XANTHI

also spelled Xanthe, city and noms (department) in the Thrace (Thrki) region of eastern Greece. The city, which is situated below the Rhodope massif at the head of the narrow Eskej (Esketz) Valley, is the seat of a metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church. Though the city's origins are obscure, it grew up beneath the Byzantine fortress of Xanthea and later became a summer colony of the Turks known as Eskije. With the arrival of the Thessalonki-Adrianople railway in the 1890s, it replaced the nearby Turkish tobacco-trading centre of Yenije in importance. After the Balkan Wars (191213) the city passed to Bulgaria and then to Greece after World War I. The city of Xnthi is joined by highway to Stavropolis, a town on the Nstos River, and Lgos, a port between the Aegean Sea and a coastal lagoon. The agricultural plain southeast of the city produces wheat, sunflowers, and high-quality tobacco and is watered by an intermittent stream. Textile and other light industries have been established. The region has a large Turkish-speaking population. Area noms, 692 square miles (1,793 square km). Pop. (1981) city, 33,897; noms, 88,777; (1991 prelim.) city, 37,462; noms, 90,450.