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Drama Δράμα
Municipality
DramaLocation within the region
Coordinates: 41°9′00″N 24°8′48″E / 41.15000°N 24.14667°E / 41.15000; 24.14667
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Regional unit	Drama
Government
• Mayor	Georgios Papadopoulos (since 2023)
Area
• Municipality	840.1 km (324.4 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	488.8 km (188.7 sq mi)
Elevation	115 m (377 ft)
Population
• Municipality	55,679
• Density	66/km (170/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	55,440
• Municipal unit density	110/km (290/sq mi)
• Community	44,257
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	661 00
Area code(s)	2521
Vehicle registration	ΡΜ
Website	dimos-dramas.gr

Drama (Greek: Δράμα, romanized: Dráma [ˈðrama]) is a city and municipality in Macedonia, northeastern Greece. Drama is the capital of the regional unit of Drama which is part of the East Macedonia and Thrace region. The city (pop. 44,257 in the 2021 census) is the economic center of the municipality (pop. 55,679), which in turn comprises 60 percent of the regional unit's population. The next largest communities in the municipality are Χiropótamos (2,535), Choristi (pop. 2,512), Kallífytos (1,627), Kalós Agrós (838), and Koudoúnia (814).

Built at the foot of mount Falakro, in a verdant area with abundant water sources, Drama has been an integral part of the Hellenic world since the classical era; under the Byzantine Empire, Drama was a fortified city with a castle and rose to great prosperity under the Komnenoi as a commercial and military junction.

During the Ottoman era, tobacco production and trade, the operation of the railway (1895) and improvement of the road network towards the port of Kavala, led to an increase in the population of the city and to the enhancement of commercial activity.

Drama hosts the "Eleftheria", cultural events in commemoration of the city's liberation, at the end of June or beginning of July, and an annual film festival in September.

Name

Archaeological finds show that in the area of the modern city there used to be an ancient Greek settlement named Dyrama (Greek: Δύραμα) or alternatively Hydrama (Greek: Ύδραμα), both meaning "rich in water". Some scholars associate Drama with the ancient Greek Drabescus (Greek: Δράβησκος). Hydrama was notable as the place of worship for many gods of classical Greek mythology, especially Apollo and Artemis. With the passage of time Dyrama became Drama. In the South Slavic languages, the city is known as Драма which is itself a transliteration of the Greek name.

History

The ancient Greeks knew the city as Hydrama or Dyrama (Ύδραμα, Δύραμα) owing to its abundant water. Later known as Drabescus, it became part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires along with the rest of Greece.

Byzantine Era

During the early Christian period (4th–7th centuries), Drama was a small fortified settlement closely tied both administratively and religiously to the declining Roman colony of Philippi. Over time, Drama emerged as the region's most important urban center, a status it maintained during the Middle Byzantine period. Around the 10th century, the city was heavily fortified and flourished as a significant military and commercial hub.

Following the Fourth Crusade, Drama and its surrounding region became contested territory. It fell under the control of various powers, including the Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, and the Despotate of Epirus, before being reclaimed by the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty. Empress Irene of Montferrat, wife of Andronikos II, died in Drama during this period. However, the city was destabilized by the Byzantine civil wars of the 14th century, struck by the plague, and fell under Serbian control in 1345. Although briefly recaptured by the Byzantines in 1371, Drama was ultimately seized by the Ottomans in 1383, marking the definitive end of Byzantine rule in the area.

Ottoman Era

The Ottoman Empire conquered the region in 1383. In 1519 (Hijri 925) the town had 116 Muslim and 153 Christian households; it was in the jurisdiction of the beylerbey of Rumeli, Ferhad Pasha. In the 19th century, the town became centre of the Sanjak of Drama. In 1912, during the First Balkan War, Bulgarian troops took Drama from the Ottomans. In 1913, as a result of the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War, the area became part of Greece - along with the rest of eastern Macedonia.

World War II

During World War II, in the wake of the 1941 German invasion of Greece, Bulgarian troops occupied Drama from 1941 to 1944.

On 28 September 1941, the local communist party organized a series of guerrilla attacks against the occupying forces in the villages of Drama and the surrounding villages. In response, the Bulgarian occupation forces applied harsh reprisals in Drama, Doxato and several villages like Choristi, Kyrgia, Koudounia, and Prosotsani. The following day, 29 September, the leaders of the attacks were all killed in battle or in their attempts to escape to the German occupation zone. Bulgarian troops moved into Drama to suppress the uprising and arrested all men between 18 and 45. They were reported to have executed between 360 and 500 people in Drama. According to the Bulgarian military reports, up to 1,600 Greeks were killed in the uprising and in the weeks that followed.

