Εμφανίζονται 100 (επί συνόλου 350) τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ Σύμπλεγμα νήσων ΕΛΛΑΔΑ" .
ΑΓΙΑ ΜΑΡΙΝΑ (Οικισμός) ΣΙΦΝΟΣ
Απέναντι από τις Καμάρες, στους πρόποδες του βουνού του Αγίου Συμεών αναπτύσσεται η συνοικία της Αγίας Μαρίνας ή Πέρα Μπάντα, όπου υπάρχουν ταβέρνες και ενοικιαζόμενα δωμάτια. Τις δύο αγκάλες του λιμανιού που τις χωρίζει η θάλασσα τις ενώνει χρυσαφένια απλόχωρη αμμουδιά στο μυχό του όρμου.
ΚΥΘΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Οι Κύθνιοι φροντίζουν με κάθε τρόπο να διατηρούν τα ήθη και έθιμα
των προγόνων τους, αλλά και να γιορτάζουν με ιδιαίτερη λαμπρότητα τις θρησκευτικές
εορτές. Σχεδόν κάθε οικογένεια στην Κύθνο έχει ένα δικό της εκκλησάκι στο κτήμα
της και κάθε φορά που γιορτάζει ο άγιος στον οποίο έχει αφιερωθεί, η οικογένεια
διοργανώνει ένα πλούσιο πανηγύρι, όπου όλοι είναι ευπρόσδεκτοι. Η γενναιοδωρία
των κατοίκων προσφέρει πλούσια εδέσματα και ντόπιο κρασί και το νησί γεμίζει από
τους ήχους των παραδοσιακών οργάνων του λαούτου και του βιολιού, που παίζουν τις
λεγόμενες “ζύες” ή “ζυγιές” (ζευγάρι οργανοπαιχτών).
Ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζουν τα έθιμα του Γάμου στη Χώρα
και στη Δρυοπίδα, ενώ τις
απόκριες στην Κύθνο διοργανώνονται διάφορες εκδηλώσεις, με αποκορύφωμα το έθιμο
του Λαζάνη - του βασιλιά καρνάβαλου της Κύθνου - που γίνεται την τελευταία Κυριακή.
Την παραμονή της Πρωτομαγιάς οι νέοι τη νύχτα κλέβουν λουλούδια από
τις αυλές για να τα κρεμάσουν έξω από την πόρτα της κοπέλας για την οποία ενδιαφέρονται,
με συνοδεία μουσικών οργάνων και τραγουδούν το σκοπό του Μάη.
Οι προετοιμασίες για το Πάσχα ξεκινούν τη Μεγάλη Πέμπτη με τη βαφή
των αυγών και το ψήσιμο των Λαμπριάτικων κουλουριών, αλλά και το άσπρισμα σε όλα
τα σοκάκια του χωριού. Ακολουθεί η περιφορά του Επιταφίου τη Μεγάλη Παρασκευή
και οι Θερμιώτικες πίτες το Μεγάλο Σάββατο. Την Κυριακή του Πάσχα αναβιώνει το
έθιμο της Κούνιας.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται το Φεβρουάριο 2004 από τουριστικό φυλλάδιο
του Δήμου Κύθνου
και της Ένωσης Τουριστικών
Επαγγελμάτων Κύθνου.
ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Το νησιώτικο σύμπλεγμα της Σαντορίνης αποτελείται από τα νησιά Θήρα,
το μεγαλύτερο, Θηρασία
το μικρότερο και το Ασπρονήσι
που είναι ακατοίκητο. Τα τρία αυτά νησιά είναι υπολείμματα του προϊστορικού μεγάλου
νησιού με τα ονόματα Στρογγυλή από το σχήμα του και μετέπειτα Καλλίστη από την
ομορφιά του.
Από την καταβύθιση του κέντρου της Στρογγυλής, μετά από μεγάλη ηφαιστειακή
έκρηξη, γύρω στα 1450π.Χ σχηματίστηκε η Καλντέρα (λεκάνη), στην οποία εισέρευσε
η θάλασσα και στο κέντρο της αναδύθηκαν μετά από αιώνες τα νησιά των Ηφαιστείων
(Καμένες), η Παλαιά Καμένη
αρχικά και η Νέα Καμένη μετά
από αιώνες.
(Κείμενο: Μανώλης Λιγνός)
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται το Φεβρουάριο 2004 από τουριστικό φυλλάδιο του Δήμου
Θήρας (2003-2004).
Έντονη είναι η νυχτερινή ζωή στην πόλη και στις παραλίες του νησιού.
Μπαρ με ζωντανή Ελληνική και ξένη μουσική από συγκροτήματα. Καφετέριες, μπαρ,
καφετέριες και άλλα κέντρα διασκέδασης με μουσική απ’ όλο τον κόσμο δίνουν
την ευκαιρία για ξέφρενη διασκέδαση.
Το κείμενο (απόσπασμα) παρατίθεται το Μάρτιο 2004 από τουριστικό φυλλάδιο
του Δήμου Θήρας.
ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Στο κέντρο του Αιγαίου βρίσκεται το σύμπλεγμα των Κυκλάδων, το πολυπληθέστερο
πολυνησιακό συγκρότημα του Αρχιπελάγους. Στον κύκλο που σχηματίζουν γύρω από το
ιερό νησί του Απόλλωνος, τη Δήλο, οφείλουν οι Κυκλάδες το όνομά τους σύμφωνα με
την αρχαία γραμματεία. Στην πραγματικότητα τα κυκλαδονήσια δεν είναι παρά οι κορυφές
των βυθισμένων βουνών, που τα δυτικά τους όρια φτάνουν μέχρι την Εύβοια και την
Αττική, ενώ στα ανατολικά και τα νότια οριοθετούνται με υποθαλάσσια ρήγματα από
την Ικαρία και τη Σάμο, τα Δωδεκάνησα και την Κρήτη αντίστοιχα. Για το λόγο αυτό
άλλωστε τα νησιά των Κυκλάδων στο σύνολό τους σχεδόν παρουσιάζουν έντονο ανάγλυφο
ακτών και απότομες ισοβαθείς. Υπό την έννοια αυτή είναι φανερό ότι οι Κυκλάδες
γεωγραφικά αποτελούν ξεχωριστή ενότητα.
Από γεωλογική άποψη τα νησιά διαφέρουν αρκετά μεταξύ τους. Τα περισσότερα
πετρώματα είναι παλαιά και κρυσταλλικά, όμως στο νότιο τόξο στη Μήλο, τη Θήρα,
τη Σίκινο, τη Φολέγανδρο, είναι ηφαιστειακά. Τα νησιά διαθέτουν άφθονη πέτρα,
υλικό κατάλληλο για κτίσιμο, και η γεωλογική τους ανομοιομορφία αντανακλάται στην
τοιχοδομία των κτιρίων τους ήδη από τα αρχαία χρόνια. Λεπτές σχιστόπλακες σε επιμελημένες
σειρές αποτελούν τους τοίχους των σπιτιών της Κέας, στρογγυλεμένες πέτρες της
παραλίας με κονίαμα και μικρότερες σφηνωμένες στα διάκενα αποτελούν την τοιχοδομία
των σπιτιών της Μήλου, ενώ πελεκημένα κομμάτια ηφαιστειακού υλικού χαρακτηρίζουν
ένα τμήμα του οικισμού στο Ακρωτήρι της Θήρας.
Αυστηρή και επιβλητική η ομορφιά των Κυκλάδων. Στα μάτια των περισσότερων
τα νησιά αυτά φαίνονται βράχοι ξεροί, άγονοι, χωρίς πεδιάδες, με νερό λιγοστό,
με χώμα φτενό, συγχρόνως όμως μαγευτικοί και γοητευτικοί, σταχτοπράσινοι από τον
σχιστόλιθο και τον γνεύσιο, αλλά κι απ' το χρώμα της ελιάς. Και είναι όλα αυτά
τα στοιχεία που διαμόρφωσαν τον τοπικό πολιτισμό και τον κυκλαδικό τρόπο ζωής
από την απώτερη αρχαιότητα ως σήμερα. Είναι εμφανείς οι επιδράσεις αυτές ακόμα
και σήμερα στην αρχιτεκτονική των νησιώτικων οικισμών, εκεί όπου ο παραδοσιακός
τρόπος ζωής διατηρείται έτσι όπως τον διαμόρφωσε το περιβάλλον.
