoulos and Th. Havelas.
The families mentioned in the book of the dead of the church of Agia Kyriaki, which was recorded by the priests in 1841, do not gather more than 15 generations of ancestors. This book also mentions the names of the neighborhoods, such as the neighborhood of Damata, of Consequences and of PoropsotaBecause the names of the deceased do not contain the surname Poropsots, but only Dais and Sympekatonis, we believe that the word Poropsots is most likely a toponym, behind which lies the history of some families of the village.
The priests of the church of Agia Kyriaki write the place name Poropsot with Ω, but this may be a spelling error and it is normally written with Ο. In addition, many words that are currently written with Ο were written with Ω in the past. Therefore, there are two versions for the interpretation of this place name. The first version is related to the plaka Hill, which is a rock surrounded by sand, because the word Poros means limestone rock and the word cold or Psothion sandy soil.
The second version is related to the logaros lagoon, which is located in the Gulf of Arta. This lagoon is full of reeds, which form channels through which fishermen enter with their boats. These channels are called Poros. In this case, the toponym Poropsots consists of the word Poros (small channel) and psathion (reed).
We believe that the second version is the most convincing, and this is because firstly, the residents of the Poropsota district in Arta, Avlona have always been fishermen, secondly, near the Logaros lagoon and in the Arta lagoon there is a small island named Korakonisi and thirdly, the ancestors of the families of the Poropsota district do not exceed 15 generations. Therefore, the ancestors of the families who attended church at the church of Agia Kyriaki have settled in the bay of Avlona at the beginning of the Ottoman rule, as mentioned by P. Aravantinos.
What does popular tradition testify to regarding what we mentioned above? P. Tsianos in his memoirs, among other things, he states: "Είχαμεν έναν γεροντοδάσκαλον ονομαζόμενον Λάμπρο Μάνο, πολύ μελετημένος και εργατικός εις τον καθήκον του, ο οποίος έκανε μαθήματα εις το σχολείο της Αρτας, και έλεγε για τους Αρτινούς ότι πρώτα καθόντανε εις την Πλάκα και δούλευαν αγγαρία, έκαναν το αλάτι και ψάρευαν. Ελεγαν το μέρος που καθόντανε Αρνίσσα και αυτηνούς Αρνισιώτες (κατηγορηματική λέξη). Αλλά εκεί τους πείραζαν οι πειρατές και από τον φόβον αναγκάστηκαν να φύγουν και κατοίκησαν εις τα καλύβια.. Αλλά και αυτού τους πείραζαν οι κλέφτες της ξεριάς και έφυγαν και από τα καλύβια και ήρθαν και κατοίκησαν εδώ που είναι τώρα.
But Arta did not look like it does today. First, it was an island and a lake around it, and when the people of Arta wanted to go to the farms, they would cross by monohull, as well as by sand. All the people of Arta were fishermen and they began to buy farms and olive trees from foreigners. But they were very hardworking people… They had built two churches in the village, Agia Kyriaki and Agios Ioannis the Theologian… they also had a monastery, which was a parish church when they were in Plaka…»
Additionally, P. Tsianos mentions in his memoirs: "Μου έτυχε να διορθώσω ένα τηγάνι σε κάποιον που διόρθωνε αλουμινένια πράγματα… Και περίμενα πότε να το τελειώσει για να πήγαινα στο χωριό μου. Εκείνος με ρωτάει από πού είμαι και του λέγω από την Αρτα. Της Ελλάδας – μου λέει; Οχι – του είπα. Εδώ πλησίον, δεν απέχει ούτε μια ώρα από την Αυλώνα . Μου λέγει ότι εγώ με τον αδερφό μου, έχουμεν καθίσει εξορία εις την Αρτα της Ελλάδος το 1912 με 1913. Οι Αρτινοί έκαναν συλλαλητήρια και φώναζαν να πηγαίνουμε να λευτερώσουμε τα αδέρφια μας τους οποίους τους έπαιρνε η Τουρκία εξορία εις την Αρτα της Αυλώνας και μας έχουν μείνει απέκει. (Τι παράδοση έχουν οι Αρτινοί της Ελλάδος δεν γνωρίζομεν)».