The massacres precipitated an exodus of Greeks from the Bulgarian to the German occupation zone in Central Macedonia. The terror and famine became so severe that the government in Athens considered plans for evacuating the entire Greek population to German-occupied Greece.

On 4 March 1943, after midnight, the Bulgarian military authorities rounded up the Jewish population across their zone of occupation in eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The 4,000-strong community, including 589 Jews from Drama, was carried by train into Bulgarian territory and assembled in tobacco warehouses, which were empty at that time of year. From there they were taken by train to the Treblinka extermination camp. None of the 589 Jews from Drama ever returned.

Geography

Climate

Drama has a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and chilly, wet winters.

Municipality

The municipality Drama was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets):

• Drama (Choristi, Drama, Kallifytos, Kalos Agros, Koudounia, Livadero, Makryplagio, Mavrovatos, Mikrochori, Monastiraki, Mylopotamos, Nikotsaras, Xiropotamos)
• Sidironero (Sidironero, Skaloti)

The municipality has an area of 840.103 km, the municipal unit 488.830 km.

Population

Economy

In the recent past, the economy of the Drama area relied heavily on the local paper and textile-clothing industries. However, these industries have either closed down or moved across the border to Bulgaria, because of the low demands of the Bulgarian workforce, with a negative impact on the local economy and employment. The situation worsened after 2007, when Bulgaria was admitted to the EU, and local Greek businessmen moved to expand their operations there. Other sources of revenue include agriculture, consisting mainly of tobacco plantations, small-scale mining (particularly of marble) and forestry. Recently, there have been efforts to exploit the rich local natural environment and to develop ecotourism.

There is a modern ski resort on Mount Falakro. Drama also hosts an annual short film festival.

Transport

Rail transport

The town is served by Drama railway station on the Thessaloniki-Alexandroupoli line, with daily services to Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis.

Culture

Since 1978, Drama has hosted the Drama International Short Film Festival. In 1987, the festival was recognized nationally. In 1995, it added the International competition section, where short films from all over the world visit the city every year. In 1996, the festival was included in the National Cultural Network of Cities by the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Churches

Hagia Sophia Church

Hagia Sophia is the oldest surviving preserved monument in Drama. It was built during the tenth century AD, along with Drama's city walls. It was probably erected on the site of a previous early Christian basilica. During the Ottoman rule, it was turned into a mosque.

Museums

Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum of Drama covers human presence in the regional unit of Drama from the mid-Paleolithic Period (50,000 years before present) with traces of life from Paleolithic hunts in the caves of the source of the Angitis, up to modern times (1913).

The exhibition space consists of three main halls. In the first, archaeological finds from the cave of Maara give witness to the presence of nomadic hunters in the area from the mid-Palaeolithic period, while other finds demonstrate the life of settled farmers and animal rearers from Neolithic villages and the passage of the Copper Age in the city of Drama and the village of Sitagri. The reproduction of a Neolithic house with finds which describe the activities of Neolithic man and his daily activities is the main centre of interest for visitors of all ages.

Bust of Dionysius, found in the area of Kali Vrysi. The same hall continues the journey through time to the Iron Age and later years where the main element was the worship of Dionysius at the city of Drama itself and at Kali Vrysi and other areas of the regional unit. In the second hall architectural sculptures, pottery and coins confirm that life continued in the city and throughout the whole regional unit during early Christian, Byzantine and post-Byzantine years.

The visitor is taken through modern recent history by a photographic exhibition relating to the city of Drama, the towns of the regional unit and the mountain villages. The exhibition covers the period from the beginning of the Ottoman period up to the middle of the 19th century. In the third hall which is roofed with an atrium, the visitor can admire sculptures arranged into three thematic groups. The first includes architectural sculptures dating from ancient times up to Turkish occupation. The second contains votive monuments connected with the worship of various gods in the Greco-Roman pantheon as well as local deities, with particular reference to Dionysius while the third group of sculptures focuses on funerary monuments from Hellenistic and Roman times.

Ecclesiastical Museum

The history of the Christian Church in Drama began during the Byzantine period and underwent difficult and troubled times. From the 14th century when the city was captured by the Ottomans until the 20th century with successive foreign occupations, the Greek Orthodox Church in Drama struggled without end, fed by the blood of many faithful, martyrs to the faith and to the Hellenic ideal and provided succor to its followers through difficult periods.

The collection of icons dating from Byzantine times to the 20th century forms the basic core of the museum's exhibits. The Museum of the Cathedral of Drama, founded during the reign of the honourable Bishop Dionysius 1st, is now housed in a recently restored five-storey wing of the Bishop of Drama's palace on Venizelou St. In the spacious and well-attended halls, ecclesiastical treasures of priceless spiritual and artistic value are on exhibition. The Icons of the Virgin Ηοdegetria and the Blessing Lord from the 13th century, icons from the 17th century and particularly from the 19th century decorate and sanctify the place. Moreover, the episcopal canonicals, holy vessels and their covers, many from the 19th century, relics of Chrysostomos of Drama and Smyrni, constitute the most important exhibits in the museum.

