Iolcos
Encyclopedia : I : IO : IOL : Iolcos
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| Prefecture: | Magnesia |
| Province: | Volos |
| Seat: | Anakassia Iolkou |
| Location: Latitude: Longitude: | 39.4186/39°9'97 N lat.22.239/22°58'11' E long |
| Website: | [www.magnesia.gr/dimoi/dimoi_iolkos.htm] |
Iolcos (also known as Iolkos or Iolcus, Greek: Ιωλκός) was an ancient city in Thessaly, central-eastern Greece (near the modern city of Volos). Today Iolcos is a small village, which has a school and a small square (plateia). Iolcos is also used as a name to describe a municipality that belongs in the province of Volos.
The small town of Anakassia is the centre of the municipality of Iolkos. Anakassia has a school, a lyceum, a gymnasium, banks, a post office and a square (plateia).
Mythology
According to ancient Greek mythology Aeson was the rightful king of Iolcos, but his brother Pelias usurped the throne. It was Pelias who sent Aeson's son Jason and his Argonauts to look for the Golden Fleece. The ship Argo set sail from Iolcos with a crew of fifty demigods and princes under Jason's leadership in the 13th century B.C. Their mission was to reach Colchis in Aea at the eastern seaboard of the Black Sea and reclaim and bring back the Golden Fleece, a symbol of the opening of new trade routes. Along with the Golden Fleece Jason brought a wife, the sorceress Medea, king Aeetes' daughter, granddaughter of the Sun, niece of Circe, princess of Aea, and later queen of Iolkos, Korinth and Aea, and also slayer of her brother Apsyrtus and her two sons from Jason, a tragic figure whose trials and tribulations were artfully dramatized in the much staged Euripides' "Medea".Links to maps and other data about the location
Historical population
| Year | Communal population | Change (town) | Municipal population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | - | - | |
| 1991 | 287 | - | 2,415 |
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