Kratero

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Kratero is located east of the Lake Prespa National Park and is on the slopes of the Eastern Varnous mountain range. The village is at an altitude of {{convert|980|m}}. Neighbouring villages include Ethniko, Kato Kleines, Ano Kleines, and Akritas. Kratero is about {{cvt|20|km}} north of the town of Florina. It is close to the Greek border with Albania, and within one kilometer of the border with North Macedonia.

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The village was originally named Rakovo in Slavic. This word comes from Rakoits and means fresh water crayfish, which were plentiful in the nearby streams. The village was named Krateron in 1928 after the Second Balkan War of 1913 when the region became part of Greece according to the Treaty of Bucharest (1913). Many residents migrated from Kratero in the 1950s to start new lives in the United States, Canada and Australia.

The village has experienced a turbulent history as a result of its location and the strong patriarchist and Greek national identity of the population.Dakin, D. The Greek Struggle in Macedonia 1897 - 1913. 1966 Museum of Macedonian Studies - Institute for Balkan Studies However, according to Borivoje Milojević, a Serbian anthropologist and ethnographer, in 1917–1918, there were 100 houses in the village, all with predominantly a Slavic identity.{{Cite book|last=Milojević|first=Borivoje|title=Južna Makedonija|publisher=Sazvežđa|date=2018|location=Belgrade|pages=20}} The village was burnt down three times, once in 1903 by the Ottoman Turkish Army, in 1907 by Bulgarian bands, and in 1947 during the Greek Civil War.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}}

The village of Kratero was heavily affected by the events of the Ilinden Uprising of 1903 due to the village's remote location in the Monastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.The Greek priest, Papa Dimitrios and two notables, K. Traianou and Y. Konstantinou were murdered, and five more members of the community were beaten.Vacalopoulos, A.E., Modern History of Macedonia 1830-1912, pg. 189 Later, a Bulgarian armed band again raided Kratero murdering the Greek Priest Mitanidis, the village President Stavros Maligeorgos, and Vice President Yiorgos Boikovitis.Vacalopoulos, pg. 194 In August 1903 Ottoman troops attacked the village in their attempts to deal with the Ilinden insurrection, burning and destroying 100 out of 120 houses.Dakin, D. 1993, pg. 103

• Pavlos Rakovitis
• {{Interlanguage link|Trajce Grujoski|bg|Трайче Груйоски|mk|Трајче Грујоски}}

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Category:Populated places in Florina (regional unit)

Category:Florina