View source for Mani Peninsula

{{Short description|Geographical and cultural region in southern Greece}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{merge from|Maniots|discuss=Talk:Mani Peninsula#Merge proposal|date=July 2025}}

[[File:Mani 3 small.jpg|thumb|right|Maniot landscape]]

The '''Mani Peninsula''' ({{langx|el|Μάνη|Mánē}}), known historically as '''Maina''' or '''Maïna''' ({{langx|el|Μαΐνη|links=no}}), is a geographical and cultural region of southern Greece. The Mani is the central of three peninsulas that extend southward from the [[Peloponnese]] into the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. The [[Laconian Gulf]] and, across the gulf, the peninsula of [[Cape Maleas]] are to the east. The [[Messenian Gulf]] and peninsula of [[Messenia (ancient region)|Messenia]] are to the west. The Mani Peninsula terminates at [[Cape Matapan]] (called ''Tainaron'' by the Ancient Greeks), the southernmost point of continental Greece. 

Administration of the peninsula is now split between modern [[Laconia]] (East Mani) and [[Messenia]] (West Mani). In ancient times, all of Mani was considered part of Laconia, a region dominated by the powerful city-state, or ''[[polis]]'', of [[Sparta]].

[[File:Map of Greece.jpg|thumb|Lying due south of [[Sparta, Laconia|Sparta]] (''Spárti''), Mani is the central of three peninsulas extending into the [[Mediterranean Sea]].|alt=Map of Greece showing major cities, parts of surrounding countries, and water bodies]]

The [[historical region]] and [[cultural area]] is frequently referred to in English-language sources as "the Mani", "the Mani Peninsula", or simply "Mani". These are long-used conventional names for the area that overlap with—but are semantically distinct from—the names of its two constituent [[Municipalities and communities of Greece|municipalities]] of [[East Mani]] and [[West Mani]]; both municipalities were established in 2011 following a nationwide administrative reform.

The Mani Peninsula is the southern extension of the [[Taygetus]] mountain range. It is about 28 miles (45 km) long with a rocky, rugged, interior bordered by scenic coastlines. Cities of the Mani Peninsula include [[Areopoli]] in the northwest and [[Gytheio]] (ancient ''Gythion'' or ''Gythium'') in the northeast.

The demonym for inhabitants of Mani is [[Maniots]] ({{langx|el|Mανιάτες|Maniátes|links=no}}). A Maniot tradition claims that they are descended from ancient [[Sparta]]ns and refugees of the early [[Greece in the Roman era|Roman period]]. They maintain a unique heritage among the regional subcultures of their fellow Greeks.

The Mani Peninsula was known as ''Maina Polypyrgos'' ("Many-Towered Maina") for its numerous [[Tower houses in the Balkans#In Greece|tower-houses]]. From 1978 onwards, the Greek state successively decreed many settlements "traditional", setting restrictions on construction. In 2003, the whole peninsula was designated{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Under the "Regional Framework of Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development of the Peloponnese Region".}} a "cultural complex of international importance".<ref name=Greekscapes>{{cite web |title=Το ιστορικό οικιστικό τοπίο της Μάνης |lang=el |trans-title=The historic residential landscape of Mani |website=Greekscapes |url=https://www.greekscapes.gr/index.php/2010-01-21-16-47-29/landscapescat/65-2009-07-31-09-50-02/76-mani |url-status=live |date=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250212150742/https://www.greekscapes.gr/index.php/2010-01-21-16-47-29/landscapescat/65-2009-07-31-09-50-02/76-mani |archive-date=12 February 2025 |at=See last two paragraphs |access-date=6 October 2025}} For an example of a decree designating specified settlements as traditional, see {{cite web |title=ΠΔ 20-10-1998: Χαρακτηρισμός οικισμών του Νομού Λακωνίας ως παραδοσιακών και καθορισμός ειδικών όρων και περιορισμών δόμησης αυτών (ΦΕΚ 912/Δ/1998) |lang=el |trans-title=Presidential Decree 20-10-1998: Characterization of settlements in the Prefecture of Laconia as traditional and determination of special conditions and restrictions for their construction (Government Gazette 912/D/1998) |date=1998  |website=Νομοσκόπιο [Nomoskopio] |publisher=TechnoLogismiki |url=https://www.nomoskopio.gr/index.html?pd_20_10_98.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251006212441/https://www.nomoskopio.gr/index.html?pd_20_10_98.php |archive-date=6 October 2025 |access-date=6 October 2025}}</ref> Notable sites in Mani include the ruins of the ancient [[Temple of Poseidon (Tainaron)|Temple of Poseidon]] at Cape Matapan, and the Diros Caves with their [[prehistoric]] remains near [[Pyrgos Dirou]] outside Gytheio. Mani and the [[Maniots]] played a key role in the [[Greek War of Independence]] that began in 1821.<ref name=Mazower-2021>
{{cite book
|title=The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe
|date=2021
|publisher=Allen Lane
|location=London
|first=Mark
|last=Mazower
|author-link=Mark Mazower
|pages=68{{ndash}}77, 126{{ndash}}128, 284{{ndash}}296
|isbn=978-0-241-00410-4
|oclc=1280062177
}}</ref>

==Etymology==
There is no agreement on the origin of the word "Mani". The region's medieval name was ''Maini'', however this is itself of uncertain origin. Two early 10th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperors refer to the region by the name "Maini" in their writing. It was first mentioned in the [[Tactica of Emperor Leo VI the Wise|''Tactica'' of Emperor Leo VI the Wise]] (c. 900), and was mentioned again in the ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' of Emperor [[Constantine VII]] (r. 913–959). In 1205, the [[France in the Middle Ages|French]] established a [[Crusader states|Crusader state]] on the Peloponnese in the aftermath of the [[sack of Constantinople]]. They built a castle on the Mani in 1250 and called it the [[Grand Magne]], presumably naming it after the region.<ref name=Fermor-1958>
{{cite book
|title=Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese
|first=Patrick
|last=Leigh Fermor
|author-link=Patrick Leigh Fermor
|date=1984
|orig-date=1958
|publisher=Penguin Books
|url=https://archive.org/details/mani0000ferm
|url-access=registration
|access-date=25 October 2025
|isbn=978-0-140-11511-6
|oclc=462091129
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref>{{rp|78}} Still, folk traditions claim that the Mani is named for the "Frankish"{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Frankish|"Frankish" and "Franks" as used by the Greeks after 1204 are anachronisms. See [[Principality of Achaea]] and ''[[Frankokratia]]''. The terms ''Frankokratia'' and ''Latinokratia'' derive from the name given by the [[Greek Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] Greeks to the Western French and Italians who originated from territories that once belonged to the Kingdom of the Franks, the political entity that ruled much of the former [[Western Roman Empire]] after the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|collapse of Roman authority]] and power. The political situation proved highly volatile, as these "Frankish" states fragmented and changed hands and the Greek [[Succession of states|successor states]] re-conquered many areas. [[Francia]], the historical Kingdom of the [[Franks]], in fact existed from {{c.|480}} to {{c.|800||lk=off}}.}} castle of Grand Magne and not the reverse.

==Geography==
[[File:The Peloponnese from ISS.jpg|thumb|The dark-toned [[Taygetus|Taygetus mountain range]], with snow-covered peaks, runs down the spine of Mani, the central peninsula jutting southwards from the [[Peloponnese]], in this March 2014 photo taken by an [[astronaut]] on the [[International Space Station]].
]]
The Mani is a [[peninsula]] with [[Cape Matapan]] forming its southern tip. Its northern delineation from the Peloponnese mainland is not precisely defined; maps of the Mani frequently show an area just south of [[Kalamata]] as its westernmost point, and [[Gytheio]] as its easternmost point. 

===Geology===
{{main|Taygetus#Geology}}
The [[massif]] of the [[Taygetus]] range is about {{convert | 100 | km | mi | abbr=on}} long, extending from the center of the Peloponnese to Cape Matapan. The Mani peninsula is composed of [[Mesozoic]]-era [[carbonate rock]]s (such as [[limestone]]), which [[erosion|erode]] to form [[karst]] caves like the one at [[Alepotrypa Cave|Alepotrypa]].<ref name=Sakellariou-2016>
{{cite book
|title = Geology and Archaeology: Submerged Landscapes of the Continental Shelf
|editor1-first=J.
|editor1-last=Harff
|editor2-first=G.
|editor2-last=Bailey
|editor3-first=F.
|editor3-last=Lüth
|publisher=[[Geological Society]]
|location=London
|date=2016
|chapter=Pleistocene submerged landscapes and Palaeolithic archaeology in the tectonically active Aegean area
|first1=Dimitris
|last1=Sakellariou
|first2=Nena
|last2=Galandiou
|author2-link=:el:Νένα Γαλανίδου
|pages=145{{ndash}}178
|isbn=978-1-862-39691-3
|issn=0305-8719
|id=Special pub. 411
|doi=10.1144/SP411.9
|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279848495_Pleistocene_submerged_landscapes_and_Palaeolithic_archaeology_in_the_tectonically_active_Aegean_region
|quote=The prevailing hydrogeological conditions of the Taygetos Peninsula favour the occurrence of coastal and submarine groundwater discharges and the development of caves. Characteristic examples are the cave at Alepotrypa[.]
|via=ResearchGate
|access-date=14 November 2025
}}</ref>{{rp|168}} 

The tallest mountain in the Taygetus range is [[Mount Taygetus]]. Its summit, called {{transliteration|el|Profitis Ilias}} ({{lang|el|Προφήτης Ηλίας}} {{gloss|[[Prophet Elijah]]}}), stands at {{convert|2404|m|ft|abbr=on}}, and is the highest in the Peloponnese.<ref name=VP-Taygetus>
{{cite web
|title=Taygetus
|website=Visit Peloponnese
|publisher=Περιφέρεια Πελοποννήσου [[Peloponnese (region)|[Peloponnese Region]]]
|url=https://www.visitpeloponnese.com/en/prdct/taygetus
|date=n.d.
|access-date=15 November 2025 
}}</ref> Some historians identify {{transliteration|el|Profitis Ilias}} with the "Taletum, a peak of Taygetus" mentioned by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]].<ref name=Waterhouse&Hope-1960>
{{cite journal
|journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens
|title=Prehistoric Laconia: Part I 
|first1=Helen 
|last1=Waterhouse
|author1-link=Helen Waterhouse
|first2=R. Hope
|last2=Simpson 
|volume=55
|year=1960
|pages=67{{ndash}}107 | jstor=30104479 | doi=10.1017/s0068245400013290| s2cid=210050738}} For the primary source, see: {{cite book |title=Description of Greece
|author=Pausanias
|author-link=Pausanias (geographer)
|at=Book 3, ch. 20, section 4
|date=c. 180 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.20.4 |access-date=14 November 2025 |via=[[Perseus Digital Library]]. Note that Waterhouse & Simpson have "Mt. Taleton" for "Taletum" }}</ref>{{rp|81}}

===Climate===
The Mani Peninsula, like much of southern Greece, has a [[Mediterranean climate#Hot-summer Mediterranean climate|hot-summer Mediterranean climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification]] ''Csa'').{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} The Messenian, or Outer, Mani receives more rainfall than the Laconian, or Inner and Lower, Mani (see [[rain shadow]]), and as a consequence is more agriculturally productive. Locals call the Messenian Mani {{transliteration|el|aposkiaderi}} {{gloss|shady}} and the Laconian {{transliteration|el|prosiliaki}} {{gloss|sunny}}.<ref name=Karakatsianis-2010>
{{cite journal
|journal=History and Anthropology
|title=A Clan-Based Society of South Greece and its Militarization After the Second World War: Some Characteristics of Violence and the Construction of Habitus in the South Peloponnese
|first=Ioannis
|last=Karakatsianis
|date=2010
|volume=21
|issue=2
|pages=121{{ndash}}138
|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02757201003793713
|url-access=subscription
|doi=10.1080/02757201003793713
|issn=0275-7206
}}</ref>{{rp|122}}

==Local government==
[[File:Mani - administrative map.jpg|thumb|right|Administrative map of East and West Mani, 2012]]

The Mani peninsula is divided into the administrative [[Municipalities and communities of Greece|municipalities]] of [[East Mani]] ({{lang|el|Ανατολική Μάνη}}, {{transliteration|el|Anatolikí Máni}}) and [[West Mani]] ({{lang|el|Δυτική Μάνη}}, {{transliteration|el|Dytikí Máni}}), in the modern [[Regional units of Greece|regional units]] of [[Laconia]] and [[Messenia]], respectively.

