Vrontados

Community in Greece

Vrontados Βροντάδος
Community
38°25′N 26°8′E / 38.417°N 26.133°E / 38.417; 26.133
Country	Greece
Administrative region	North Aegean
Regional unit	Chios
Municipality	Chios
Municipal unit	Omiroupoli
Elevation	42 m (138 ft)
Population (2021)^[1]
• Community	5,270
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Vrontados (Greek: Βροντάδος) is a small coastal town located at the eastern part of the island of Chios in Greece. With a population of about 5,300 the town hosts the seat of the municipal unit of Omiroupoli.

Information

The town has a strong tradition in merchant seafaring and is currently the home of various important Greek ship owners. Due to its proximity to the city of Chios (the island's capital), modern Vrontados is considered a sort of a suburb of the capital. Vrontados purportedly gets its name from the loud noise thunder (Vrontes - Βροντές) makes as it echoes from the nearby mountain, Aepos.

Customs

Vrontados is well known for its unique Easter celebration known as rouketopolemos (rocket war). Every Easter, the Eastern Orthodox churches, Agios Marcos and Erithiani, fire rockets at each other. Whoever hits the other church's bell tower first wins the war.^[2]^[3]

Historical references

The legendary Poet Homer was supposedly born or at least lived for a long time in Chios. On the north side of the Vrontados coast is the so-called "Homer's stone", a rather uncomfortable natural rock throne where according to the legend the poet sang and taught.

According to tradition, Christopher Columbus, visited Vrontados in order to study nautical charts and get information of experienced Vrondadian seamen who would help him to his great voyage for the discovery of America.

Notable natives and inhabitants

Stamatios Krimigis (1938) space scientist

Notes

^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
^ "Impressions of the rocket war". Archived from the original on 2012-04-16.
^ "Rocket wars light up Greek skies | Reuters Video". Reuters.