This Sibyl passed the greater part of her life in Samos, but she also visited Clarus in the territory of Colophon, Delos and Delphi. (Paus.10.12.5)
Epacteus or Epactius, (Epaktaios or Epaktios), that is, the god worshipped on the coast, was used as a surname of Poseidon in Samos (Hesych. s. v.), and of Apollo. (Orph. Argon. 1296; Apollon. Rhod. i. 404.)
Imbraia (Imbrasia), a surname of Artemis (Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 228), and of Hera, was derived front the river Imbrasus, in Samos, on which the goddess was believed to have been born. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 187; Paus. vii. 4.4)
Son of Pityreus, leader of Ionians. (Paus. 7.4.2)
Hippasus and his party, on the other hand, urged the citizens to defend themselves, and not to give up many advantages to the Dorians without striking a blow. The people, however, accepted the opposite policy, and so Hippasus and any others who wished fled to Samos. Great-grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras, the celebrated sage. For Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphranor, the son of Hippasus.(Paus. 2.13.2)
A Samian clan.
The cities of the Ionians on the islands are Samos over against Mycale and Chios opposite Mimas. Asius, the son of Amphiptolemus, a Samian, says in his epic that there were born to Phoenix Astypalaea and Europa, whose mother was Perimede, the daughter of Oeneus; that Astypalaea had by Poseidon a son Ancaeus, who reigned over those called Leleges; that Ancaeus took to wife Samia, the daughter of the river Maeander, and begat Perilaus, Enudus, Samus, Alitherses and a daughter Parthenope; and that Parthenope had a son Lycomedes by Apollo.(Paus. 7.4.1)
Ancaeus: Son of Poseidon and Astypalaea, also one of the Argonauts, and the helmsman of the ship Argo after the death of Tiphys.
Ancaeus. A son of Poseidon and Astypalaea or Alta, king of the Leleges in Samos, and husband of Samia, the daughter of the river-god Maeander, by whom he became the father of Perilaus, Enodos, Samos, Alitherses, and Parthenope (Paus. vii. 4.2; Callim. Hymn. in Del. 50). This hero seems to have been confounded by some mythographers with Ancaeus, the son of Lycurgus; for, according to Hyginus (Fab. 14), Ancaeus, the son of Poseidon, was one of the Argonauts, but not the other; and Apollonius Rhodius (ii. 867, &c.) relates, that after the death of Tiphys, Ancaeus, the son of Poseidon, became the helmsman of the ship Argo, which is just what Apollodorus relates of Ancaeus, the son of Lycurgus. Lycophron (449), moreover, in speaking of the death of the son of Lycurgus by the Calydonian boar, mentions a proverb, which, according to the Scholiast on Apollonius (i. 185), originated with Ancaeus, the son of Poseidon. The story of the proverb runs thus: Ancaeus was fond of agricultural occupations, and planted many vines. A seer said to him that he would not live to taste the wine of his vineyard. When Ancaeus afterwards was on the point of putting a cup of wine, the growth of his own vineyard, to his mouth, he scorned the seer, who, however, answered, polla metaxu kulikos te kai cheileon akron, "There is many a slip between the cup and the lip". At the same instant a tumult arose, and Ancaeus was informed that a wild boar was near. He put down his cup, went out against the animal, and was killed by it. Hence this Greek phrase was used as a proverb, to indicate any unforeseen occurrence by which a man's plans might be thwarted. A third Ancaeus occurs in Il. xxiil. 635.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Son of Procles, king of Samos
Amphicrates seems to have been of the family of Procles, who led to Samos the Ionians expelled from Epidaurus by the Dorians
Amphicrates (Amphikrates), king of Samos in ancient times, in whose reign the Samians invaded Aegina. (Herod. iii. 59.)
Son of Apollo and Parthenope.
Leogorus (King of Samos) threw a wall round Anaea on the mainland opposite Samos.
According to the Greek Mythology of the shores of the river Imvrassos
the goddess Hera was born and the goddess was bathing in the river's waters, that's
why the river was also called Parthenios. It was also in this place where Hera
fist made love with Zeus. The first settlers of Samos were Hisieis from the promontory
Hision of Asia Minor and Astipalaians. Kares, Leleges as well as Pelasgoi were
the first inhabitants of Samos as in most of the island of the Aegean
Sea. The Argonaut Agaios is considered to be the founder of the town of Samos
and the one who introduced the cult of Hera and the cultivation of the vine. According
to Apollonios of Rhodes, Agaios was not a settler but a Samian and son of the
god Poseidon.
The myth of Agaios
According to the myth, one of the many slaves working the vines, because
of the harsh conditions of working the land, cursed the Argonaut hero, ruler of
Samos, to not be able to drink that year's wine. When the wine was ready, Agaios
summoned the slave and showed him the glass from where he was ready to drink that
year's wine. Many things can happen until the glass reaches the lips? said the
slave and indeed he was right.
The sons of Agaios were Agapinor, who became king of the Arcadians
and fought on the Trojan War and Samos who ruler in Samos.
With the end of the Trojan War Ionians under the leadership of Proklis
and Temvrionas colonized Samos. Paphsanias makes references to another wave of
settlers coming from Phliouda
of Peloponnisos under the leadership of Ippasos, the mythical ancestor of the
Samian philosopher Pythagoras.
From scientific research and the excavations on the hill of Kastro
in Pythagorio, it is safe to say that Samos was inhabited as early as the Neolithic
era.
In the area of Iraion a settlement of the Procycladitic period was
discovered. This settlement was the prime town of the island during the early
Age of Bronze 3rd millennium BC.
The oldest trace of the cult of Hera belong to the 2nd half of the
2nd millennium BC And this is the reason why Samos was also called Partheneia
and Imvrassia in the honor of the river where the goddess was born. Thanks to
its rich vegetation the island was also called Anthemis, Fillas, Kiparissia, Melamphilos,
Drioussa, Dorissa, Stephani and Parthenoaroussa. The name Samos was given to the
island due to its mountainous terrain and it originates from a prehellenic or
Phoenician word that means high ground.
The city of Samos, today's Pythagorio becomes one of the most important
cities of Ionia along with Militos
and Ephessos.
Around 600 BC the Samian colonized Amorgos, Thrace, Cilicia and they had developed
important trade relation with Egypt. In the city of Naphkratin on the Nile's delta
the Samian had a whole quarter of the city. Before the end of the 7th century
BC Samian had reached the mythical Tartisso, beyond the Heraklian Columns, today's
Gibraltar. The 525 BC Samian mercenaries settle the oasis Baharigia between Egypt
and Libya
and the 531 BC Samians found Dikaiarhia,
today's Poutzoli on the gulf of Naples.
During the rule of Polikratis (538 or 532 - 522 BC) the development
of commerce and artisan trades along with the built of a war fleet rendered Samos
a sea power "first of all Greek and Barbarian cities" according to Herodotus.
Typical was the new type of ship Samaina, which combined the requirement for storage
space with revolutionary elements of a fast sea vessel.
Herodotus wrote that he admired Samos for three amazing construction
feats - marvels - that he visited during his visit to the island. These were:
Ephpalinos Tunnel a water reservoir with an underground tunnel of 1036 meters
in length. It was part of an extensive water distribution system for the ancient
city of Samos, which had a population of 150000 people and according to other
historical sources 300000 inhabitants. The "land within the sea", the ancient
port of Pythagorio,
which is considered the oldest manmade port in the world. Heraion, the temple
of Hera, "the richest and biggest temple of all Greek temples". From
the preclassical era we can also study and admire, finds from the palace of Polyctates
and the ancient city of Samos, the ancient walls etc. (...)
1st Persian War
In 479 BC in the straits of Mikali the Samian, Athenian and Spartan
fleet gave the final blow to the Persian fleet and crushed the Persian army in
land the 18th of September 479 BC.
The great influence and power of Samos was deem as dangerous to the
Athenian hegemony and using the conflict between Samos and Militos the Athenians
placed Samos under siege for nine months 440-439 BC. Amongst the Athenian general
who took part in the siege were Perikles, Sophokles and Thoukididis. The surrender
of Samos brought the demolition of its walls, the surrender of the fleet and huge
war compensations. Samos never really recovered after that.
The Peloponnesian Wars
During the Peloponnesian wars Samos allied with the Athenians, but
in 402 BC, the Spartans under the leadership of Lissandros conquered the island.
After the Adaklidia peace of 387 BC the Persians conquered the island. Samos was
assigned to the Satrap of Minor Asia and had to pay a yearly contribution of 400
talents.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below, which contains images
During the Asian Campaign of Alexander the Great, Samos was an important army and naval base. After the death of Alexander his successors, realizing Samos's key geographical position for the control of the west and southwest coasts of Asia Minor, fought for the islands domination. With the victory of the Romans against the Macedonians in Kinos Kefalais, in 197 BC, Samos was declared independent as every other Greek city. In 131 BC Samos was assigned along with the other Ionian cities to the Roman province of Asia.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below, which contains images
The roman occupation, although it was not strict during the first
years of the Pax Romana, it was always disliked by the Greeks. Samos had a leading
role in the revolution against the Romans, which was subsequently crushed the
88 BC. And Samos went through a period of suppression and pillage. In 82 BC Gaios
Lucilus Verris stole from Iraion and sent to Rome so many works of art that he
provoked the outrage of many important Romans. The case for Samos was presented
in the Roman Senate Cicerone and the Samians built in Iraion the altar of Cicerone.
In the 40 / 39 BC Samos was visited by Antony and Cleopatra along
with their armies and fleet. After their defeat in the sea battle of Aktio
the 31 BC the victorious Octabian Augustus enchanted by the island spent two winters
there the 30 and 19 / 18 BC and granted the Samians roman citizenship and returned
all statues taken by Antony from Iraion.
•Tiberius heir of Augustus granted back to Iraio the right of asylum, which
brought back to Iraio its old splendor.
•Caligula dreamt of rebuilding the palace of Polykrates.
•Nero granted Samos its independence and helped the island to recover after
it was hit by disastrous earthquakes.
•Claudius built the temple of Dionysus.