===Traditional regions===
Mani has traditionally been divided into three regions:

*''Exo Mani'' (Έξω Μάνη) or '''Outer Mani''' to the northwest, corresponding approximately to [[West Mani]]
*''Kato Mani'' (Κάτω Μάνη) or '''Lower Mani''' to the east, corresponding approximately to northern [[East Mani]]
*''Mesa Mani'' (Μέσα Μάνη) or '''Inner Mani''' to the southwest, corresponding approximately to southern East Mani

[[File:Mani 2000.png|thumb | right|The traditional regions of Mani: ''Exo'' (Outer); ''Kato'' (Lower); ''Mesa'' (Inner)]]

The island of [[Cranae]] is located just off the coast of Gytheio in Lower Mani. A [[causeway]] linking the island to the mainland was built in 1898.<ref name=KPAM>{{cite web |title=Thematic Routes |website=Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ανατολικής Μάνης [Cultural Center of East Mani] |publisher=Δήμου Ανατολικής Μάνης [[East Mani|[Municipality of East Man]]] |url=https://kpmanis.gr/en/thematic-routes |url-status=live |date=2023<!--date from copyright notice--> |access-date=2 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250717095118/https://kpmanis.gr/en/thematic-routes |archive-date=17 July 2025 |at=See fourth paragraph of "Church of Agios Nicolaos" section}}</ref>

==Transport links==
{{See also|Highways in Greece}}
Because its terrain is mountainous and not easily accessible, many Maniot villages could be reached only by sea until relatively recent times.{{vague|date=July 2025}} Today, a narrow and winding road traverses the perimeter, linking Mani with the mainland through [[Kardamyli]] and [[Areopoli]] on the west coast, to Cape Matapan in the south, and Gytheio in the northeast. Another road connects [[Tripoli, Greece|Tripoli]] in the central Peloponnese to [[Gerolimenas]] near Cape Matapan; public buses of the [[Piraeus]]–Mani line use this route.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}} [[Greek National Road 39]] ({{langx|el|Εθνική Οδός 39}}, EO39) connects Tripoli with Gytheio via [[Sparta, Peloponnese|Sparta]].<ref>[http://nomoskopio.gr/a_dmeo-e-779_95.php?toc=0&printWindow& Decision ΔΜΕΟ/Ε/779/1995], Classification of the National Road Network of Peloponnese</ref>

The [[E4 European long distance path|E4 European]] long-distance walking path traverses the Taygetus to a land terminus in Gytheio, connecting the Peloponnese to the Spanish city of [[Tarifa]]. The path continues to [[Crete]] by ferry crossing.

==Towns and settlements==
===Modern===
{{columns-list|colwidth=10em|style=width: 425px|
* [[Agios Nikolaos, Messenia|Agios Nikolaos]]
* [[Altomira]]
* [[Areopoli]]
* [[Avia, Messenia|Avia]]
* [[Doloi]]
* [[Drosopigi, Laconia|Drosopigi]]
* [[Dryalos]]
* [[Gerolimenas]]
* [[Gytheio]]
* [[Kalyvia, Laconia|Kalyvia]]
* [[Kampos, Messenia|Kampos]]
* [[Kardamyli]]
* [[Kastania, Laconia|Kastania]]
* [[Kelefa]]
* Kipoula 
* [[Koita]]
* [[Mavrovouni, Laconia|Mavrovouni]]
* [[Megali Mantineia]]
* [[Myrsini]]
* [[Oitylo]]
* [[Parasyros]]
* [[Petrovouni, Messenia|Petrovouni]]
* [[Porto Kagio]]
* [[Pyrgos Dirou]]
* [[Skoutari, Laconia|Skoutari]]
* [[Sminos]]
* [[Stoupa]]
* [[Vatheia]]
}}

===Ancient===
{{columns-list|colwidth=10em|style=width: 425px|
* [[Asine (Laconia)|Asine]]
* [[Caenepolis]] (or Kainepolis)
* [[Gerenia]]
* Gytheion, Gythium (modern Gytheio)
* [[Hippola]]
* Kardamyli
* [[Las (Greece)|Las]]
* [[Leuctra (Laconia)|Leuctra]]
* [[Messa (Greece)|Messa]]
* [[Oetylus]] (modern Oitylo)
* [[Psamathus]]
* [[Pyrrichos]]
* [[Taenarum (town)|Taenarum]]
* [[Teuthrone]]
* [[Thalamae (Laconia)|Thalamae]]
}}

==Notable sites and features==
{{columns-list|colwidth=10em|style=width: 425px|
* [[Alepotrypa Cave]]
* [[Apidima Cave]]
* [[Cape Matapan]]
* [[Pyrgos_Dirou#Diros Caves|Diros Caves]]
* [[Grand Magne|Grand Magne Castle]]
* [[Kalamakia Cave]]
* [[Kelefa|Kelefa Castle]]
* [[Monastery of Panayia Yiatrissa]]
* [[Taygetus|Mount Taygetus]]
* [[Las (Greece)#Castle|Passavas Castle]]
* [[Porto Kagio]]
* [[Temple of Poseidon (Tainaron)|Temple of Poseidon at Tainaron]]
* [[Tigani|Tigani Peninsula]]
* [[Vatheia]]
* [[Vyros Gorge]]
* [[Zarnata|Zarnata Castle]]
}}

==History==
===Prehistory===
{{further|Prehistory of Southeast Europe}}
====Palaeolithic to Neolithic====

[[File:Kalamakia cave excavations in 2001 014 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Excavations at [[Kalamakia Cave]], a [[Neanderthal]] site]]

Mani has been inhabited since [[Prehistoric Greece|prehistoric times]]. The [[Apidima Cave]] on the west side of the peninsula has yielded [[Neanderthal]] and ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' fossils from the [[Palaeolithic]] era.<ref name=Delson-2019>
{{cite journal
|last= Delson
|first= Eric
|author-link=:de:Eric Delson
|title= An early dispersal of modern humans from Africa to Greece |date=2019 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=571
|issue=7766
|pages=487{{ndash}}488
|doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02075-9
|pmid= 31337897
|quote=Analysis of two fossils from a Greek cave has shed light on early hominins in Eurasia. One fossil is the earliest known specimen of ''Homo sapiens'' found outside Africa; the other is a Neanderthal who lived 40,000 years later.}}</ref> {{As of|2019}}, a ''Homo sapiens'' skull recovered from Apidima, dating to at least 210,000 years [[before present]], is the earliest evidence of modern humans in Europe.<ref name=Harvati-2019>
{{cite journal
|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]
|display-authors=etal
|first1=Katerina
|last1=Harvati
|author1-link=Katerina Harvati
|first2=Carolin
|last2=Röding
|first3=Abel M.
|last3=Bosman
|title=Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of ''Homo sapiens'' in Eurasia
|date=2019
|volume=571
|issue=7766
|pages=500{{ndash}}504
|doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z
|pmid=31292546
|quote=Two fossilized human crania [...] were discovered in the late 1970s[.] Here we virtually reconstruct both crania, provide detailed comparative descriptions and analyses, and date them[.] Apidima 2 dates to more than 170 thousand years ago and has a Neanderthal-like morphological pattern. Apidima 1 dates to more than 210 thousand years ago and presents a mixture of modern human and primitive features.
}}</ref> [[Neolithic]] remains have been found on Mani's coast in the [[Alepotrypa Cave]], a major settlement, cemetery and ceremonial site,<ref name=Papathanasiou-2018>
{{cite book
|title=Neolithic Alepotrypa Cave in the Mani, Greece: In honor of George Papathanassopoulos
|date=2018
|publisher=[[Oxbow Books]]
|location=Oxford
|display-editors=et al
|editor1-first=A.
|editor1-last=Papathanasiou
|editor2-first=W. A.
|editor2-last=Parkinson
|editor3-first=D. J.
|editor3-last=Pullen
|chapter=Alepotrypa Cave: the site description and its cultural and chronological range
|first=Anastasia
|last=Papathanasiou
|pages=10{{ndash}}23
|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/67855851/Alepotrypa_Cave_the_site_description_and_its_cultural_and_chronological_range
|chapter-url-access=registration
|access-date=6 November 2025
|via=Academia.edu
|jstor=j.ctvh1dk9q.10
|isbn=978-1-785-70648-6
|oclc=1083675748
}}</ref> and human and Neanderthal remains in the [[Kalamakia Cave]], a [[Middle Palaeolithic]] site.<ref name=Harvati-2013>
{{cite journal
|journal=Journal of Human Evolution
|title=New Neanderthal remains from Mani peninsula, Southern Greece: The Kalamakia Middle Paleolithic cave site
|date=2013
|volume=64
|issue=6
|pages=489{{ndash}}499
|display-authors=etal
|first1=Katerina
|last1=Harvati
|author1-link=Katerina Harvati
|first2=Andreas
|last2=Darlas
|first3=Shara E.
|last3=Bailey
|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.02.002
|doi-access=free
}}</ref> The Lakonis I site, a collapsed Middle Palaeolithic cave on the coast near Gytheio, contains evidence of Neanderthals' use of fire to dispose of bones and other food refuse.<ref name=Starkovich-2020>
{{cite journal
|journal=Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
|title=Site Use and Maintenance in the Middle Palaeolithic at Lakonis I (Peloponnese, Greece)
|date=2020
|orig-date=2018
|display-authors=etal
|first1=Britt
|last1=Starkovich
|first2=Paraskevi
|last2=Elefanti
|first3=Panagiotis
|last3=Karkanas
|author3-link=:de:Panagiotis Karkanas
|volume=3
|issue=2
|pages=157{{ndash}}186
|doi=10.1007/s41982-018-0006-x
|bibcode=2020JPalA...3..157S
}}</ref>

Evidence of extensive Neolithic and early [[Bronze Age]] occupation and activity extending north and south of the [[Oitylo|Bay of Oitylo]] has been found at many other cave sites.<ref name=Katsarou&Darlas-2017>
{{cite AV media
|first1=Stella
|last1=Katsarou
|first2=Andreas
|last2=Darlas
|date=2017
|chapter=New evidence on Neolithic burial and occupation practices in the coastal caves of the Mani, Laconia
|chapter-url=https://www.bsa.ac.uk/videos/stella-katsarou-and-andreas-darlas-new-evidence-on-neolithic-burial-and-occupation-practices-in-the-coastal-caves-of-the-mani-laconia/
|publisher=[[British School at Athens]]
|type=Video of workshop presentation slides
|title=The Wider Island of Pelops: a workshop on Prehistoric pottery in memory of Professor Christopher Mee, 19 September 2017.
}} Duration 26:51{{snd}}for study area, see 1:25 to 4:08 minutes in. Retrieved 6 November 2025. </ref>

====Mycenaean====
The [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean civilization]] (1900–1100 BCE) dominated Mani and the Peloponnese in the [[Bronze Age]]. Mani flourished under the Mycenaeans. A temple dedicated to [[Apollo]] was erected at Cape Matapan. It was later re-dedicated as the [[Temple of Poseidon (Tainaron)|Temple of Poseidon]]. [[Homer]] refers to a number of towns in the Mani region. The "[[Catalogue of Ships]]" in the ''[[Iliad]]'' names [[Messa (Greece)|Messa]], [[Oetylus]], [[Kardamyli]], [[Gerenia]], [[Teuthrone]], and [[Las (Greece)|Las]].<ref name="Homer 2.581">{{Cite web |title=Homer, The Iliad, Scroll 2, line 560 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+2.581&redirect=true |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Mani features in many myths and legends, with one describing a sea-hollowed cavern near [[Cape Matapan]] (ancient Taenarum) as a portal to Hades, the [[Greek underworld|underworld]].<ref name=Kosmin-2024>
{{cite book
|title=The Ancient Shore
|first=Paul J.
|last=Kosmin
|author-link=Paul J. Kosmin
|date=2024
|publisher=[[Harvard University Press#Related publishers, imprints, and series|Belknap Press]]
|page=228
|isbn=978-0-674-29624-4
|oclc=1427067587
}} Kosmin cites [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]], [[Strabo]], and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], among others.</ref>

===Ancient Mani===
[[File:223_of_'Pausanias's_Description_of_Greece._Translated_with_a_commentary_by_J._G.Frazer'_(11245668723).jpg|thumb|Mani (left peninsula) in [[ancient Laconia]], showing settlements, natural features, and carriage roads (in red) mentioned by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in his ''[[Description of Greece]]'', composed in the 2nd century CE. Modern names are in italic. This map is part of [[James Frazer]]'s commentaries on his 1898 translation of the work.]]