Το φυσικό περιβάλλον, που διαφέρει πολύ από νησί σε νησί, αποτελεί
βασικό στοιχείο της γοητείας τους. Ακόμα και μέσα στο ίδιο το νησί οι αντιθέσεις
του τοπίου πολλές φορές εκπλήσσουν. Τα γυμνά βράχια εναλλάσσονται με δασωμένους
λόφους, τα απότομα υψώματα μαλακώνουν από ζώνες επίπεδης γης. Κοινό χαρακτηριστικό
όμως όλων σχεδόν των νησιών αποτελούν οι πεζούλες, οι αναβαθμίδες, τα αναλήμματα
από ξερολιθιά, που επιτρέπουν την καλλιέργεια σε εδάφη με μεγάλη κλίση, που δουλεύονται
δύσκολα. Όλα τα νησιά, με αποκορύφωμα την Κέα, την Τήνο και τη Φολέγανδρο, είναι
στην κυριολεξία δεμένα με άνδηρα και ξερολιθιές, χαρακτηριστικό της υπεράνθρωπης
προσπάθειας και του μόχθου για την εξοικονόμηση γης.
Τα εδαφολογικά χαρακτηριστικά των νησιών ευνόησαν μια τόσο εκτεταμένη
ανθρώπινη επέμβαση στο φυσικό περιβάλλον, που η αρχή της χρονολογείται στον 6ο
αι. π.Χ. Αναμφισβήτητο γεγονός αποτελεί η καταστροφή των παραδοσιακών αυτών μορφών
χρήσης της γης τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες, αποτέλεσμα της αλλοίωσης των ρυθμών καλλιέργειας,
εξ αιτίας της ερήμωσης της υπαίθρου, η απειλή της επιστροφής των λοφοπλαγιών στη
φυσική τους μορφή.
Aμεση συνέπεια των προηγουμένων είναι η διατάραξη του οικοσυστήματος
των τριών τελευταίων χιλιετιών. Η διάσωση των αναβαθμίδων σημαίνει τη διάσωση
μιας τεράστιας πολιτιστικής παράδοσης, διότι σε επίπεδο τεχνολογίας οι εργασίες
διαμόρφωσης μιας επικλινούς επιφάνειας σε βαθμίδες καλλιέργειας δεν απαιτούν μόνο
ενέργεια και ανθρώπινο δυναμικό, αλλά προϋποθέτουν ανεπτυγμένες γνώσεις τοπογραφίας,
προοπτικών αξιοποίησης ενός φυσικού τοπίου, ικανότητες διάγνωσης των εδαφικών
πλεονεκτημάτων του, της αντιστήριξης των εδαφών, της ορθολογικής χρησιμοποίησης
της εξορυγμένης πέτρας και ελέγχου του υδρογραφικού δικτύου.
Ένα επιπλέον χαρακτηριστικό των νησιών των Κυκλάδων, στοιχείο που
παραπέμπει στην μακρά ιστορική διάρκεια, σε ιστορίες χιλιετιών, αποτελεί το πυκνό
οδικό δίκτυο από μοναδικής τέχνης λιθόστρωτα μονοπάτια. Πολλά τα τεκμήρια ότι
δεν είναι λίγα τα μονοπάτια που διατηρούν σε αρκετά σημεία το αρχαίο λιθόστρωτο,
έτσι όπως διαμορφώθηκε από τους Κυκλαδίτες της κλασικής αρχαιότητας. Η ύπαρξη
λιθόστρωτων οδών μέσα στους κυκλαδίτικους οικισμούς της μυκηναϊκής περιόδου, για
παράδειγμα στη Γρόττα της Νάξου, στηρίζει την υπόθεση ότι πιθανόν να υπήρχαν πλακόστρωτοι
αγροτικοί οδοί, ακόμα και από την δεύτερη προσχριστιανική χιλιετία.
Παρ' όλα αυτά, αν και υπάρχουν όλες οι μαρτυρίες ότι ο πολιτισμός
που γεννήθηκε στο νησιώτικο αυτό σύμπλεγμα πριν μερικές χιλιετίες, συνεχίζει την
αδιάλειπτη πορεία του, ότι εξακολουθεί να υφίσταται σε διάφορες μορφές και εκφάνσεις
του πολιτισμικού, αλλά και του καθημερινού βίου των νησιωτών, οι αλλαγές που σημειώθηκαν
τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες στις Κυκλάδες δεν είναι ευκαταφρόνητες.
Τα τελευταία 30 χρόνια ο πληθυσμός των νησιών μειώθηκε δραματικά,
σε ποσοστό περίπου 30%, ενώ ως τότε είχε διατηρηθεί στο ίδιο σχεδόν υψηλό επίπεδο
που είχε φτάσει στο τέλος του 19ου αιώνα. Την αντίστοιχη χρονική περίοδο των 30
ετών, στις Κυκλάδες υπάρχει μια θεαματική τουριστική άνοδος. Συνέπεια των δύο
αυτών παραμέτρων είναι η εγκατάλειψη της υπαίθρου και της γεωργίας που μέχρι πριν
30 χρόνια αποτελούσε την κύρια απασχόληση των κατοίκων των νησιών.
Αποτελεί κοινό τόπο ότι η ανάπτυξη του τουρισμού σε μια περιοχή είναι
άμεσα συναρτημένη με τη διαθεσιμότητα φυσικών και πολιτιστικών πόρων. Η ποικιλία
και η ποιότητα των πόρων αυτών είναι τα συγκριτικά πλεονεκτήματα για την ανάπτυξη
της τουριστικής δραστηριότητας και της διατήρησης της ανταγωνιστικότητας μιας
περιοχής. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό η ποιότητα του περιβάλλοντος και η ορθολογική ανάδειξη
του μνημειακού πλούτου που σε χρονική διάρκεια ξεπερνά τις 5 χιλιετίες και του
τεράστιου πολιτιστικού εν γένει αποθέματος των Κυκλάδων αποκτά μια τεράστια σημασία.
Είναι αυτονόητο ότι η κατανάλωση αγαθών και υπηρεσιών στον τόπο παραγωγής
και προσφοράς τους έχουν πολλαπλές οικονομικές, κοινωνικές, πολιτισμικές και περιβαλλοντικές
επιπτώσεις στα νησιά. Οι επισκέπτες χρησιμοποιούν τους τουριστικούς πόρους, τις
παραλίες, τους ιστορικούς και αρχαιολογικούς χώρους, για αναψυχή, αλλά και ως
αποδέκτες των αποβλήτων, του κυκλοφοριακού και της ρύπανσης, της οπτικής και ακουστικής
ρύπανσης. Οι Κυκλάδες, και ιδιαίτερα ορισμένα από τα μέλη του συμπλέγματος, η
Μύκονος, η Σαντορίνη, η Ίος, η Πάρος ζουν τα τελευταία χρόνια έντονες τις επιπτώσεις
του τουρισμού.
Πολλά, πάρα πολλά είναι αυτά που έχουν γραφεί για τα νησιά των Κυκλάδων.
Αναρίθμητες σελίδες, σε όλες σχεδόν τις γλώσσες του κόσμου μιλούν για την ιστορία,
το περιβάλλον, τον πολιτισμό, τον τουρισμό, τις θάλασσες των νησιών αυτών. Όμως
πολύ περισσότερα είναι αυτά που θα πρέπει ακόμα να ερευνηθούν και να κατανοηθούν
για την μοναδική αυτή αιγαιοπελαγίτικη πολυνησία. Η κυκλαδική ζωή, ο κυκλαδικός
τρόπος ζωής διαμορφώθηκε σύμφωνα με τη γεωμορφολογία των νησιών, το κλίμα και
τις πλουτοπαραγωγικές τους πηγές, παράγοντες που παραμένουν αναλλοίωτοι από την
3η προσχριστιανική χιλιετία.
