GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION

Source: Kaza K.

The modern seaside suburb of Alimos, which became a Municipality after 1968, lies between Mount Hymettus and the sea of the Saronic Gulf. To the north-east it borders Agios Dimitrios, Ilioupoli and Argyroupoli, and to the south Palaio Faliro and Elliniko (Hasani).

It took its name from the ancient deme of Halimous, which lay west of the deme of Euonymon and reached the coast, including Cape Kolias, that is today’s headland of Agios Kosmas. It was about 7 kilometres from Athens. In ancient Greek “als” means sea and salt, while “alimos” is the name of the saltwort plant, which grew abundantly in the area.

These two demes, which must have been formed in the 6^th century BC with the reforms of Cleisthenes, lay west of Mount Hymettus, bordered each other and for the most part coincided with today’s Alimos. They sent representatives to the Council of Five Hundred and their inhabitants took part in the Persian Wars.

More specifically, the ancient deme of Halimous developed along the coastal zone, starting from the Pikrodafni stream in the north and extending as far as the small peninsula of Agios Kosmas in the south.

At a central point of the deme rises the summit of Pani hill, with its lower spurs to the west, and radiating around it are Agia Anna hill to the south, Troumbari hill to the east, the hill of the Geroulanos house to the north-east and, further east, the low hill at Kontopigado on Vouliagmenis Avenue. Halimous is credited with a religious centre at Cape Kolias and a religious and civic centre on Agia Anna hill, now called the Hill of Social Justice, although according to Mrs Kaza it would be more fitting to call it “Thesmophorion Hill”.

The deme of Halimous, which lay between the demes of the Phalereans and the Aixoneans to the south and east respectively, belonged to the Leontis tribe and was probably sparsely populated, as can be inferred from the references of the orator Demosthenes. It did not have many inhabitants — only 73 registered demesmen — nor did it have extensive settlement cores, since its short distance from Athens allowed someone to visit the area and return the same day to supervise their estates.

It was a flat place, poor in soil, with low hills, torrents and three streams: Pikrodafni in the north, Agios Dimitrios in the centre and Trachones in the south. The streams carried water almost all year round and the torrents that crossed the area contributed substantially to the local economy.

The deme of Euonymon took its name from the hero Euonymos, son of Earth and Sky or of Kephissos, and belonged to the urban trittys of the Erechtheis tribe. It extended west of Mount Hymettus and bordered the deme of Alopeke to the north, the deme of Thimakos to the north-east, the deme of Halimous to the south-west and the deme of Aixone to the south. It therefore developed along today’s Vouliagmenis Avenue, including part of the modern municipalities of Ilioupoli, Argyroupoli and Elliniko.

According to the finds of the last thirty years, it has emerged that the deme of Euonymon also had two cores — centres on and around two hills. The northern core is located in the area of the hill of the Geroulanos house and the southern one in the area of Hasani hill (the former Elliniko airport).

Unlike the deme of Halimous, the deme of Euonymon, whose inhabitants were engaged in farming, stock-raising and beekeeping, sent ten councillors to the Athenian Council and is therefore classed, in terms of population, among the medium-sized or relatively large demes.

All the demes west of Mount Hymettus were connected with the city of Athens, the harbour of Phaleron and Piraeus (from the first half of the 5^th century BC) by two main road axes which were at the same time funerary roads. They ran from north to south and coincide with the line of today’s Vouliagmenis and Poseidonos avenues.

Source: Kaza K. 

The need to build a road network for movement, transport and defence led, as early as the Mycenaean period, to the creation of a main road artery that started from Mount Hymettus and ran from north to south. This ancient urban road survived unchanged until the middle of the last century, while by the 1960s only visible traces and sections of it with roadside monuments remained, since the widening of the already built Vouliagmenis Avenue destroyed a large part of it.

As neighbouring demes, Euonymon and Halimous were served by the same main axes. One, inland, started from the city and crossed the demes of Alopeke and Euonymon (on the eastern edges of Halimous) and continued south towards Aixone and Halai Aixonides (Voula).

The other, coastal, started from Piraeus, crossed Phaleron and Halimous and continued towards Aixone. These two main roads were connected to each other by another road which lay in the same position as today’s Alimou Avenue and formed a natural passage.

In between the main artery there were also secondary roads belonging to an ancient internal deme network, which served the needs of the demesmen in reaching their estates, the sea, the mountain and other common spaces — such as the one that linked the ancient urban road with the ancient theatre of Euonymon in the deme of Halimous.