====Dark Ages====
In the early [[Greek Dark Ages]] (c. 1050–800 BCE), [[Phoenicians]] used [[Gytheio]] to collect the ''[[murex]]'' sea snail, being plentiful in the Laconian Gulf, which they then processed into [[Tyrian purple]].<ref name=Fermor-1958 />{{rp|302}}{{Dubious|date=November 2025|reason=Scholarly sources don't appear to record any Phoenician contact with Mani (research continues).}}

====Archaic====
The area around Mani came under the rule of the powerful city-state [[Sparta]] with the onset of the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Period]]  (800–480 BCE). Under Spartan rule, inhabitants of Mani were classified as belonging to the ''[[Perioeci]]'' social [[caste]].<ref name=Saïtas-1990>
{{cite book
|title=Mani
|first=Yiannis
|last=Saïtas
|year=1990
|series=Greek Traditional Architecture
|publisher=Melissa Publishing House
|location=Athens
|isbn=978-9-602-04092-8
|oclc=931297543
}}</ref>{{rp|13}}

====Classical====
Gytheio, {{Convert|27|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Sparta, became Mani's{{snd}}and Sparta's{{snd}}major port. It was captured by Athenian forces in 455 BCE during the [[First Peloponnesian War]], a power struggle between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies fought, in part, to establish supremacy over the Peloponnese.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}  

The damaged city and docks were rebuilt; by the end of the war, Gytheio was the main [[shipyard]] for the new Spartan fleet.<ref>Xenophon. ''Hellenica'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+1.4.11&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206 1.4.11] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930224840/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+1.4.11&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0206 |date=2012-09-30 }}.</ref> Spartan hegemony in the Peloponnese lasted until 371 BCE, when the [[Thebes, Greece|Thebans]] under [[Epaminondas]] defeated Sparta at the [[Battle of Leuctra]].<ref name=Shipley-2018>
{{cite book
|title=The Early Hellenistic Peloponnese: Politics, Economies, and Networks 338{{ndash}}197 BCE
|first=D. Graham J.
|last=Shipley
|date=2018
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|isbn=978-0-521-87369-7
|oclc=8158360975
|doi=10.1017/9781139034012
|section=II.2.b Spartan Over-reach and Collapse (404{{ndash}}362)
|pages=34{{ndash}}36
|quote-page=34
|quote=[I]n the so-called Boiotian war, [...] at Boiotian Leuktra in 371, Epameinondas of Thebes inflicted on Sparta its heaviest military defeat in memory.
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7glaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA34
|access-date=31 October 2025
|via=Google Books
}}</ref>

====Hellenistic====
Throughout much of the [[Hellenistic Greece|Hellenistic period]] (323–30 BCE) the Mani Peninsula remained subject to Spartan hegemony. This era proved turbulent for Mani and Laconia, marked by frequent military engagements and shifting political allegiances. [[Taenarum]] became a mercenary headquarters in the late 4th century.<ref name=WilsonAM-2012>
{{cite encyclopedia
|title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary
|title-link=Oxford Classical Dictionary
|display-editors=etal
|editor1-first=Simon
|editor1-last=Hornblower
|date=2012
|edition=4th
|isbn=978-0-199-54556-8
|oclc=779467469
|entry=Taenarum
|entry-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald0000unse_w0c8/page/1428/mode/1up
|page=1428
|quote=In the later 4th cent. [BCE] the district was an important headquarters for mercenaries.
|display-authors=etal
|first1=Anna M.
|last1=Wilson
|access-date=31 October 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref>

Competition between rival powers resulted in a series of wars that eventually drew in the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Kingdom of Macedon]] and the expanding [[Roman Republic]]: the [[Cleomenean War]] (229–222 BCE); the [[Social War (220–217 BC)|Social War (220–217 BCE)]]; the [[Macedonian Wars]] (214–148 BCE); and the [[War against Nabis|Laconian War]] (195 BCE). Gytheio, as a major port, remained an especially sought-after prize for all parties.

In 219{{ndash}}218 BCE, during the [[Social War (220–217 BC)|Social War]], [[Philip V of Macedon]] invaded Mani as part of his campaign in Laconia. His forces besieged Gytheio and Las but failed to capture them.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|20}}{{Dubious|date=November 2025|reason=Attempted to check what this source states re Gytheio & Las by looking through several scholarly works that analyse & synthesise 1ry sources ie Polybius (key), Livy, Plutarch. Couldn't do so.}}

[[Nabis of Sparta|Nabis]] ascended to the Spartan throne in 207 BCE; he expanded Gytheio, transforming it into a naval base.<ref name=Green-1990>
{{cite book
|title=Alexander to Actium: The Hellenistic Age
|first=Peter
|last=Green
|author-link=Peter Green (historian)
|date=1990
|edition=1st
|page=302
|publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]]
|location=London
|isbn=978-0-500-01485-1
|oclc=488394946
|url=https://archive.org/details/alexandertoactiu0000gree/page/302/mode/2up?q=Gytheion
|url-access=registration
|via=Internet Archive
|access-date=22 October 2025
}}</ref> Rome, allied with the [[Achaean League]]{{snd}}a confederation of Sparta's Greek rivals{{snd}}captured Gytheio in 195 BCE after a prolonged siege; Sparta was the next target of the allies. The Romans placed several coastal settlements, including Gytheio and many others in Mani, under the protection of the Achaean League. Their inhabitants, formerly second-tier citizens of Sparta (''[[periokoi]]''), were known as {{Transliteration|grc|Eleutherolakōnes}} ({{Lang|grc|Ἐλευθερολάκωνες}} {{gloss|free Laconians}}).<ref name=Welwei-2006>
{{cite encyclopedia
|encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly Online
|title-link=Pauly encyclopedias#New Pauly
|date=2006
|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]
|location=[[Leiden]]
|entry=Eleutherolakones
|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e329250
|first=Karl-Wilhelm
|last=Welwei
|author-link=Karl-Wilhelm Welwei
|issn=1574-9347
}}</ref>

Determined to retake Gytheio, Nabis advanced on and recovered the port in 192 BCE. The Romans soon recaptured it. Nabis was assassinated, and Sparta was incorporated, on lenient terms, in the Achaean League. In 189 BCE, the Spartans, still seeking access to a port, seized Las, prompting the Achaeans to abolish the Spartan constitution, end social institutions such as the [[agoge|education and training system ({{transliteration|grc|agōgē}})]] and [[Syssitia#Sparta|mess halls]], and absorb Sparta outright.<ref name=Cartledge-2002>
{{cite book
|title=Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A Tale of Two Cities
|first1=Paul
|last1=Cartledge
|author1-link=Paul Cartledge
|first2=Antony
|last2=Spawforth
|date=2002
|publisher=[[Routledge]]
|location=London
|edition=2nd
|chapter=Sparta between Achaea and Rome: the rule of Nabis
|pages=70{{ndash}}72
|isbn=978-0-415-03290-2
|oclc=49243022
|url=https://books.google.be/books?id=3ctrjKOFoWgC&pg=PA70
|access-date=30 October 2025
|via=Google Books
}}</ref>

====Roman====
[[File:Eleutherolakones.png |thumb| According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], a Greek geographer writing in the 2nd century CE, the [[League of Free Laconians|Free Laconians]] had 18 cities;<ref name=Pausanias>{{cite book |title=Description of Greece
|author=Pausanias
|author-link=Pausanias (geographer)
|at=Book 3, ch. 21, section 7
|date=c. 180 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.21.7 |access-date=1 November 2025 |via=[[Perseus Digital Library]]}}</ref> most were coastal settlements in the Mani Peninsula.]]
With the victory of the Romans over Corinth and the Achaean League at the [[Battle of Corinth (146 BC)|Battle of Corinth]] in 146 BCE, all of Greece became part of their empire.<ref name=Rhodes-2007>
{{cite book
|title=The Greek City States: A Source Book
|first=P. J.
|last=Rhodes
|author-link=P. J. Rhodes
|date=2007
|edition=2nd
|chapter=Introduction
|page=6
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|url=https://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/50490/excerpt/9780521850490_excerpt.pdf
|access-date=14 October 2025
|isbn=978-0-521-85049-0
|oclc=75713470
}}</ref><ref name=Derow-1989>
{{cite book
|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Rome and the Mediterranean to 133&nbsp;BC
|volume=8
|date=1989
|edition=2nd
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|url=https://archive.org/details/the-cambridge-ancient-history-vol.-8
|editor1-first=F. W.
|editor1-last=Walbank
|editor1-link=F. W. Walbank
|editor2-first=A. E.
|editor2-last=Astin
|editor3-first=M. W.
|editor3-last=Frederiksen
|editor4-first=R. M.
|editor4-last=Ogilvie
|editor4-link=Robert Maxwell Ogilvie
|chapter=Rome, the fall of Macedon and the sack of Corinth: (III) The end of Greek freedom
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/the-cambridge-ancient-history-vol.-8/page/319/mode/2up
|page=323
|first=P. S. 
|last=Derow
|author-link=Peter Derow
|isbn=978-0-521-23448-1
|oclc=708363284
|access-date=17 October 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref> The Peloponnese was administered as the province of [[Achaia (Roman province)|Achaia]]. The ''Eleutherolakōnes'' were allowed to unite to form a Lacedaemonian League. In 21 BCE, under [[Augustus]], the first Roman emperor, this became the [[League of Free Laconians]].<ref name=Welwei-2006 /> In 375 CE, a massive earthquake <!-- [@NB: Further checks needed on "375 CE" sources & therefore if this "365 CE" source is relevant] and [[tsunami]] struck the eastern Mediterranean,<ref name=Shaw-2008>
{{cite journal
|journal=[[Nature Geoscience]]
|title=Eastern Mediterranean tectonics and tsunami hazard inferred from the AD 365 earthquake
|display-authors=etal
|first1=B.
|last1=Shaw
|first2=N. N.
|last2=Ambraseys
|author2-link=Nicholas Ambraseys
|first3=P. C.
|last3=England
|date=March 2008
|volume=1
|issue=4
|pages=268{{ndash}}276
|doi=10.1038/ngeo151
}}
</ref>--> devastated Gythium and submerged much of its ruins under the sea.<ref name=Scoufopoulos-1985>
{{cite book
|title=Harbour Archaeology: Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Ancient Mediterranean Harbours, Ceasarea Maritima, 24{{ndash}}26.8.83
|series=British Archaeological Reports International Series
|id=BAR S257
|editor-first=Avner
|editor-last=Raban
|publisher=[[BAR Publishing]]
|location=Oxford
|isbn=978-0-860-54328-2
|oclc=12629167
|chapter=Ancient Gythion, the Port of Sparta: History and Survey of the Submerged Remnants
|chapter-url=https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/GreecePeloponnesus/Gythion-Scoufopoulos1985.pdf
|url-status=live
|via=Internet Archive
|first=Niki
|last1=Scoufopoulos-Stavrolakes
|page=51
|quote=[T]he worst earthquake came in 374{{ndash}}375 AD, when a considerable part of the town was covered by the sea.
|access-date=31 October 2025
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251031135509/https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/GreecePeloponnesus/Gythion-Scoufopoulos1985.pdf
|archive-date=31 October 2025
}}</ref>

In 395 CE, mainland Greece and the Peloponnese became part of the [[Byzantine Empire]] (also known as the Eastern Roman Empire), bringing over 500 years of centralized rule from Rome to an end. Mani would nominally be administered by the new government in [[Constantinople]] for over a millennium, with periodic interruptions due to unrest and foreign invasions. Mani's remoteness would limit Constantinople's influence.

