Xanthi is one of the fifty-one prefectures of Greece. It is within the East Macedonia and Thrace periphery. The capital of the prefecture is also called Xanthi.
Xanthi borders Bulgaria along the Rhodope Mountains to the north, and the Aegean Sea. to the south. The prefecture of Kavala lies to the west, Drama to the northwest and Rhodope to the east. The mountains of Koula lie to the east and the Papingio to the northeast.
Xanthea (or Xantheia) is mentioned by Strabo and Hecataeus a few centuries earlier wrote about the people called Xanthoi. One guess is that the name is derived from Xanthus one of the horses of Diomedes in Greek mythology.
Of special interest in the Xanthi prefecture are the Byzantine castle around the old town of Xanthi and the subterranean Macedonian tombs in Komnina from the 2nd century BC. During the 19th century, local tobacco production and commerce developed rapidly. The manors of the old city, many of which are still intact, testify to the prosperity of the tobacco merchants of Xanthi during this period.
The areas that mainly get Mediterranean climate is at the southern and the central portion. Its climate is mainly continental with cold winters in higher elevations and the northern part.
Transportation
GR-2/E90, Via Egnatia, old and new, SW, Cen., S, SE
The village of Ehinos in Xanthi, inhabited exclusively by Greek Muslim Pomaks. The minarets of several active mosques are visable.
Famous Persons from Xanthi
Democritus of Abdera, with Leucippus introduced the idea of matter consisting of smallest elementary particles which he called atoms.
Protagoras of Abdera, who worked in Athens who is known from his statement "Man is the measure of all things of those that are that they are, of those that are not that they are not."
Manos Hadjidakis (Μάνος Χατζιδάκις)(23.10.1925 Xanthi/Greece – 15.6.1994) Oscar Music for Never on Sunday 1960 , Αγάπη που 'γινες δίκοπο μαχαίρι (Agapi pougines dikopo mahairi) , Tο Xαμόγελο της Tζοκόντας. His work include 67 pieces for theater, 76 for cinema, 10 for ballet, 10 pieces for piano and guitar more than 300 songs