Το περιβάλλον ενός τόπου είναι αυτό που διαμορφώνει στον συγκεκριμένο
τόπο τον συγκεκριμένο πολιτισμό
(Κείμενο: Λίνα Μενδώνη, από την έκδοση "Ιστορία του Τοπίου
και Τοπικές Ιστορίες")
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Οκτώβριο 2004 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα,
με φωτογραφία
ΚΟΥΦΟΝΗΣΙΑ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
ΑΜΟΡΓΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Amorgos (Amorgos: Eth. Amorginos, also Amorgios, Amorgiies: Amorgo),
an island of the Sporades in the Aegean sea, SE. of Naxos. It is rarely mentioned
in history, and is chiefly celebrated as the birthplace of the iambic poet Simonides.
(Strab. p. 487.) There was in Amorgos a manufactory of a peculiar kind of linen
garments, which bore the name of the island, and which were dyed red. (Steph.
B. s. v.; Eustath. ad Dionys. 526; Pollux, vii. 16.) In dyeing them use appears
to have been made of a kind of lichen, which is still found in the island, and
of which Tournefort has given an account. The soil of Amorgos is fertile. It produces
at present corn, oil, wine, figs, tobacco, and cotton, all of good quality. Hence
it was considered under the Roman empire one of the most favourable places for
banishment. (Tac. Ann. iv. 30.) We learn from Scylax that Amorgos contained three
towns, the names of which, according to Stephanus (s. v. Amorgos), were Minoa
(Minoa, Minuia, Ptol. v. 2. § 33), the birthplace of Simonides, Arcesine (Arkesine),
and Aegiale (Aigiale, Begialis, Ptol.). Remains of all these cities have been
discovered, and a minute description of them is given by Ross, who spent several
days upon the island. They are all situated on the western side of the island
opposite Naxos, Aegiale at the N., and Arcesine at the S., while Minoa lies more
in the centre, at the head of a large and convenient harbour, now called Ta Katapola,
because it is kata ten polin. It appears, from the inscriptions found in the island,
that it possessed other demes besides the above-mentioned towns. It is probable
that Melania (Melania), which Stephanus in another passage (s. v. Arkesine) mentions
as one of the three towns of Amorgos in place of Aegiale, may have been one of
these demes. We learn from several inscriptions that Milesians were settled in
Minoa and Aegiale, and that they formed in the latter town a separate community.
(Bockh, Corp. Inscr. vol. ii. No. 2264; Ross, Inscr. Gr. Lined. vol. ii. No. 112,
120-122.) The island contains at present 3,500 inhabitants. (Tournefort, Voyage,
&c. vol. ii. p. 182, seq.; Fiedler, Reise, &c. vol. ii. p. 325, seq.; and more
especially Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 173, seq., vol. ii.
p. 39, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΑΝΑΦΗ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Anaphe (Anaphe: Eth. Anaphaios: Anaphe, Namfi or Namfio), one of the
Sporades, a small island in the south of the Grecian Archipelago, E. of Thera.
It is said to have been originally called Membliarus from the son of Cadmus of
this name, who came to the island in search of Europa. It was celebrated for the
temple of Apollo Aegletes, the foundation of which was ascribed to the Argonauts,
because Apollo had showed them the island as a place of refuge when they were
overtaken by a storm. (Orpheus, Argon. 1363, seq.; Apollod. i. 9. § 26; Apoll.
Rhod. iv. 1706, seq.; Conon, 49; Strab. p. 484; Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. ii. 87,
iv. 12; Ov. Met. vii. 461) There are still considerable remains of this temple
on the eastern side of the island, and also of the ancient city, which was situated
nearly in the centre of Anaphe on the summit of a hill. Several important inscriptions
have been discovered in this place, of which an account is given by Ross, in the
work cited below. The island is mountainous, of little fertility, and still worse
cultivated. It contains a vast number of partridges, with which it abounded in
antiquity also. Athenaeus relates that a native of Astypalaea let loose
a brace of these birds upon Anaphe, where they multiplied so rapidly that the
inhabitants were almost obliged to abandon the island in consequence. (Tournefort,
Voyage, &c., vol. i. p. 212, seq.; Ross, Ueber Anaphe und Anaphaische Inschriften,
in the Transactions of the Munich Academy for 1838, p. 401, seq.; Ross, Reisen
auf den Griechischen Inseln, vol. i. p. 401, seq.; Bockh, Corp. Inscr. No. 2477,
seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΑΝΔΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
The chief city also called Andros, was situated nearly in the middle
of the western coast of the island, at the foot of a lofty mountain. Its citadel
strongly fortified by nature is mentioned by Livy. It had no harbour of its own,
but it used one in the neighbourhood, called Gaurion (Taurion) by Xenophon (Hell.
i. 4. § 22), and Gaureleon by Livy, and which still bears the ancient name of
Gavrion. The ruins of the ancient city are described at length by Ross, who discovered
here, among other inscriptions, an interesting hymn to Isis in hexameter verse,
of which the reader will find a copy in the Classical Museum (vol. i. p. 34, seq.).
The present population of Andros is 15,000 souls. Its soil is fertile, and its
chief productions are silk and wine. It was also celebrated for its wine in antiquity,
and the whole island was regarded as sacred to Dionysus. There was a tradition
that, during the festival of this god, a fountain flowed with wine. (Plin. ii.
103, xxxi. 13; Paus. vi. 26, § 2.) (Thevenot, Travels, Part i. p. 15, seq.; Tournefort,
Voyage, vol. i. p. 265, seq.; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 221, seq.; and especially
Ross, Reisen auf d. Griech. Inseln, vol. ii. p. 12, seq.)
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ΑΝΔΡΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΝΔΡΟΣ
The chief city also called Andros, was situated nearly in the middle of the western
coast of the island, at the foot of a lofty mountain. Its citadel strongly fortified
by nature is mentioned by Livy. It had no harbour of its own, but it used one
in the neighbourhood, called Gaurion (Taurion) by Xenophon (Hell. i. 4. § 22),
and Gaureleon by Livy, and which still bears the ancient name of Gavrion. The
ruins of the ancient city are described at length by Ross, who discovered here,
among other inscriptions, an interesting hymn to Isis in hexameter verse, of which
the reader will find a copy in the Classical Museum (vol. i. p. 34, seq.). The
present population of Andros is 15,000 souls. Its soil is fertile, and its chief
productions are silk and wine. It was also celebrated for its wine in antiquity,
and the whole island was regarded as sacred to Dionysus. There was a tradition
that, during the festival of this god, a fountain flowed with wine. (Plin. ii.
103, xxxi. 13; Paus. vi. 26, § 2.)
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ΑΝΤΙΠΑΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Oliarus (Oliaros, Olearus, Plin., Virg.: Eth. Oliarios: Antiparo), an island in
the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades, said by Heracleides to have been colonised
by the Sidonians and to be 58 stadia from Paros. (Heracleid. ap. Steph. B. s.
v.; Strab. x. p. 485 ; Plin. iv. 12. s. 22; Virg. Aen. iii. 126.) It possesses
a celebrated stalactitic cavern, which has been described by several modern travellers.
(Tournefort, Voyage, &c. vol. i. p. 146, seq., Eng. transl.; Leake, Northern Greece,
vol. iii. p. 87, seq.; Fiedler, Reise dutch Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 191, seq.)
ΓΥΑΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Gyaros or Gyara (Guaros, Strab., Steph. B.; Gyarus, Tac.; ta Guara,
Arrian, Diss. iv. 4; Gyara, Juv., Plin.: Eth. Guareus), a small island in the
Aegaean sea, reckoned one of the Cyclades, and situated SW. of Andros. According
to Pliny, it was 62 (Roman) from Andros and 12 miles in circumference. (Plin.
iv. 12. s. 23.) It was little better than a barren rock, though inhabited in antiquity.
It was one of the few spots in Greece visited by Strabo, who relates that he landed
in the island and saw there a little village inhabited by fishermen, who deputed
one of their number to go to Augustus, then at Corinth after the battle of Actium,
to beg him to reduce their yearly tribute of 150 drachmae, since they could scarcely
pay one hundred. (Strab. x. p. 485.) So notorious was it for its poverty that
it was said, in joke, that the mice in this island gnawed through iron. (Antig.
Carys. 21; Plin. viii. 43. s. 82; Steph. B. s. v. Gnaros). Under the Roman empire
it was used as a place of banishment, and was one of the most dreaded spots employed
for that purpose:
Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum. (Juv. i. 73; comp. Tac.
Ann. iii. 68, 69, iv. 30; Plut. de Exsil. 8.)