===Middle Ages===
====Byzantine rule====
The Mani Peninsula had a turbulent history during the long period of [[Byzantine Greece]] (395–1453), as various powers fought over it and the whole [[Peloponnese]] (known for much of this time as "[[Morea]]"). Between 396 and 397, the [[Visigoths]] under [[Alaric I]] raided the Peloponnese.<ref name="Kulikowski-2006">
{{cite book
|title=Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric
|first=Michael
|last=Kulikowski
|author-link=Michael Kulikowski
|date=2006
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|edition=1st
|series=Key Conflicts of Classical Antiquity
|chapter=Alaric and the Sack of Rome
|pages=147{{ndash}}177
|isbn=978-0-521-84633-2
|oclc=907616465
<!--not resolving?|doi=10.1017/CBO978113916727-->
}}</ref>{{rp|166{{ndash}}167}} In 468, the [[Vandals]] under [[Gaiseric]] invaded Mani as a first step in their planned conquest of the Peloponnese, but were thwarted by a Maniot counter-attack at [[Caenepolis]] near Cape Matapan.<ref name=Fermor-1958 />{{rp|120}} 

In the late 6th century, [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] and [[Slavs]] invaded Greece, reaching much of the Peloponnese.<ref name=Gregory-1991>
{{cite encyclopedia
|encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
|title-link=Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
|editor-first=Alexander
|editor-last=Kazhdan
|editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan
|date=1991
|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]
|location=New York
|volume=3
|entry=Peleponnesos
|page=1620
|entry-url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0003unse_j5n1/page/1620/mode/1up
|first=Timothy
|last=Gregory
|author-link=Timothy E. Gregory
|entry-url-access=registration
|access-date=27 October 2025
|via=Internet Archive
|isbn= 978-0-195-04652-6
|oclc=420944174
}}</ref><ref name=Whitby-2012>
{{cite encyclopedia
|title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary
|title-link=Oxford Classical Dictionary
|display-editors=etal
|editor1-first=Simon
|editor1-last=Hornblower
|date=2012
|edition=4th
|isbn=978-0-199-54556-8
|oclc=779467469
|entry=Avaro-Slav invasions
|entry-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald0000unse_w0c8/page/215/mode/1up
|page=215
|quote=During [Emperor] [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice's]] reign (582{{ndash}}602), Avars and Slavs [...] ravaged much of the Balkans, capturing or isolating most inland cities, [and] reaching the Peloponnese.
|first=L. Michael
|last=Whitby
|author-link=Michael Whitby
|access-date=2 November 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref> The chronology, extent, and duration of invasions and subsequent occupations, the reliability of written,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The principal written source is the medieval ''[[Chronicle of Monemvasia]]'', whose reliability [[Chronicle of Monemvasia#Reliability|is questioned by many scholars.]]}} [[Toponymy#Toponomastics|toponymic]] and archaeological evidence, the pace of [[Byzantine Greece#Reorganization and external threats (5th–8th centuries)|Byzantine recovery]], and the degree of lasting cultural influence, are all topics of academic dispute.<ref name=Fine-1983>
{{cite book
|title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century
|first=John V. A.
|last=Fine
|author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.
|date=1991
|publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]]
|location=[[Ann Arbor]]
|isbn=978-0-472-08149-3
|section=The Slavs in Greece
|section-url=https://archive.org/details/earlymedievalbal0000fine/page/58/mode/2up
|pages=59{{ndash}}63
|url=https://archive.org/details/earlymedievalbal0000fine
|url-access=registration
|access-date=2 November 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref> The particular theory of [[Fallmerayer]], a 19th-century German historian, that Avar, Slavic, and other peoples [[Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer#The Greek theory|replaced the Greek population of the Peloponnese]] in this period has been tested by the [[genetic analysis]] of samples of modern populations: a 2017 paper found that "Peloponneseans are clearly distinguishable from the populations of the Slavic homeland and are very similar to Sicilians and Italians".<ref name=Stamatoyannopoulos-2017>
{{cite journal
|journal=[[European Journal of Human Genetics]]
|title=Genetics of the Peloponnesean populations and the theory of extinction of the medieval Peloponnesean Greeks
|date=2017
|volume=25
|issue=5
|pages=637{{ndash}}645
|display-authors=etal
|first1=George
|last1=Stamatoyannopoulos
|author1-link=George Stamatoyannopoulos
|first2=Aritra
|last2=Bose
|first3=Athanasios
|last3=Teodosiadis 
|doi=10.1038/ejhg.2017.18
|pmc=5437898
|pmid=28272534
|quote=We find considerable heterogeneity of Peloponnesean populations exemplified by genetically distinct subpopulations and by gene flow gradients within Peloponnese. By [analysis,] the Peloponneseans are clearly distinguishable from the populations of the Slavic homeland and are very similar to Sicilians and Italians. Using a novel method [...] we find that the Slavic ancestry of Peloponnesean subpopulations ranges from 0.2 to 14.4%.
|quote-page=637
|url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5437898/pdf/ejhg201718a.pdf
|access-date=7 November 2025
}}</ref>

Over the subsequent centuries, Mani was fought over by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]], the [[France in the Middle Ages|French]], and the [[Saracens]]. In the wake of the [[Early Muslim conquests]], [[Arabs]] captured the island of [[Crete]] in the 820s and established an [[Emirate of Crete|emirate]] there. Arab pirates then began to raid Mani and the coastal cities of the Peloponnese; this ceased when the Byzantines retook Crete in 961.<ref name=SavvidesBées-1993>
{{cite encyclopedia
|encyclopedia=The Encyclopaedia of Islam
|title-link=Encyclopaedia of Islam
|display-editors=etal
|editor1-first=C. E.
|editor1-last=Bosworth
|editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth
|editor2-first=E.
|editor2-last=van Donzel
|editor2-link=Emeri van Donzel
|date=1993
|edition=2nd
|publisher=[[E. J. Brill]] 
|location=[[Leiden]]
|volume=7
|entry=Mora
|entry-url=https://archive.org/details/ei2-complete/Encyclopaedia_of_Islam_vol_7_Mif-Naz/page/236/mode/1up 
|at=p. 236, section "1. The pre-Ottoman period to 1460", para (a)
|first1=Alexios
|last1=Savvides
|author1-link=:el:Αλέξιος Γ.Κ. Σαββίδης
|first2=Nikos
|last2=Bées
|author2-link=:el:Νίκος Βέης
|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0764
|isbn=978-9-004-09419-2
|oclc=311711558 
|access-date=27 October 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref><ref name=Gregory-1991 />{{rp|1621}}

=====Christianization=====
[[Christianity]] was firmly established on mainland Greece, the [[Balkans]], and [[Anatolia]]—the core territories of the Byzantine Empire—by as early as the 5th century. The Peloponnese, and Mani in particular, were quite late to adopt Christianity relative to these core regions, likely owing, at least in part, to the peninsula's isolation and foreboding terrain.

[[File:Church of Aghios Prokopios, Koita, Mani, Greece.jpg|thumb|The 9th-century church of [[Procopius of Scythopolis|Saint Prokopios]] ({{lang|el|Άγιος Προκόπιος)}} near [[Koita]] (visible on the brow of the hill), viewed from the east]]

The monk [[Nikon the Metanoeite]] ({{langx|el|Νίκων ὁ Μετανοείτε}}) (c. 930 – 998) was commissioned by the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] to Christianize the areas of Mani and [[Tsakonia]] still practicing [[paganism]]. It was only after his efforts that most traces of the [[Ancient Greek religion]] and its traditions were eradicated from Mani. Nikon was [[canonized]] by the Greek Orthodox Church and, as St. Nikon, became the [[patron saint|patron]] of Mani and Sparta.

[[Constantine VII]] in his ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' (c. 952) describes the Maniots thus:<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos>
{{cite book
|title=Deep into Mani: Journey to the Southern Tip of Greece
|date=1985
|first1=P. A. L.
|last1=Greenhalgh
|first2=Edward
|last2=Eliopoulos
|publisher=[[Faber & Faber]]
|location=London
|isbn=978-0-571-13523-3
|oclc=11469822
|url=https://archive.org/details/deepintomanijour0000gree
|url-access=registration
|access-date=6 November 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref>{{rp|22}}

{{Blockquote|Be it known that the inhabitants of [[Megali Maini|Castle Maina]] are not from the race of aforesaid [[Slavic peoples|Slavs]] ([[Melingoi]] and [[Ezeritai]] dwelling on the [[Taygetus]]) but from the older [[Rhomaioi]], who up to the present time are termed [[Names of the Greeks#Hellene comes to mean "pagan"|"Hellenes"]] by the local inhabitants on account of their being in olden times idolaters and worshippers of idols like the ancient Greeks, and who were [[baptized]] and became Christians in the reign of the glorious [[Basil I|Basil]] [Emperor Basil I (r. 867 – 886)]. The place in which they live is waterless and inaccessible, but has olives from which they gain some consolation.}}

[[Patrick Leigh Fermor]] wrote of the Maniots and the tradition of their conversion:<ref name=Fermor-1958 />{{rp|46}}

{{Blockquote|Sealed off from outside influences by their mountains, the semi-[[Troglodytae|troglodytic]] Maniots themselves were the last of the Greeks to be converted. They only abandoned the old religion of Greece towards the end of the ninth century. It is surprising to remember that this peninsula of rock, so near the heart of the [[Levant]] from which Christianity springs, should have been baptised three whole centuries after the arrival of [[Augustine of Canterbury|St. Augustine]] [of Canterbury] in far-away [[Kent, England|Kent]].}}

====Crusader states====
After the [[Sack of Constantinople]] in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, the Mani Peninsula became part of the [[Principality of Achaea]] (1205{{ndash}}1432), a [[Crusader state]], though it retained a degree of autonomy due to its largely inaccessible mountain terrain.<ref name=Bon-1969>
{{cite book
|title=La Morée franque : Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe (1205{{ndash}}1430)
|lang=fr
|trans-title=The Frankish Morea: Historical, Topographic and Archaeological Studies of the Principality of Achaea (1205{{ndash}}1430)
|first=Antoine
|last=Bon
|date=1969
|publisher=De Boccard
|location=Paris
|series=Bibliothèques de l'Ecole française d'Athènes et de Rome{{snd}}Série Athènes
|volume=213 (1)
|at=(Note: access pages online via pulldown menu "Préliminaire 1")
|id=BEFAR 213
|oclc=940288277
|url=http://cefael.efa.gr/detail.php?site_id=1&actionID=page&serie_id=BefarA&volume_number=213&issue_number=1
|access-date=3 November 2025
|via=CEFAEL
}}</ref>{{rp|71{{ndash}}73}} In {{circa|1220|lk=no}}, [[John of Nully|Jean de Nully]], a French knight, was appointed to the [[Barony of Passavant]], the last of Achaea's [[feudal baron|baronies]] to be established.<ref name=Bon-1969 />{{rp|113}} His castle of [[Las (Greece)#Passavas|Passavas]] overlooked the route from Gytheio to Tsimova (modern [[Areopoli]]).<ref name=Bon-1969 />{{rp|508{{ndash}}509}}

The Slavic [[Melingoi]] tribe then{{As of?|date=November 2025}} began raiding Laconia from the west, while in the east native [[Tsakonians]] agitated against French rule. In 1249, the new prince of Achaea, [[William II of Villehardouin]], invested on the fortress of [[Monemvasia]] to keep the Tsakonians at bay. To contain the Melingoi, he built a castle at [[Mystras]], in the Taygetus, overlooking Sparta. And—according to the 14th-century ''[[Chronicle of Morea]]''—he built the castle of [[Grand Magne]] to stop Maniot raids. The castle was described as "at a fearful cliff with a headland above", and has been associated with the name "Mani" and variations since its construction.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}} Despite its notoriety, the site has never been positively located; one possibility is [[Tigani]]. 

