12th–16th century
Red earth – the name and the first settlers
Where the name Kokkinopilos comes from, who first settled here, and what the Ottoman registers record.
The name
Kokkinopilos means “red clay” or “red earth”. The village is named after the red soil of its slopes (kokkinochoma), a material that was also important to local life.
The first settlers
Local tradition holds that the village was founded in the 12th century by Vlach settlers from Anthochori in Grevena. The village’s Vlach (Aromanian) roots are still remembered today.
In the Ottoman registers
After the area came under Ottoman rule, Kokkinopilos was captured in 1442 and administered as a chiflik, a large estate. It appears in the Ottoman tax registers (tahrir) of 1521 and 1570, recorded as Kokinopulo and Kokkinoplo Arvanitan, with only nine families at first.
Over the following centuries the small settlement grew into one of the largest villages of the area. By the early 20th century it had almost 2,000 inhabitants.
The sources differ on some details, for example on who the very first settlers were. Both versions are recorded here with their sources.