Among others, the philosopher Musonius was banished to Gyaros, in
the reign of Nero. (Philostr. Vit. Apoll. vii. 16.) In the time of the Antonines
a purple fishery was carried on here by divers. (Lucian, Toxar. 18.) The island
is now uninhabited, except in the summer time by a few shepherds who take care
of the flocks sent there by some of the inhabitants of Syros, to whom the island
now belongs. It is called ta Gioura,, pronounced Jura. (Tournefort, Voyage, &c.
vol. i. p. 263, Engl. Transl.; Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p.
5, vol. ii. p. 170, seq.; Fiedler, Reise durch Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 158,
seq.)
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ΔΗΛΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Delos or Delus (Delos: Eth. and Adj. Delios, Delia, Delias, Deliakos),
the smallest of the islands called the Cyclades in the Aegaean sea, lying in the
strait between Rheneia and Myconus. It appears in the earliest times as one of
the holiest spots in Hellas. According to the most generally received tradition,
it was called out of the deep by the trident of Poseidon, but was a floating island,
until Zeus fastened it by adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea, that it
might be a secure restingplace to Leto, for the birth of Apollo and Artemis. (Pind.
ap. Strab. x. p. 485; Callim. Hymn. in Del. passim; Virg. Aen. iii. 76; Plin.
iv. 12. s. 22; Dict. of Ant. art. Leto.) As the birthplace of Apollo, it became
one of the chief seats of his worship, and the god is said to have obtained exclusive
possession of the island by giving Calaureia to Poseidon in exchange for it. (Strab.
viii. p. 373.) In the same way the Delphians related that Apollo gave Calaureia
to Poseidon in order to obtain possession of Delphi. (Paus. x. 5. § 6.) Delos
was called by various other names by the poets and mythographers. Pliny mentions
the names of Asteria, Ortygia, Lagia, Chlamydia, Cynthus, Pyrpile; and Stephanus
B. those of Asteria, Pelasgia, and Chlamydia. Its name of Asteria is alluded to
by Poseidon, who speaks of Delos as the unshaken prodigy of the earth, which mortals
call Delos, but the gods in Olympus the farfamed star (astron) of the dark earth.
(Pind. Frag. 57, 58, ed. Bergk.) Callimachus also says that it was called Asteria,
when Leto found refuge upon it. (Ibid. 40.) It received the name of Ortygia because
according to one version of the legend Leto was changed by Zeus into a quail (ortux),
in order to escape from Hera, and in this form arrived at the floating island.
(Serv. ad Virg. Aen. iii. 72; Strabo also mentions the name Ortygia, x. p. 486.)
The name of Delos was supposed by the ancient writers to have been given to the
island from its becoming clear or plain (delos) after floating about in the sea.
(Aristot. ap. Plin. iv. 12. s. 22; Serv. ad Virg. Aen.) In consequence of its
having been fastened by Zeus to the bottom of the sea, it was supposed to be immovable
even by earthquakes, to which the surrounding islands were frequently subject.
Hence Pindar, in the passage already quoted, calls Delos the unshaken prodigy
of the earth (chthonos akineton teras). Down to the time of Pliny it was only
twice shaken by earthquakes, and on each occasion the phenomenon was regarded
with alarm by the whole of Greece. The first occurred just before the Persian
invasion (Herod. vi. 98), and the second shortly before the Peloponnesian War
(Thuc, ii. 8). It is a curious circumstance that Herodotus speaks of the former
earthquake, and Thucydides of the latter as the only one which had ever taken
place; and accordingly some commentators suppose that Thucydides actually refers
to the same earthquake as the one mentioned by Herodotus.
Respecting the origin of the worship of Apollo at Delos, we have no
trustworthy information. K. O. Muller supposes that it was introduced by the Dorians
on their voyage to Crete (Muller, Dor. vol. i. p. 238); but this is only an hypothesis,
unsupported by evidence. In the earliest historical times the island was inhabited
by Ionians, and is represented as the centre of a great periodical festival in
honour of Apollo, celebrated by all the Ionic cities on the mainland as well as
in the islands. In this character it is represented in the Homeric hymn to Apollo,
which cannot probably be later than 600 B.C. (Hom. Hymn. in Apoll. 146, seq.;
Grote, Hist of Greece, vol. iii. p. 222.) The festival was conducted with great
splendour; and, as at Delphi, there were musical, as well as gymnastic contests.
Like the Olympic and other great festivals of Hellas, it doubtless grew out of
one of a more limited character; and we are expressly informed that Delos was
originally the centre of an Amphictyony, to which the Cyclades and the neighbouring
islands belonged. (Thuc. iii. 104; Strab. x. p. 485; comp. Bockh, Inscr. vol.
i. p. 252, seq.) The Athenians took part in this festival at an early period,
as is evident from the mention of the Deliastae in one of Solon's laws (Athen.
vi. p. 234). It was related at a later period that the Athenians instituted the
festival to commemorate the safe return of Theseus from Crete, and that the vessel
in which the sacred embassy sailed to the festival was the identical one which
had carried Theseus and his companions. (Plut. Thes. 21; Plat. Phaed. sub init.)
The two Ionic despots, Peisistratus of Athens and Polycrates of Samos, both took
a warm interest in the festival: Peisistratus purified the island by removing
all the tombs which were within view of the temple; and Polycrates dedicated the
neighbouring island of Rheneia to the Delian Apollo, by fastening it with a chain
to Delos. But owing to various causes, among which undoubtedly was the conquest
of the Ionic cities in Asia Minor by the Persians, the festival had fallen into
decay at the commencement of the Peloponnesian War. In the sixth year of this
war, B.C. 426, the Athenians purified Delos. They removed all the tombs from the
island, and declared it to be unlawful henceforth for any living being to be born
or die within it, and that every pregnant woman should be carried over to the
island of Rheneia in order to be delivered. (Thuc. l. c.; Strab. x. p. 486.) On
this occasion the Athenians restored the ancient festival under the name of the
Delia, of which an account is given elsewhere. (Dict. of Ant. art. Delia.)
The sanctity of Delos was respected by Datis and Artaphernes, who
would not anchor here, but passed on to Rheneia. They also sent a herald to recall
the Delians, who had fled to Tenos, and they burnt upon the altar of the god 300
talents of frankincense. (Herod. vi. 97.) On the formation of the confederacy
in B.C. 477, for the purpose of carrying on the war against Persia, Delos was
chosen as the common treasury (Thuc. i. 96); but subsequently the transference
of the treasury to Athens, and the altered character of the confederacy, reduced
the island to a condition of absolute political dependence upon Athens. The purification
of Delos by the Athenians in B.C. 426 has been already mentioned; but four years
afterwards (B.C. 422) the Athenians thinking the removal of the Delians themselves
essential to the complete purification of the island, banished all the inhabitants,
who obtained a settlement at Atramyttium (Adramyttium), which was given to them
by the satrap Pharnaces. (Thuc. v. 1; Paus. iv. 27. § 90) Here, some years afterwards
(B.C. 411), several of them were murdered by Arsaces, a general of Tissaphernes
(Thuc. viii. 108).
After the fall of Corinth (B.C. 146) Delos became the centre of an
extensive commerce. The sanctity of the spot and its consequent security, its
festival which was a kind of fair, the excellence of its harbour, and its convenient
situation on the highway from Italy and Greece to Asia, made it a favourite resort
of merchants. (Strab. x. p. 486.) So extensive was the commerce carried on at
Delos, that 10,000 slaves are said to have changed hands here in one day. (Strab.
xiv. p. 668.) Delos was celebrated for its bronze, and before the invention of
the Corinthian bronze the aes Deliacum had the greatest reputation in antiquity,
and the vessels made of it were in very great request. (Plin. xxxiv. 2. s. 4;
vasa Deliaca, Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 46, Verr. ii. 34; Dict. of Ant. p. 25, b., 2nd
ed.) The Romans confirmed the Athenians in the possession of the island; but in
the Mithridatic War the generals of Mithridates inflicted upon it a devastation,
from which it never recovered. In the time of Strabo it still belonged to the
Athenians. (Polyb. xxx. 18; Strab. l. c.; Appian, Mithr. 28; Paus. iii. 23. §
§ 3, 4.) Pausanias describes it as almost deserted in his time (viii. 33. § 2,
comp. ix. 34. § 6).
