1. Location

The area of Distomo includes the settlements of Distomo, Paralia Distomou, Agios Nikolaos and Steiris. It extends from the Corinthian Gulf to the hinterland under the slopes of Mt Helicon, Mt Kirfi and Mt Parnassus. The semi-mountainous character of the area has helped the development of stock-breeding, while its access to the sea has allowed locals to become involved in the fishing business. Both these two activities, however, are in decline in recent years. Nowadays, the most import source of income is mining followed by tourism.

2. The area of Distomo in Antiquity

In Antiquity this area belonged to Phocis. In the 6th century BC its cities acceded to the Phocian League and largely shared its fate. Ambrossus (or Ambryssus), located where Distomo stands today, was inhabited since the Bronze Age. In the Classical and Hellenistic periods this city played an important role due to its strategic position along the communication routes between the Corinthian Gulf and the hinterland of central Greece.

Close to modern Steiris lay the settlement called Phlygonion, which had entered into a confederacy with Ambrossus. The location of Palio Steiri close to Hosios Loukas monastery was the site of ancient Steiris. According to a tradition, the inhabitants were descendants of Athenians from the deme of Steiria; this claim certainly provided legitimation for the political ties between the two areas in Classical times, it is possible, however, that it truly echoed actual events. In Hellenistic times, Steiris formed a confederacy with the Phocian city of Medeon.

Phocian Medeon was situated on the east cost of the Gulf of Anticyra (not to be confused with the city Medeon of Boeotia) and was already inhabited in the Bronze Age. Among the archaeological remains are Mycenaean tombs, a vaulted tomb and a chamber tomb. The area was prospered in the 8th century, because of its commanding position in the Corinthian Gulf, but was later overshadowed by the rise of Delphi. According to Pausanias, by the 2nd cent. AD the city had been abandoned.

The site Karakolithos, where the Phocians erected a tower as part of a fortifications network on the borders between Phocaea and Boeotia, can probably be identified with the ancient village of Trachis.

The Phocians sided with the free Greeks during Xerxes’ invasion of Greece and participated in the first phase of the Battle of Thermopylae. Following the destruction visited upon Phocis by the Persians, a number of cities were forced to supply Mardonius with hoplites who fought in the Battle of Plataea.

The fortifications of the cities of the area, including those of Ambrossus, are among the most impressive in Greece and date to the mid-4th cent. BC, when the Phocian League was at the forefront of the Greek political scene. In 346 BC and following the defeat by Phillip II in the Sacred War which followed the capture of Delphi by the Phocians, the cities of the region were destroyed, and the Phocians were forced to pay reparations for stealing the sanctuary’s treasures. These cities, however, were repopulated with the help of the Athenians and the Thebans.

The vitality of these urban centres in the Early Byzantine period is attested by the Early Christian basilicas of the region. Of the basilica of Steiris (6th cent.) close to the monastery of Hosios Loukas only architectural members, sculptures and mosaics remain. A smaller church dedicated to Saint George was later built over its ruins. The size of the three-aisle basilica of Ambrossus (5th cent.) and the high quality of the mosaics depicting geometric, floral and animal motifs suggest a thriving city.

The Archaeological Collection of Distomo offers a glimpse to the antiquities of the area. It is housed in an old elementary school building and includes pottery finds dating from the Mycenaean to the Roman periods from Anticyra and Medeon, Classical and Hellenistic sepulchral stelae, as well as exhibits from the Early Christian basilica of Ambrossus.

3. Middle Ages: the monastery of Hosios Loukas

Settlement continuity in the area was disrupted during the so-called ‘Dark Ages’, possibly due to the invasions and settling of Slavs. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the monastery of Hosios Loukas became the area’s new religious, financial and cultural centre.

Hosios Loukas of Steiris was born at Kastorion (a settlement which, according to the latest research, should be identified with Domvraina and not Delphi as it was believed earlier) and spent time as a monk at Athens, Phocis, and the northern Peloponnese. In 946 he settled close to Steiris, where he lived until his death in 953. The hagiographical tradition stresses his asceticism, his healing powers and his gift of foresight; these made him very popular and led the local elite to place the spot where he had lived as a monk under their protection. Even before his death, funds were provided for the construction of the church of Ayia Varvara, where soon a monastic community sprang up and cells were created for the monks. The gradual pacification of the region after the attacks of the Bulgars, the evolution of the monastery into a pilgrimage destination and its position on the communication routes between the Peloponnese and Central Greece facilitated the execution of building projects under the aegis of state officials and emperors. The church dedicated to the Virgin Mary (second half of the 10th century) was probably erected over the church of Ayia Varvara. The fine masonry and the premium quality of the sculptural parts are indicative of its high construction cost. The catholicon of the monastery (early 11th century) is large and richly adorned, featuring exquisite mosaics organized in a wide-ranging iconographical programme. Murals decorate the church’s lateral parts. A crypt was constructed over the temple built around the saint’s tomb, where his relics are kept.