Him May 1903, the Greek consul visits Arta in Vlora and writes to his Service:
About five kilometers northwest of the city of Vlora, in southern Albania, lies a village called Arta or Old Arta.…
Referring to Arta Avlona (hereinafter referred to as AA), the Arabinian (1856 Β΄: 121-122) records it as Old Arta and notes: "A town of Avlonos, located ¾ of an hour from the coast where the bay of Porto Novo is called, in which the ruins of the ancient acropolis of old Arnisi are preserved, from which it was named Arta, or the Argos of Orestes, in which, in imitation of the Amphilochian Arta, it was also interceded for.».
Also, according to a report by Greek Consulate in Vlora to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of May 9, 1903, «The village of Arta, an hour from Avlonos, is home to a thousand inhabitants, all Greek-speaking and Orthodox. The Albanian language is unknown there. It has two churches and a school.» (Kontis 1995: I 103).
Οι κάτοικοι του χωριού αυτού, σε αντίθεση με τους άλλους οικισμούς που εκτείνονται γύρω από την πόλη Αυλώνα, χρησιμοποιούν την ελληνική γλώσσα ως μέσο επικοινωνίας και έχουν ταυτόχρονα ήθη και έθιμα ελληνικά. Εξαιτίας του γεγονός αυτού, όποιος επισκέπτεται την Αρτα απορεί και δικαίως αναρωτιέται: μήπως το χωριό αυτό αποτελεί μία «πελεκούδα» που ξεπήδησε από της ελληνικές αποικίες που υπήρχαν στον κόλπο της Αυλώνας κατά την αρχαιότητα και με το πέρασμα των αιώνων άντεξε στην εθνική αφομοίωση και επέζησε μέχρι της ημέρες μας… ή μήπως οι κάτοικοί του προέρχονται από την Ελλάδα, κάτι που διαπιστώνεται άλλωστε και από την ονομασία που ταυτίζεται με την Αρτα της Ηπείρου; Υπάρχουν δύο διαφορετικές απόψεις όσον αφορά την καταγωγή των κατοίκων της Αρτας της Αυλώνας.
Read his interesting article Vasilis Vindou:
FIRST VIEW: The Greek historian P. Aravantinos states that the village Of Palaia arta consists Of 160 families and that its inhabitants "they are Greeks in language and diet.» (Description of Epirus, Ioannina 1984, part C, p. 361.). In addition, he states: «The county of Old Arta was established at the beginning of the Ottoman Empire by fishermen and coastal Greeks of Ambracia, who settled there to establish and maintain saltworks and fish farms along the Avlona lagoon.» (Ibid. p. 361).
As one can see, there is a contradiction in the above statement by the Greek historian. While he claims that the Artini of Avlona derive their origin from the Amvrakikos gulf, he calls the village Palaia Arta. Let us not forget, however, that P. Aravantinos knew the villages of the Amvrakikos Gulf well.
SECOND VIEW: The metropolitan of Arta, S. Xenopoulos states: "And in the province of Avlon there is a city, called Old Arta, where the Greek language is spoken, situated three quarters of an hour away from the coast, where there is a bay called Porto Novo, where the ruins of an ancient Acropolis, the old city of Arnisi, are preserved, from which this Orestikon Argos was named Arta.» (Historical essay on Arta and Preveza, p. 2).
If we could conduct a study and then evaluate all the historical, folklore, linguistic, archaeological and anthropological data related to the village of Arta in Avlona and compare the findings we extracted, we would come to one and only conclusion (this way of thinking in scientific terminology is called induction), that the inhabitants of this village originate from the Arta of Epirus, as reported by the Greek writer P. Aravantinos. This conclusion is confirmed mainly by the idiomatic language and the customs and traditions that are identified with the inhabitants of the Amvrakikos Gulf.
Until the year 2000 I was a supporter of this theory, until one day my fellow villager George Tsianos he told me that his father, the respected Panagiotis Tsianos, the 1938 had recorded in a notebook the books of the sleeping men of the two churches of the village, of Agios Ioannis and Agia Kyriaki, as well as the notes that the priests of these churches had kept from time to time in the old gospels (during the communist regime these books were burned by the barbarians of Albania). As I was reading, therefore, the book of the sleeping men of the church of Agios Ioannis, originally recorded by the priests of 1834 and then by panagiotis tsianos In 1938, i Was unimaginably surprised. The bimi Family, had 33 generations of ancestors. In addition, the families Koritzi, Nano, Politi, Toti, Czech, Doupi etc. had from 24 to 27 generations of ancestors. If we take into account that one generation lasts about 30 years, then we understand that the ancestors of the aforementioned families have settled in the village of Arta since 11th to 13th century, that is, the period of creation of the monastery of ZvernetsiouThis proves that indeed some residents from the village of Arta in Vlora lived in the past in cape Treporti, as reported by Greek authors Z. Molossos, S. Xenopoulos and Th. Havelas.