Delos is little more than a rock, being only 5 miles in circumference,
according to Pliny. The town is described by Strabo (x. p. 485) as lying in a
plain at the foot of Mount Cynthus, and the only buildings which he specifies
in the island are the hieron of Apollo, and the temple of Leto. The town was situated
on the western side of the island. Mount Cynthus, from which Apollo and Leto are
so often called, is a bare granite rock not more than 400 or 500 feet high. It
was probably the acropolis of the ancient town, and seems to have been surrounded
by a wall. On its sides are many architectural fragments of white marble, and
on its summit are the foundations and remains of a large building of the Ionic
order. In antiquity two flights of steps led up to the summit of the mountain;
the one on the northern, and the other on the western side. On the western side
is an ancient gate, of which the roof is formed of two stones rudely shaped, and
resting against each other at an angle so obtuse that the rise is only 4 feet
2 inches, above a breadth of 16 feet 2 inches. (Leake.)
The ancient writers speak of a little river Inopus (Inopos) in the
island. They compare its rising and falling with the same phaenomena of the Nile,
and some even suppose there was a connection between it and the Aegyptian river.
(Strab. vi. p. 271, x. p. 485; Callim. Hymn. in Del. 206, 263, in Dian. 171; Paus.
ii. 5. § 3; Plin. ii. 103. s. 106.) We also find mention of a lake or tank, called
limne trochoeides by Herodotus (ii. 170) and Theognis, trochoessa by Callimachus
(in Del. 261), containing the water necessary for the service of the temple of
Apollo. Its name, as well as the epithet perieges given it by Callimachus (in
Apoll. 59), sufficiently proves that it was oval or circular; and there can be
no doubt that it is the oval basin, 100 yards in length, situated in the northern
half of the island, and a little inland east of the ancient harbour, which Tournefort
and the earlier writers absurdly supposed to be a Naumachia. This lake is frequently
mentioned by other ancient writers; and near it Leto is said to have brought forth
her divine children. (Aesch. Eum. 9; Eurip. Ion, 169, Iphig. Taur. 1103.) Others
again represent the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis as near the Inopus (Hom.
in Apoll. 18; Callim. in Del. 206); and as the exact spot was pointed out in later
times, the Inopus would appear to have been situated in the northern part of the
island, near the oval basin mentioned above. Leake, however, identifies the Inopus
with the small brook which flows down from Mount Cynthus and joins the sea at
the port of Furni, since it is the only running stream in the island, and that
only in winter. Leto is said to have grasped a palm-tree when she bore her children;
and the palm, which does not grow in Greece Proper, was held in especial reverence
in Delos. (Comp. Paus. viii. 48. § 3; Hom. Od. vi. 162; Aelian, V. H. v. 4; Hygin.
Fab. 140.) The identical palm-tree of Leto was shown by the Delii in the time
of Cicero (de Leg. i. 1).
Delos is now a heap of ruins. Whole shiploads of columns and other
architectural remains were carried off, centuries ago, to Venice and Constantinople.
Of the great temple of Apollo, of the stoa of Philip, of the theatre, and of numerous
other buildings, there is scarcely the capital of a column or an architrave left
uninjured. Not a single palm-tree is now found in the island, and the only inhabitants
are a few shepherds, taking care of some flocks of sheep and goats brought over
from Myconus. The chief buildings of Delos lay between the oval basin and the
harbour on the western side of the island. The ruins of the great temple of Apollo
and of the stoa of Philip III. of Macedon may here be distinctly traced. (Bockh,
Inscr. n. 2274.) There are still remains of the colossal statue of Apollo dedicated
by the Naxians, and in front of the basis we read Naxioi Apolloni. This statue
was thrown down in antiquity. A brazen palm-tree, which had been dedicated by
Nicias, according to Plutarch (Nic. 3), or by the Naxians themselves, according
to Semus (Athen. xi. p. 502), having been blown down by the wind, carried with
it the colossal statue. The theatre stood at the western foot of Mount Cynthus,
facing Rheneia, and not far from the stoa of Philip. Its extremities were supported
by walls of white marble of the finest masonry, but of a singular form, having
had two projections adjacent to the orchestra, by which means the lower seats
were in this part prolonged beyond the semicircle, and thus afforded additional
accommodation to spectators in the situation most desirable. The diameter, including
only the projections, is 187 feet. The marble seats have all been carried away,
but many of the stones which formed their substruction remain. Immediately below
the theatre, on the shore, are the ruins of a stoa, the columns of which were
of granite. In a small valley which leads to the summit of Mount Cynthus, leaving
the theatre on the left, many ruins of ancient houses are observable; and above
them, in a level at the foot of the peak, there is a wall of white marble, which
appears to have been the cell of a temple. Here lies an altar, which is inscribed
with a dedication to Isis by one of her priests, Ctesippus, son of Ctesippus of
Chius. Like many others, remaining both in this island and in Rheneia, it is adorned
with bulls' heads and festoons. Another fragment of an inscription mentions Sarapis;
and as both these were nearly in the same place where Spon and Wheler found another
in which Isis; Anubis, Harpocrates, wand the Dioscuri were all named, it is very
probable that the remains of white marble belonged to a temple of Isis. Among
them is a portion of a large shaft pierced through the middle, 4 feet 5 inches
in diameter; and there is another of the same kind, 5 feet 8 inches in diameter,
half-way up the peak of Cynthus. (Leake.) After describing Mount Cynthus, of which
we have already spoken, Leake continues: Ruins of private houses surround Mount
Cynthus on every side. On the heights above the Trochoessa, which form the north-western
promontory of the island, are many other similar ruins of ancient houses, neatly
constructed with mortar. On the summit of the same hill, near the remains of a
large house, are some shafts of white marble, a foot and a half in diameter, half
polygonal and half plain. As this quarter was entirely separated from the town
on Mount Cynthus by the valley containing the sacred buildings, there is great
probability that it was the new Athenae Hadrianae, which was built at the expense
of the emperor Hadrian, in a position called Olympieum (Phlegon, ap. Steph. B.
s.v. Olumpieion), perhaps from a temple of Jupiter Olympius, to which the shafts
just mentioned may have belonged. In the northern part of the island are the remains
of the stadium and the gymnasium.
The strait, which separates Delos and Rheneia, is 4 stadia, or about
half a mile, in width. (Strab. x. p. 486.) In this strait are two rocks, called
Rematiari, of which one is probably the ancient island of Hecate (Hekates nesos,
Harpocrat. and Suid. s. v.; Semus, ap. Athen. xiv. p. 645.)
Rheneia or Rhenaia (Rheneia, Rhenaia, both forms occur in writers
and inscriptions) is much larger than Delos, being about 10 miles in circumference.
The northern and southern halves are divided by a narrow isthmus. The southern
half, which lies opposite Delos, was the burial-place of the latter, as has been
already explained, and is now covered with remains of sepulchres. There are also
ruins of many private houses, like those at Delos. (Thuc. i. 13, iii. 104; Herod.
vi. 97; Strab. x. p. 486; Diod. xii. 58.)
Both Delos and Rheneia are now called Dhiles. (Besides the earlier
works of Spon, Wheler, Thevenot, and Tournefort, see Leake, Northern Greece, vol.
iii. p. 95, seq.; Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 30, seq., vol.
ii. p. 167, seq.; Bronsted, Reisen, vol. i. p. 59; Fiedler, Reisen durch Griechenland,
vol. ii. p. 269, seq.; Exped. Scientif. vol. iii. p. 3, seq.; Sallier, Hist. de
l'Isle de Delos, in Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscr. vol. iii. p. 376; Dorville, Miscell.
Observ. vol. vii. p. 1, seq.; Schwenck, Deliacorum Part. I., Francof. 1825; Schlager,
Pauca quaedam de Rebus Deli, Mitav. 1840.)
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ΔΟΝΟΥΣΑ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Donusa or Donysa (Donusa; whence come the corrupt forms Donousia,
Steph. B. s.v.; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 530; Dionysia, Mel. ii. 7), a small island
near Naxos, said by Stephanus to have been the island to which Dionysus carried
Ariadne from Naxos, when pursued by her father Minos. This tale, however, appears
to have arisen from confounding Donusa, the name of the island, with Dionysus,
the name of the god. Stephanus also states, though we know not on what authority,
that the island belonged to Rhodes. Virgil (Aen. iii. 125) gives to Donusa the
epithet of viridis, which Servius explains by the colour of its marble; but this
statement is probably only invented to explain the epithet. Donusa was used as
a place of banishment under the Roman empire. (Tac. Ann. iv. 30.)
ΙΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Ios (Ios: Eth. Ietes, Ietes), an island in the Aegaean sea, one of
the Sporades, and falsely called by Stephanus one of the Cyclades, lay north of
Thera and south of Paros and Naxos. According to Pliny, it was 25 miles in length,
and was distant 18 miles from Naxos and 25 from Thera. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 23.)
Both Pliny and Stephanus state that it was originally called Phoenice. It possessed
a town of the same name (Ptol. iii. 15. § 28), situated upon a height on the western
side of the island. It has an excellent harbour, of a circular form, like the
Peiraeeus: its mouth faces the south-west, and is opposite the island of Sicinus.
The island is now called Nio (en Ioi); and when Ross visited it, in 1836, it contained
505 families or 2500 souls. The modern town is built upon the site of the ancient
one, of which there are still remains.
Ios was celebrated in antiquity as the burialplace of Homer, who is
said to have died here on his voyage from Smyrna to Athens. Long afterwards, when
the fame of the poet had filled the world, the inhabitants of los are reported
to have erected the following inscription upon his tomb.
Enthade ten hieren kephalen kata gaia kaluptei
Andron heroon kosmetora, theion Omeron.
(Pseudo-Herod. Vit. Homer. 34, 36; comp. Scylax, p. 22; Strab. x. p. 484; Paus.
x. 24. § 2; Plin., Steph. ll. cc.) It was also stated that Clymene, the mother
of Homer, was a native of los, and that she was buried in the island (Paus., Steph.
B., ll. cc.); and, according to Gellius (iii. 11), Aristotle related that Homer
himself was born in los. In 1771 a Dutch nobleman, Graf Pasch van Krienen, asserted
that he had discovered the tomb of Homer in the northern part of the island; and
in 1773 he published an account of his discovery, with some inscriptions relating
to Homer which he said he had found upon the tomb. Of this discovery a detailed
account is given by Ross, who is disposed to believe the account of Pasch van
Krienen; but the original inscriptions have never been produced, and most modern
scholars regard them as forgeries. (Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol.
i. pp. 54, 154, seq.; Welcker, in Zeitschrift fur die Alterthum-swissenschaft,
1844, p. 290, seq.)
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ΙΟΥΛΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΕΑ
Ioulis: Eth. Ioulietes, Ioulieus. The most important town in Ceos,
is celebrated as the birthplace of the two great lyric poets Simonides and Bacchylides,
of the sophist Prodicus, of the physician Erasistratus, and of the peripatetic
philosopher Ariston. From the great celebrity of Simonides he was frequently called
emphatically the Cean; and Horace, in like manner, alludes to his poetry under
the name of Ceae Camenae (Carm. iv. 9. 8), and Cea Nenia (Carm. ii. 1. 38). Iulis
was situated on a hill about 25 stadia from the sea, in the northern part of the
island, on the same site as the modern Zea, which is now the only town in the
island. There are several remains of Iulis; the most important is a colossal lion,
about 20 feet in length, which lies a quarter of an hour east of the town. The
legend already quoted from Heraclides Pont. probably has a reference to this lion;
and the more so as there is a fountain of water gushing from the spot where the
lion stands.
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ΚΕΑ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Keos, Keos, Kiata, usually Cea by the Latin writers, Eth. Keios; Ion.
Keios: Zea. An island in the Aegaean sea, and one of the Cyclades, situated about
13 English miles SE. of the promontory of Sunium in Attica. The island is 14 English
miles in length from north to south, and 10 in breadth from east to west. Pliny
(iv. 12. s. 20) says that Ceos was once united to Euboea, and was 500 stadia in
length, but that four-fifths of it were carried away by the sea. According to
the legend, preserved by Heraclides Ponticus (Pol. c. 9), Ceos was originally
called Hydrussa, and was inhabited by nymphs, who afterwards crossed over to Carystus,
having been frightened away from the island by a lion; whence a promontory of
Ceos was called Leon. Ovid apparently alludes to this legend (Her. xx. 221): Insula,
Carthaeis quondam celeberrima Nymphis, Cingitur Aegaeo, nomine Cea, maria.
Heraclides Pont. further states that a colony was afterwards planted
in the island by Ceos from Naupactus. In the historical times it was inhabited
by Ionians (Herod. viii. 46; Schol. ad Dionys. Per. 526); and the inhabitants
fought on the side of the Greeks at the battles of Artemisium and Salamis. (Herod.
viii. 1, 46.)
Ceos once possessed four towns, Iulis, Carthaea, Coressia, and Poeeessa,
but in the time of Strabo the two latter had perished, the inhabitants of Coressia
having been transferred to Iulis and those of Poeeessa to Carthaea. (Strab. viii.
p. 486; comp. Plin. l. c.)
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ΚΙΜΩΛΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Cimolus (Kimolos), a small island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades,
lying between Siphnos and Melos, and separated from the latter by a narrow strait
only half a mile in breadth. The extreme length of the island is 5 miles, and
its breadth 3 1/2 miles. Pliny relates (iv. 12. s. 23) that Cimolus was also called
Echinusa, a name which is not derived from Echidna, viper, as most modern writers
have supposed, but from Echinus, the seaurchin, of which there are several fossil
specimens on the west coast, and which are not found in any other of the Cyclades
or Sporades, except on the opposite coast of Melos. Cimolus is not mentioned in
political history, and appears to have followed the fate of the neighbouring island
of Melos; but it was celebrated in antiquity on account of its earth or chalk
(he Kimolia ge, Cimolia Creta), which was used by fullers in washing clothes.
This chalk was also employed in medicine. (Strab. x. p. 484; Eustath. ad Dionys.
530; Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. 713; Plin. iv. 12. s. 23, xxxv. 17. s. 57; Cels.
ii. 33.) This Cimolian earth is described by Tournefort as a white chalk, very
heavy, without any taste, and which melts away when it is put into water. The
island is covered with this white chalk, whence Ovid (Met. vii. 463) speaks of
cretosa rura Cimoli. The figs of Cimolus were celebrated by the comic poet Amphis
(Athen. i. p. 306); and though the soil is barren, figs are still produced in
the vallies. Another writer (quoted by Athenaeus, iii. p. 123, d) speaks of certain
caves of the island, in which water being placed became as cold as snow, though
warm before.
Cimolus contained 1200 inhabitants when it was visited by Ross in
1843. The modern town is in the SE. of the island, about a quarter of an hour
from the harbour, which is both small and insecure. In the middle of the west
coast there is a Paleokastron, situated upon a steep rock about 1000 feet in height;
but it appears only to have been built as a place of refuge to be used in times
of danger. The ancient town was situated at Daskalio, also called St. Andrew,
on the S. coast, opposite Melos. Daskalio, or St. Andrew, is the name given to
a rock, distant at present about 200 paces from the island, to which, however,
it was originally united. The whole rock is covered with the remains of houses,
among which Ross noticed a draped female figure of white marble, of good workmanship,
but without head and hands. As long as the rock was united to the island by an
isthmus, there was a good, though small harbour, on the eastern side of the rock.
Around this harbour was the burial-place of the town; and several of the sepulchral
chambers situated above the water were opened at the end of the last and the beginning
of the present centuries, and were found to contain painted vases and golden ornaments,
while above them were stelae with reliefs and inscriptions; but at present nothing
of the kind is discovered. The strip of coast containing the tombs is called Hellenika.
To the E. of Daskalio on the S. coast there is a small rock, containing a ruined
tower, called Pyrgos; and N. of the present town, there is upon the east coast
a good harbour, called Prasa, where there are said to be some Hellenic sepulchral
chambers. This harbour, and the one at Daskalio, are probably the two, which Dicaearchus
assigns to Cimolos (Descript. Graec. 138, p. 463, ed. Fuhr):
Epeita Siphnos kai Kimolos echomene,
Echousa limenas duo.
The Greeks still call the island Cimoli; but it is also called Argentiera, because
a silver mine is said to have been discovered here. Others suppose, however, that
this name may have been given to it even by the ancients from its white cliffs.
(Tournefort, Travels, &c. vol. i. p. 111, seq., transl.; Fiedler, Reise durch
Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 344, seq.; Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol.
iii. p. 22, seq.)
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ΚΥΘΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Cythnus (Kuthnos: Eth. Kuthnios: Thermia), an island in the Aegaean
sea, one of the Cyclades, lying between Ceos and Seriphos. (Strab. x. p. 485;
Dicaearch. p. 462, ed. Fuhr.; Scylax, p. 22, ed. Hudson; Plin. iv. 12. s. 20;
Mela, ii. 7; Ptol. iii. 15. § 28.) It was colonised by the Dryopes, whence it
was also called Dryopis. (Herod. viii. 46; Steph. B. s. v.) Its name rarely occurs
in antiquity. The Cythnians sent a trireme and a penteconter to the battle of
Salamis. (Herod.) After the Peloponnesian war they became the subject allies of
Athens, together with the other islanders in the Aegaean; but they never acquired
power or wealth. (Comp. Dem. Peri Suntaxeos, p. 176.) The only native of the island
mentioned by the ancient writers, was Cydias the painter; and its chief celebrity
in (antiquity was owing to its excellent cheeses. (Steph. B. s. v.; Eustath. ad
Dionys. Per. 525; Athen. xii. p. 516; Plin. xiii. 24. s. 27.) Its political constitution,
however, had not escaped the attention of Aristotle. (Harpocrat. s. v. Kuthnioi.)
In the war between Philip and the Romans in B.C. 200, Cythnus was occupied by
a Macedonian garrison. Attalus and the Rhodians laid siege to the city; but being
unable to take it immediately, they quitted the island at the end of a few days,
as the capture of the place was hardly worth the trouble. (Liv. xxxi. 15, 45.)
After the death of Nero, Cythnus is mentioned as the place where a false Nero
made his appearance, and gathered around him many adherents. (Tac. Hist. ii. 8,
9.)
Cythnus contained a town of the same name, situated about the middle
of the western coast of the island, upon the summit and sides of a hill at least
600 feet in height. Its harbour was formed by a small rock lying in front of the
town. The ruins of the ancient town are now called Hebraeokastron. The circuit
of the walls may still be traced, though the greater part of them has disappeared.
Within this circuit Ross noticed two large rectangular substructions, divided
by a passage a few feet in width; they were probably the foundations of two temples
or other public buildings. From the above-mentioned passage a flight of steps
appears to have been cut out of the rock, leading down to the sea. Near these
steps on the descent to the sea are three chambers cut out of the rock, standing
alongside of one another; they were probably a sanctuary, as there is nothing
to indicate that they were sepulchres.
The modern name of the island, Thermia, is derived from some hot springs
on its north-eastern side, which are now much frequented from various parts of
Greece, for the cure of diseases. They are not mentioned by ancient writers, but
appear to have been used in antiquity, as some ancient remains are found near
them. (Tournefort, Voyage, vol. i. p. 251, transl.; Ross, Reisen auf den Griech.
Inseln, vol. i. p. 105; Fiedler, Reise durch Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 95.)
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ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Cyclades (Kuklades), a group of islands in the Aegaean Sea, lying to the south of Attica and Euboea, and so called because they lay in a circle (en kukloi) around Delos, the smallest but the most important of them. According to Strabo they were originally only twelve in number; namely, Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, Melos, Siphnos, Cimolos, Paros, Naxos, Syros, Myconos, Tenos, Andros. To these Artemidorus added Prepesinthos, Oliaros, and Cyaros, thus making them fifteen. Scylax differs from all other writers in making two groups of Cyclades, a northern and a southern. In the northern he places Ceos, Helena, Cythnos, Seriphos, Siphnos, Paros, Naxos, Delos, Rhene, Scyros (an error probably of the transcriber, for Syros), Myconos, Tenos, Andros. In the southern group he specifies Melos, Cimolos, Oliaros, Sicinos, Thera, Anaphe, Astypalaea. Most authorities, however, make the Cyclades consist of the twelve islands mentioned by Strabo, with the exception that they substitute Rhene or Rheneia for Melos, which is certainly more correct, since Melos scarcely lay within the circle. Accordingly the twelve, taking them in a circle from the NW. are; Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, Siphnos, Paros, Naxos, Delos, Rheneia, Myconos, Syros, Tenos, Andros. Mela, probably only through inadvertence, omits Ceos, and names Sicinos instead of Cythnos. Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22) follows Artemidorus in including Prepesinthos, Oliaros and Cyaros.
According to Thucydides (i. 4) the Cyclades were originally inhabited by Carians, who were expelled by Minos. (Comp. Herod. i. 171.) They were afterwards colonized by Ionians and Dorians, principally by the former.
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ΜΑΚΡΟΝΗΣΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΕΑ
Helena (Helene: Eth. Helenaios, Helenites, Heleneios: Makronisi), a long narrow
island, extending along the eastern coast of Attica from Thoricus to Sunium, and
distant from two to four miles from the shore. It was also called Macris (Makris),
from its length (Steph. B. s. v. Helene). Strabo (ix.) describes it as 60 stadia
in length; but its real length is seven geographical miles. It was uninhabited
in antiquity, as it is at the present day; and it was probably only used then,
as it is now, for the pasture of cattle. Both Strabo and Pausanias derive its
name from Helena, the wife of Menelaus: the latter writer supposes that it was
so called because Helena landed here after the capture of Troy; but Strabo identifies
it with the Homeric Cranae, to which Paris fled with Helena (Il. iii. 445), and
supposes that its name was hence changed. into Helena. There cannot, however,
be any doubt that the Homeric Cranae was opposite Gythium in Laconia. (Strab.
ix., x.; Paus. i. 35.1, viii. 14.12; Steph. B. s. v.; Mela, ii. 7; Plin. iv. 12.
s. 20)
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ΜΗΛΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Melos (Melos: Eth. Melios: Milo), an island in the Aegean sea, and
the most south-westerly of the Cyclades, whence it was called Zephyria by Aristotle
(ap. Plin. iv. 12. s. 23; comp. Steph. B. s. v.), and was even placed by Strabo
in the Cretan sea (x. p. 484). The latter writer says (l. c.) that Melos was 700
stadia from the promontory Dictynnaeum in Crete, and the same distance from the
promontory Scyllaeum in Argolis. The island is in reality 70 miles north of the
coast of Crete, and 65 miles east of the coast of Peloponnesus. It is about 14
miles in length and 8 in breadth. Pliny and others describe it as perfectly round
in shape ( insularum rotundissima, Plin. l. c.; Solin. c. 11; Isidor. Orig. xiv.
6); but it more resembles the form of a bow. On the northern side there is a deep
bay, which forms an excellent harbour. The island is said to have borne several
names in more ancient times. Besides that of Zephyria given to it by Aristotle,
it was also called Memblis by Aristides, Mimallis by Callimachus, Siphis and Acyton
by Heracleides (Plin. l. c.), and also Byblis by Stephanus B. (s. v. Melos); the
latter name is said to have been derived from its receiving a colony from the
town of Bybls in Phoenicia. Other writers mention this Phoenician colony, and
Festus derives the name of Melos from the founder of the colony. (Fest. s. v.
Melos.) Some connect the name with melon, an apple, on account of the round shape
of the island. The Phoenician settlement is probable; but we know that it was
colonised at an early period by the Lacedaemonians, and that it continued to be
inhabited by Dorians down to the time of the Peloponnesian War. According to the
Melians themselves, the Lacedaemonians settled in the island 700 years before
this war. (Herod. viii. 48; Thuc. v. 84, 112.) In the Peloponnesian War, the Melians
remained faithful to their mother city. In B.C. 426, the Athenians made an unsuccessful
attempt upon the island; but in 416 they captured the principal town, put all
the adult males to death, sold the women and children into slavery, and colonised
the island afresh by 500 Athenians. (Thuc. v. 84-116; Diod. xii. 80; Strab. l.
c.)
Melos is now called Milo. It is mountainous and of volcanic origin.
Its warm springs, which are now used for bathing, are mentioned in ancient times.
