Gomati

On the main road linking Arnaia to Ierissos, 20 km from Megali Panagia, stands Gomati, a lovely settlement that deserves your attention. From here you can access amazing beaches such as Develiki, Kastri, Pyrgos, Hiliadou, and many hidden coves near Cape Arkouda, such as Petalidi.

According to archaeologist Ioulia Vokotopoulou, this area was the site of the ancient city Assira, a colony of Halkida. Based on written sources, until the 9th century Gomati, or the “land of Gomatou”, was part of Agion Oros and it was the “Seat of the Elders” of Agion Oros, with the monastery of Panagia of Gomatou. Large parts belonged to the monasteries of Megisti Lavra, Iviron, Dionysiou, and Xeropotamou.

According to one version, General Gormatos (or Gomatos) of the Byzantine Empire had jurisdiction over the island of Lemnos, where there was a village named “Gomatou” and later “Gomati”. Because of pirate raids, many inhabitants escaped Lemnos. Some took refuge in Lesvos, while others in Northern Halkidiki, where in a forested area that was hard to access but safe from pirates, on the slopes of Kakavos, they built Gomati. The old Gomati, or “land of Gomatou”, whose ruins are still visible today, stands at a distance of 4 km from the present-day settlement. It was protected by three towers: of Orfanos, of Kounoupis, and of Develikia.

The village of Gomatou coexisted with the monastery of Theotokos of Gomatou before 942 CE. In the later Byzantine era, it was one of the largest in the “theme” [province] of Thessaloniki, according to a study by Harvard professor Aggeliki Laiou. In 1400 CE, the Gomatou monastery became a “metochi” of Megisti Lavra. Today, only the ruins of the Tower of Orfanos still stand. The church of Agios Athanasios Athonitis was built within these ruins*. The destruction of the old village in the earthquake of 1932 was the cause for its relocation to its present site, another “metochi” of Megisti Lavra that was expropriated by the State.

From the Byzantine era until the present, the main products of the agricultural economy of Gomati are grains, olive oil, wine, honey and tsipouro. A large percentage of the male population has worked at the mines of Sidirokafsia-Mademochoria since the Ottoman occupation. The greatest celebration-feast in Gomati takes place on 15 August, in the central church of Koimiseos tis Theotokou.

* Source: Records of the Cultural Educational Association of Gomatians of Thessaloniki