Location information

  The municipality draws its name from mythology; Toroni was the wife of Proteus, son of Poseidon God of the sea. Ancient Toroni was founded by the Chalkidians who colonized it in the 8th century BC. By the fifth century BC Toroni was one of the most important cities in Chalkidiki. It minted its own coinage and was a member of the Athenian alliance. On the Acropolis of Likithos towering over the harbor of Porto Koufo once stood a temple dedicated to Pallas Athina. During the Peloponnesian war it fell victim to both the Athenians and the Spartans. The historian Thucydides recounts that in 423 BC it was occupied by Vrasidas the Spartans. In 348 EC the town became absorbed into the kingdom of Philip of Macedon, in 168 BC it was again conquered, this time by the Romans, and the town went into decline. During the Byzantine era it became a dependency of mount Athos. The mighty walls and other buildings were plundered by the Turks in the 19th century pomegranate they once contained was used to pave the streets of Thessalonica and Istanbul. Sikia was one of the largest and most active villages of Halkidiki and took part in the revolts against Turkish rule in 1821 and 1854. During the Byzantine era, the village was referred to, as Logos and was the headquarters for the military guardians of Athos. In 1821 the people of Sikia, always unsubdued, and with a strong naval tradition, often manifested as piracy, revolted under the leadership of Stamos Hapsas, and started to advance of Thessaloniki. Near the monastery of St Anastassia they met the Turkish forces in a terrible battle in which many of them gave their lives for freedom. In 1854, Tsamis Karatassios started his revolution from Sikia and according to village tradition he burned the church of Agios-Athanassios together with the Turkish garrison who had refused to surrender.

This text is cited June 2005 from the Municipality of Toroni URL below

• http://www.dimostoronis.gr/Dimos%20Toronis%20eng.h...