Topeiros

Municipality in Greece

Topeiros Τόπειρος
Municipality
40°59′N 24°48′E / 40.983°N 24.800°E / 40.983; 24.800
Country	Greece
Administrative region	East Macedonia and Thrace
Regional unit	Xanthi
Government
• Mayor	Thomas Michoglou^[1] (since 2014)
Area
• Municipality	312.5 km² (120.7 sq mi)
Population (2021)^[2]
• Municipality	9,473
• Density	30/km² (79/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Vehicle registration	AH

Topeiros (Greek: Τόπειρος) is a municipality in the Xanthi regional unit, Greece. The municipality has an area of 312.493 km².^[3] Population 9,473 (2021). The seat of the municipality is in Evlalo.^[4]

History

Topeiros was an ancient Thracian settlement, which in the imperial times evolved into a great urban center survived until the Byzantine period. The city is identified with the late Roman and Byzantine ruins saved a little south of the modern village of Paradeisos, where there is a passage of the river Nestos. The city functioned as tribal, administrative and religious center of the Thracian tribe of Sapaioi.

Thanks to its strategic position, in early 2nd AD century it was rebuilt – according to the Greek type of city-states – by emperor Trajan under his provincial policy intended to urbanization of Thrace. It was then known as Ulpia Topirus in Latin. Within the limits of its territory that stretched on both banks of the river Nestos were a dense network of rural settlements and castles, as well several Roman stations of via Egnatia.^[5]

References

^ Municipality of Topiros, Municipal elections – October 2023, Ministry of Interior
^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece.
^ "ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
^ D. C. Samsaris, Historical Geography of Western Thrace during the Roman Antiquity (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2005, p. 79-91