Drama (regional unit)

Drama Περιφερειακή ενότητα Δράμας
Peripheral unit
Municipalities of Drama
Drama within Greece
Country	Greece
Periphery	East Macedonia and Thrace
Capital	Drama
Area
• Total	3,468 km2 (1,339 sq mi)
Population  (2005)
• Total	106,371
• Density	31/km2 (79/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal codes	66x xx
Area codes	252x0
ISO 3166 code	GR-52
Car plates	ΡΜ
Website	www.drama.gr

Drama (Template:Lang-el) is one of the peripheral units of Greece. It is part of the Periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace. Its capital is the town of Drama. The peripheral unit is the northernmost within the region of Macedonia and the westernmost in the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace. The northern border with Bulgaria is formed by the Rhodope Mountains.

Geography

The northern part of the peripheral unit, bordering Bulgaria, is very mountainous. The main mountain ranges are Orvilos (Template:Lang-bg - Slavyanka) in the northwest, Falakro in the north (at 2232m the highest point of the peripheral unit), the western Rhodope Mountains in the northeast and Menoikio in the southwest. The Nestos is the longest river, flowing in the northeast. The northern portion holds a unique treasure known as Karantere (or Forest of Elatia).

Drama is surrounded by the peripheral units of Xanthi to the east, Kavala to the south, Serres to the southwest and to the west, and the Bulgarian provinces of Blagoevgrad and Smolyan to the north. Arable lands are located in the southern and the westcentral portion of Drama.

The southern part mainly has a Mediterranean climate. The climate is more continental with cold winters in higher elevations and in the northern part.

Administration

The peripheral unit Drama is subdivided into 5 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):

• Doxato (2)
• Drama (1)
• Kato Nevrokopi (3)
• Paranesti (4)
• Prosotsani (5)

Prefecture

As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the peripheral unit Drama was created out of the former prefecture Drama (Template:Lang-el). The prefecture had the same territory as the present peripheral unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.

New municipality	Old municipalities	Seat
Doxato	Doxato	Kalampaki
	Kalampaki
Drama	Drama	Drama
	Sidironero
Kato Nevrokopi	Kato Nevrokopi	Kato Nevrokopi
Paranesti	Paranesti	Paranesti
	Nikiforos
Prosotsani	Prosotsani	Prosotsani
	Sitagroi

Transport

• GR-12, SW, Cen., SW
• GR-14, Cen., E
• GR-57/E90, Cen., NW

Museums

• Archaeological Museum

Two exceptional works of art in copperThe Archaeological Museum of Drama covers human presence in the prefecture 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 show us about 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 prefecture. In the second hall architectural sculptures, pottery and coins confirm that life continued in the city and throughout the whole prefecture during early Christian, Byzantine and post-Byzantine years.

The visitor is taken through modem recent history by a photographic exhibition relating to the city of Drama, the towns of the prefecture and the mountain villages. The exhibition covers the period from the beginning of Turkish occupation 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.

The Cave of Aggitis River

The stone composition of mountain Falakro (limestone) and the closed basin of Kato Nevrokopi that is in the north contribute to the absorption of the waters from the rain and the torrents. On their way these waters create an oblong but not straight calcareous tube, which is the cavern. The morphological study of the cavern showed that along its main development axon expansions (rooms) and stenosis (siphons) have been formed as well as décor with stalactites, which is reduced from the entrance inwards, and some stalagmites due to the flow of waters that usually develop on fallen rocks. The bottom of the cavern is covered with mud hang up. A visitor today can be toured to the first 500 m of this natural monument. The ultimate prehistory in the area of the cavern goes back 30.000 years according to exact date given by ?Dimocritus? laboratory of Nuclear Physics. The dates concern the excavational horizon of the intersection that was created next to the artificial entrance. The excavation took place there by the Inland Revenue Service of Paleoanthropology ? Spelaeology since 1992 brought to light, stone tools and animal bones (horses, deer, hairy rhino, mammoth). In the room of the wheel on the left bank of the river and on a small open and flat place (almost 10 x 12 m). Formed in two stages, installation relics from the end of the Neolithic period were found, that is the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Samples of the tool equipment and the bones, which came from the excavational intersection, are on display at the Museum of Drama. Opposite the Neolithic installation the water wheel, which was saved from the beginning of the 20th Century, makes great impression. Originally wooden and then iron the water wheel (diam. 8 m) with a smaller one (diam. 4 m) and with a system of build tubes covered the water supply needs of the area in the first half of the 20th Century. The creation of a modern water supply network since the end of the 1950s made the wheels useless. The preservation and elevation of these bright monuments of preindustrial archaeology is our obligation. On the right bank of the Angitis is an ancient settlement, suburbs of the Roman city of Philippi, consisting of extensive housing estates and a cemetery, which haven't yet been excavated. That is why you can't visit the places on the right and on the left of the artificial entrance. On the top of the hill over the natural entrance of the cavern there is a double fortification ring. This lime built vallation dominated in the northwest part of the plain and controlled the passings of the area. Future excavations will give an answer to a lot of questions for its origin.

According to tradition the surrounding place of the cavern is full of thousands of people every May Day and on the fifteenth of August. (Assumption Day). During these days there is a festival which is emphasized by hawkers.

It is located 25 km away from Drama at the Prosotsani area.

Sporting teams

• Doxa Drama - Second Division (Football League)
• Pandramaikos AC

Notable people

• Mahmud Dramali Pasha (1780–1822) - Ottoman General during the Greek Independence War
• Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt (1789–1848) ruler of Egypt in 1848 (Son of Muhammad Ali of Egypt)
• Basilis C. Xanthopoulos (1951–1990) Theoretical Physicist
• Koulis Stoligkas (1910–1984), actor
• Nikos Sergianopoulos (1952–2008), Television and stage Actor
• Giannis Papazisis - actor
• Natassa Theodoridou - singer
• Tania Tsanaklidou - singer
• Petros Gaitanos - singer
• Pasxalis Arvanitidis - singer
• Takis Loukanidis - Doxa Dramas and Panathinaikos football player

See also

• List of settlements in the Drama prefecture
• Former toponyms of places in Drama Prefecture