•Vespian, however, abolished the independence of the island and assigned
it to the roman province of the island with Rhodes
as its administrative center.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below
Subsequent to the loss of its independence from the romans, Samos
entered in an era of decadence. This state of things continued throughout the
first period of the Byzantine Empire and even if the historical sources for this
period are scarce, it is believed that the population of the island diminished
dramatically. Samos was raided by pirates during the reign of Ioulianos (361-363
AD) by Goths, Alanans (5th century AD), Slavs (6th century AD) and Arab Saracens
the 7th century.
The 7th century AD the heirs of Heraklios took over the administrative
and military restructuring of the empire and created a mighty fleet. They introduced
the institution of Themata. These were military units permanently stationed to
different areas of the Empire responsible for its defense. Land was given to the
soldiers so they did not only defend the Empire but their homes and land too.
The 9th century AD the naval Thema of Samos was created, which controlled the
opposite coasts of Asia
Minor. The Thema of Samos took part in the campaigns against the Saracens
and especially at the liberation of Crete
from Nikiphoros Phokas the 961 AD.
In 1312 the Turks attack repeatedly the island and its inhabitants
find security in the mountainous castles of Lazaros and Loulouda. After the disastrous
earthquake of 1476 the inhabitants of the island flee from Samos.
In 1546 the French traveler Pier Belon passed through Samos and reported
in his journal that he did not come across any village in the island and that
there were only shepherds in the highlands.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below, which contains images
The 1562 the sultan's admiral Kilidz Pashas due to a sea storm unbarks
in Samos. He was deeply impressed by the natural beauty of the island and after
the erg of his officer Nikolaos Sarakinis from Patmos, he asked from the sultan
to place the island under his control and to recolonize it.
With the sultans decree a lot of privileges were given to Christians
who would colonize Samos and it was strictly forbidden for a Turk to inhabit the
island or even stay there for a brief time. Greeks from all over Greece colonized
the island. The names of their place of origin can still be found in the names
of existing villages such as: Mitilinioi, Arvanites, Koumaioi from Kimi, Vourliotes
from Vourla
of Minor Asia, Pagondas from the village with the same name in Evoia,
Moraitohori
etc.
In 1673, according to the English traveler Randolph, the population
of Samos was 10000 people In 1800 the French Tournof reports that the exquisite
Samos wine was being exported to France and that there was an important production
of silk.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below, which contains images
Despite its proximity to Asia
Minor, Samos throughout the Greek struggle for independence was a Greek stronghold
for the control of the southeast Aegean.
The leading figure of the Revolution was Likourgos Logothetis, members
of the secret organization, Philiki Etaireia. The 18th of April 1821 the Samians
under the command of Kostantinos Lahanas raised the flag of the revolution in
Pigadakia of Vathi.
Thanks to their good organization the revolutionaries successfully
defended the island from numerous Turkish attacks. One of the most important defense
structure used was the Castle of Likourgos in Pythagorio.
The 5th of July 1821 the Turks tried to invaded from the promontory
Georgis east of Pythagorio, where they encountered heroic resistance for few Samians
under the command of Kapetan Stamati. The Turks were annihilated and since that
day the promontory is called Phonias "killer". The 5th of
August 1824 in the straits of Mykali
the Turkish fleet, under the leadership of Hosref, was defeated by the Greek fleet
under the command of Georgios Sahtouris.
Kanaris with his incendiary vessel blew up the Turkish flagship in
the Eptastadios Porthmos. The next day, the 6th of August, the day of the Transfiguration
of Virgin Mary, the Greeks celebrated their victory and latter constructed the
church of the Transfiguration of Virgin Mary next to the castle of Licourgos in
memory of this great victory.
The 24th until the 29th August 1824 in the nearby gulf of Gerodas
the greatest sea battle of the Revolution took place. The Greek fleet with just
70 ships and under the leadership of Andreas Miaoulis, vanquished the Turkish-Egyptian
fleet numbering triple the amount of vessels. Despite its decisive
role in the Revolution, the great powers, England, France and Russia with the
treaty of London in 1830 did not contain Samos in the New Greek State. Samos was
declared a Hegemony under the protection of the Sultan, with a Christian ruler
chosen by the Sultan. Likourgos Logothetis along with 6000 other Samian not accepting
the new regime abandoned the island.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below, which contains images
Thanks to the relative independence that the Hegemony assured, a new
period of development began in Samos. The road system was built, the sector of
public health and the education were organized and there was an important development
of arts and sports.
In 1849 with the publishing of the New Administrative Charta the common
law was redefined to a more liberal direction. The special political system of
Samos was the cause for the development of social and political institutions different
from those of other islands.
In 1837 the central school of Vathi
was founded, a high school in Mitilinioi
and other schools in the villages and in 1854 the central school of Vathi became
the 1st Pythagorio High School.
Between 1842 until 1862 the new port of Tigani (Pythagorio)
was built having as foundation the ancient port of Samos. In 1863 the first newspaper
"Samos" was printed. All official decrees of the Hegemony were published
by "Samos".
From 1881 until 1912 there were continuous struggles for independence
form the sultan. The 11th of November 1912 in the church of Agios Spiridonas the
representatives of the people of Samos unanimously voted the unification of the
island with Greece. The leading figure of the unification was Themistoklis Sophoulis.
After 1900 the systematic cultivation of tobacco and vine begun. The
exquisite Muscat wine of Samos was exported mainly in Germany, Holland and France
while the tobacco in the USA and Germany. The tobacco industry flourished until
the economic crisis of 1930. In 1932 there were public tobacco factories in the
port of Vathi,
in Tigani
(Pythagorio) and in Neo Karlovassi. In Karlovassi
40 small and large leather factories were operating, employing 300-400 workers.
Throughout the era of sail ships Samos had an important role in this
industry and with the arrival of the steamships the "Atmoploia Samou"
was founded by the commercial house of Iglessis in 1910. The construction of ships
had a notable development thanks to the Samian pinewood.
In 1932 small sail ships and mechanized, with internal combustion
engines, were being built in different locations of the island. The most important
were in Tigani (Pithagorio), in Marathokabos
and in Kalabaktassi. It is estimated that Samos built half of the Greek fleet.
The port of Pithagorio linked Greece with the Dodecanese,
which was under Italian occupation and all commerce with the coasts of Asia
Minor was conducted through Pythagorio.
During the 2nd world war the Greek and allied forces used Pythagorio
for their movement from and to Asia Minor. The people of Samos played a decisive
role in the resistance against the German and Italian invaders. With the surrender
of Italy the Italian commander of the Kouneo brigade placed his men under the
command of Bishop Eirinaios and Greek forces (Ieros Lohos) and latter English
forces come to the island from the Middle East.
1st-17th November 1943 elements of Ieros Lohos (The Sacred Band) parachuted
successfully while others landed by sea in Samos and organized the defense of
the island against the Germans.
The 17th of November 1943 bombarded Samos and especially Pythagorio
the port used by the Italians. A lot of people fled to the Monastery of Spiliani.
The germans conquered the island but the resistance continued on the mountains
until the final liberation of the island.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Municipality of Pythagorio URL below, which contains images
The inhabitants of the island received the Ionians as settlers more of necessity than through good.will. The leader of the Ionians was Procles, the son of Pityreus, Epidaurian himself like the greater part of his followers, who had been expelled from Epidauria by Deiphontes and the Argives. This Procles was descended from Ion, son of Xuthus.
The Ephesians under Androclus made war on Leogorus, the son of Procles, who reigned in Samos after his father, and after conquering them in a battle drove the Samians out of their island, accusing them of conspiring with the Carians against the Ionians. The Samians fled and some of them made their home in an island near Thrace, and as a result of their settling there the name of the island was changed from Dardania to Samothrace. Others with Leogorus threw a wall round Anaea on the mainland opposite Samos, and ten years after crossed over, expelled the Ephesians and reoccupied the island.(Paus. 7.4.2)
Both Cephallenia and Samothrace were called Samos at the time of the Trojan War (for otherwise Hecabe would not be introduced as saying that he (Achilles) was for selling her children whom he might take captive "unto Samos and unto Imbros", Il 13.13), and since the Ionian Samos had not yet been colonized, it plainly got its name from one of the islands which earlier bore the same name. Whence that other fact is also clear, that those writers contradict ancient history who say that colonists came from Samos after the Ionian migration and the arrival of Tembrion and named Samothrace Samos, since this story was fabricated by the Samians to enhance the glory of their island.(Strabo 10.2.17)
The men of property among the Samians were displeased by the dealings of their generals with the Medes, so after the sea-fight they took counsel immediately and resolved that before Aeaces the tyrant came to their country they would sail to a colony, rather than remain and be slaves of the Medes and Aeaces. The people of Zancle in Sicily about this time sent messengers to Ionia inviting the Ionians to the Fair Coast, desiring there to found an Ionian city. This Fair Coast, as it is called, is in Sicily, in that part which looks towards Tyrrhenia. At this invitation, the Samians alone of the Ionians, with those Milesians who had escaped, set forth.(Herodt. 6.22)
(Samians) settled at Cydonia in Crete, though their voyage had been made with no such intent, but rather to drive Zacynthians out of the island. Here they stayed and prospered for five years; indeed, the temples now at Cydonia and the shrine of Dictyna are the Samians' work; but in the sixth year Aeginetans and Cretans came and defeated them in a sea-fight and made slaves of them; moreover they cut off the ships' prows, that were shaped like boars' heads, and dedicated them in the temple of Athena in Aegina. The Aeginetans did this out of a grudge against the Samians; for previously the Samians, in the days when Amphicrates was king of Samos, sailing in force against Aegina, had hurt the Aeginetans and been hurt by them. This was the cause.
Marathesium . . originally belonged to the people of Samos, but they gave it to the Ephesians in exchange for Neapolis, which was nearer to Samos. (Strabo 14.1.20)
In the sixth year of the truce (for 30 years between Athenians and
Laceddemonians), war broke out between the Samians and Milesians about Priene.