By the mid-13th century, the resurgence of the [[Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty]] had shifted the balance of power in Greece. In the 1250s the [[Pope]] appointed a "Latin," i.e., [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]], bishop to Mani, provoking resentment among the Orthodox Greeks, who soon removed him. In 1259, Byzantine forces captured Prince William at the [[Battle of Pelagonia]]. In 1262, William surrendered three fortresses to [[Emperor Michael VIII]] to obtain his release: Mystras, Grand Magne, and Monemvasia.<ref name=Setton-1976>
{{cite book
|title=The Papacy and the Levant (1204{{ndash}}1571), Volume I: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
|first=Kenneth M.
|last=Setton
|author-link=Kenneth Setton
|publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]]
|location=[[Philadelphia]]
|isbn=978-0-871-69114-9
|oclc=905659583
|page=98
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4OPORrVeXQC&pg=PA98
|access-date=6 November 2025
|via=Google Books
}}</ref>

====Byzantine Despotate====
Maniots had maintained a significant degree of autonomy during the [[Principality of Achaea]]'s existence. From the mid-14th to mid-15th centuries, control over the region gradually shifted to a semi-autonomous province of the Byzantine Empire called the [[Despotate of the Morea]] (1349–1460), when successive ''[[despotes]]'' governed the province.

===Ottoman rule===
The [[Ottoman Empire]] succeeded in [[Fall of Constantinople|capturing Constantinople in 1453]]; by 1460 the Ottomans completed their [[Ottoman conquest of the Morea|conquest of the Morea]].{{efn|The Peloponnese would be called ''[[Morea]]'' throughout the [[early modern period]].}} According to local tradition, members of noble Byzantine families such as the [[Palaiologoi]] fled to Mani following the fall of Constantinople.<ref name=Fermor-1958 />{{rp|27{{ndash}}29}}

The Ottomans remained nominal rulers of Mani until the outbreak of the [[Greek revolution]] in 1821, with a brief interlude of [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] control. Mani was first administered by the Ottoman [[Eyalet of the Archipelago]] and then by the [[Morea Eyalet]]. Due to its remoteness and isolation, Mani in particular retained a degree of autonomy not present in other regions of [[Ottoman Greece]].{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}

====Ottoman-Venetian wars====
The Ottoman Empire and the [[Republic of Venice]] frequently clashed over control of the [[Morea]], with the Mani Peninsula emerging as a major site of contestation during a [[Ottoman–Venetian wars|series of conflicts]] that began in 1396{{snd}}about sixty years before the [[Ottoman Greece|Ottoman conquest of Greece]]{{snd}}and ended in 1718. A significant shift in the balance of power occurred with the [[Treaty of Constantinople (1479)]], a Venetian-Ottoman peace settlement ending the [[Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479)|First Ottoman–Venetian War]], which had begun in 1463. The treaty restored territorial boundaries to their pre-1463 status. This meant that lands held by Greek rebels under Venetian protection returned to Ottoman control, including the Mani Peninsula.<ref name=Trombley-2009 />{{rp|269}} 

[[Krokodeilos Kladas]] (1425{{ndash}}1490) had led bands of warriors called ''[[Stratioti#Republic of Venice|stratioti]]'' against the Ottoman Empire, with Venice providing support.<ref name=Trombley-2009>
{{cite journal
|journal=Historisch Tijdschrift Groniek
|title=The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and Late Medieval Greek Culture: The Experience of Defeat
|first=Frank
|last=Trombley
|issue=184
|pages=267{{ndash}}284
|date=2009 
|url=https://ugp.rug.nl/groniek/article/view/17751
|access-date=28 October 2025
}}</ref>{{rp|269}} He contested the outcome of the 1479 treaty, and led ''stratioti'' from the Venetian territories in a revolt against the Ottomans in the Mani. This rebellion caused a diplomatic crisis between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, as the Ottomans held Venice responsible for the damage caused by the Greek insurgents.<ref name="Burghartz">{{cite book |last=Burghartz |first=S. |title=Sites of Mediation: Connected Histories of Places, Processes, and Objects in Europe and Beyond, 1450–1650 |publisher=Brill |year=2016 |page=88}}</ref> Hoping to avoid another war, both Venetians and Ottomans put a [[bounty (reward)|bounty]] on Kladas. After initial successes, in 1480 an Ottoman army drove him to take refuge in the fortress of [[Kastania, Laconia|Kastania]], from whence he escaped, with fifty men, on ships sent by [[Ferdinand I of Naples|King Ferdinand of Naples]].<ref name=Trombley-2009 />{{rp|270}} 

Around 1568, the Ottomans built a small castle to defend the harbour of [[Porto Kagio]], which they were using as a base for [[galley]]s patrolling the [[Kythira Strait]] between the Peloponnese and [[Crete]]. They abandoned it in 1570 after a Venetian attack. Certain 17th- and 18th-century cartographers refer to the castle as "Maina"; some later authors identified this as the 13th-century [[Grand Magne]], though medieval [[portolan chart]]s do not show a castle there.<ref name=Wagstaff-1991>
{{cite journal
|journal=[[Dumbarton Oaks Papers]]
|title=Further Observations on the Location of Grand Magne
|first=J. M.
|last=Wagstaff
|volume=45
|pages=141{{ndash}}148
|date=1991
|doi=10.2307/1291698
|jstor=1291698
|url=https://archive.org/details/DOP45_13_Wagstaff
|access-date=29 October 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref>{{rp|143{{ndash}}144}}

====1612 Ottoman incursion====
In 1612, the Mani Peninsula became the focal point of another Ottoman military incursion, this time triggered by the actions of [[Charles I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua|Charles Gonzaga]] (1580–1637), who claimed descent from the [[Palaiologos dynasty]]. Charles sought to establish a new Byzantine state with himself as emperor in Constantinople, viewing his endeavor as a new [[crusade]]. The Maniots caught wind of Charles's ambitions and negotiated an alliance, with church leaders addressing him as "Constantine Palaeologus".<ref name=Miller-1904>
{{cite journal
|journal=[[The English Historical Review]]
|title=Greece under the Turks, 1571{{ndash}}1684
|first=William
|last=Miller
|author-link=William Miller (historian)
|year=1904
|volume=19
|issue=76
|pages=646{{ndash}}668 
|doi=10.1093/ehr/XIX.LXXVI.646
|issn=1477-4534
}}</ref>{{rp|650}}

Upon discovering Charles's plans and the Maniots' support, the Ottoman authorities launched a large-scale punitive expedition into the region. A force of 20,000 soldiers and 70 ships was deployed to invade Mani. The Ottomans devastated the peninsula and imposed punitive taxes on the Greeks. Charles's further attempts at his crusade failed, and he later became Duke of [[Duchy of Mantua|Mantua]] and [[Duchy of Montferrat|Montferrat]]. His failure left the Maniots to continue their struggle against the Ottomans without external support. The Maniots' resistance remained a persistent challenge to Ottoman authority.<ref name=Sainty-2018>
{{cite book
|title=The Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Angeli, Farnese and Bourbon families which governed it
|first=Guy Stair
|last=Sainty
|author-link=Guy Stair Sainty
|year=2018
|publisher=[[Boletín Oficial del Estado]]
|location=[[Madrid]]
|pages=87{{ndash}}90
|isbn=978-8-434-02506-6
|oclc=1088531428
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBjRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87
|via=Google Books
|access-date=19 October 2025
}}</ref>

====Piracy====
Maniot [[piracy]] was observed by the Turkish explorer [[Evliya Çelebi]] (1611–1682), who visited Mani with an Ottoman expedition. He said of the Maniots, "they capture the [[Frankokratia|Frank]] and sell him to us, they capture us and sell us to the Franks."<ref>{{Citation |last=Yerasimos |first=Marianna |title=Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnâmesi'nde Yunanistan: Rota ve Güzergâhlar |date=2020-05-27 |work=Bir allame-i cihan : Stefanos Yerasimos (1942–2005) |pages=735–835 |editor-last=Anadol |editor-first=Çağatay |url=http://books.openedition.org/ifeagd/1963 |access-date=2023-07-13 |series=IFEA/Kitap yayınevi |place=İstanbul |publisher=Institut français d'études anatoliennes |language=tr |isbn=978-2-36245-044-0 |editor2-last=Eldem |editor2-first=Edhem |editor3-last=Pekin |editor3-first=Ersu |editor4-last=Tibet |editor4-first=Aksel}}</ref>

====Migrations to Corsica====
In October 1675, some 730 Maniots fleeing Ottoman rule embarked from Oitylo on a [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] ship for [[Corsica]], which was then Genoese territory. After a short stop in [[Genoa]], they arrived in Corsica in March 1676, eventually [[Cargèse#History|settling in the area of Paomia]] (modern Cargèse). These settlers, led by the Stephanopoulos family and accompanied by clergy, were the first wave of a significant Greek migration to the island.<ref name=Nicholas-2005>
{{cite journal
|journal=Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora
|title=A History of the Greek Colony of Corsica
|first=Nick
|last=Nicholas
|volume=31
|issue=1
|pages=33{{ndash}}78
|date=2005
|hdl=10066/13141
|hdl-access=free
|via=TriCollege Libraries Institutional Repository (to view, download file 31_1_2005.pdf)
}}</ref> A lengthy process of assimilation lasted well into the 20th century.<ref name=Nicholas-2006>
{{cite journal
|first=Nick
|last=Nicholas
|year=2006
|title=Negotiating a Greco-Corsican Identity
|journal=[[Journal of Modern Greek Studies]]
|volume=24
|issue=1
|pages=91{{ndash}}133 |doi=10.1353/mgs.2006.0009
|s2cid=145285702
}}</ref>

====Beys of Mani====
In the late 17th century, the Ottomans began appointing Maniot [[chieftain]]s, deemed ''[[bey]]s'', to rule Mani on their behalf. The rule of the [[Beys of Mani]] concluded with the onset of the [[Greek War of Independence]] in 1821.

The first such ''bey'' was the Maniot [[Limberakis Gerakaris]] (c. 1644 – 1710), installed c. 1669. A former [[galley]] oarsman in the [[Venetian fleet]] who became a [[pirate]], Limberakis was captured by the Ottomans and condemned to death. The [[grand vizier]] pardoned him on condition that he manage Mani as an Ottoman [[vassal]]age or [[client state]]. 

Limberakis accepted the offer and used his new position to pursue his standing [[feud]] with the powerful Maniot Stephanopouloi family. His forces besieged the compound of the Stephanopouloi at [[Oitylo]],{{when?|date=July 2025}} captured 35 of them, and had them all executed. During his twenty-year reign,{{citation needed|date=July 2025}} Limberakis shifted allegiances between the [[Republic of Venice]] and the Ottomans.<ref name=Fermor-1958 />{{rp|48}}

Limberakis eventually fell out of favor with the Turks for his piracy and he was captured by Ottoman forces in 1682.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|27}} With the Ottomans preoccupied with their [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars|wars against the Habsburgs]], the Venetians saw an opportunity to seize Turkish-held territories in the Peloponnese, sparking the [[Morean War]] of 1684–1699.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|28}}

====Venetian conquest and withdrawal====
The [[Morean War]] of 1684–1699 was the sixth Ottoman–Venetian war and part of the wider conflict known as the "[[Great Turkish War]]". Military operations ranged across southeastern Europe and the Aegean; the war's major campaign was the Venetian conquest of the Morea.

The [[Battle of Kalamata (1685)|Battle of Kalamata in 1685]] ended with a Venetian victory. Venice went on to conquer the Mani Peninsula, solidifying their foothold in the southern Morea. Venice's expansionist revival would be short-lived, as its gains were [[Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718)|reversed]] by the Ottomans in 1718.

====Russian influence and Orlov revolt====
The Ottomans faced a rival to the east in the expanding [[Tsardom of Russia]] and subsequent [[Russian Empire]], which fueled twelve [[Russo-Turkish wars|Russo-Turkish Wars]] that began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918,<ref>{{Citation |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |title=Military transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500–1800 |date=2011 |work=Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=281–319}}</ref> and which, in the 18th century, spilled over into the Mani Peninsula.

