Vassileoniko

Location

Vassileoniko is located 6 kilometers southwest of the town of Chios and very close to the area of Kambos. The origin of its name seems to be a compound of the words Vassileon ("kings") and Oikos ("home"), since the village was once the residence of a king according to the popular tradition.

A destructive earthquake leveled the whole village in 1881. According to "The History of Chios" by G. Zolotas, in the village there were a few houses with a central church in the center of the village. This was the temple of Aghios Georgios, a little building (it has only two windows) that still exists today. After the earthquake, however, the citizens of the village decided to build a greater one. Another version says that there were only three houses in the village, in the so-called Valide Tsiflik ("Property of Sultan's Wife") near the castle of Doxara.

The estates of the Sultans found in the area were rented annually as a tax to the Sultan's wife for 200 coins. The tenants, along with the citizens of Dafnona and those of Karies, were obliged to watch and maintain the aqueducts of the town. Families from there came to Chios after the slaughter of 1770 in Peloponnisos and settled in Vassileoniko with the permission of the Turk supervisor (Aghas), since the village was being closed with gates that opened only with his permission.