Union. As purple dye was popular in Rome, Gythium exported that as well as porphyry and rose antique marble. Evidence of the ancient Gythium prosperity can be found by the fact that the Romans built an ancient theatre which is well preserved today and is still used occasionally. The ancient theatre, as well as the city's Acropolis (west to the location of the theatre) discovered by the archeologist Dimitris Skias in 1891. Some time in the 4th century AD, Gythium was destroyed. What happened to Gythium is not recorded but it is thought to have been either sacked by Alaric and Visigoths, pillaged by the Slavs or destroyed by the massive earthquake that struck the area in 375 AD. After the earthquake Gythium was abandoned. It remained a small village throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman times. Its importance grew when Tzannetos Grigorakis built his tower at Cranae and more people came and settled at Gytheio. But during the Greek War of Independence, refugees flooded into Mani and made Gytheio a major town. The modern Gytheio opened a port in the 1960s. Ferries sail from Gytheio to Kythira almost daily and also to Crete twice a week. It is the See of the Diocese of Gytheion and Oitylo, headed by a Metropolitan bishop of the Orthodox Church of Greece. Gytheio is the largest and most important town in Mani. Most of the ruins of ancient Gythium are now submerged in the Laconian Gulf. Some walls' remains can be seen today on the sandy beach of Valtaki and in the shallow waters, where the well known Dimitrios shipwreck lies stranded. It is also the capital of the municipality of Gytheio. Province The province of Gytheio () was one of the provinces of the Laconia Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipal units Gytheio and East Mani. It was abolished in 2006. Persons Alexandros Othonaios (1879–1970), general and former Prime Minister of Greece Tzannis Tzannetakis (1927–2010), politician and former Prime Minister of Greece International relations Twin towns – Sister cities Gytheio is twinned with: Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France Notes Inline Citations References Primary Sources Livy, translated by Henry Bettison, (1976). Rome and the Mediterranean. London: Penguin Classics. . Pausanias, translated by W.H.S Jones, (1918). Pausanias Description of Greece. London: Harvard University Press. . Polybius, translated by Frank W. Walbank, (1979). The Rise of the Roman Empire. New York: Penguin Classics. . Secondary