The wealth of the monastery is attested by its numerous dependencies; in the early 11th century these stretched out as far as Euboea and reflect the role of monastic centres in the social and financial resurgence of mainland Greece. Today, like the monastery of Daphni and the Nea Moni of Chios, Hosios Loukas is included in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage monuments.

A dependency of Hosios Loukas featuring an octagonal 11th century church once stood in the area where nowadays the ‘Aluminium of Greece’ company has its facilities. Building material from ancient Medeon was employed in the construction of the dependency. Another dependency of the monastery in the same region is Ayios Spyridon. Its post-Byzantine murals have been removed and are now on display in the old stable of the Hosios Loukas monastery. Sculptural parts from the monastery and its surrounding area are included in the sculpture collection kept in the trapeza (refectory) of the monastery.

4. Late Medieval and Modern era

In the following centuries the demographics of the area of Distomo apparently followed the overall trends of the rest of Boeotia: the prosperity of the 13th century is followed by a period of decline brought about by military conflicts and the 14th century plague; this decline, however, is compensated by the arrival of Albanian-speaking populations, the Arvanites, albeit in smaller numbers than in eastern Boeotia. During the 16th century the region experiences a demographic boom, followed by another decline in the 17th century, and a slight recovery followed again by a new population increase in the 19th century. During the Modern era the settlements of the area acquire their current form.

By the late Middle Ages Anticyra had become the most important port, often called Steiri (an appellation that from the Late Byzantine period onwards was sometimes applied to the entire gulf of Anticyra) or Aspra Spitia (a name nowadays used for the main settlement of the Paralia Distomou). The monastery of Hosios Loukas played a key part. During the late 18th century, for instance, the monastery numbered 100 monks and 30 shepherds; it owned 5,500 sheep, goats and cattle and produced significant quantities of wheat and barley. Late in March of 1821, bishop Isaiah of Salona declared the commencement of the Greek War of Independence at the monastery, while the activities of a number of chieftains, like Athanasios Diakos, Panourgias Panourgias and Ioannis Diovouniotis were connected with it.

In November 1826, Distomo became a base for the revolutionaries who launched attacks on the Ottomans, seeking to drive them out of Central Greece, under the leadership of Georgios Karaiskakis. Following Karaiskakis’ successes, Kütahı (Reşid Mehmed Pasha) who was besieging Athens, dispatched a force against Distomo. On January 19, 1827 the defenders of Distomo repelled the Ottoman assault. Karaiskakis returned to Distomo crossing through enemy lines, and in the battle of January 31st the Ottomans were defeated again. Soon after they abandoned their camp and returned to Lebadea. The military operations of the Greeks revitalized the uprising in Central Greece, and managed to confine Ottoman presence to a handful of fortified positions.

5. The slaughter of Distomo

In later years, however, Distomo has been associated mainly with a more recent and tragic event that unfolded there. On June 10, 1944 following an engagement between a unit of the Waffen-SS with forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army at Steiris, the SS surrounded Distomo and, in an fit of unfathomable destructive frenzy, sadism and savagery, exterminated everyone they found in the settlement. Of the 218 dead, most were elderly persons, women and children aged two months to 10 years. The villagers’ houses were pillaged and burnt. The following day the Germans executed 23 inhabitants of the village called Kalami, while a number of persons who were unlucky enough to cross paths with the German troops were also shot in cold blood.

The press of the partisan groups declared the dead of Distomo martyrs, and called for an intensification of the struggle against the Germans. In terms of the impact of the massacre on the international scene, the magazine Life dedicated a feature story to the incident on November 27, 1944 with the title “What the Germans did to Greece” and published the now famous photograph of local woman Maria Pantiska-Micha.

The Mausoleum of Distomo is dedicated to the victims of the massacre; it was erected on the Kanales Hill and includes an ossuary for the dead. A separate room of the old Elementary School houses the Museum of Nazism Victims with photographs and other documentary material pertaining to the massacre of Distomo.

6. Mining business

The area’s economy during the 20th century revolved around the mining and processing of bauxite. After the discovery of these deposits by Ioannis Barlos in 1917 the company ‘Barlos Bauxites’ was created; this company exported large quantities of bauxite, especially in the 1950s. The company ‘Aluminium of Greece’, controlled by the French Pechiney company, was established in 1960. The company’s aluminium and alumina producing plant began operating in Ayios Nikolaos in 1966, representing one of the most important heavy industry units in Greece. Konstantinos Doxiadis’s architectural firm was commissioned in 1961 to design the settlement of Aspra Spitia which housed the company’s employees. The settlement, functional and friendly to its inhabitants, is smoothly incorporated into the natural surroundings. The company ‘Aluminium of Greece’ came under the control of the Mytilineos Group in 2007.