Worsted in the war, the Milesians came to Athens with loud complaints against
the Samians. In this they were joined by certain private persons from Samos itself,
who wished to revolutionize the government. Accordingly the Athenians sailed to
Samos with forty ships and set up a democracy; took hostages from the Samians,
fifty boys and as many men, lodged them in Lemnos, and after leaving a garrison
in the island returned home. But some of the Samians had not remained in the island,
but had fled to the continent. Making an agreement with the most powerful of those
in the city, and an alliance with Pissuthnes, son of Hystaspes, the then satrap
of Sardis, they got together a force of seven hundred mercenaries, and under cover
of night crossed over to Samos. Their first step was to rise on the commons, most
of whom they secured, their next to steal their hostages from Lemnos; after which
they revolted, gave up the Athenian garrison left with them and its commanders
to Pissuthnes, and instantly prepared for an expedition against Miletus. The Byzantines
also revolted with them.
As soon as the Athenians heard the news, they sailed with sixty ships
against Samos. Sixteen of these went to Caria to look out for the Phoenician fleet,
and to Chios and Lesbos carrying round orders for reinforcements, and so never
engaged; but forty-four ships under the command of Pericles with nine colleagues
gave battle, off the island of Tragia, to seventy Samian vessels, of which twenty
were transports, as they were sailing from Miletus. Victory remained with the
Athenians. Reinforced afterwards by forty ships from Athens, and twenty-five Chian
and Lesbian vessels, the Athenians landed, and having the superiority by land
invested the city with three walls; it was also invested from the sea. Meanwhile
Pericles took sixty ships from the blockading squadron, and departed in haste
for Caunus and Caria, intelligence having been brought in of the approach of the
Phoenician fleet to the aid of the Samians; indeed Stesagoras and others had left
the island with five ships to bring them.
But in the meantime the Samians made a sudden sally, and fell on the
camp, which they found unfortified. Destroying the look-out vessels, and engaging
and defeating such as were being launched to meet them, they remained masters
of their own seas for fourteen days, and carried in and carried out what they
pleased. But on the arrival of Pericles, they were once more shut up. Fresh reinforcements
afterwards arrived--forty ships from Athens with Thucydides, Hagnon, and Phormio;
twenty with Tlepolemus and Anticles, and thirty vessels from Chios and Lesbos.
After a brief attempt at fighting, the Samians, unable to hold out, were reduced
after a nine months' siege, and surrendered on conditions; they razed their walls,
gave hostages, delivered up their ships, and arranged to pay the expenses of the
war by instalments. The Byzantines also agreed to be subject as before.(Herodotus
1.115.1-1.117.3)
This extract is from: Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War (ed. Richard Crawley, 1910). Cited Jan 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
On the same day when the Persians were so stricken at Plataea, it
so happened that they suffered a similar fate at Mykale in Ionia. When the Greeks
who had come in their ships with Leutychides the Lacedaemonian were encamped at
Delos, certain messengers came to them there from Samos, Lampon of Thrasycles,
Athenagoras son of Archestratides, and Hegesistratus son of Aristagoras. The
Samians had sent these, keeping their despatch secret from the Persians and the
tyrant Theomestor son of Androdamas, whom the Persians had made tyrant of Samos.
When they came before the generals, Hegesistratus spoke long and vehemently: 'If
the Ionians but see you', he said, 'they will revolt from the Persians, and the
barbarians will not remain; but if they do remain, you will have such a prey as
never again'. He begged them in the name of the gods of their common worship to
deliver Greeks from slavery and drive the barbarian away. That, he said, would
be an easy matter for them, 'for the Persian ships are unseaworthy and no match
for yours; and if you have any suspicion that we may be tempting you deceitfully,
we are ready to be taken in your ships as hostages'.
As the Samian stranger was pleading so earnestly, Leutychides asked
him (whether it was that he desired to know for the sake of a presage, or through
some happy chance of a god), 'Samian stranger, what is your name'? 'Hegesistratus',
he replied. Then Leutychides cut short whatever else Hegesistratus had begun to
say, and cried: 'I accept the omen of your name, Samian stranger; now see to it
that before you sail from here you and those who are with you pledge that the
Samians will be our zealous allies'.
He said this and added deed to word. For straightway the Samians
bound themselves by pledge and oath to alliance with the Greeks. This
done, the rest sailed away, but Leutychides bade Hegesistratus to sail with the
Greeks because of the good omen of his name...
... Having won favorable omens, the Greeks put out to sea from Delos for Samos.
When they were now near Calamisa in the Samian territory, they anchored there
near the temple of Hera which is in those parts, and prepared for a sea-fight.
The Persians, learning of their approach, also put out to sea and made for the
mainland with all their ships save the Phoenicians, whom they sent sailing away.
It was determined by them in council that they would not do battle by sea, for
they thought themselves overmatched; the reason of their making for the mainland
was that they might be under the shelter of their army at Mykale, which had been
left by Xerxes' command behind the rest of his host to hold Ionia. There were
sixty thousand men in it, and Tigranes, the noblest and tallest man in Persia,
was their general. It was the design of the Persian admirals to flee to the shelter
of that army, and there to beach their ships and build a fence round them which
should be a protection for the ship and a refuge for themselves.
With this design they put to sea. So when they came past the temple
of the Goddesses at Mykale to the Gaeson and Scolopois, where there is a temple
of Eleusinian Demeter (which was built by Philistus son of Pasicles when he went
with Nileus son of Codrus to the founding of Miletus), they beached their ships
and fenced them round with stones and the trunks of orchard trees which they cut
down; they drove in stakes around the fence and prepared for siege or victory,
making ready, after consideration, for either event.
When the Greeks learned that the barbarians had gone off to the mainland,
they were not all pleased that their enemy had escaped them, and did not know
whether to return back or set sail for the Hellespont. At last they resolved that
they would do neither, but sail to the mainland. Equipping themselves for this
with gangways and everything else necessary for a sea-fight, they held their course
for Mykale. When they approached the camp, no one put out to meet them. Seeing
the ships beached within the wall and a great host of men drawn up in array along
the strand, Leutychides first sailed along in his ship, keeping as near to the
shore as he could, and made this proclamation to the Ionians by the voice of a
herald: 'Men of Ionia, you who hear us, understand what I say, for by no means
will the Persians understand anything I charge you with when we join battle; first
of all it is right for each man to remember his freedom and next the battle-cry
"Hebe": and let him who hears me tell him who has not heard it'. The
purpose of this act was the same as Themsitocles' purpose at Artemisium; either
the message would be unknown to the barbarians and would prevail with the Ionians,
or if it were thereafter reported to the barbarians, it would cause them to mistrust
their Greek allies.
After this counsel of Leutychides, the Greeks brought their ships
to land and disembarked on the beach, where they formed a battle column. But the
Persians, seeing the Greeks prepare for battle and exhort the Ionians, first of
all took away the Samians' armor, suspecting that they would aid the Greeks; for
indeed when the barbarian's ships brought certain Athenian captives, who had been
left in Attica and taken by Xerxes' army, the Samians had set them all free and
sent them away to Athens with provisions for the journey; for this reason in particular
they were held suspect, as having set free five hundred souls of Xerxes' enemies.
Furthermore, they appointed the Milesians to guard the passes leading to the heights
of Mykale, alleging that they were best acquainted with the country. Their true
reason, however, for so doing was that the Milesians should be separate from the
rest of their army. In such a manner the Persians safeguarded themselves from
those Ionians who (they supposed) might turn against them if opportunity were
given for themselves: they set their shields close to make a barricade.
The Greeks, having made all their preparations advanced their line
against the barbarians. As they went, a rumor spread through the army, and a herald's
wand was seen lying by the water-line. The rumor that ran was to the effect that
the Greeks were victors over Mardonius' army at a battle in Boeotia. Now there
are many clear indications of the divine ordering of things, seeing that a message,
which greatly heartened the army and made it ready to face danger, arrived amongst
the Greeks the very day on which the Persians' disaster at Plataea and that other
which was to befall them at Mykale took place.
Moreover, there was the additional coincidence, that there were precincts
of Eleusinian Demeter on both battlefields; for at Plataea the fight was near
the temple of Demeter, as I have already said, and so it was to be at Mykale also.
It happened that the rumor of a victory won by the Greeks with Pausanias was true,
for the defeat at Plataea happened while it was yet early in the day, and the
defeat of Mykale in the afternoon. That the two fell on the same day of the same
month was proven to the Greeks when they examined the matter not long afterwards.
Now before this rumor came they had been faint-hearted, fearing less for themselves
than for the Greeks with Pausanias, that Hellas should stumble over Mardonius.
But when the report sped among them, they grew stronger and swifter in their onset.
So Greeks and barbarians alike were eager for battle, seeing that the islands
and the Hellespont were the prizes of victory.
As for the Athenians and those whose place was nearest them, that
is, for about half of the line, their way lay over the beach and level ground;
for the Lacedaemonians and those that were next to them, their way lay through
a ravine and among hills. While the Lacedaemonians were making a circuit, those
others on the other wing were already fighting. As long as the Persians' shields
stood upright, they defended themselves and held their own in the battle, but
when the Athenians and their neighbors in the line passed the word and went more
zealously to work, that they and not the Lacedaemonians might win the victory,
immediately the face of the fight changed. Breaking down the shields they charged
all together into the midst of the Persians, who received the onset and stood
their ground for a long time, but at last fled within their wall. The Athenians
and Corinthians and Sicyonians and Troezenians, who were next to each other in
the line, followed close after and rushed in together. But when the walled place
had been razed, the barbarians made no further defense, but took to flight, all
save the Persians, who gathered into bands of a few men and fought with whatever
Greeks came rushing within the walls. Of the Persian leaders two escaped by flight
and two were killed; Artayntes and Ithanitres, who were admirals of the fleet,
escaped; Mardontes and Tigranes, the general of the land army, were killed fighting.
While the Persians still fought, the Lacedaemonians and their comrades
came up and finished what was left of the business. The Greeks too lost many men
there, notably the men of Sicyon and their general Perilaus. As for the
Samians who served in the Median army and had been disarmed, they, seeing from
the first that victory hung in the balance, did what they could in their desire
to aid the Greeks. When the other Ionians saw the Samians set the example, they
also abandoned the Persians and attacked the foreigners.
The Persians had for their own safety appointed the Milesians to watch
the passes, so that if anything should happen to the Persian army such as did
happen to it, they might have guides to bring them safely to the heights of Mykale.
This was the task to which the Milesians were appointed for the reason mentioned
above and so that they might not be present with the army and so turn against
it. They acted wholly contrary to the charge laid upon them; they misguided the
fleeing Persians by ways that led them among their enemies, and at last they themselves
became their worst enemies and killed them. In this way Ionia revolted for the
second time from the Persians.
