Skaramagas


Skaramagas is a port town in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the municipality of Haidari. It is known for its large shipyard. It took its name by the Chiot merchant Amvrosios Skaramagas.

Geography

Skaramagas is situated on the east coast of the Bay of Eleusis, a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The Aigaleo mountain to the east separates it from the rest of Athens. Skaramagas is 5 km west of Chaidari town centre, 6 km south of Aspropyrgos, 7 km southeast of Eleusis, and 11 km west of Athens city centre. Greek National Road 8 passes through Skaramagas.

Shipyard

Since 1937 Skaramagas harbour has been home to a shipyard of the Hellenic Navy. After destruction in World War II, it was refounded as a commercial shipyard in 1957, the Hellenic Shipyards Co.. In 2002, the port became entirely owned by a German group of investors under the industrial leadership of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, which became a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp in 2005.
In 1973, the Skaramagas harbour was the scene of an experiment carried out by Greek scientist Ioannis Sakkas, to test whether or not it was possible for Archimedes to use focused sunlight as a "heat ray" to burn Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse. This event is mentioned in ancient accounts but often doubted by modern historians. In the 1973 experiment at Skaramagas harbour, 70 mirrors with a copper coating, such as were available in Archimedes' time, did focus enough sunlight to set on fire a plywood of a Roman warship at a distance of around.
Between November 1978 and May 1979, the Greek destroyer Tombazis underwent structural modifications at the shipyard.

Historical population