The Thriasio Plain () is a plain in western Attica within Athens metropolitan area in Greece. It is bounded by Mount Egaleo to the east, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Mount Pateras to the west, and the Bay of Elefsina to the south.
History
The Thriasio Plain owes its name to the ancient
deme of Thria (), one of the demes of ancient Athens. The largest town in the plain was
Eleusis (modern-day Elefsina), location of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries. In
Greek mythology, when the goddess
Athena won the contest for control of
Attica over
Poseidon, Poseidon flooded the plain in wrath, until called to order by
Zeus.
[Olga Palagia. The pediments of the Parthenon. BRILL, 1998, , p. 40]
In antiquity, as today, the area was connected to central Athens by two passes: the Sacred Way () to the west, today used by the main Athens–Corinth highway, and another pass to the northwest nowadays used by the Attiki Odos highway.[Hans Rupprecht Goette. Athens, Attica, and the Megarid: an archaeological guide. Routledge, 2001, , p. 280] During the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) the Thriasio Plain was ravaged by the Spartan army of King Archidamus II in his campaign against the Classical Athens.[Thucydides, Martin Hammond, Peter John Rhodes. The Peloponnesian War. Oxford University Press, 2009, , p. 84]
Modern times
Today it is largely an industrial area, hosting some of Greece's major industrial facilities, such as its largest oil refineries and steel mills. There are four cities in the Thriasio Plain:
Elefsina (anc. Eleusis),
Mandra, Magoula, and
Aspropyrgos. The plain hosts a major air force base outside of Elefsina, as well as a major station of the
Proastiakos. As of 2010, there are plans to create a major center for the transshipment of commercial goods unloaded in the nearby port of
Pireas (Athens port) to the rest of Greece and neighboring countries.
[ Ta Nea, Sept. 19 2010]
Climate
The Thriasio plain has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification:
Csa) bordering a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification:
BSh) with mild winters and very hot summers. The Thriasio Plain is particularly vulnerable to high temperatures due to its topography
and has experienced the highest temperatures ever recorded in Greece and continental Europe
with 48.0 °C in
Elefsina and 47.5 °C in
Aspropyrgos in 1977 and 2007 respectively.