In that battle those of the Greeks who fought best were the
Athenians, and the Athenian who fought best was one who practised the pancratium,
Hermolycus son of Euthoenus. This Hermolycus on a later day met his death in a
battle at Cyrnus in Carystus during a war between the Athenians and Carystians,
and lay dead on Geraestus. Those who fought best after the Athenians were the
men of Corinth and Troezen and Sicyon.
When the Greeks had made an end of most of the barbarians, either
in battle or in flight, they brought out their booty onto the beach, and found
certain stores of wealth. Then after burning the ships and the whole of the wall,
they sailed away. When they had arrived at Samos, they debated in council over
the removal of all Greeks from Ionia, and in what Greek lands under their dominion
it would be best to plant the Ionians, leaving the country itself to the barbarians;
for it seemed impossible to stand on guard between the Ionians and their enemies
forever. If, however, they should not so stand, they had no hope that the Persians
would permit the Ionians to go unpunished. In this matter the Peloponnesians who
were in charge were for removing the people from the lands of those Greek nations
which had sided with the Persians and giving their land to the Ionians to dwell
in. The Athenians disliked the whole plan of removing the Greeks from Ionia, or
allowing the Peloponnesians to determine the lot of Athenian colonies, and as
they resisted vehemently, the Peloponnesians yielded. It accordingly came about
that they admitted to their alliance the Samians, Chians, Lesbians, and all other
islanders who had served with their forces, and bound them by pledge and oaths
to remain faithful and not desert their allies. When the oaths had been sworn,
the Greeks set sail to break the bridges, supposing that these still held fast.
So they laid their course for the Hellespont. (Herodotus 9.90.1 - 9.107.3)
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Jan 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Holding the western wing with sixty ships. (see Lade )
Samian bravery against the Persians in the Cyprian revolt
King Darius conquered Samos, the greatest of all city states, Greek
or barbarian, the reason for his conquest being this: when Cambyses, son of Cyrus,
invaded Egypt, many Greeks came with the army, some to trade, as was natural,
and some to see the country itself; among them was Syloson, son of Aeaces, who
was Polycrates' brother and in exile from Samos. This Syloson had a stroke of
good luck. He was in the market at Memphis wearing a red cloak, when Darius, at
that time one of Cambyses' guard and as yet a man of no great importance, saw
him, and coveting the cloak came and tried to buy it. When Syloson saw Darius'
eagerness, by good luck he said, 'I will not sell this for any money, but I give
it to you free if you must have it so much'. Extolling this, Darius accepted the
garment.
Syloson supposed that he had lost his cloak out of foolish good nature.
But in time Cambyses died, the seven rebelled against the Magus, and Darius of
the seven came to the throne; Syloson then learned that the successor to the royal
power was the man to whom he had given the garment in Egypt; so he went up to
Susa and sat in the king's antechamber, saying that he was one of Darius' benefactors.
When the doorkeeper brought word of this to the king, Darius asked 'But to what
Greek benefactor can I owe thanks? In the little time since I have been king hardly
one of that nation has come to us, and I have, I may say, no use for any Greek.
Nevertheless bring him in, so that I may know what he means'. The doorkeeper brought
Syloson in and the interpreters asked him as he stood there who he was and what
he had done to call himself the king's benefactor. Then Syloson told the story
of the cloak, and said that it was he who had given it. 'Most generous man', said
Darius, 'it was you who gave me a present when I had as yet no power; and if it
was a small one, I was none the less grateful then than I am now when I get a
big one. In return, I give you gold and silver in abundance so you may never be
sorry that you did Darius son of Hystaspes good'. Syloson answered, 'Do not give
me gold, O king, or silver, but Samos, my country, which our slave has now that
my brother Polycrates has been killed by Oroetes; give me this without killing
or enslaving'.
Having heard this, Darius sent an army and Otanes, one of the seven,
to command it, instructing him to do whatever Syloson asked. So Otanes went down
to the coast and got his army ready.
Now Samos was ruled by Maeandrius, son of Maeandrius, who had authority
delegated by Polycrates. He wanted to be the justest of men, but that was impossible.
For when he learned of Polycrates' death, first he set up an altar to Zeus the
Liberator and marked out around it that sacred enclosure which is still to be
seen in the suburb of the city; when this had been done, he called an assembly
of all the citizens, and addressed them thus: "To me, as you know, have come
Polycrates' scepter and all of his power, and it is in my power now to rule you.
But I, so far as it lies in me, shall not do myself what I blame in my neighbor.
I always disliked it that Polycrates or any other man should lord it over men
like himself. Polycrates has fulfilled his destiny, and inviting you to share
his power I proclaim equality. Only I claim for my own privilege that six talents
of Polycrates' wealth be set apart for my use, and that I and my descendants keep
the priesthood of Zeus the Liberator, whose temple I have founded, and now I give
you freedom". Such was Maeandrius' promise to the Samians. But one of them
arose and answered: "But you are not even fit to rule us, low-born and vermin,
but you had better give an account of the monies that you have handled".
This was the speech of Telesarchus, a man of consequence among the
citizens. But Maeandrius, realizing that if he let go of the sovereignty someone
else would make himself sovereign instead, resolved not to let it go. Withdrawing
into the acropolis, he sent for the citizens individually as if he would give
an account of the money; then he seized and bound them. So they were imprisoned,
and afterwards Maeandrius fell sick. His brother Lycaretus thought him likely
to die, and, so that he might the more easily make himself master of Samos, he
put all the prisoners to death. They had, it would seem, no desire to be free.
So when the Persians brought Syloson back to Samos, no one raised
a hand against them, but Maeandrius and those of his faction offered to evacuate
the island under a flag of truce; Otanes agreed to this, and after the treaty
was made, the Persians of highest rank sat down on seats facing the acropolis.
Now Maeandrius the sovereign had a crazy brother named Charilaus,
who lay bound in the dungeon for some offense; this man heard what was going on,
and by peering through the dungeon window saw the Persians sitting there peaceably;
whereupon he cried with a loud voice that he wanted to talk to Maeandrius. His
brother, hearing him, had Charilaus loosed and brought before him. No sooner had
he been brought than he attempted with reviling and abuse to persuade Maeandrius
to attack the Persians. "Although I am your brother, you coward", he
said, "and did no wrong deserving of prison, you have bound and imprisoned
me; but when you see the Persians throwing you out of house and home, you have
no courage to avenge yourself, though you could so easily beat them? If you are
yourself afraid of them, give me your foreign guards, and I will punish them for
coming here; as for you, I will give you safe conduct out of the island".
This was what Charilaus said; and Maeandrius took his advice, to my
thinking not because he was so foolish as to suppose that he would be strong enough
to defeat the king, but because he did not want Syloson to recover Samos safe
and sound with no trouble. He wanted therefore by provoking the Persians to weaken
Samos as much as he could before surrendering it, for he was well aware that if
the Persians were hurt they would be furiously angry with the Samians. Besides,
he knew that he could get himself safely off the island whenever he liked, having
built a secret passage leading from the acropolis to the sea. Maeandrius then
set sail from Samos; but Charilaus armed all the guards, opened the acropolis'
gates, and attacked the Persians. These supposed that a full agreement had been
made, and were taken unawares; the guard fell upon them and killed the Persians
of highest rank, those who were carried in litters. They were engaged in this
when the rest of the Persian force came up in reinforcement, and, hard-pressed,
the guards retreated into the acropolis.
The Persian captain Otanes, seeing how big a loss the Persians had
suffered, deliberately forgot the command given him at his departure by Darius
not to kill or enslave any Samian but to deliver the island intact to Syloson;
and he commanded his army to kill everyone they took, men and boys alike. Then,
while some of the Persians laid siege to the acropolis, the rest killed everyone
they met, inside the temples and outside the temples alike.
Maeandrius sailed to Lacedaemon, escaping from Samos; and after he
arrived there and brought up the possessions with which he had left his country,
it became his habit to make a display of silver and gold drinking cups; while
his servants were cleaning these, he would converse with the king of Sparta, Cleomenes
son of Anaxandrides, and would bring him to his house. As Cleomenes marvelled
greatly at the cups whenever he saw them, Maeandrius would tell him to take as
many as he liked. Maeandrius made this offer two or three times; Cleomenes showed
his great integrity in that he would not accept; but realizing that there were
others in Lacedaemon from whom Maeandrius would get help by offering them the
cups, he went to the ephors and told them it would be best for Sparta if this
Samian stranger quit the country, lest he persuade Cleomenes himself or some other
Spartan to do evil. The ephors listened to his advice and banished Maeandrius
by proclamation.
As for Samos, the Persians swept it clear and turned it over uninhabited
to Syloson. But afterwards Otanes, the Persian general, helped to settle the land,
prompted by a dream and a disease that he contracted in his genitals.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Jan 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
But the Ephesians under Androclus made war on Leogorus, the son of Procles, who reigned in Samos after his father, and after conquering them in a battle drove the Samians out of their island, accusing them of conspiring with the Carians against the Ionians.
He exiled most of the inhabitants and settled Athenians in the island.
He resettled the inhabitants of the island, who were exiled by Timotheus of Athens in 365 B.C.
At the present time, however, it (Icaria) has but few inhabitants left, and is used by Samians mostly for the grazing of cattle.
The samaena is a ship of war with a boar's head design for prow and ram, but more capacious than usual and paunchlike, so that it is a good deep-sea traveller and a swift sailor too. [4] It got this name because it made its first appearance in Samos, where Polycrates the tyrant had some built.
Periander (of Corinth) son of Cypselus sent to Alyattes at Sardis three hundred boys, sons of notable men in Corcyra, to be made eunuchs. The Corinthians who brought the boys put in at Samos; and when the Samians heard why the boys were brought, first they instructed them to take sanctuary in the temple of Artemis, then they would not allow the suppliants to be dragged from the temple; and when the Corinthians tried to starve the boys out, the Samians held a festival which they still celebrate in the same fashion; throughout the time that the boys were seeking asylum, they held nightly dances of young men and women to which it was made a custom to bring cakes of sesame and honey, so that the Corcyraean boys might snatch these and have food. This continued to be done until the Corinthian guards left their charge and departed; then the Samians took the boys back to Corcyra.