The families mentioned in the book of the dead of the church of Agia Kyriaki, which was recorded by the priests in 1841, do not gather more than 15 generations of ancestors. This book also mentions the names of the neighborhoods, such as the neighborhood of Damata, of Consequences and of PoropsotaBecause the names of the deceased do not contain the surname Poropsots, but only Dais and Sympekatonis, we believe that the word Poropsots is most likely a toponym, behind which lies the history of some families of the village.
The priests of the church of Agia Kyriaki write the place name Poropsot with Ω, but this may be a spelling error and it is normally written with Ο. In addition, many words that are currently written with Ο were written with Ω in the past. Therefore, there are two versions for the interpretation of this place name. The first version is related to the plaka Hill, which is a rock surrounded by sand, because the word Poros means limestone rock and the word cold or Psothion sandy soil.
The second version is related to the logaros lagoon, which is located in the Gulf of Arta. This lagoon is full of reeds, which form channels through which fishermen enter with their boats. These channels are called Poros. In this case, the toponym Poropsots consists of the word Poros (small channel) and psathion (reed).
We believe that the second version is the most convincing, and this is because firstly, the residents of the Poropsota district in Arta, Avlona have always been fishermen, secondly, near the Logaros lagoon and in the Arta lagoon there is a small island named Korakonisi and thirdly, the ancestors of the families of the Poropsota district do not exceed 15 generations. Therefore, the ancestors of the families who attended church at the church of Agia Kyriaki have settled in the bay of Avlona at the beginning of the Ottoman rule, as mentioned by P. Aravantinos.
What does popular tradition testify to regarding what we mentioned above? P. Tsianos in his memoirs, among other things, he states: "Είχαμεν έναν γεροντοδάσκαλον ονομαζόμενον Λάμπρο Μάνο, πολύ μελετημένος και εργατικός εις τον καθήκον του, ο οποίος έκανε μαθήματα εις το σχολείο της Αρτας, και έλεγε για τους Αρτινούς ότι πρώτα καθόντανε εις την Πλάκα και δούλευαν αγγαρία, έκαναν το αλάτι και ψάρευαν. Ελεγαν το μέρος που καθόντανε Αρνίσσα και αυτηνούς Αρνισιώτες (κατηγορηματική λέξη). Αλλά εκεί τους πείραζαν οι πειρατές και από τον φόβον αναγκάστηκαν να φύγουν και κατοίκησαν εις τα καλύβια.. Αλλά και αυτού τους πείραζαν οι κλέφτες της ξεριάς και έφυγαν και από τα καλύβια και ήρθαν και κατοίκησαν εδώ που είναι τώρα.
But Arta did not look like it does today. First, it was an island and a lake around it, and when the people of Arta wanted to go to the farms, they would cross by monohull, as well as by sand. All the people of Arta were fishermen and they began to buy farms and olive trees from foreigners. But they were very hardworking people… They had built two churches in the village, Agia Kyriaki and Agios Ioannis the Theologian… they also had a monastery, which was a parish church when they were in Plaka…»
Additionally, P. Tsianos mentions in his memoirs: "Μου έτυχε να διορθώσω ένα τηγάνι σε κάποιον που διόρθωνε αλουμινένια πράγματα… Και περίμενα πότε να το τελειώσει για να πήγαινα στο χωριό μου. Εκείνος με ρωτάει από πού είμαι και του λέγω από την Αρτα. Της Ελλάδας – μου λέει; Οχι – του είπα. Εδώ πλησίον, δεν απέχει ούτε μια ώρα από την Αυλώνα . Μου λέγει ότι εγώ με τον αδερφό μου, έχουμεν καθίσει εξορία εις την Αρτα της Ελλάδος το 1912 με 1913. Οι Αρτινοί έκαναν συλλαλητήρια και φώναζαν να πηγαίνουμε να λευτερώσουμε τα αδέρφια μας τους οποίους τους έπαιρνε η Τουρκία εξορία εις την Αρτα της Αυλώνας και μας έχουν μείνει απέκει. (Τι παράδοση έχουν οι Αρτινοί της Ελλάδος δεν γνωρίζομεν)».