By the late 17th century, Russian influence had begun to spread among Maniots and other [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christians under Ottoman rule]]. Prophecies began circulating in the 1690s, at the height of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700)|third Russo–Turkish War]], of a "blonde nation" that would destroy the Ottoman Empire.<ref name=Vakalopoulos-1975>{{Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους|volume=11||first=Apostolos|last=Vakalopoulos|author-link=Apostolos Vakalopoulos|chapter=Η άνοδος της ρωσικής δυνάμεως|trans-chapter=The rise of Russian power}} {{oclc|1176045743}}.</ref>{{rp|55{{ndash}}57}} This hope was fueled by the war and by [[Greek Orthodox]] patriarchs who sought Russian support to regain privileges lost in an earlier [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]].<ref name=Vakalopoulos-1975 />{{rp|56}} The presence of a Russian ambassador at the Ottoman court since 1700 allowed direct contacts between Russian officials and Ottoman Christians who began to seek refuge in Russia. These included Greek refugees who established communities in Russia.<ref name=Vakalopoulos-1975 />{{rp|56{{ndash}}57, 59}} 

Wishing to weaken the [[Ottoman Empire]] and establish a pro-Russian independent Greek state, Russia sent emissaries to Mani in the mid-1760s to enlist local military leaders;<ref name=Jelavich-1978>
{{cite book
|title=History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
|chapter=Balkan Christians under Ottoman rule
|volume=1
|first=Barbara
|last=Jelavich
|author-link=Barbara Jelavich
|date=1983
|page=78
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|isbn=978-0-521-25249-2
|oclc=873976334
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qR4EeOrTm-0C&pg=PA78
|via=Google Books
}}</ref> at the same time, notable Greeks approached various Russian agents to discuss plans for the liberation of Greece.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smilyanskaya |first1=Elena |date=2014 |title=Russian Warriors in the Land of Miltiades and Themistocles: The Colonial Ambitions of Catherine the Great in the Mediterranean |publisher=Social Science Research Network |page=4 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2436332 |s2cid=128722901 |ssrn=2436332 |quote=The secret missions of Russian emissaries{{nbsp}}... for their liberation. |website=SSRN Electronic Journal}}</ref> Russian artillery captain Grigorios Papadopoulos (or Georgios Papasoğlu<ref name=Gallant-2015>
{{cite book
|title=The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1768 to 1913: The Long Nineteenth Century
|first=Thomas
|last=Gallant
|author-link=Thomas Gallant (historian)
|date=2015
|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]
|isbn=978-0-748-63607-5
|oclc=1040936956
|chapter=The winds of change
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-vLcCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT12
|via=Google Books
|access-date=18 October 2025
}} Note: page numbers are screenview (PT) numbers in the Google Books preview.</ref>{{rp|17}}), a Greek, was dispatched to Mani.<ref name=Jelavich-1978 /> Georgios Papazolis, another Greek officer of the Russian army, cooperated with the brothers [[Grigory Orlov|Grigory]] and Count [[Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov|Alexei Orlov]] in preparations for a Greek insurrection in the Morea during the Russian military operations against the Ottoman Empire in 1769.<ref name=Dakin-1973>
{{cite book
|title=The Greek Struggle for Independence, 1821{{ndash}}1833
|first=Douglas 
|last=Dakin
|author-link=Douglas Dakin
|date=1973
|publisher=[[University of California Press]]
|location=[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]
|page=26
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rk1iVvOr6RUC&pg=PA26 
|access-date=24 October 2025
|via=Google Books
|isbn=978-0-520-02342-0
|oclc=654065
}}</ref> The organization of the Greek rebellion was charged to the Orlov brothers,<ref name=Jelavich-1978 /> with Alexei as fleet commander.<ref name=Gallant-2015 />{{rp|15}}

With the onset of the [[Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774]] (the sixth conflict between the empires), Russia saw an opportunity to seize territory from its Ottoman rival.<ref>Shaw, S.J. (1976) ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey'', Cambridge University Press. pp. 253–255.</ref> The Russians, aiming to weaken the Ottomans from within, planned to incite Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire to revolt, and sent agents to strategic points in the [[Balkans]] and Greece, including the Morea.<ref name=Gallant-2015 />{{rp|17{{snd}}18}} Another Orlov brother, [[:ru:Орлов, Фёдор Григорьевич|Fyodor]], was sent to coordinate rebels in Morea, deemed the most important strategic area of mainland Greece due to its ports.<ref name=Gallant-2015 />{{rp|19{{ndash}}20}} Greeks prepared to revolt with the expectation of massive Russian aid.<ref name=Jelavich-1978 />

Russia assembled a war fleet that landed Fyodor Orlov at [[Kalamata]] in February 1770.<ref name=Gallant-2015 />{{rp|18}} This expedition of four ships, a few hundred soldiers, and inadequate arms supplies, greatly disappointed the Greeks. Nevertheless, Orlov's arrival in Mani sparked a Maniot uprising, the [[Orlov revolt]].<ref name=Jelavich-1978 /> 

An initial force of 1,400 men was raised. The Maniot forces were organized into "legions" with the help of Russian officers.<ref name=Pappas-1982>
{{cite thesis
|first=Nicholas Charles
|last=Pappas
|date=1982
|title=Greeks in Russian Military Service in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
|page=74
|degree=PhD
|publisher=[[Stanford University]]
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMtEAQAAIAAJ
|oclc=13459396
|via=Google Books
|access-date=25 October 2025
}}</ref> The Greek rebels were initially successful, defeating Ottoman forces in Laconia and eastern Messenia. They captured the fortress of [[Mystras]] and established a local government there,<ref name="Kalligas">{{cite book |last1=Kalligas |first1=Harris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCTvDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |title=Monemvasia: A Byzantine City State |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134536030 |page=91 |language=en}}</ref> but the revolt failed to spread effectively.<ref name=Pappas-1982 />  

The Ottomans responded with an [[Ottoman invasion of Mani (1770)|invasion force]], and by June 1770 the revolt had been suppressed, three months after it had begun. The Ottomans' Albanian troops massacred Greek civilians and destroyed property.<ref name=Jelavich-1978 /> After several years of plundering, they were curbed by Turkish troops, and order restored, in 1779.<ref name=Gundogdu-2012>
{{cite thesis
|first=Birol
|last=Gundogdu
|date=2012
|title=Ottoman Constructions of the Morea Rebellion, 1770s: A Comprehensive Study of Ottoman Attitudes to the Greek Uprising
|page=184
|degree=PhD
|publisher=[[University of Toronto]]
|url=https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/6a17be9f-f5b1-4430-a5af-088ea3947762/content
|oclc=1032924723
|access-date=8 November 2025
}} Gundogdu cites [[George Finlay|Finlay, George]] (1856). [https://archive.org/details/historygreeceun00finlgoog The History of Greece under Othoman and Venetian Domination]. London & Edinburgh: Blackwood.</ref>

====French influence and Ottoman invasions====
After the failed revolt of 1770, the Ottomans sought to control Mani through the appointment of a new [[Bey of Mani|''bey'']]. In 1784, [[Tzanetos Grigorakis]], a member of the powerful Grigorakis clan, accepted the position. In 1798, the Ottomans learned he was conspiring with French agents sent by [[Napoleon]] to orchestrate a revolt, and deposed him. He continued to cause trouble from his fortified island home on Marathonisi (modern [[Cranae]]).{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

In 1803, the Ottomans discovered that Grigorakis had received a shipment of French weapons, and resolved to eliminate him. In the [[Ottoman invasion of Mani (1803)|Ottoman invasion of Mani in 1803]], the [[Kapudan Pasha]], a high-ranking Ottoman naval commander, led a large force of Albanians into Mani. The Ottoman army set up base at [[Gytheio]], directly across from Marathonisi.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} Equipped with the French weapons, Grigorakis, with his sons and followers, prepared for a siege. The Ottoman fleet blockaded the island, and their artillery inflicted significant damage. After a brief siege, Grigorakis and his men slipped out of the fort during the night and fled inland. With their target gone, the Ottomans abandoned the siege. Grigorakis continued to organize raids until his death in 1808.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

During the 1803 invasion, the Ottomans removed ''bey'' Panagiotis Koumoundouros because he had allowed Zanetos Grigorakis to receive weapons from the French. They replaced him with Antony Grigorakis, a cousin of Zanetos.<!--A Turkish fleet was unable to capture Cranae, and was soon forced to retreat.|Already said--><ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|31}} The Ottomans [[Ottoman invasion of Mani (1807)|invaded Mani in 1807]] and again in 1815; they were repulsed each time. 

In 1810, ''bey'' Grigorakis resigned in favor of his son-in-law, Konstantis Zervakos. The Maniots were hostile to Zervakos and deposed him.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|32}} Clans in Gytheio elected Theodoros Zanerakos, nephew of Grigorakis, as their leader.{{When|date=September 2025}} During the [[Ottoman invasion of Mani (1815)|1815 Ottoman invasion of Mani]], Zanerakos was removed from power and replaced by [[Petros Mavromichalis]]. Known as "Petrobey", he was the first ''bey'' from ''Mesa Mani'' (Inner Mani).<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|32}} In 1819, he joined the [[Filiki Eteria]], a 19th-century Greek secret society opposing Ottoman rule, which by 1821 was prepared to revolt.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|33}}

Bands of brigands known as {{transliteration|el|[[klephts]]}} ({{lang|el|κλέφτες}}, {{gloss|thieves}}), led by {{transliteration|el|kapetánioi}} ({{lang|el|καπετάνιοι}}, {{gloss|captains}}), had been operating in mountainous areas of Greece for generations.<ref name=Skiotis-1975>
{{cite book
|title=War, Technology and Society in the Middle East
|date=1975
|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] for the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]]
|location=London
|editor1-first=V. J.
|editor1-last=Parry
|editor2-first=M. E.
|editor2-last=Yapp
|editor2-link=Malcolm Yapp
|url=https://archive.org/details/wartechnologysoc0000unse
|url-access=registration
|isbn=978-0-197-13581-5
|oclc=1681473
|chapter=Mountain Warriors and the Greek Revolution
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/wartechnologysoc0000unse/page/308/mode/1up
|first=Dennis N.
|last=Skiotis
|pages=308{{ndash}}329
|access-date=19 November 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}</ref>{{rp|310{{ndash}}313}} They were countered by the Ottomans with groups of irregular soldiers or [[militia]] known as {{transliteration|el|[[armatoles|armatoloi]]}} ({{lang|el|αρματολοί}}). Many ''armatoloi'' were former ''klephts'' granted amnesty in return for serving the Ottoman authorities. Roles became blurred over time, and a change from brigand to militiaman, or militiaman to brigand, was common for captains and their bands. Their armed formations would form the backbone of Greek forces in the coming War of Independence.<ref name=Batalas-2009>
{{cite book
|title=Irregular Armed Forces and their Role in Politics and State Formation
|date=2008
|editor1-first=Diane E.
|editor1-last=Davis
|editor2-first=Anthony W.
|editor2-last=Pereira
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|location=Cambridge
|isbn=978-0-521-01218-8
|oclc=619662603
|chapter=Send a Thief to Catch a Thief: State-Building and the Employment of Irregular Military Formations in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Greece
|first=Achilles
|last=Batalas
|pages=149{{ndash}}177
|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511510038.007
}} {{twlac|https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511510038.007}}</ref>{{rp|155{{ndash}}157}}

===Modern Greece===
{{Expand section|date=September 2025}} 
====Greek War of Independence====
{{Main|Greek War of Independence}}
On 17 March 1821, 12,000 Maniots gathered in Areopoli and declared war against the Ottoman Empire, an act which preceded the rest of Greece by about a week.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|58}} The secret society of [[Filiki Eteria]] had sent representatives to organize the Maniots.<ref name=Paroulakis-1984>
{{cite book
|title=The Greeks: Their Struggle for Independence
|first=Peter H.
|last=Paroulakis
|date=1984
|publisher=Hellenic International Press
|location=[[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]]
|isbn=978-0-959-08940-0
|oclc=13658755
}}</ref>{{rp|40}} From his base in Kalamata, Maniot leader [[Petros Mavromichalis]] titled himself "Commander in Chief of the Spartan Forces" and wrote letters to European heads of state announcing the Greek revolution. He then directed Maniot forces to attack Turkish positions in Messenia and Laconia.<ref name=Paroulakis-1984 />{{rp|58}} On 23 September 1821, after a long siege, Maniot fighters were part of the Greek forces under [[Theodoros Kolokotronis]] that [[Siege of Tripolitsa|captured and sacked]] the Ottoman regional capital, [[Tripolitsa]].<ref name=Mazower-2021/>{{rp|72}}