After Spartian power in the Aegean was destroyed by Conon in 394 B.C., Iasos was rebuilt, possibly with the aid of Knidos, and it joined a league of Aegean states that included Ephesos, Rhodes, Samos, and Byzantium.
It is cited that the first inhabitants of the island were the Carians and the Leleges. Settlers were the Cephallenians or the Ithacias under the leadership of Angeus. The Ionians from Athens under the leadership of Nileus banished in the 11th c. B.C. the old inhabitants and colonized the island.
Pherecydes says concerning this seaboard that Miletus and Myus and the parts round Mycale and Ephesus were in earlier times occupied by Carians, and that the coast next thereafter, as far as Phocaea and Chios and Samos, which were ruled by Ancaeus, was occupied by Leleges, but that both were driven out by the Ionians and took refuge in the remaining parts of Caria.
The three greatest works of all the Greeks were engineered by them (Samians).
The third Samian work is the temple, which is the greatest of all the temples of which we know; its first builder was Rhoecus son of Philes, a Samian.
(Herodotus, The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley) 3.60.1)
Perseus: Herodotus, The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920)
Island and city of Ionia, Samians' alleged theft from Spartans, an Ionian settlement, seized and held by Ephesians for a time, recovered by Samians, Hippasus flees to, Sibyl dwells in, Samians banished, Samian share in the settlement at Naucratis, Polycrates' despotism in, Lacedaemonian attack on Samos, Samian aqueduct, fate of Polycrates, conquest of Samos by Persians, Salmoxis at Samos, flight of Arcesilaus thither, Samian bravery against the Persians in the Cyprian revolt, Samian colonists in Sicily, desertion to the Persians of all except eleven of the sixty Samian ships in the Ionian revolt, Samian captains desert Ionian fleet, distinction at Salamis of Samians in the Persian fleet, Samian envoys to Greeks before Mycale, disloyalty of Samians to Persia, reception into the Greek confederacy.
14.1.14 - 14.1.18
In earlier times, when it was inhabited by Carians, it was called Parthenia, then Anthemus, then Melamphyllus, and then Samos, whether after some native hero or after someone who colonized it from Ithaca and Cephallenia.
In the ancient bibliography the island is mentioned with names and/or adjectives such as Samus, Anthemis, Anthemous, Dorysa, Dryousa, Cyparissia, Macares Island, Melanymphus, Melanthemus, Parthenia, Parthenoarchousa, Hydrelis, Phyllis etc.
One of the Sporades Islands, 2.35 km from the coast of Asia Minor,
to which it is geographically and geologically linked. According to Strabo (14.637)
the island's earliest inhabitants would have been Carians, who called it Parthenia,
but Samos is also an Asian word. From the 3d millennium B.C. the island was inhabited
by a population of Anatolian culture, until, at the beginning of the 1st millennium,
it was occupied by Ionian colonists. It knew its maximum splendor during the reign
of Polykrates (ca. 538 B.C.), to whom is owed a period of intensive building and
a vast territorial expansion (Hdt. 34154ff). Samos participated in turn in the
Persian wars and in the wars between Athens and Sparta, and in 365 B.C. it became
an Athenian colony. After the battle of Magnesia in 190 B.C. Samos was ceded by
the Romans to Eumenes II of Pergamon; from 129 B.C., when the reign of Pergamon
fell, it became part of the Roman province in Asia. The first archaeological expedition
to Samos was undertaken in 1764. Systematic excavation was initiated in 1910,
and continues today.
The ancient city occupied the site of the modern village of Tigani,
and was enclosed together with the port by a 6th c. wall with a perimeter of 6.7
km, of square and polygonal masonry, provided with gates and with circular and
rectangular towers. On the acropolis (Astypaleia) rose the fortified palace of
Polykrates, of which no trace remains. The port was bound by two piers which enclosed
military and commercial activities in a single basin. A part turned back towards
land in such a way as to form a shelter for the ships, and probably reflects in
its originality Polykrates' new ideas about naval engineering (Hdt. 3.45; Plin.
HN 7.209). Water from the Agiades fountain reached the port by means of a tunnel
1 km long and 1.75 m high dug into the mountain, an admirable work of Eupalinos
of Megara. Near the port was the Hellenistic agora, and on the slope of the hillside
are the remains of a small theater. The Roman habitation site was to the SW, while
on the castro of Tigani the prehistoric remains are overlapped by a Hellenistic-Roman
villa where a statue of Trajan was found, and by an Early Christian basilica.
The necropoleis were situated immediately adjacent to the walls.
About 6 km W of the city, at the mouth of the Imbrasos river, was
the Sanctuary of Hera. A very ancient cult place, it was probably originally dedicated
to a local divinity, mother of nature, trees, and marshes. Greek mythology said
that here, near a sacred bush, occurred the birth and matrimony of Hera. There,
at the beginning of the 1st millennium, was miraculously found an aniconic wooden
image of the goddess, which was still extant at the time of Pausanias in the 2d
c. A.D. Every year a festival celebrated the sacred marriage there of Hera and
Zeus (hieros gamos). One of the rites consisted in a purificatory bath of the
cult effigy, which was then wound with foliage of the sacred lygos tree to restore
to the deity her virginity until the day of the wedding. Subsequently she was
redressed in a gown sewn every year by the women of Samos. There followed a procession
of armed men that departed from the city. Polykrates and his brothers profited
from the occasion by taking possession of the entire island.
On the site of the Heraion the remains of prehistoric settlements
from eight successive periods have been recognized. The earliest corresponds to
the first Trojan age (2500 B.C.), while the most recent is of the Late Mycenaean
and Geometric ages. These communities are characterized by houses with a megaron
plan and encircling walls. Belonging to the last phase is a Mycenaean tumulus
with a diameter of 6 m and four bothroi filled with fragments of pottery, figurines
in terracotta and alabaster, Egyptian statuettes, and Oriental objects. Among
the most precious finds is an ivory representing a kneeling youth from mid 7th
c. B.C. The earliest architectural complex of the sanctuary dates from the 9th-8th
c. B.C. and includes a paved square with traces of ashes, an altar, and a hekatompedon
temple. It is ca. 33 x 6.50 m, divided into two aisles, with the entrance to the
E. On a socle of small limestone blocks were placed walls of crude bricks. In
the middle of the 8th c. the temple was surrounded by a colonnade of wooden pillars
that supported the roof, and on the earlier foundations were constructed the walls
of the cella. A century later, following a flood, this, the earliest example of
a large peripteral temple in the Greek world, was replaced by an analogous temple,
also peripteral with a single nave and a pronaos decorated by an incised and painted
frieze of a procession of warriors. In the cella was kept the ancient aniconic
image, which was later replaced by a statue by Skelmis or Smilis (the sources
are not agreed on the name), whose image perhaps was reproduced on coins. Before
the temple at the front was the altar. The earliest altar, from mid 10th c., was
succeeded by seven more by the end of the 7th c., each overlying the preceding
altar until a large rectangle was formed. For this reason the altars are exceptional
with respect to the axis of the temple.
To the S of the temple and contemporary with its 7th c. addition,
is a portico with two aisles, 70 m long, and open to the E. This was built on
the original bed of the river, whose course was changed at that time. Also nearby
was the sacred pool, fed by the waters of the Imbrasos and connected with the
sea, which was used for ritual baths of the goddess's image. Later other pools
were added. At the end of the 7th c. an enclosing wall was built, opening to the
N with a large gate, earlier considered a propylaeum. Naiskoi and votive statues,
whose bases remain in place, lined the square and the sides of the sacred ways
leading to the city and to the port. The most conspicuous is that bearing the
signature of the sculptor Geneleos, on which there were six marble statues datable
to the middle of the 6th c. Three of these are preserved in the museum at Vathy.
A little before the middle of the 6th c. a period of intense building
activity transformed the sanctuary. The construction of the new Temple of Hera
was entrusted to Roikos and Theodoros, two names which tradition also links with
the invention of sculpture by the lost wax process. It was a colossal building
in poros, measuring 51 x 102 m, with a double colonnade of two rows of 8 columns
each on the front, 21 on the long sides, and 10 on the back. On the interior two
rows of columns, S in the pronaos and 10 m the cella, supported the roof. On the
front the intercolumnal spaces appeared to vary from the center to the sides.
The forest of columns that resulted have earned this temple the epithet of labyrinth.
The columns had a characteristic type of Ionic capital, with lotus flowers around
the collar, and without an abacus. Before the temple, and on an axis with it,
rose a new altar measuring 36.57 x 16.58 m, preceded by a flight of stairs. This
was also Ionic in type, the first in this style. In Roman times it was first restored
and then replaced by a precise copy in marble in the 1st c. In place of the S
portico Roikos constructed another structure, the so-called S building, provided
with a peristyle and a row of columns on an axis with the cella. In this building
has been recognized a Temple of Aphrodite and Hermes, two divinities honored in
the sanctuary since the end of the Geometric period, as is known from the sources
and from numerous inscriptions. Perhaps two other small temples were also dedicated
to them. The temple of Roikos and Theodoros was soon destroyed by fire. According
to Pausanias this would have happened at the time of the Persian conquest of the
island in 530 B.C. Its reconstruction, initiated by Polykrates, was conceived
on such a grandiose scale that it was never completed. The Ionic temple, measuring
52.40 x 108.70 m, rose on a high platform. It had a double colonnade of 24 columns
on the sides, and three rows of columns on the ends (8 on the E and 9 on the W).
The pronaos was divided into three aisles by two rows of 5 columns each. The columns
differ in diameter and material (poros and marble) according to the period in
which they were erected. They bear a capital characteristic of the Samos-Ionic
style. The pronaos and the cella were decorated by a frieze in poros that was
never finished. Construction continued until the Roman epoch, when the hope of
ever completing such a gigantic work was abandoned.
In the 2d c. A.D. two modest little temples rose beside the altar.
An Ionic peripteral temple and other minor buildings belong to the age of Polykrates.
