Pyli
Πύλη | |
---|---|
Settlement | |
Coordinates: 40°46′36″N 21°2′2″E / 40.77667°N 21.03389°E | |
Country | Greece |
Administrative region | West Macedonia |
Regional unit | Florina |
Municipality | Prespes |
Municipal unit | Prespes |
Community | Agios Achilleios |
Population (2021)
[1] | |
• Total | 65 |
Time zone | UTC+2 ( EET) |
• Summer ( DST) | UTC+3 ( EEST) |
Pyli ( Greek: Πύλη, before 1926: Βίνενι - Vineni [2]) is a village in the Florina Regional Unit in West Macedonia, Greece. It is part of the community of Agios Achilleios.
The toponym Винени, Vineni is composed of the suffix -eni and the Slavic word for wine, vino. [3] In Albanian, the village is called Vinan. [4]
Until 1860, the village had a Slavonic population and a church of Sveti Ǵorǵi (Saint George). [5] The village became inhabited by Muslim Albanians, numbering some 155 in 1900 and the expelled Slavonic population went to live in Medovo [5] (modern Mileonas). At the time, Vineni was moved to a higher location due to bad climatic conditions. [5]
The Greek census (1920) recorded 202 people in the village and in 1923 there were 202 inhabitants (or 36 families) who were Muslim. [6] The Albanian village population was present until 1926 and were replaced with prosfiges (Greek refugees), [5] due to the Greek-Turkish population exchange. In 1926 within Vineni there were 18 refugee families from Asia Minor and 4 refugee families from an unidentified location. [6] The Greek census (1928) recorded 173 village inhabitants. [6] There were 24 refugee families (97 people) in 1928. [6] During the Greek Civil War, the Greek refugee population fled to nearby Orovnik (modern Karyes) and later other prosfiges (Greek refugees) were brought to repopulate the village. [5]
By the 1950s, the Greek government assisted a group of nomadic transhumant Aromanians (known as the Arvanitovlachs) originating from Thessaly, to settle in depopulated villages of the Prespa region like Pyli. [7] [8] Aromanians are the only inhabitants of the village. [7]
Pyli had 137 inhabitants in 1981. [9] In fieldwork done by Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Pyli was populated by Aromanians. [9] The Aromanian language was spoken in the village by people over 30 in public and private settings. [9] Children understood the language, but mostly did not use it. [9]