Xanthi

Xanthi (Turkish Eskije), a town of European Turkey in the vilayet of Adrianople; situated on the right bank of the river Eskije and at the S. foot of the Rhodope Mountains, 29 m.

W. of Gumuljina by the Constantinople-Salonica railway. Pop. (1905) about 14,000, of whom the bulk are Turks and Greeks in about equal proportions, and the remainder (about 4000) Armenians, Roman Catholics or Jews. There are remains of a medieval citadel, and on the plain to the S. the ruins of an ancient Greek town. Xanthi is built in the form of an amphitheatre and possesses several mosques, churches and monasteries, a theatre with a public garden, and a municipal garden. A preparatory school for boys and girls was founded and endowed by Mazzini. The town is chiefly notable for the famous Yenidje tobacco.