=====Egyptian invasion=====
In 1825, with the Greek revolution faltering, Ottoman [[Sultan Mahmud II]] enlisted the help of [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt]] to subdue the rebellion. Ali's son, [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]], landed at [[Methoni, Messenia|Methoni]] with a large force and quickly recaptured much of the Peloponnese, but was unable to take [[Nafplio]] and the Mani Peninsula.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

Ibrahim's forces launched a two-pronged attack on Mani in the joint [[Ottoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani]] in 1826. At the Battle of Verga, 2,000 Maniots and 500 Greek refugees successfully defended a fortified wall, repelling the Egyptian advance. Simultaneously, a smaller Egyptian fleet attempted a surprise landing at Areopoli to disrupt Maniot communication lines, where they were met by 300 Maniot defenders. The Egyptians suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat, ruining Ibrahim's invasion plan.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|62}} The women who fought in this battle were later dubbed the "[[Amazons]] of Diros".<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|63}}

====Republic and kingdom====
[[File:ΧΑΡΤΗ ΜΑΝΗ ΠΑΛΙΟ ΧΡΩΜΑ.jpg|thumb|Map of Mani published in 1926]]

=====Assassination of Kapodistrias=====
After [[Ioannis Kapodistrias]] became the first governor of Greece in 1831, he came into conflict with the [[Mavromichalis clan]], as the Maniots refused to pay taxes to the new government.<ref name=Paroulakis-1984 />{{rp|165}} Kapodistrias arrested and imprisoned Tzanis Mavromichalis, the brother of Maniot leader Petros Mavromichalis. Subsequently, Petros was also arrested and charged with treason.<ref name=Paroulakis-1984 />{{rp|168}}

On 27 September 1831, in retaliation for Petros's arrest, Petros's brother, [[Konstantinos Mavromichalis]], and his brother's son, [[Georgios Mavromichalis]], assassinated Kapodistrias as he was entering a church in [[Nafplio]]. Konstantinos was killed by Kapodistrias's bodyguard, and Georgios was later executed.<ref name=Paroulakis-1984 />{{rp|168}}

=====Monarchy and subjugation=====
In 1833, [[Otto of Greece|Otto von Wittelsbach]] was appointed [[King of Greece]]. His [[Regency council of Otto of Greece|Council of Regency]] took action to subdue the Maniots and dismantle their defensive towers.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|35}} In 1870, a Maniot [[Feud|vendetta]] was halted by the efforts of a regular army with artillery support.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|36}}

====World War II, civil war, and reconstruction====
The violence of [[Balkans campaign (World War II)|World War II in the Balkans]] and the [[Greek Civil War]] that followed severely affected the region and engulfed the Peloponnese and Mani. The [[Axis occupation of Greece]] and the ensuing conflicts brought widespread hardship. Mani was devastated by the wars, and many of its young people left for [[Athens]] or to join the [[Greek diaspora]] in the [[United States]] and [[Australia]].<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|39}}

[[Fascist Italy]] invaded Greece in October 1940, starting the [[Greco-Italian War]]. The Italians soon encountered major difficulties and turned to [[Nazi Germany]] for assistance. Germany [[Battle of Greece|invaded Greece]] in April 1941. The Axis occupation lasted from 1941 to 1944.

In Mani, the British had begun to evacuate their troops from [[Porto Kagio]] ahead of the 1941 German invasion.<ref name=Greenhalgh&Eliopoulos />{{rp|141}} During the occupation, Mani became a stronghold for the [[Security Battalions]], Greek [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborationist]] paramilitary groups formed to support the German and Italian occupation troops. With the end of the occupation in 1944, Greece began  to slide into the 1946{{ndash}}1949 civil war.<ref name=Liakos&Doumanis-2023>
{{cite book
|title=The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 20th and Early 21st Centuries: Global Perspectives
|title-link=The Edinburgh History of the Greeks
|date=2023
|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]
|section=The slide to civil war, 1946
|pages=214{{ndash}}216
|first1=Antonis
|last1=Liakos
|author1-link=:el:Αντώνης Λιάκος
|first2=Nicholas
|last2=Doumanis
|author2-link=Nicholas Doumanis
|isbn=978-1-474-41084-7
|oclc=1370616267
}}</ref>

Mani's population declined and continued to fall as emigration continued beyond the post-war decades. Mani was considered a backwater until the 1970s, when the government started to build roads which made the peninsula more accessible by car. A [[tourist]] industry took hold, with ensuing population and economic growth.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}}

====Wildfires====
[[File:GR-wildfires-2007 NASA-cropped.jpg|thumb|This NASA satellite image shows the impact of the 2007 wildfires, with vegetation displayed in bright green, and burnt areas in red; Mani is the central peninsula.]]
In 2007, [[2007 Greek forest fires|widespread wildfires]] caused significant damage and loss of life in Mani, particularly around [[Areopoli]].<ref name=Kath-20070825>
{{cite news
|date=25 August 2007
|title=Sixteen dead in worst day of forest fires
|url=https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/51433/sixteen-dead-in-worst-day-of-forest-fires/
|access-date=11 October 2025
|work=[[Kathimerini]]
}}</ref> [[2021 Greece wildfires|Wildfires in 2021]] again devastated much of the Peloponnese:<ref name=Gdn-Aug21>
{{cite news
|first=Jedidajah
|last=Otte
|date=7 August 2021
|title=Greek firefighter killed and 20 injured as fires spread out of control 
|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/07/greek-firefighter-killed-athens-fires
|access-date=11 October 2025
|work=[[The Guardian]]
}}</ref> [[East Mani]] was badly affected, with an area of {{cvt|105|km2|mi2}} burnt.<ref name=GeoH-2023>
{{cite journal
|journal=GeoHazards
|title=GIS-Based Assessment of Fire Effects on Flash Flood Hazard: The Case of the Summer 2021 Forest Fires in Greece
|display-authors=etal
|first1=Niki |last1=Evelpidou
|author1-link=:el:Νίκη Ευελπίδου  |first2=Maria|last2=Tzouxanioti
|first3= Evangelos |last3=Spyrou
|date=23 December 2022
|volume=4 |issue=1 
|at=1{{ndash}}22. See section 2.3 |doi=10.3390/geohazards4010001
|doi-access=free
|issn=2624-795X
}}</ref>

====Administrative reform====
The municipalities of [[East Mani]] and [[West Mani]] were established in 2011 by the [[Kallikratis Programme]], a sweeping administrative reform that resulted in mergers of regional and local governments in the Peloponnese and across Greece.

== Economy ==
{{Expand section|date=July 2025}}

Mani's economy is oriented towards agriculture, tourism, and maritime activity.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}

According to Wagstaff (1965), the economy of Mani for the period {{circa|1680|1840|lk=no}} can be reconstructed in outline by analysing the travelogues of west European writers,<ref name=Wagstaff-1965>
{{cite journal
|journal=Balkan Studies
|issn=2241-1674
|title=The Economy of the Máni Peninsula (Greece) in the Eighteenth Century
|first=J. M.
|last=Wagstaff
|date=1965
|volume=6
|issue=2
|pages=293{{ndash}}304
|url= https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/3265
|access-date=17 October 2025
}}</ref>{{rp|293}} though he points out that apart from one source,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Wagstaff refers to volume 1 of  [[William Martin Leake|W. M. Leake's]] three-volume  [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.46932 ''Travels in the Morea''] (1830), citing observations and statistics in chapters 7, 8 and 9.}} their accounts are descriptive, patchy, and do not cover the whole peninsula.<ref name=Wagstaff-1965 />{{rp|294}} 

Wheat, barley, and [[sorghum]] were widely cultivated, and [[maize]] grown in water-retentive soils. In the early 19th century, olive oil was produced in large quantities north of [[Oitylo]]; cultivation further south became extensive some decades later. [[Lupin bean|Lupins]] are mentioned as a crop cultivated in rotation with barley and wheat. The production of beans and chickpeas was enough, in abundant years, to support exports to Italy. Pigs (feeding on lupins) were probably reared more than cattle; sheep and goats are not mentioned in travellers' descriptions, "possibly because they were being grazed away from the main routes".<ref name=Wagstaff-1965 />{{rp|296, 298{{ndash}}300}} 

Exports included honey and [[beeswax]], [[quail]]s, olive oil, and two products extracted from the [[quercus ilex|holm-oak]]: from its [[acorn|acorn-cups]], a substance known as valonea, used in [[tanning (leather)|tanning]]; and from its [[oak apple|gall]]s, {{transliteration|el|prinokoki}} ({{lang|el|πρινόκοκκοι}}), a scarlet dye. Some cloth was produced from wool or cotton, and one account mentions a small export trade. The plantations of [[morus (plant)|mulberry tree]]s observed in the northeast, including near [[Skoutari, Laconia|Skoutari]], were the basis of a [[silk#production process|silk industry]].<ref name=Wagstaff-1965 />{{rp|300{{ndash}}301}}

Many Maniots were engaged in producing [[sea salt]] in the 19th and early 20th centuries, largely on the west coast of the peninsula. There were four types of salt harvesting or production sites: natural [[Salt pan (geology)|salt pan]]s formed in existing rock depressions along the shore (sites near [[Gerolimenas]] and [[:fr:Mézapos|Mezapos]], for example); small artificial [[Salt evaporation pond|evaporation pond]]s excavated above sea level (such as a site near Artsi); large artificial ponds with associated temporary housing for workers (near Koukouri); and major saltworks built with significant technical infrastructure and permanent worker accommodation (on the [[Tigani|Tigani peninsula]]). Salt was traded for foodstuffs such as barley, wheat, maize, cheese, and dried figs.<ref name=Saitas-2006>
{{cite book
|title=Le Sel de la Baie : Histoire, archéologie, ethnologie des sels atlantiques
|lang=fr
|trans-title=The Salt of the Bay: History, archaeology, and ethnology of Atlantic salts
|date=2006
|editor1-first= Jean-Claude
|editor1-last=Hocquet
|editor1-link=:fr:Jean-Claude Hocquet
|editor2-first=Jean-Luc
|editor2-last=Sarrazin
|publisher=[[Presses Universitaires de Rennes|Presses universataire de Rennes]]
|location=[[Rennes]]
|first1=Yannis
|last1=Saïtas
|first2=Cornelia
|last2=Zarkia
|chapter=La récolte du sel dans la péninsule du Magne (Péloponnèse)
|trans-chapter=Salt harvesting in the Mani Peninsula (Peloponnese)
|chapter-url=https://books.openedition.org/pur/7632
|at=See paragraphs numbered 3, 7, 8, 9, and 13.
|doi=10.4000/books.pur.7632
|doi-access=free
|url=https://books.openedition.org/pur/7581
|access-date=21 October 2025
|edition=Freemium Open Access
|isbn=978-2-753-53199-4
|oclc=949652839
}}</ref>

[[Piracy]] was also an important part of the Maniot economy.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}

== Culture ==
{{Expand section|date=July 2025}}

[[Maniots]] maintain a unique heritage among the regional subcultures of their fellow Greeks. By tradition, they claim descent from the [[Sparta|ancient Sparta]]ns, and to be heirs to Sparta's [[militaristic]] culture.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISQ_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36|title=The Bureau: Or Repository of Literature, Politics, and Intelligence|date=1812|publisher=S.C. Carpenter.|pages=36|language=en|quote=In this work, the author, giving an account of the conquest made in Greece by the Russians, and of the gallant defence made by the Maniotes (the descendants of the ancient Spartans) against the Turks, describes their invincible spirit with the eloquence of a [[Demosthenes]] or a [[Edmund Burke|Burke]].}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Harris|first1=W. V.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wutuv1ygCxsC&pg=PA282|title=Rethinking the Mediterranean|last2=Harris|first2=William Vernon|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-926545-9|pages=282|language=en|quote=Above all, the Maniots, who are said to be the true heirs of the Spartans and 'have always preserved their liberty' (Pococke, 1743, i. 178) serve as an illustration of this continuity. According to [[John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]] (1799, 31), '[these] descendants of the ancient Lacedemonians{{nbsp}}... still preserve their love for liberty so great a degree, as never to have debased themselves under the yoke of the Turkish empire'.}}</ref>