Among the marvels of the Heraion Strabo (14.1-14) mentions an art gallery with
works of Timantes, Parrhasios, and Apelles, and three statues by Miron representing
Zeus, Athena, and Herakles, whose bases have been found. The Zeus statue was probably
transported to the Campidoglio in Rome by Augustus. Besides the two little temples
near the altar, other remains from the Roman epoch include other temples; naiskoi;
votive offerings; an exedra; private houses, some with two stories from the 2d
c. A.D.; an honorific monument of the family of Cicero; baths; a new network of
canals; and a wide paved road toward the city from the 3d c. A.D. In 260 the sanctuary
suffered violent destruction by the Herulians. Towards the end of the 5th c. there
rose a basilica measuring 18 x 30 m, with three naves, testifying to a considerable
Christian community.
The material from the early explorations of the city and especially
from the Heraion, which includes monumental sculpture, ceramics, and objects in
bronze, wood, and ivory are preserved in various museums of the world, including
those in Berlin, Paris, and Athens. Finds from more recent excavation are in the
local museum at Vathy. These have permitted a reconstruction of the stylistic
features of the Samos school, and give an idea of the ample communication network
during the archaic period, linking the island to the great Mediterranean and Anatolian
centers of Cyprus, Egypt, Assyria, Syria, and others. With the decline of political
power at the end of the 7th c., the artistic activity of Samos also declined,
and the importation of foreign goods ceased. Pythagoras, the last of the great
sculptors originally from Samos, recorded by the sources, and active around the
beginning of the 5th c., emigrated to Reggio in Magna Graecia.
L. Vlad Borrelli, ed.
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Now Samo, Turk. Susam Adassi; one of the principal islands of
the Aegaean Sea, lying in that portion of it called the Icarian Sea, off the coast
of Ionia, from which it is separated only by a narrow strait formed by the overlapping
of its eastern promontory Posidium (now Cape Colonna) with the westernmost spur
of Mount Mycale, Promontorium Trogilium (now Cape S. Maria). This strait, which
is little more than three-fourths of a mile wide, was the scene of the battle
of Mycale. The island is formed by a range of mountains extending from east to
west, whence it derived its name; for Samos was an old Greek word signifying a
mountain: and the same root is seen in Same, the old name of Cephallenia, and
Samothrace--i. e. the Thracian Samos. The circumference of the island is about
eighty miles. It was and is very fertile; and some of its products are indicated
by its ancient names, Dryusa, Anthemura, Melamphyllus, and Cyparissia. According
to the earliest traditions, it was a chief seat of the Carians and Leleges, and
the residence of their first king, Ancaeus; and was afterwards colonized by Aeolians
from Lesbos, and by Ionians from Epidaurus.
In the earliest historical records, we find Samos decidedly
Ionian, and a powerful member of the Ionic Confederacy. Thucydides tells us that
the Samians were the first of the Greeks, after the Corinthians, who paid great
attention to naval affairs. They early acquired such power at sea, that, besides
obtaining possession of parts of the opposite coast of Asia, they founded many
colonies, among which were Bisanthe and Perinthus, in Thrace; Celenderis and Nagidus,
in Cilicia; Cydonia, in Crete; Dicaearchia (Puteoli), in Italy; and Zancle (Messana),
in Sicily. After a transition from the state of a monarchy, through an aristocracy,
to a democracy, the island became subject to the most famous of the so-called
"tyrants," Polycrates (B.C. 532), under whom its power and splendour
reached their highest pitch, and Samos would probably have become the mistress
of the Aegaean but for the murder of Polycrates. At this period the Samians had
extensive commercial relations with Egypt, and they obtained from Amasis the privilege
of a separate temple at Naucratis. Their commerce extended into the interior of
Africa, partly through their relations with Cyrene, and also by means of a settlement
which they effected in one of the Oases, seven days' journey from Thebes. The
Samians now became subject to the Persian Empire, under which they were governed
by tyrants, with a brief interval at the time of the Ionian revolt, until the
battle of Mycale, which made them independent, B.C. 479. They now joined the Athenian
Confederacy, of which they continued independent members until B.C. 440, when
an opportunity arose for reducing them to entire subjection and depriving them
of their fleet, which was effected by Pericles after an obstinate resistance of
nine months' duration. In the Peloponnesian War, Samos held firm to Athens to
the last; and in the history of the latter part of that war, the island becomes
extremely important as the headquarters of the exiled democratical party of the
Athenians. Transferred to Sparta after the battle of Aegospotami (405), it was
soon restored to Athens by that of Cnidus (394), but went over to Sparta again
in 390. Soon after, it fell into the hands of the Persians, being conquered by
the satrap Tigranes; but it was recovered by Timotheus for Athens. In the Social
War, the Athenians successfully defended it against the attacks of the confederated
Chians, Rhodians, and Byzantines, and placed in it a body of two thousand cleruchi
(B.C. 352). After Alexander's death, it was taken from the Athenians by Perdiccas
(323), but restored to them by Polysperchon (319). In the subsequent period, it
seems to have been rather nominally than really a part of the Graeco-Syrian kingdom:
we find it engaged in a long contest with Priene on a question of boundary, which
was referred to Antiochus II., and afterwards to the Roman Senate. In the Macedonian
War, Samos was taken by the Rhodians again, B.C. 200. In the Syrian War, the Samians
took part with Antiochus the Great against Rome.
Little further mention is made of Samos till the time of Mithridates,
with whom it took part in his first war against Rome, on the conclusion of which
it was finally united to the province of Asia, B.C. 84. Meanwhile it had greatly
declined, and during the war it had been wasted by the incursions of pirates.
Its prosperity was partially restored under the propraetorship of Q. Cicero, B.C.
62, but still more by the residence in it of Antony and Cleopatra (32), and afterwards
of Octavianus, who made Samos a free State. It was favoured by Caligula, but was
deprived of its freedom by Vespasian, and it sank into insignificance as early
as the second century, although its departed glory is found still recorded, under
the emperor Decius, by the inscription on its coins, Samion proton Ionias.
Samos may be regarded as almost the chief centre of Ionian
manners, energies, luxury, science, and art. In very early times there was a native
school of statuary, at the head of which was Rhoecus, to whom tradition ascribed
the invention of casting in metal. In the hands of the same school architecture
flourished greatly; the Heraeum, one of the finest of Greek temples, was erected
in a marsh, on the western side of the city of Samos; and the city itself, especially
under the government of Polycrates, was furnished with other splendid works, among
which was an aqueduct pierced through a mountain. Samain architects became famous
also beyond their own island; as, for example, Mandrocles, who constructed Darius's
bridge over the Bosporus. Samian pottery was well known, and was in vogue in Greece
and Italy in the second century B.C., and was imitated by the potters of Gaul
and Britain. It was of a reddish colour, with reliefs. The island was the birthplace
of Pythagoras, and of several minor poets and historians.
The capital of the island was the city Samos, on the southeastern
coast. It had a magnificent harbour, and was adorned with many fine buildings,
especially a temple of Here (Heraeum), which in the time of Herodotus was the
largest temple in existence. It was of the Ionic order. Excavations made in 1880
show that its facade was one of some 150 feet.
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Samos or Samus (Samos: Eth. and Adj. Samios, Samius, Samaios, Samiakos
in Steph.: Samiotes in the language of the modern Greeks, who call the island
Samo, Samo: the Turks call it Susam Adassi), a large island in that part of the
Aegaean which is called the Icarian sea, and the most important of the Sporades
next after Rhodes. The word denotes a height, especially by the sea-shore. (See
Const. Porphyrog. de Them. 16. p. 41, ed. Bonn.) Hence Samtothracia, or the Thracian
Samos, which is said by Pausanias (vii. 4. § 3) to have been colonised and named
by certain fugitives from the Icarian Samos,- and Same one of the names of Cephalonia,
which is inversely connected with it by one of Strabo's conjectures (x. p. 457).
How applicable the idea of elevation is to the island before us may be seen in
the narratives and views given by Dr. Clarke (Travels, vol. ii. p. 192, vol. iii.
p. 366), who uses the strongest language in describing the conspicuous height
of Samos above the surrounding islands.
The following earlier names of Samos are mentioned by Pliny (v. 37)
and other writers, - Parthenia, Anthemus, Melamphylus, Dryusa and Cyparissia.
Some of these have evidently arisen from the physical characteristics of the island.
Samos was, and is, well-wooded. It is intersected from E. to W. by a chain of
mountains, which is in fact a continuation of the range of Mycale, being separated
from it only by the narrow channel, hardly a mile in breadth, which the Turks
call the Little Boghaz. Here was fought the decisive victory against the Persians,
B.C. 479. The Great Boghaz, which is nearly 10 miles in breadth, separates the
other extremity of Samos from the comparatively low island of Icaria. The length
of Samos, from E. to W., is about 25 miles. Its breadth is very variable. Strabo
reckons the circuit at 600 stadia, Pliny at 87 miles, though he says that Isidorus
makes it 100. These differences may be readily accounted for by omitting or including
Port Vathy, which is a wild-looking bay, though a very serviceable harbour, on
the north. Here the modern capital is situated: but in ancient times the bay of
Vathy seems to have been comparatively deserted-perhaps, as Tournefort suggests,
because it was peculiarly exposed to pirates, who infested the straits and bays
of an island which lay in the route of commerce between the Bosporus and Egypt.
What Tournefort tells us of his travels through Samos gives us the idea of a very
rugged, though picturesque and productive, island. (Possibly the Palinurus and
Panormus of Samos, mentioned by Livy, xxxvii. 11, may have been in the bay of
Vathy.) The highest point, Mount Kerkis, the ancient Cerceteus (Strab. x. p. 488),
which is nearly always covered with snow, and reaches the height of 4725 English
feet, is towards the west. A ridge, which branches off in a south-easterly direction
from the main range, and ends in the promontory of Poseidium, opposite Mycale,
was called Ampelus, which name seems also to have been given to the whole mountain-system
(Strab. xiv. p. 637). The westernmost extremity of the island, opposite Icaria
was anciently called Cantharium. Here the cliffs are very bare and lofty. A landslip,
which has taken place in this part of the island, has probably given rise to the
name by which it is now called (he kataibate).
