Tzermiado or Tzermiadon (also Tzermiadon) is a village in the Prefecture of Lasithi in Crete, seat of the Municipality of Lasithi Plateau. According to the 2011 census, it has 637 inhabitants. It has a secondary school and a high school, bank branches and a post office, while the primary school closed down in 2014 due to a lack of students and was merged with that of Agios Georgios. Its inhabitants are mainly engaged in the cultivation of potatoes and other fruit and vegetables. It is located 49 km west of Ag. Nikolaos and 55 km east of Heraklion at an altitude of 850 m.
Historical data
The area of the village has been inhabited since the Neolithic era. The cave of Trapeza, also known as Kronion, east of the village, is considered to have been inhabited since the Sub-Neolithic – Proto-Minoan period. In Kastelos, east of the village, burials and dwellings dating from the Neolithic to the Middle Minoan era have been found. Neolithic to Late Minoan shells have been found in the cave in the district of Argoulia. Burials from the Neolithic era have also been found in the cave at Skafidia. It is believed that when Kastelos was inhabited, the cave of Trapeza was converted into a burial place and sanctuary, and votive offerings, such as Proto-Minoan ivory figurines, have been found in it. Before the end of the Middle Minoan era, however, it was abandoned and Diktaion Andron near the village of Psychro became a sanctuary. In Ponta Agia Anna, Late Minoan shells and Archaic and Hellenistic bronze objects and Roman coins have been found.
In the census report of Castrofilaca (K105), in 1583, the settlements of Alogospilio, Gaitanou and Skafidia were mentioned, toponyms which today are preserved as districts of the village. The earliest mention of the name Tzermiado was made by Francesco Basilicata in 1630 as Zermiades which was the largest village in the province. Stergios Spanakis believes that the name Tzermiado comes from the surname of the first settlers of the village, the Tzermiades. In the Turkish census of 1671 it was mentioned as Cermyado. In the Egyptian census of 1834, 100 Christian families were enumerated. During the revolution of 1866, in 1867, the Turks surrounded Korakas in Tzermiadon and in the battle that followed, Tzermiadon was destroyed.
In 1879, the Municipality of Tzermiado (Municipality of Pera) was created with its seat in the settlement of the same name, which included half the villages of the Plateau from Pinakiano to Agios Konstantinos, while the remaining villages from Agios Georgios to Kato Metochi formed the Municipality of Pode. Until then, the capital of Lasithi Plateau during the Turkish occupation had been Mesa Lasithi. In the census of 1881, it had 894 Christian inhabitants and 4 Turks who were tax collectors.
Population trend according to the censuses: