Skamneli

The toponym is in the feminine form derived from the surname Skamnelis, with a change of gender matching the noun for a village or place.^[2] The linguist Kostas Oikonomou wrote that Skamneli cannot be derived from the Greek form skamneli meaning 'small stool', and though it can be created, the form is not used in the area of Epirus; instead, the diminutive for stool is expressed as skamnaki.^[2] This also applies to the surnames Skamnelis and Skamnelos, which do not stem from the unmarked diminutive form skamneli.^[2] Oikonomou stated the placename originates either from the surname Skamnis, derived from the word skamni 'stool' and the anthroponymic suffix -elis, or from the Aromanian noun scamnel 'little stool', a diminutive of scamnu.^[2]

The village is not mentioned in the Turkish records of 1564. There seemed to be in the area several other small villages that slowly coalesced with Skamneli in the 17th century. These were Catuna or Catuni, Agios Georgios, Prophetes Elias, Gardiki, Trepesi, Kotsanades, Palaiochori (Koziakos-Katsikochori) and Nouka. Nouka (Nuca) was a small settlement of Aromanians (Vlachs) at Gyftokampos.

The region of the village was inhabited since prehistoric times, as there have been found ancient, so-called Pelasgian fortifications, known by the locals also as the Palaiokastro.^[3] They were visited by Nicholas Hammond in 1930 and in 1939, prior to the publication of his book Epirus.^[4] Prof Daskaris of the University of Ioannina dated these to the 8th century BC.

Moreover, remains of a 4th- to 3rd-century BC circular tower, a rectangular tower, a gate and two smaller doorways have been identified near the entrance of the village in the vicinity of the Monastery of St Paraskevi. Graves dating from Hellenistic times were unearthed in 2017. In the Ottoman period, Skamneli belonged to the Koinon of the Zagorisians (Greek: Κοινόν Ζαγορισίων) formed after a treaty with Sinan-Pasha in 1431. Ιt enjoyed along with the other villages a joint autonomy from Ottoman rule. The autonomy guaranteed non-interference from the Turkish administration. Zagorisians had their affairs entrusted to a Council of Elders called Demogerontia (Gr. Δημογεροντία), headed by a president or governor called Vekylis (Gr. Βεκύλης). They maintained a small force of Sipahi horsemen (Gr. σπαχήδες). The Koinon of the Zagorisians was reformalised by a treaty signed in 1670, under which Zagori enjoyed considerable privileges called "Surutia", which were only rescinded by the Sultan in 1868. In the later part of the 17th century, the inhabitants of several hamlets began to resettle in Skamneli. The reason was probably raids from bandits. One major such raid is recorded in the books of the Monastery of St Paraskevi, according to Frangoulis^[5] dated to 1688, by one named Ali Chogmeno at the head of 166 men. He gathered the women and children in the Church of the Apostles (Agioi Apostoloi) and began looting the village. Armatoloi arrived from Doliani, another village in Zagori, under their captain Douvlis and dispersed the bandits after killing Ali Chogmeno. At the time Skamneli had about 1000 inhabitants and was surrounded by several hamlets with an additional 800 inhabitants.

In the second half of the 18th century, Skamneli is believed to have had a population of about 950, according to Frangoulis,^[5] based on two surviving village records, but other estimates are of up to 800 families for the entire region. It had a school for boys and girls, the Saitzios School, in which Classical Greek was taught. Looms were worked by the women of Skamneli, producing garments, blankets and woolen fabrics. Vikos doctors were active in the area at that time. The foundations of the manors of Skamneli date from this period and were built by masons from Konitsa. During a tour of Mt Tymphe, Ali Pasha was caught in a storm and spent a night in Skamneli at the manor of the Saitzes family, said to have caused his admiration.^[5]

In 1820, after the rebellion of Ali Pasha, a Turkish force of 1500 under Ismael Pasha arrived in Zagori, part of the total army of 20,000 sent against Ali Pasha. Alexis Noutsos from Kapesovo, a member of the Philike Hetairia who had intermarried with the Saitzes family and owned a house in Skamneli, was in command of the force opposing Ismael Pasha. However, the Sultan's armies prevailed. Ismael Pasha removed most privileges other than the right to appoint a local governor (Vekylis), whose powers however became nominal. Ismael Pasha introduced very heavy taxation, amounting to 250 silver coins per person and additional taxation in kind. Albanian and local bandits began looting raids once again. This was the time when many prominent Greeks had become members of the Philike Hetairia and were preparing the uprising against the Turks in 1821. The Skamneliot Georgios Papazoglou proposed to the prominent Greek scholar Georgios Gennadios the idea of the establishment of a Greek university at the Saitzios School in Skamneli. Other potential benefactors opted for the site of the Monastery of St John of Rogov, outside nearby Tsepelovo. The idea had also been proposed by Neophytos Doukas, at the time possibly living in Tsepelovo. The plan never materialised because of the limited success of the Greek War of Independence, that left Epirus under Ottoman rule. Georgios' brother Kostas Papazoglou, another member of the Philike Hetairia, left for Missolonghi, where he led and financed a cavalry company during the Greek War of Independence.