The position of Samos was nearly opposite the boundary-line of Caria
and Ionia; and its early traditions connect it, first with Carians and Leleges,
and then with Ionians. The first Ionian colony is said to have consisted of settlers
from Epidaurus, who were expelled from thence by the Argives. However this may
be, we find Samos at an early period in the position of a powerful member of the
Ionic confederacy. At this time it was highly distinguished in maritime enterprise
and the science of navigation. Thucydides tells us (i. 13) that the Samians were
among the first to make advances in naval construction, and that for this purpose
they availed themselves of the services of Ameinocles the Corinthian shipbuilder.
The story of Pliny (vii. 57), that either they or Pericles the Athenian first
constructed transports for the conveyance of horses, though less entitled to literal
acceptance, is well worthy of mention; and Samos will always be famous for the
voyage of her citizen Colaeus, who, not without divine direction (Herod. iv. 152),
first penetrated through the Pillars of Hercules into the Ocean, and thus not
only opened out new fields of commercial enterprise, but enlarged the geographical
ideas of the Greeks by making them for the first time familiar with the phenomenon
of the tides.
Under the despot Polycrates, Samos was in fact the greatest Greek
maritime power. This famous man, about ten years after the taking of Sardis by
Cyrus, held Samos in a position of proud independence, when Lesbos and Chios had
submitted to the Persians. He had 1000 bowmen in his pay; he possessed 100 ships
of war, and made considerable conquests both among the islands and the mainland.
He fought successfully against the Milesians and Lesbians, and made a treaty with
Amasis, king of Egypt. Whether we are to take the story in the poetical form in
which it is presented to us by Herodotus, or to attribute the change to the more
probable motive of self-interest, this treaty was broken off for an alliance with
Cambyses. In connection with this monarch's expedition to the Nile, some Samian
malcontents were so treacherously treated by Polycrates, that they sought and
obtained assistance from Greece. A joint force of Lacedaemonians and Corinthians
besieged Polycrates in Samos for forty days: but in this struggle also he was
successful. At last his own cupidity, acted on by the fraud of Oroetes, a neighbouring
satrap, brought him to a wretched death on the mainland. The time which succeeded
was full of crime and calamity for Samos. In the end, Syloson, the brother of
Polycrates (whose association with Cambyses is the subject of another romantic
story in Herodotus), landed with a Persian army on Samos, and became a tributary
despot; but not till his native island had been so depopulated as to give rise
to the proverb heketi Sulotontos euruchorie. It was at this period that Pythagoras,
who was a native of Samos, left the island to travel in foreign countries, being
partly urged to leave his home (according to Plutarch, Placit. i. 3) through discontent
under the government of Polycrates, who, however, was a patron of literature,
and had Anacreon many years at his court. For the chronology of this period see
Clinton, Fast. Hell. vol. ii. note B. pp. 230-232.
Samos was now Persian. It was from Samos that Datis sailed to Marathon,
taking Naxos on his way. But the dominion of the Persians did not last long. When
their fleet was gathered at Samos again, after the battle of Salamis, to the number
of 400 sail, it was in a great measure the urgency of Samian envoys which induced
the commanders of the Greek fleet at Delos to go across to the eastern side of
the Aegaean. Then followed that battle in the strait, which completed the liberation
of the Greeks.
In the maritime confederacy which was organised soon afterwards under
Athenian rule, Samos seems to have been the most powerful of the three islands
which were exempted from paying tribute. It was at the instance of her citizens
that the common treasure was removed from Delos to Athens. But this friendship
with Athens was turned into bitter enmity in consequence of a conflict with Miletus
about the territory of Priene. Samos openly revolted; and a large force was despatched
from Athens against it under the command of ten generals, two of whom were Sophocles
and Pericles. The latter pronounced in the Cerameicus the funeral oration over
those who had fallen in the war which, after a resistance of nine months, reduced
Samos to complete subjection.
From 439 to 412 Samos remained without fortifications and without
a fleet. But about this latter date it became the hinge upon which all the concluding
events of the Peloponnesian War really turned. The first movements towards the
establishment of an oligarchy at Athens began at Samos through the intrigues of
Alcibiades; and yet this island was practically the home of the Athenian democracy
during the struggle which ensued. It was at Samos that Alcibiades rejoined his
fellow-citizens; and from Samos that he finally sailed for the Peiraeus in 407.
Even till after the battle of Arginusae Samos was, more than any other place,
the headquarters and base of operations for the Athenian fleet.
Our notices of the island now become more fragmentary. After the
death of Alexander the Great it was for a time subject to the kings of Egypt.
(Polyb. v. 35.) Subsequently, it took the part of Antiochus the Great in his war
with Rome. It also acted with Mithridates against Rome; but was finally united
with the province of Asia B.C. 84. After the battle of Actium, Augustus passed
the winter there. Under the Roman emperors it was on the whole a place of no great
importance, though it had the honour of being a free state. (Plin. v. 37.) This
privilege was taken away under Vespasian. (Suet. Vesp. 8.) In the division of
the Empire contained in the Synecdemus we find it placed with Rhodes, Cos, Chios,
&c., in the Province of the Islands. In the later division into themes, it seems
to be again raised to a distinguished position. It gave its name to a separate
theme, which included a large portion of the mainland, and was divided into the
two turms of Ephesus and Adramyttium, the governor having his residence (praitorion)
at Smyrna; and this arrangement is spoken of in such a way (Const. Porphyrog.
de Them. l. c.) as distinctly to connect it with the ancient renown of Samos.
It would be difficult to follow the fortunes of Samos through the
middle ages. (See Finlay's History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires, vol. ii.
p. 112.) There are some points of considerable interest in its modern history.
In 1550, after being sacked by the Ottomans, it was given by Selim to the Capitan
Pacha Ochiali, who introduced colonists from various other places; whence the
names of some of the modern villages in the island, Metelinous, Albaniticori,
and Vourlotes (Vourla giving the name to some islands at the entrance of the bay
of Smyrna). Samos was much injured by the ravages of Morosini. In Tournefort's
time the largest part of the island was the property of ecclesiastics; and the
number of convents and nunneries was, considerable. He reckoned the population
to be 12,000; now it is estimated at 50,000, nearly the whole being Christian.
Samos performed a distinguished part in the War of Independence. The Turks often
attempted to effect a landing: the defences constructed by the Samiotes are still
visible on the shore; and the Greek fleet watched no point more carefully than
this important island. On the 17th of August, 1824, a curious repetition of the
battle of Mycale took place. Formidable preparations for a descent on the island
were made by Tahir-Pacha, who had 20,000 land-troops encamped on the promontory
of Mycale. Canaris set fire to a frigate near Cape Trogillium, and in the confusion
which followed the troops fled, and Tahir-Pacha sailed away. At this time the
Logothete Lycurgus was turannos of the island in the true classical sense of the
word, as is observed by Ross, who describes the castle built by Lycurgus on the
ruins of a mediaeval fort, adding that he was then (1841) residing with the rank
of Colonel at Athens, and that he was well remembered and much regretted in Samos.
This island was assigned to Turkey by the treaty which fixed the limits of modern
Greece; but it continued to make struggles for its independence. Since 1835 it
has formed a separate Beylick under a Phanariot Greek named Stephen Vogorides,
who resides in Constantinople with the title of Prince of Samos, and sends a governor
as his deputy. Besides other rights, the island has a separate flag exhibiting
the white Greek cross on a blue ground, with a narrow red stripe to denote dependence
on the Porte. It does not appear, however, that this government of Greeks by a
Greek for the Sultan is conducive to contentment.
The present inhabitants of this fruitful island are said to be more
esteemed for their industry than their honesty. They export silk, wool, wine,
oil, and fruits. If the word Sammet is derived from this place, it is probable
that silk has been an object of its industry for a considerable time. Pliny (xiii.
34) mentions pomegranates among its fruits. At the present day the beans of the
carob-tree are exported to Russia, where a cheap spirit for the common people
is made from them. We might suppose from the name of Mount Ampelus, that the wine
of the island was celebrated in the ancient world; but such a conclusion would
be in direct contradiction to the words of Strabo, who notices it as a remarkable
fact, that though the wine of the surrounding islands and of the neighbouring
parts of the mainland was excellent, that of Samos was inferior. Its grapes, however,
under the name of homomelides or hamamelides, are commended by Athenaeus (xiv.
p. 653; see Poll. Onomast. vi. 11), and now they are one of the most valued parts
of its produce. Ross saw these grapes (staphida) drying in large quantities in
the sun; and other authorities speak highly of the Malmsey or sweet muscato wine
exported in large quantities from Samos. Its marble is abundant; but it has a
greater tendency to split into small fragments than that of Pentelicus or Paros.
A stone found in the island is said by Pliny (xxxvi. 40) to have been used for
polishing gold. He also mentions in several places (l. c., also xxviii. 53, 77,
xxxi. 46, xxxv. 19, 53) the various medicinal properties of its earth. The Samian
earthenware was in high repute at Rome ( Samia etiamnum in esculentis laudantur,
Plin. xxxv. 46), and the name has been traditionally given by modern writers to
the red lustrous pottery made by the Romans, themselves for domestic use. (See
Marryatt's Pottery and Porcelain, London 1850, pp. 286, 290.) For the natural
Flora and Fauna of the island we must be content to refer to Tournefort, who says,
among other facts, that tigers sometimes swim across to it from Mycale, which
Chandler describes as a mountain infested with wild beasts. The woody flanks of
Mount Kerkis still supply materials for shipbuilding. It is said in Athenaeus
(l. c.) that the roses and fruits of Samos came to perfection twice a year; and
Strabo informs us that its general fruitfulness was such as to give rise to the
proverb Pherei kai ornithon gala.
The archaeological interest of Samos is almost entirely concentrated
in that plain on the S., which contained the sanctuary of Hera at one extremity
and the ancient city on the other. This plain is terminated at the SW. by a promontory,
which from its white cliffs is called aspro kabo by the Greeks, but which received
from the Genoese the name of Cape Colonna, in consequence of the single column
of the Heraeum which remains: standing in its immediate neighbourhood. Virgil
tells us (Aen. i. 16), that Samos was at least second in the affections of Juno;
and her temple and worship contributed much to the fame and affluence of Samos
for many centuries. Herodotus says that the temple was the largest he had seen.
It was of the Ionic order; in form it was decastyle dipteral, in dimensions 346
feet by 189. (See Leake, Asia Minor, p. 348.) It was never entirely finished.
