History

Like every corner of Greece, Deskati has a very extensive history. Below you can read a general summary of the history of the area.

Contents:

• Neolithic and Ancient Era
• Medieval times
• Turkish occupation 1423-1912
• Deskatis liberation of Turkish rule
• After the liberation of 1912

Neolithic and Ancient Era

Evidence found suggests that the area of Deskati has been populated since at least 5,000 BC. Neolithic tools have been found in the general region and especially around the two main water streams, proving that a few settlements must have existed since then.

In Ancient times population of the area must have skyrocketed judging from the several findings dating back to those times. Artifacts include:

• Ancient wall ruins that still exist in the area
• Copper coins of the Macedonian times (4th to 3rd century BC)
• A treasure of ancient coins found in 1914
• Ancient burials
• Oversized vessels
• A column of he 2nd century BC
• Ruins of a Christian church of the 5th or 6th century AC

All these findings let us conclude that the ancient settlements of the area continued until the end of the 6th century AC. According to the German archaeologist Fr. Stahlin, on the tableland of Deskati existed an ancient city named Mondaia, however no hard proof of such city exists so far.

Medieval times

During the 13th century AC (The Byzantine era) the area had 8 small settlements and it belonged to the Episcopal of Stagon. We conclude this from the Turkish Censor 1454/1455 that used data before the Turkish occupation of 1393 and the Byzantine autocratic documents of Autocrat Andronico Palaiologo the third.

During 1348 the west area of Thesalia was concurred by Serbs and the Serbian Greek country of Trikala was created. Most probably the area got the name Deskati at that point in time. According to one translation, Deskati means three hills which describes precisely the state of the landscape the city is built upon.

Turkish occupation 1423-1912

The area fell temporarily under Turkish rule in 1393, and than for 250 years in 1423. The area was split by the sultan to his beys and the area of Deskati fell under the rule of the general of Trikala Mirliba.

According to the Turkish Census of 1454/1455 that used data before 1393, the area had the following small villages:

If we assume that each family had at least 5 members the area must had a population of 1775 to 2200 people.

A document from the monastry of Meteora tells us of two new settlements created in the area during 1613/1614: Selisma and Gortsia. By the end of the 17th century 3 new settlements were formed: Prodromos, Kalibia, and Rogia, while the settlement of Karitsa was abandoned and the one of Diskata increased its population.

In the years of Turkish occupation the financial condition of the villagers was not good. The rulers took most of the hard earned crop, and what ever was left over was stolen by the Albanian thieves that used to raid the area. Add to this the epidemics and you will realise the unfortunate position the locals were in. During this time the nickname ziabeli was given to the locals, nickname that is used until today. Ziabeli in Turkish describes the miserable, the unfortunate. The whole situation explains the sudden increase of the population of Deskati as its location was well hid from the valley where the thieves passed through.

The first post Turkish occupation Greek country was formed in 1830 and it only covered a fraction of the area today's country covers. The occupied areas wanted to join the free Greek country, so in January 1830 another revolution started first in Epero and than in Thessalia. First Athanasios D. Mblahabas (in mid March) and than Theodoros Ziakas (11th of April) came to Deskati with several man each to bring the message of the revolution to the area. The locals welcomed both with lots of support and interest. The rulers however, did not like this and to revenge them, they burned the village on the 9th of May while the villagers were hiding in the near by mountains.

In February 1878 another revolution started in the area of Olympus but due to several mistakes the revolutionists retreated to the area covered by the mountain range of Hasia. On the 13th of March they came to Deskati where they were given every possible help. However, the reinforcements they were waiting for never arrived so they departed a month later. The sultan that was coming after the rebels decided to take revenge from the locals by bombing the village with his canons. The village however was never bombed. Tradition has it that the protector of the village Saint Constantinos wasted the sultans canons by filling them with water.

The revolutions must have paid off since in spring 1881 Thessalia became part of the free Greek country. The border of Greece now reached just before the village Gilofo. Deskati and its area remained under Turkish rule but since it was now separated from the Episcopal Triki and Stagon the metropolis of Deskati was formed in 1882 . The area had its own archbishop until 1896, a period of 14 years.

The villagers also helped in later revolutions like the one started by Thanasi Boufa (four officers of whom were local villagers) and the war of 1897 during which the Greek army had many victories but was ordered to retreat.

Deskatis' liberation of Turkish rule

Deskati was set free in the eve of the 1st Balkan war of 1912, a total of 450 years of occupation. According to the plan of the Greek army, the are of Deskati was to be supported by an excerpt of evzones (soldiers dressed in the traditional foustanela) stationed at Frakadona and commanded by colonel S.Gennadi. The excerpt was made of two orders (the 1st and the 4th) and a platoon carrying two lightweight machine-guns.

The excerpt left Farkadona and stayed one night at Paliopirgo and the next night (5 October 1912) it reached Konisko where it received orders to proceed to the enslaved Gilofo. They rested at Konisko until ten o'clock at night and after proceeded to Gilofo which they reached at two thirty midnight. After some battles they freed Gilofo in the early hours of the 6th October 1912.

This excerpt was to be assisted by the cavalry of Gennadi which was stationed at Praitori of Elassona. However the cavalry made it only up to Balanida since further movement was judged to risky. Instead it turned back and send a platoon to Deskati that got there facing no major difficulty and acted on its own.

When the excerpt reached Deskati it found the Turkish soldiers hidden in the forts build on the hill of Ai-Lia. They had plenty of ammunition and they were merciless hitting the evzones that were having problems climbing the hill. This continued until the afternoon, when the evzones decided to slowly crawl up the hill with the spear on there guns while the others were shooting to cover them up. When they got there they surprised the Turkish and after small fights the Turkish retreated to Deskati. During the battle 18 officers and evzones were injured while a corporal and captain Dimitri Manousakis were killed.

After the Turkish retreat the 4th order moved up the mountain of Tretimo (south of the city) to help the 1st order that was battling in the rain. This made the Turkish retreat to mount Priono (north of the city). After that the 2nd platoon of the 1st order moved in to Deskati and freed the city at the dawn of the 7th October 1912. The platoons created forts on the top of tretimo at the locations Stauro and Kato Stauro. The 3rd platoon of the 1st order marched to Paraskeui where it gave a 2 hour battle with a Turkish platoon that was coming to assist the Turkish forces of Deskati and forced it to turn back towards Paliouria and Grevena.

The news of the victories of the Greek army spread quickly and 25 locals of Deskati that had migrated to the USA returned to enlist as volunteers. They took part in many battles at Epero, Macedonia, East coast of Turkey and 16 of them died.

After the liberation of 1912

In 1918 Deskati was recognised as a parish of the new province of Kozani, and it included the villages Agioris, Diaselaki, Gilofos.

In 1942 the area was made part of the sub-prefecture of Ellasona of the province of Larisa.

In 1964 however, the sub-prefecture of Grevena was recognised as a province and Deskati became its 2nd municapility.

According to the census records the population of Deskati since 1886 has as follows:

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