Capital and largest city of Epirus, Greece
About Ioannina
Ioannina, often called Yanina, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in northwestern Greece.
Name
The city's formal name, Ioannina, is probably a corruption of Agioannina or Agioanneia, 'place of St. John', and is said to be linked to the establishment of a monastery dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, around which the later settlement (in the area of the current Ioannina Castle) grew. According to another theory, the city was named after Ioannina, the daughter of Belisarius, general of the emperor Justinian. William Martin Leake wrote in Travels in Northern Greece (published in 1835), in a passage dated July 1809, that in Byzantine sources and in ecclesiastical usage, the city's name appears as Τὰ Ἰωάννινα. In the spoken language, however, this form became corrupted into popular variants such as Ίάννινα, Ίάνενα, Γιανένα, and, most commonly, Γιάννινα, from which the Italian form Giannina is derived. …
History
The first indications of human presence in Ioannina basin are dated back to the Paleolithic period (24,000 years ago) as testified by findings in the cavern of Kastritsa. During classical antiquity the basin was inhabited by the Molossians and four of their settlements have been identified there. Despite the extensive destruction suffered in Molossia during the Roman conquest of 167 BC, settlement continued in the basin albeit no longer in an urban pattern. The exact time of Ioannina's foundation is unknown, but it is commonly identified with an unnamed new, "well-fortified" city, recorded by the historian Procopius as having been built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I for the inhabitants of ancient Euroia. This view is not supported, however, by any concrete archaeological evidence. …
Geography
Ioannina lies at an elevation of approximately 500 metres (1,640 feet) above sea level, on the western shore of Lake Pamvotis (Παμβώτις). It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the capital of Ioannina regional unit and the region of Epirus. Ioannina is located 436 km (271 mi) northwest of Athens, 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Thessaloniki and 90 km (56 miles) east of the port of Igoumenitsa in the Ionian Sea. The municipality Ioannina has an area of 403.322 km2, the municipal unit Ioannina has an area of 47.440 km2, and the community Ioannina (the city proper) has an area of 17.335 km2. …
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