Maniot culture was based on [[clan]] or [[patrilineal]] kinship groups that valued traditional concepts of manhood and [[patriarchal]] family relations.<ref name=Karakatsianis-2010 />{{rp|122}} This way of life stemmed from Mani's geographical isolation from the more populated regions of Greece, and was further influenced by its history of foreign invasions; it persisted until the social upheavals of World War II.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Seifried |first=Rebecca M. |date=2014-12-28 |title=The Shifting Tides of Empires: Using GIS to Contextualize Population Change Within the Landscape of Seventeenth to Nineteenth-Century Mani, Greece |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10761-014-0281-2 |journal=International Journal of Historical Archaeology |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=46–75 |doi=10.1007/s10761-014-0281-2 |issn=1092-7697|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The stronger clans, the {{transliteration|el|megalogenites}}, held better-quality land on which they built high towers; they dominated the weaker clans, the {{transliteration|el|ahamnoteroi}}.<ref name=Karakatsianis-2010 />{{rp|123}}

===Architecture===
====Tower houses====
Mani is known for its unique [[Tower houses in the Balkans#In Greece|tower houses]] called {{transliteration|el|pyrghóspita}}.<ref name=Wagstaff-Dec1965>
{{cite journal
|journal=[[Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers]]
|title=House Types as an Index in Settlement Study: A Case Study from Greece 
|first=J. M.
|last=Wagstaff 
|issue=37
|date=December 1965 
|pages=69{{ndash}}75
|doi=10.2307/621690
|jstor=621690
}}</ref> These towers were usually surrounded by other houses, family churches, and cemeteries, forming a fortified complex known as a {{transliteration|el|xemóni}} which served as a clan-based compound.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Oikonomopoulou |first1=Eleni |last2=Delegou |first2=Ekaterini T. |last3=Sayas |first3=John |last4=Vythoulka |first4=Anastasia |last5=Moropoulou |first5=Antonia |date=2023 |title=Preservation of Cultural Landscape as a Tool for the Sustainable Development of Rural Areas: The Case of Mani Peninsula in Greece |journal=[[Land (journal)|Land]] |language=en |volume=12 |issue=8 |page=1579 |doi=10.3390/land12081579 |bibcode=2023Land...12.1579O |doi-access=free |issn=2073-445X}}</ref>

====''Palaiomaniatika''====
[[File:Palaiomaniatika house in Mani, Greece.jpg|thumb|A renovated ''palaiomaniatika'' house with [[dry-stone]] lower [[Course (architecture)|courses]]]]
Over 170 settlements in the peninsula contain architecture from the middle of the Byzantine period{{snd}}roughly from the 8th to the 13th centuries. Known as {{transliteration|el|palaiomaniatika}} ({{lang|el|παλαιομανιάτικα}} {{gloss|old Maniot settlements}}) or {{transliteration|el|palaiochores}} ({{lang|el|παλαιοχώρες}} {{gloss|old villages}}), these settlements are small (10 to 50 houses), with about half still inhabited and the rest abandoned.<ref name=Siefried-2021>
{{cite book
|title=Deserted Villages: Perspectives From the Eastern Mediterranean
|date=2021
|publisher=The Digital Press at the [[University of North Dakota]]
|location=[[Grand Forks, North Dakota|Grand Forks]]
|editor1-first=Rebecca M.
|editor1-last=Seifried
|editor2-first=Deborah E. Brown
|editor2-last=Stewart
|url=https://thedigitalpress.org/deserted-villages/
|chapter=The Stone-Built ''Palaiomaniatika'' of the Mani Peninsula, Greece
|first=Rebecca M.
|last=Seifried
|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/83870048/The_Stone_Built_Palaiomaniatika_of_the_Mani_Peninsula_Greece
|access-date=24 October 2025
|via=Academia.edu
|doi=10.7275/pt2g-nw28
|isbn=978-1-736-49861-3
|oclc=1277513857
}}</ref>{{rp|153}} 

Their main feature are houses, towers, and [[cistern]]s.<ref name=Siefried-2021 />{{rp|158}} These structures were typically built with very thick [[dry-stone]] walls using large blocks of quarried [[limestone]] or limestone boulders.<ref name=Siefried-2021 />{{rp|161}} Their [[vernacular architecture]] is sometimes described as "[[megalithic]]" or "[[cyclopean]]", with some scholars surmising a building tradition stretching back to the late Hellenistic period.<ref name=Moschu-2004>
{{cite book
|title=Settlements of Mani
|editor1-first=Pari
|editor1-last=Kalamara
|editor2-first=Nikos
|editor2-last=Roumeliotis
|series=Network of Mani Museums 1 ([[Ministry of Culture (Greece)|Hellenic Ministry of Culture]])
|date=2004
|publisher=Kapon Editions
|location=Athens
|chapter=Ruined Byzantine Settlements in Lakonian Mani
|first=Leda
|last=Moschou
|pages=30{{ndash}}36
|isbn=978-9-602-14414-5
|oclc=83976674
}}</ref>{{rp|35}} Evidence from historical documents indicates that people were living in most of the {{transliteration|el|palaiomaniatika}} well into the Ottoman era.<ref name=Siefried-2021 />{{rp|178}}

=== Cuisine ===
[[file:2011_Greek_Diples.JPG|thumb|{{transliteration|el|Diples}} ({{lang|el|δίπλες}} {{gloss|[[diples|honey rolls]]}})]]
The distinctive ingredients of traditional Maniot cuisine include olive oil and olives; citrus fruits, especially oranges; {{transliteration|el|horta}} ({{lang|el|χόρτα}} {{gloss|[[Leaf vegetable#Greece|wild greens]]}}) and aromatic herbs; [[lupin bean|lupin]]s, broad beans, and lentils; local cheeses such as the white, semi-hard {{transliteration|el|sfela}} ({{lang|el|σφέλα}}); cheese pies and other savoury pies; {{transliteration|el|lalangia}} ({{lang|el|λαλάγγια}} {{gloss|fried dough strips}}); {{transliteration|el|diples}} ({{lang|el|δίπλες}} {{gloss|[[diples|honey rolls]]}}); and pork products such as {{transliteration|el|syglino}} ({{lang|el|σύγκλινο}} {{gloss|salted pork preserved in pork fat}}).<ref name=VP>{{cite web |title=Laconian Cuisine and Local Products |website=Visit Peloponnese |publisher=Περιφέρεια Πελοποννήσου [[Peloponnese (region)|[Peloponnese Region]]] |url=https://visitpeloponnese.com/en/prdct/laconian-cuisine-and-local-products |url-status=live |date=n.d. |access-date=4 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250715065506/https://visitpeloponnese.com/en/prdct/laconian-cuisine-and-local-products |archive-date=15 July 2025}}</ref><ref name=GGG>{{cite web |title=Traditional Cuisine of Laconia |website=Greek Gastronomy Guide |url=https://www.greekgastronomyguide.gr/en/lakonia/paradosiaki-kouzina/ |url-status=live |date=n.d. |access-date=4 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251001140827/https://www.greekgastronomyguide.gr/en/lakonia/paradosiaki-kouzina/ |archive-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>

===Dialect===
[[Phonologically]], the traditional Maniot [[dialect]]{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Trudgill (2003) notes that when describing [[Varieties of Modern Greek#Modern varieties|varieties of Modern Greek]], many Greek [[linguist]]s distinguish two types: those (such as [[Tsakonian language|Tsakonian]] or [[Pontic Greek|Pontic]]) that differ greatly from Standard Modern Greek, referred to as {{transliteration|el|dialekti}} ({{lang|el|διάλεκτοι}} {{gloss|dialects}}); and all other varieties, including Maniot, which are labelled {{transliteration|el|idiomata}}  ({{lang|el|ιδιώματα}} {{gloss|idioms}}).<ref name=Trudgill-2003/>{{rp|49}}
}} has two distinguishing features: the historical /y/ (υ), which has shifted to /i/ in [[Varieties of Modern Greek#Standard Modern Greek|Standard Modern Greek]], has been maintained as /u/ in Maniot, so that, for example, the standard  {{transliteration|el|xylo}} ({{lang|el|ξύλο}} {{gloss|wood}}) becomes {{transliteration|el|xulo}}; and Maniot exhibits a pronounced [[Palatalisation (sound change)|palatalisation]] of [[velar consonants]].<ref name=Trudgill-2003>
{{cite journal
|journal=Journal of Greek Linguistics
|title=Modern Greek Dialects: A Preliminary Classification
|date=2003
|first=Peter
|last=Trudgill
|author-link=Peter Trudgill
|volume=4
|issue=1
|pages=45{{ndash}}63
|url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/view/journals/jgl/4/1/article-p45_3.pdf
|access-date=13 November 2025
|doi=10.1075/jgl.4.04tru
}} Trudgill takes the year 1900 as his reference point and draws on the [[fieldwork]] of Greek and English linguists.</ref>{{rp|54{{ndash}}55, 59}}

Family names in Messenian Mani typically end in ''-eas'', while those in Laconian Mani end in ''-akos'' or ''-oggonas''.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery class="center">
File:Mani 1 small.jpg|''Pyrghóspita'' ([[Tower houses in the Balkans#In Greece|tower houses]]) in [[Skoutari, Laconia|Skoutari]]
File:Vathia Mani Greece.jpg|''Pyrghóspita'' in [[Vatheia]]
File:Gythio Peloponnisos.jpg|Port of [[Gytheio]]
File:GR-itylo-bucht.jpg|[[Oitylo]] village
File:Diros-cave-greece 16890493012 o.jpg|Diros Caves near [[Pyrgos Dirou]]
File:Limeni Mani.jpg|Port of [[Areopoli]]
Image:Kardamyli 02.jpg|The Church of St. Spyridon in [[Kardamyli]]
File:Saint Theodoroi church in Kampos Avias.jpg|Saints Theodoroi Church in [[Kampos, Messenia|Kampos]]
File:Mani Flag (Greece).svg|left|1821 banner reading "Victory or Death"
</gallery>

==See also==
<!--Use {{Annotated link}} template where possible-->
<!--As a rule, list in alphabetical order of first word of each item-->
*{{annotated link|East Mani}} and {{annotated link|West Mani}}
*{{annotated link|Laconia}}
*{{annotated link|Maniots}}
*{{annotated link|Peloponnese}}
*[[:Category:Wars_involving_Mani|Wars involving Mani (1460{{ndash}}1832)]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web |url=https://www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/icfa/collections/edward-eliopoulos-photographs-of-mani-greece-1958-1980 |title=A collection of 106 photographic prints documenting Byzantine churches in Mani|publisher=[[Dumbarton Oaks]] ([[Harvard University]]) |first=Edward |last=Eliopoulos |date=1980}}
* {{Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους|volume=11|last=Papadopoulos|first=Stefanos|chapter=Η Ελληνική Επανάσταση του 1770 και ο αντίκτυπός της στις ελληνικές χώρες|trans-chapter=The Greek Revolution of 1770 and its impact on the Greek lands|pages=58–85}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mani}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20250710111027/http://mani.org.gr/ Mani Portal] [in Greek] (archived) by Alexakis Lefteris (2025), including [https://web.archive.org/web/20250221050307/http://www.mani.org.gr/fonimanis/2001/1_2001epif_epon.htm "Form and evolution of Mani surnames"]
* [https://www.topoguide.gr/mountains/peloponnese/mani_overview_en.php "Discover Mani"] by T. Adamakopoulos (2014)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20250919231756/https://www.zorbas.de/maniguide/ Mani: A Guide and History] (archived) by John Chapman (2011)
* [https://www.karl-heinz-herrfurth.de/In-der-Mani-Stin-Mani Paintings and drawings of Mani] from 1976 to 1997 by the artist [[:de:Karl-Heinz Herrfurth|Karl-Heinz Herrfurth]] (in German)

{{coord|36.5590|N|22.4303|E|display=title}}
 
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mani Peninsula| ]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Greece]]
[[Category:Landforms of Peloponnese (region)]]
[[Category:Landforms of Laconia]]
[[Category:Landforms of Messenia]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Greece]]