Many of the exhibits are relics brought by refugees from Asia Minor and Pontus in 1922 from the churches of their ancient homes to their new home, valuable reminders of who they were and where they came from. Organized groups of pilgrims and visitors to the city are advised to contact the office of the Diocese of Drama before visiting the museum to make arrangements.

Other museums

• Folklore Museum (Drama)

Sport

Drama hosts many sport teams in various sports. The most famous and most popular is Doxa Dramas, founded in 1918. Other successful clubs with presence in Greek national divisions are KAOD (basketball club), Pandramaikos FC, Drama 1986 and Amazones Dramas.

Notable people

• Irene of Montferrat (c. 1274–1317), Byzantine Empress
• Kostas Apostolidis (1948–2024), businessman
• Michael Athans (b. 1937), electrical engineer, retired MIT professor
• Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha- Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, (died 1637)
• Mahmud Dramali Pasha (1780–1822), Ottoman General during the Greek Independence War
• Basilis C. Xanthopoulos (1951–1990), theoretical physicist
• Koulis Stoligkas (1910–1984), actor
• Nikos Sergianopoulos (1952–2008), television and stage actor
• Petros Gaitanos (b. 1967), singer
• Tania Tsanaklidou,(b. 1952) singer
• Natassa Theodoridou, (b. 1970), singer
• Apostolos Nikolaidis (1938–1999), singer
• Yesari Asım Arsoy [tr] (1900–1992), classical Turkish music composer - singer
• Dimitris Siovas (b. 1988), footballer
• Ioannis Fetfatzidis (b. 1990), footballer
• Paraskevas Antzas (b. 1977), footballer
• Charikleia Bouda (b. 1980), Olympic sprinter
• Stratos Perperoglou (b. 1984), basketball player
• Konstantinos Douvalidis (b. 1987), Olympic hurdler
• Athanassios Tsakiris (b. 1965), five-time Winter Olympian
• Panagiota Tsakiri (b. 1990), Olympic biathlete and cross-country skier
• Anna Korakaki (b. 1996), shooter, Gold medalist Women's 25m pistol, bronze medalist in the 10m air pistol at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Gallery

• Grave stele of Tiberius Claudius Maximus, Archaeological Museum of Drama
• Agia Sofia Byzantine church
• Spierer tobacco warehouse in snow
• Holocaust memorial to Greek Jews deported to the Treblinka extermination camp

See also

• List of settlements in the Drama regional unit

Cooperation with other cities

• Kragujevac, Serbia
• Lauf an der Pegnitz, Germany

References

1. "Municipality of Drama, Municipal elections – October 2023". Ministry of Interior.
2. ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
3. ^ "Παρουσιάστηκε πρόβλημα" (PDF). Retrieved 15 May 2023.
4. ^ "Visit Greece | Δράμα". Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
5. James I. Porter (2002). Constructions of the Classical Body. University of Michigan Press. pp. 142–. ISBN 978-0-472-08779-2. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
6. Byzantine World
7. GÖKBİLGİN, M. TAYYİB (1956). "KANUNÎ SULTAN SÜLEYMAN DEVRİ BAŞLARINDA RUMELİ EYALETİ, LİVALARI, ŞEHİR VE KASABALARI". Belleten. 20 (78): 265. eISSN 2791-6472. ISSN 0041-4255.
8. See for example Xanthippi Kotzageorgi-Zymari and Tassos Hadjianastassiou, "Memories of the Bulgarian Occupation of Eastern Macedonia: Three Generations.", in: Mark Mazower (ed.), After the War was Over: reconstructing the family, nation, and state in Greece, 1943-1960. Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-691-05842-9 p. 273-292, also in the introduction, p. 4.
9. Mazower, Mark (2016). After the War Was Over : Reconstructing the Family, Nation, and State in Greece, 1943-1960. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-8443-8. OCLC 959881915.
10. Κουζινόπουλος (2011). p. 152-156.
11. ЦДИА, ф. 176, оп. 3. а.е. 1063, л.341
12. Miller (1975), p. 128.
13. "יהודי בולגריה - כפשע בינם לבין המוות (Bulgaria's Jews - avoiding the death)" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Yad Vashem Memorial. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
14. (in Hebrew): Bar-Zohar, Michael, The trains went out empty, Hed-Artzi, Or-Yhuda, Israel, 1999.
15. Drama (drm) Monthly Climate Average, Drama, World Weather Online, October 2019
16. "ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
17. "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-21.
18. "Job Creation and Enterprise Development Department (EMP/ENTERPRISE)" (PDF). Ilo.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
19. Αγγελιοφόρος, September 24, 2006
20. "Διεθνές Φεστιβάλ Ταινιών Μικρού Μήκους Δράμας | Official website". Φεστιβάλ Ταινιών Μικρού Μήκους Δράμας.
21. "Short Film Festival in Drama - History". Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
22. "If Greece had more people like Costas Apostolidis". Kathimerini. 28 February 2024. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024.
23. "Businessman Kostas Apostolidis passed away - The "goodbye" of SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises)". 28 February 2024. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024.
24. "Our Kostas Apostolidis, the Founder and Chairman of Raycap, among the fifty (50) protagonists of the recovery". xronikadramas.gr (in Greek). 3 July 2020. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024.
25. "Raycap: The "unknown" success story of the company from Drama that reached the world" (in Greek). 30 July 2023. Archived from the original on 31 July 2023.

