Tanagra

Tanagra (Greek: Τανάγρα) is a town and a municipality north of Athens in Boeotia, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Schimatari. It is not far from Thebes, and it was noted in antiquity for the figurines named after it. The Tanagra figurines were a mass-produced, mold-cast and fired type of Greek terracotta figurines produced from the later fourth century BCE, primarily in Tanagra.

Government

The municipality Tanagra was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units:

History

Ancient

Pausanias mentions in Tanagra's location the ancient city of Graea, eponymous of the Graikoi, a Boeotian tribe whose name gave rise to the Latin Graecus "Greek". Homer, while reciting the Boeotian forces in the Iliad 's Catalogue of Ships, provides the first known reference to the Boeotian city of Graea.

Tanagra's alternative name was Poimandria, after its founder Poimandros, who took part in the Trojan campaign. It was the site of two Battles of Tanagra, in 457 BC and 426 BC. The Boeotian League under Tanagra led forth "the Boeotians" against the Athenian invaders at Oenophyta, 62 days after the battle of Tanagra (See Battle of Oenophyta)