Him May 1903, the Greek consul visits Arta in Vlora and writes to his Service:
“AVLONA CONSULATE A.Y.E. 1903, A.A.K. no.89 TO THE MINISTRY… OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Vlora, May 9, 1903
Mr. minister, Yesterday I became the object of warm expressions of patriotic sentiments from the residents of the village of Arta, located near this city, to which I had gone since the morning on the occasion of the festival being held there.
After attending the Divine Liturgy, I was then visited at the house where I stayed by not only the dignitaries but also by the entire people, who all came with enthusiasm to greet me. Seeing for the first time the representative of Free Greece among them, these people did not know how to express their enthusiasm, joy and desires, while many had shed tears, tears of joy and hope for the good future, which everyone desired from the depths of their souls.
Το χωριό Αρτα, που βρίσκεται σε απόσταση μιας ώρας απ’ τον Αυλώνα, κατοικείται από χίλιους κατοίκους όλους ορθόδοξους που μιλούν την ελληνική γλώσσα. Σ’ αυτό η αλβανική γλώσσα είναι άγνωστη. Εχει δύο εκκλησίες και σχολείο. Το σχολείο όπου διδάσκουν δάσκαλοι έχει αριθμό μαθητών που κυμαίνεται σε 70-100, επειδή οι περισσότεροι απ’ τους κατοίκους είναι γεωργοί, και απασχολούν τα παιδιά τους στην καλλιέργεια της γης, ενώ τα παιδιά που μπορούν να φοιτούν στο σχολείο μπορεί να ανέλθουν στα 150. Σ’ όλους τους χωρικούς συνέστησα να στέλνουν τα παιδιά τους στο σχολείο, αφού τους ανέφερα τα αγαθά που προέρχονται απ’ τη στοιχειώδη μάθηση. Μου προκάλεσε αίσθηση το γεγονός ότι δεν υπήρχε παρθεναγωγείο, όπου θα μπορούσαν να φοιτήσουν πάνω από 50 μαθήτριες. Η οκνηρία αφ’ ενός των κατοίκων και αφ’ ετέρου η μη παρακίνηση απ’ τη Μητρόπολη και την Προξενική Αρχή συνετέλεσαν ώστε να μην ιδρυθεί μέχρι τώρα Παρθεναγωγείο. Με σκοπό να καλύψω αυτή την έλλειψη άρχισα αμέσως τις συνεννοήσεις με τους εφόρους και τον αρχιερατικό επίτροπο για να βρεθούν πόροι για τις δαπάνες προς τον σκοπό αυτό. Στις προσπάθειές μου αυτές ελπίζω να έχω βοηθό και την Επιτροπή για ενίσχυση της Ελληνικής Εκκλησίας και Παιδείας με χορήγηση μικρού επιδόματος, ώστε από τον ερχόμενο Σεπτέμβριο να ξεκινήσει η λειτουργία του Παρθεναγωγείου.
Από οικονομική άποψη, το χωριό αυτό που άλλοτε βρισκόταν σε ακμή, παρακολούθησε τη γενική κακοτυχία αυτής της χώρας. Εν τούτοις οι πόροι της Κοινότητας είναι αρκετοί για τις δικές τους δαπάνες καθώς και στις εκκλησίες παρέχονται πλούσιες επιχορηγήσεις και το μικρό έλλειμμα, που υπάρχει στις δαπάνες για συντήρηση του σχολείου, θα καλυφθεί απ’ την προσδοκώμενη άφθονη συγκομιδή λαδιού. Κάθε πλεόνασμα πρέπει, όπως ήδη υπέδειξα στους εφόρους, να διατεθεί για να διαρρυθμισθεί ακόμη καλύτερα το σχολείο των αρρένων, με πρόσληψη ενός ακόμη δασκάλου ως διευθυντού. Αυτή η διαρρύθμιση, την οποία αποδέχθηκαν με ευχαρίστηση οι έφοροι, θα βοηθήσει, όπως αντιλήφθηκα με τον ερχομό περισσότερων μαθητών, και μ’ αυτή καθώς και με την ίδρυση του Παρθεναγωγείου έχω πεισθεί ότι θα επιτευχθεί ώστε όλα τα παιδιά του χωριού να στραφούν προς τα σχολεία.
In the afternoon, at the moment of my departure, the entire village with musical instruments followed me at a considerable distance, with wishes that this visit would result in the good of the village and be a good omen for the fulfillment of its desires.".