Bibliography

• Gaydarska, B. "Prehistoric Drama and its regional context," in Stoyanov, T., Angelova, S. & Lozanov (eds), Stephanos Archaeologicos in honorem Professoris Ludmilli Getov, Vol. I (Sofia: Sofia University Press, 2005), 116 – 133.

External links

• Municipality of Drama
• Official website of Drama regional unit
• Drama travel guide from Wikivoyage

v t e Macedonia (Greece)
People	Ancient Macedonians List Macedonians (Greeks) List Jews of Thessaloniki Slavic speakers Macedonian Bulgarians, Ethnic Macedonians Aromanians Megleno-Romanians
History	Ancient Macedonia History Government Kings Wars of Alexander the Great Wars of the Diadochi Macedonian Wars Roman Macedonia Barbarian invasions Theme of Macedonia Theme of Thessalonica Theme of Strymon Sack of Thessalonica (904) Byzantine–Bulgarian wars Sack of Thessalonica (1185) Kingdom of Thessalonica Empire of Thessalonica Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 Zealots of Thessalonica Byzantine–Ottoman wars Siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430) Ottoman Greece Rumelia Eyalet Greek War of Independence Manastir Vilayet Sanjak of Monastir Sanjak of Serfiğe Salonica Vilayet Sanjak of Drama Sanjak of Salonica Sanjak of Siroz Macedonian Struggle Balkan Wars Macedonian front Provisional Government of National Defence Axis occupation Greek Civil War Macedonia naming dispute Prespa agreement
Administration	Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace Western Macedonia Central Macedonia Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Economy	Agios Dimitrios Power Plant Amyntaio Power Plant Drama coal mine Gerakini mine Olympias mine Piavitsa mine Port of Kavala Port of Thessaloniki Prinos oil field Ptolemaida-Florina coal mine Skouries mine Stratoni mine Thessaloniki International Fair
Major cities	Thessaloniki Kavala Kastoria Serres Veria Katerini Edessa Florina Drama Naousa Kozani Siatista Kilkis Other
Nature	Axios River Doiran Lake Falakro Galikos River Haliacmon Lake Kerkini Lake Koroneia Lake Orestiada Lake Prespa Small Prespa Lake Lake Vegoritida Lake Volvi Mount Paiko Nestos (river) Mount Olympus Pangaion Hills Pindus (Pindus National Park) Petralona cave Strymon River Vasilitsa Vermio Mountains Seli Verno Voras Mountains Islands: Thasos Ammouliani
Monuments	Agios Athanasios Alexandrion (Litochoro) Amphipolis Lion of Amphipolis Kasta Tomb Dion Archaeological Park Hellenistic theatre Mount Athos Mieza (Tomb of Judgement, Tomb of the Palmettes) Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki Pella Philippi Platamon Castle Vergina Museums : Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis, Aiani Archaeological Museum, Archaeological Museum of Dion, Archaeological Museum of Pella, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Museum of Byzantine culture
Culture	Vergina Sun Flag Music Cuisine
Greek Macedonia Portal

v t e Administrative division of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region
Area 14,157 km (5,466 sq mi) Population 608,182 (as of 2011) Municipalities 22 (since 2011) Capital Komotini
Regional unit of Drama	Doxato Drama Kato Nevrokopi Paranesti Prosotsani
Regional unit of Evros	Alexandroupoli Didymoteicho Orestiada Samothrace Soufli
Regional unit of Kavala	Kavala Nestos Pangaio
Regional unit of Rhodope	Arriana Iasmos Komotini Maroneia-Sapes
Regional unit of Thasos	Thasos
Regional unit of Xanthi	Abdera Myki Topeiros Xanthi
Regional governor Christos Metios [el] (since November 2016, elected 2019) Decentralized Administration Macedonia and Thrace

• Drama, Greece
• Wine regions of Greece
• Populated places in Drama (regional unit)