Paramythia

The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the Greek tribe of the Chaonians. Late bronze antiquities have been found in the "Tsardakia" area were a Mycenean settlement probably existed.[9][10]

Paramythia originated with the ancient Chaonian city of Photike (Ancient Greek: Φωτική), named after Photios, a leader of the Chaonians.[11] A famous hoard of bronzes dating from the mid 2nd Century AD, nineteen bronze sculptures were discovered during the 1790s, near the village of Paramythia. Soon after their discovery, the hoard was dispatched to St Petersburg, to become part of Catherine the Great's collection. After her death, the original hoard was dispersed to various European collections. Eventually fourteen of the statuettes reached the British Museum.[12]

Paramythia seen from the upper street during the dusk

Paramythia as seen from the Byzantine castle

Photike, as with the rest of Epirus, became part of the Roman and subsequently Byzantine Empires. In the late Roman era it was the seat of a Bishopric and was renamed after Saint Donatus of Evorea.

Following the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Photike became part of the Despotate of Epirus. The Despotate remained independent for the next two centuries, maintaining the Greek Byzantine traditions. In 1359 the Greek notables of the region together with those of nearby Ioannina sent a delegation to the Serb ruler Symeon to support their independence against possible attacks by Albanian tribesmen. The town remained part of the Despotate of Epirus but during the reign of despot Thomas II Preljubović the Greek commanders of Photike/Agios Donatos refused to accept them as their ruler. The town fell to the Ottomans in 1449.[13] Paramythia was part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Ioannina.[14][15]

A Greek language school, had been attested since 1682. It declined and close in the mid-18th century,[16] however, another Greek school was continuously operating from the late 17th century and at 1842 was expanded with additional classes.[17] In 1854 a major revolt took place in Epirus and the town came briefly under the control of guerilla Souliote forces that demanded the union of Epirus with Greece.[18]

Population movements to the town that occurred from the middle of the 19th century weakened the Muslim elite and led to the gradual Hellenization of former Albanian-majority towns in the area such as Paramythia in the 1920s.[19] After the end of the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) the town became part of the Greek state, as with the rest of Epirus region. During the interwar period, Paramythia was a centre of the Albanian speaking area of Chameria and mainly an Albanian speaking market town that after 1939 increasingly became Greek speaking.[20] During the Greek-Italian War the town was burned by Cham Albanian bands (October 28-November 14, 1940)[21] In the following Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1944) the town had a population of 6,000 inhabitants; 3,000 Greeks and 3,000 Cham Albanians.[22] Almost all buildings inhabited by Muslim Albanians in the town were destroyed during World War II warfare.[23]

On the night of 27 September 1943, Cham militias arrested 53 Greek citizens in Paramythia and executed 49 of them two days later. This action was orchestrated by the brothers Nuri and Mazar Dino (an officer of the Cham militia) in order to get rid of the town's Greek representatives and intellectuals. According to German reports, Cham militias were also part of the firing squad.[24]

During September 20–29, as a result of serial terrorist activities, at least Greek 75 citizens were killed in Paramythia and 19 municipalities were destroyed.[25] On September 30, the Swiss representative of the International Red Cross, Hans-Jakob Bickel, visited the area and confirmed the atrocities committed by the Cham militia in collaboration with the Axis forces.[26]