Several Skamneliots enlisted in the so-called Sacred Band of Alexander Ypsilantis in the opening phase of the Greek War of Independence and fought in Drăgăşani.^[5] The success of the War of Independence was limited. Epirus remained under Ottoman control and Zagori was not included in the Kingdom of Greece formed in 1833. In 1837, during a looting raid by bandits under a man called Vryazis, the bandits found the veteran of the Greek War of Independence Costas Papazoglou in his house in Skamneli and killed him, looting his house. In 1868 Zagori lost its last privileges and Skamneli entered a period of further impoverishment and decline. At that time, so-called "gypsies" settled in Skamneli. They were believed by the locals to have been brought to Europe by the Turks from Asia, and were involved in the making of tools and utensilis and other metalwork, as well as musical instruments. Aromanians near Gyftokampos and Sarakatsani shepherds managed the livestock of the wealthier families. Members of these groups became gradually assimilated into the village society. After the battle of Bizani during the first Balkan War (1912), the inhabitants of Skamneli and Tsepelovo rose up. A Turkish unit subsequently entered the village and set fire to the school and to all the houses whose occupants were absent. The public records of the village also perished.^[5] In 1940 villagers from Skamneli and the other villages in the region helped in non-combatant roles the Greek army in turning back the Italian army that had entered Epirus, as commemorated by a memorial in the entrance to the Zagori region. Later Napoleon Zervas established his partizans in the area. The village became almost deserted during the Greek Civil War (1946–9) and more of the older stone houses fell to ruin in the subsequent period. As a result, only a small number of inhabitants still live year-round in the village.

Young Skamneliotes used to study in Ioannina or in Italy and in Constantinople during the Ottoman period and would emigrate for work to Constantinople, Asia Minor, Russia, the Danubian Principalities of Moldova, Wallachia and Bessarabia, in Romania and also to Alexandria in Egypt. More recently there has been emigration also to the United States.^[6]

The village is inhabited by Greeks, an Aromanian community which has assimilated into the local population, and some Sarakatsani who settled in the village during the early 20th century.^[7] The Sarakatsani are Greek speakers.^[8]

The old school, the Saitzios School (Gr. Σαϊτζιος Σχολή), dated to the 18th C. and possibly older, had been proposed as the foundation for the first university of Modern Greece in 1820. On a subsequent recommendation of the would-be benefactors, the site for the university was moved to the nearby monastery of St John of Rogov (Gr. Μονή Αγίου Ιωάννου του Ρογκοβού). Eventually, following Greek Independence in 1829, Athens was chosen as the site of the first University, which became known as the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. It was funded partly by benefactors of Zagorisian origin, including Nikolaos Rizaris and Simon Sinas. Nothing remains of the Saitzios School, having been destroyed during the First Balkan War, its stone having been afterwards looted for the building of nearby houses. The house of the last headmaster of the Saitzios School, Constantinos Petrides, was also destroyed together with the school but was rebuilt in 1914 and still stands.

Some of the grander houses, such as those of the Noutsos and Saitzes families, also became ruins and nothing of them has remained. However, there are some old houses still in existence, built in the traditional style of Zagori, notably that of the Gennadios family, near the village square and those of Cyparrisos, Frangoulis and Theodosiou. A unique characteristic of these manors were murals with floral themes covering the interior and they were also characterised by their unique carved wooden ceilings. While the older ceilings are now mostly gone, a very fine example of modern work in the old Scamneliot style can be seen in the hotel "To Rhadio" (το Ραδιό), along the main road, near the church of the Apostles.

The church of the Apostles (Agioi Apostoloi) was built in 1793 next to the village square by a benefaction from two Skamneliots living in the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia and in Bessarabia, Demetrios and Christodoulos Saitzes. Ιt has beautiful wooden panelling and is of considerable historical significance as a representative of the style of the period. There used to be two large monasteries near the entrance of Skamneli, that of St Nicholas (Agios Nikolaos) housed monks while that of St Paraskevi (Agia Paraskevi) originally housed nuns. The monastery of St Nicholas dates from 1683. Parts of the monks' quarters, the church and a picturesque roofed well still remain.

The monastery of St Paraskevi (Agia Paraskevi) dates from the 12th or 13th century, as some of the oldest murals suggest, during the period of the Despotate of Epirus. It was founded as a nunnery with 60 nuns. On the record of its last commissioner, it became a Stauropegic monastery in 1453 after the Fall of Constantinople - that is it came under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople - and has remained so ever since. It was refounded in 1697 as a male monastery. Some of the frescoes were painted in 1717 and 1773 by painters from nearby Kapesovo and from Chionades. The exterior fresco mainly around the theme of the Final Judgement was apparently made by a hagiographer from nearby Koukouli. The frail frescoes were restored in 1933 and 1984. The monastery became ruinous and only the central church remains out of the original foundation. Another old church, that of the Panagia (church of the Hyperagia Theotokos or the Dormition of the Theotokos) has suffered from disrepair and, although still standing, had been for decades closed to the public. It has been now repaired and has been re-opened for services. It is believed to have been founded in the 8th C.

The village celebrates the Feast of Agia Paraskevi, on the 26th of July, with a local festival.

Near the village lies Gyftokampos, a place of an annual meeting of the Sarakatsani on the first weekend of August. It is also an exhibition ground every year, from May till October, with huts and other representations of the traditional life of the Sarakatsani.

A custom surviving until recently in some villages in the area was a divination referred to as the "amileto nero" (unbespoken water). It involved an offering of water and grain by adolescent girls, relating to an ancient Demetriac festival of the month of Gamelion. Reputedly, the springwater mourmoured an omen, usually relating to the girl's future marital life.

According to Odysseas Frangoulis, St Cosmas (Kosmas Aitolos or Cosmas of Aetolia) preached in Skamneli outside the monastery of Agios Nikolaos. He prophesied "when you see here many horses gathered, the Romioi are coming". When the village was burnt in 1912 by the retreating Turks, they had left their horses outside the monastery.