At least, the fluting of the columns was left, like the foliage on parts of our
cathedrals, incomplete. The original architect was Rhoecus, a Samian. The temple
was burnt by the Persians. After its restoration it was plundered by pirates in
the Mithridatic War, then by Verres, and then by M. Antony. He took to Rome three
statues attributed to Myron: of these Augustus restored the Athene and Heracles,
and retained the Zeus to decorate the Capitol. The image of the goddess was made
of wood, and was supposed to be the work of Smilis, a contemporary of Daedalus.
In Strabo's time the temple, with its chapels, was a complete picture gallery;
and the hypaethral portion was full of statues. (See Orig. c. Cels. 4.) In the
time of Tacitus, this sanctuary had the rights of asylum. (Ann. iv. 14.) When
Pausanias was there,the people pointed out to him the shrub of Agnus Castus, under
the shade of which, on the banks of the river Imbrasus, it was believed that Hera
was born. (Paus. l. c.) Hence the river itself was called Parthenias, and the
goddess Imbrasia. (Comp. Apoll. Rhod. i. 187, Imbrasies hedos Heres.) The anchorage
in front of the sanctuary was called hormos Heraites. (Athen. xv. p. 672.) The
temple was about 200 paces from the shore, according to Ross, who found its whole
basement covered with a mass of small fragments of marble, among which are portions
of the red tiles with which the temple was roofed. He discovered hardly anything
of interest, except an inscription with the word naopoiai.
The appearance of the watercourses of the Imbrasus shows that they
are often swollen by rains, and thus harmonises with the natural derivation of
the word. In the plain which extends along the base of the mountains eastwards
towards the city, Ross says that there are traces of ancient channels made for
the purpose of irrigation. He regards the marshy places near the temple to be
the Kalamoi and the Helos mentioned by Athenaeus (xiii. p. 572) ill connection
with the expedition of Pericles. (The former place is likewise referred to by
Herodotus, ix. 96.) Across this plain, which is about two miles in length, there
is no doubt that a Sacred Way extended from the sanctuary to the city, like that
which connected Athens with Eleusis. Somewhere on this line (kata ten hodon ten
eis to Heraion, Paus. vii. 5. § 6) was the tomb of Rhadine and Leontichus, where
lovers used to make their vows; and traces of funeral monuments are still seen
at the extremity of the line, close to the city-wall.
The modern town of Chora, close to the pass leading through the mountains
to Vathy, is near the place of the ancient city, which was situated partly in
the plain and partly on the slope of the hill. The western wall runs in a straight
line from the mountain towards the sea, with the exception of a bend inwards near
the tombs just mentioned. Here is a brackish stream (he gluphada), which is the
Chesius, the second of the three streams mentioned by Pliny. (See Etym. Magn.
s. v. Astupalaia.) The southern wall does not touch the sea in all its length,
and is strengthened by being raised on vaulted substructions. Here and elsewhere
the ruins of Samos touch the question of the use of the arch among the Greeks.
On the east side of the city the wails are very considerable, being 10 or 12 feet
thick, and about 18 feet high. The masonry is partly quadrangular and partly polygonal;
there are round towers at intervals on the outside of the wall, and in one place
are traces of a gate. In the eastern part of the city was the steep citadel of
Astypalaea, which was fortified by Polycrates (Polyaen. Strat. i. 23. § 2), and
here probably was what Suetonius calls the palace of Polycrates. (Suet. Calig.
21.) In the higher part of the town the theatre is distinctly visible; the marble
seats are removed; underneath is a large cistern. The general area is covered
with small fragments, many of the best having furnished materials for the modern
castle of Lycurgus near the shore on the SE.; and little more remains of a city
which Herodotus says was, under Polycrates, the greatest of cities, Hellenic or
Barbarian, and which, in the time of comparative decay, is still called by Horace
Concinna Samos.
Herodotus makes especial mention of the harbour and of an immense
tunnel which formed an aqueduct for the city. The former of these works (to tigani,
as it is now called, from being shaped like a frying-pan) is below Astypalaea;
and, though it is now accessible only to small craft, its famous moles remain,
one extending eastwards from the castle of Lycurgus, the other extending to meet
it from the extremity of the east city-wall southwards. Here Ross saw subterranean
passages hewn in the rock, one of which may possibly be the krupre diorux ek tes
akropoleos pherousa epi thalassan (Herod. iii. 146), constructed by Maeandrius
after the death of Polycrates. The tunnel has not been clearly identified; but,
from what M. Musurus told Prof. Ross, it is probable that it is where Tournefort
placed it, and that it penetrated the hill from Metelinous to Chora, and that
thence the water was taken into the city by a covered channel, traces of which
remain. It is clear that it cannot be in the quarry pointed out to Ross; both
because the cleavage of the rock is in the wrong direction, and because water
from such a height would fall like a cascade on the city.
The authorities, to which reference has been made in this article,
are, Tournefort (Voyage du Levant, 1717, pp. 404-436), who has given a very copious
account of the island; and Ross (Reisen auf den Griechischen Inseln des Agaischer
Meeres, vol. ii. 1843, pp. 139-155), who has examined the sites and remains of
the ancient city and Heraeum more carefully than any one else. (See also Clarke,
Travels, vol. ii. pp. 192-194, vol.iii. pp. 364-367.) Maps of the island will
be found in Tournefort and Choiseul-Gouffier; but the best delineation of it is
given in three of the English Admiralty charts. There is a small sketch of the
neighbourhood of the city in Kiepert's Hellas (1841), and a larger one in Ross.
In Kiepert's general map the rivers Imbrasus and Chesius are wrongly placed, and
also (probably) the ridge of Ampelus. It is very questionable whether the point
called Poseidion can be where it is (doubtfully) placed in Ross's plan: the position
of the little island Narthecis in the strait seems to show that this promontory
ought to be further to the east. (See Strab. xiv. p. 637.) A little volume was
published in London, and dedicated to James Duke of York, in 1678, entitled A
Description of the present State of Samos, Nicaria, Patmos, and Mount Athos, by
Joseph Georgirenes (Georgeirenes), Archbishop of Samos, now living in London,
translated by one that knew the author in Constantinople. From this book it appears
that Dapper has taken much directly, and Tournefort indirectly. Panofka has written
a book on Samos (Res Samiorum, Berlin, 1822): and more recently (1856) Guerin
has published a work on this island and Patmos.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Titular see, suffragan of Rhodes
in the Cyclades. The island,
called in Turkish Soussan-Adassi, is 181 sq. miles in area. Samos was first inhabited
by the Leleges, Carians, and Ionians, the latter being very active and given to
navigation.
Its greatest prosperity was attained under the tyrant Polycrates (536-522
B.C.) at whose court the poet Anacreon lived. The philosopher Pythagoras seems
to have lived at the same time; Aesop also stayed there for a long time. At the
assassination of Polycrates Samos passed under Persian domination, and, about
439 B.C., participated in the Greek confederation especially with Athens.
This city, under Pericles, took it by force. Henceforth it had various fortunes,
until the Romans, after pillaging it, annexed it in A.D. 70. It was included in
the Province of the Isles. Under the Byzantines Samos was at the head of a maritime
theme or district. It was captured and occupied in turn by Arabian and Turkish
adventurers, the Venetians, Pisans, Genoese, and Greeks, and the Turks in 1453.
These various masters so depopulated it that in 1550 Sultan Soliman had transported
thither Greek families, whence sprang the present population.
From 1821 to 1824 Samos had a large share in the war of independence
and won several victories over the Turks. At first a suffragan of Rhodes,
Samos was an autocephalous archdiocese in 1730; in 1855 it was a metropolitan
see, dependent on the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Vivek Gilbert John Fernandez
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
Now in Samos there is a promontory approximately facing Drepanum in Icaria which is called Ampelus, but the entire mountain which makes the whole of the island mountainous is called by the same name. (Strabo 14.1.15)
The town of Samos lay on the south slopes of 'the hill' Ampelus, which is some 700 feet high (H. says 900, c. 60. 1), and which stretched away to the west above the plain; at the south-west extremity lay the Heraeum.
(Strabo 14.1.19)
Some say that the sanctuary of Hera in Samos was established by those who sailed in the Argo, and that these brought the image from Argos. But the Samians themselves hold that the goddess was born in the island by the side of the river Imbrasus under the withy that even in my time grew in the Heraeum.(Paus. 7.4.4)
Imbrasus, Imbrasos: Perseus Project Index.
A fountain in the island of Samos
The Samians have on the road to the Heraeum the tomb of Rhadine and Leontichus, and those who are crossed in love are wont to go to the tomb and pray.(Paus. 7.5.13)
And further, the poem entitled Rhadine (of which Stesichorus is reputed to be the author), which begins,
"Come, thou clear-voiced Muse, Erato, begin thy song, voicing to the tune of thy lovely lyre the strain of the children of Samus,"
refers to the children of the Samus in question; for Rhadine, who had been betrothed to a tyrant of Corinth, the author says, set sail from Samus (not meaning, of course, the Ionian Samus) while the west wind was blowing, and with the same wind her brother, he adds, went to Delphi as chief of an embassy; and her cousin, who was in love with her, set out for Corinth in his chariot to visit her. And the tyrant killed them both and sent their bodies away on a chariot, but repented, recalled the chariot, and buried their bodies.(Strabo 8.3.20)
The Samians, too, voted that their festival of Hera should be called Lysandreia. And the poet Choerilus was always kept in his retinue, to adorn his achievements with verse; while with Antilochus, who composed some verses in his honor, he was so pleased that he filled his cap with silver and gave it to him. And when Antimachus of Colophon and a certain Niceratus of Heracleia competed with one another at the Lysandreia in poems celebrating his achievements, he awarded the crown to Niceratus, and Antimachus, in vexation, suppressed his poem.
Festival of Hera at Samos
Festival celebrated in Samos, in honour of Eros.
Earthen-ware made of Samian (or other equally fine) clay, was well known, and was in vogue in Greece and Italy in the second century B.C., and was imitated by the potters of Gaul and Britain.
Aster Samius, a kind of Samian earth, whose nature and healing power are described in Plin. 35, 16, 53, § 191
Samian clay used as sealing-wax, and in Medicine.
Samos has also always been renowned for its sweet red wine
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