(Plin. xxxi. 6. s. 23; Athen. ii. p. 43.) Pliny says that the best sulphur was
found in Melos (xxxv. 15. s. 50); and among other products of the island he enumerates
alum (xxxv. 15. s. 52), pummice-stone (xxxvi. 21. s. 42), and a bright colour,
called Melinum pigments (xxxv. 6. s. 19; comp. Vitruv. vii. 7; Diosc. v. 180;
Plaut. Most. i. 3. 107). The mines of alum are on the eastern side of the island,
near a height which emits smoke, and has every appearance of having been a volcano.
In the south-western half of the island, the mountains are more rugged and lofty;
the highest summit bears the name of St. Elias. The island produces good wine
and olives, but there is not much care taken in the cultivation of the vine. In
antiquity Melos was celebrated for its kids. (Athen, i. p. 4.) One of its greatest
deficiencies is want of water. The inhabitants of Kastron depend almost exclusively
upon cisterns; and the only spring in the vicinity is to the westward of the ancient
city, on the sea-side, where is a chapel of St. Nicolas.
In ancient times the chief town in the island was called Melos. It
stood upon the great harbour. It is celebrated as the birthplace of Diagoras,
surnamed the Atheist. The town appears to have been small, since it is called
by Thucydides a chorion, not polis; and of the 3000 men who originally composed
the Athenian expedition, the smaller half was sufficient to besiege the place.
(Thuc. v. 84, 114.) The present capital of Melos is named Kastron, and is situated
upon a steep hill above the harbour. The former capital was in the interior, and
was deserted on account of its unhealthy situation. Between Kastron and the northern
shore of the harbour are the ruins of the ancient town, extending down to the
water-side. On the highest part, which is immediately over-looked by the village,
are some remains of polygonal walls, and others of regular masonry with round
towers. The western wall of the city is traceable all the way down the hill from
the summit to the sea: on the east it followed the ridge of some cliffs, but some
foundations remain only in a few places (Leake). Within the enclosure there is
a small hill, on which stand a church of St. Elias and a small monastery, and
which perhaps served in antiquity as a kind of acropolis. Here several architectural
fragments have boon found. On the southeastern side of the hill are some seats
cut out of the rock in a semi-circular form, of which only four remained uncovered
when Ross visited the island in 1843. They appear to have been the upper seats
of a small theatre or odeum, which was perhaps more ancient than the large theatre
mentioned below. In front of these seats is a quadrangular foundation of regular
masonry, of which in one part four or five courses remain. About 40 steps eastward
of this foundation are the remains of a temple or some other public building,
consisting of fragments of a Corinthian capital and part of a cornice. About a
hundred steps SW. is the larger theatre, which was cleared from its rubbish in
1836 by the king of Bavaria, then Crown Prince. The nine lowest rows of seats,
of white marble, are for the most part still remaining, but the theatre, when
entire, extended far up the hill. From the character of its architecture, it may
safely be ascribed to the Roman period. There are no other remains of the ancient
town worthy of notice.
Eastward of the ancient city is a village named Trupete, from the
tombs with which the hill is pierced in every part. Eastward of Trupete is a narrow
valley sloping to the sea, which also contains several sepulchral excavations.
Some of them consist of two chambers, and contain niches for several bodies. There
are, also, tombs in other parts of the island. In these tombs many works of art
and other objects have been discovered; painted vases, gold ornaments, arms, and
utensils of various kinds. Some very interesting Christian catacombs have also
been discovered at Melos, of which Ross has given a description. (Tournefort,
Voyage, vol. i. p. 114, Engl. tr.; Tavernier, Voyage, vol. i. p. 435; Olivier,
Voyage, vol. ii. p. 217; Leake, Northern Greece vol. iii. p. 77; Prokesch, Denkwurdigkeiten,
vol. i. p. 531, vol. ii. p. 200; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 369; Ross, Reisen
auf den Griechischen Inseln, vol. iii. pp. 3, 145.)
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ΜΥΚΟΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Myconus (Mukonos: Eth. Mukonios: Mykono), a small island in the Aegaean
sea, lying E. of Delos, and N. of Naxos. Pliny says (iv. 12. s. 22) that it is
15 miles from Delos, which is much greater than the real distance; but Scylax
(p. 55) more correctly describes it as 40 stadia from Rheneia, the island W. of
Delos. Myconus is about 10 miles in length, and 6 in its greatest breadth. It
is in most parts a barren rock, whence Ovid gives it the epithet of humilis (Met.
vii. 463); and the inhabitants had in antiquity a bad reputation on account of
their avarice and meanness (Athen. i. p. 7; hence the proverb Mukonios geiton,
Zenob. Prov. v. 21; Suidas, Hesch., Phot.). The rocks of Myconus are granite,
and the summits of the hills are strewn with immense blocks of this stone. This
circumstance probably gave rise to the fable that the giants subdued by Hercules
lay under Myconus; whence came the proverb, to put all things under Myconus, applied
to those who ranged under one class things naturally separate. (Strab. x. p. 487;
Steph. B. s. v.) The tomb of the Locrian Ajax was also shown at Myconus. (Tzetz.
ad Lycophr. 401.) Of the history of the island we have no account, except the
statement that it was colonised from Athens, by the Nelide Hippocles. (Zenob.
v. 17; Schol. ad Dionys. Per. ap. Geogr. Min. vol. iv. p. 37, Hudson.) Myconus
is mentioned incidentally by Herodotus (vi. 118) and Thucydides (iii. 29). Ancient
writers relate, as one of the peculiarities of Myconus, that the inhabitants lost
their hair at an early age. (Strab. l. c.; Plin. xi. 37. s. 47; Myconi calva omnis
juventus, Donat. ad Ter. Hecyr. iii. 4. 19.) The highest mountain, which is in
the northern part of the island, has a summit with two peaks, whence it is called
Dimastus by Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22). The promontory of Phorbia (phorbia, Ptol. iii.
15. § 29) was probably on the eastern side of the island. Scylax mentions two
cities (Mukonos, haute dipolis, p. 22). Of these one called Myconus occupied the
site of the modern town, which presents, however, scarcely any ancient remains.
The name and position of the other town are unknown. The coins of Myconus are
rare; and in general very few remains of antiquity are found in any part of the
island. (Ross, Reisen auf den Griechischen Inseln, vol. ii. p. 28, seq.)
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ΝΑΞΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Naxos or Naxus (Nachos: Eth. Nachios: Naxia), the largest and most
fertile of the Cyclades, situated in the middle of the Aegean sea, about halfway
between the coasts of Greece and those of Asia Minor. It lies east of Paros, from
which it is separated by a channel about 6 miles wide. It is described by Pliny
(iv. 12. s. 22) as 75 Roman miles in circumference. It is about 19 miles in length,
and 15 in breadth in its widest part. It bore several other names in ancient times.
It was called Strongyle (Strongule) from its round shape, Dionysias (Dionusias)
from its excellent wine and its consequent connection with the worship of Dionysus,
and the Smaller Sicily (mikra Sikelia) from the fertility of its soil (Plin. iv.
12. s. 22; Diod. v. 50-52); but the poets frequently give it the name of Dia (Dia;
comp. Ov. Met. ii. 690, viii. 174.) It is said to have been originally inhabited
by Thracians, and then by Carians, and to have derived its name from Naxos, the
Carian chieftain. (Diod. v. 50, 51; Steph. B. s. v. Nachos.) In the historical
ages it was colonised by Ionians from Attica (Herod. viii. 46), and in consequence
of its position, size, and fertility, it became the most powerful of the Cyclades.
The government of Naxos was orignally an oligarchy, but was overthrown by Lygdamis,
who made himself tyrant of the island. (Aristot. ap. Ath. viii. p. 348.) Lygdamis,
however, appears not to have retained his power long, for we find him assisting
Peisistratus in his third restoration to Athens, and the latter in return subduing
Naxos and committing the tyranny to Lygdamis. (Herod. i. 61, 64; comp. Aristot.
Pol. v, 5.) But new revolutions followed. The aristocratical party appear to have
again got the upper hand; but they were after a short time expelled by the people,
and applied for assistance to Aristagoras of Miletus. The Persians, at the persuasion
of Aristagoras, sent a large force in B.C. 501 to subdue Naxos: the expedition
proved a failure; and Aristagoras, fearing the anger of the Persian court, persuaded
the Ionians to revolt from the great king. (Herod. v. 30-34.) At this period the
Naxians had 8000 hoplites, many ships of war, and numerous slaves. (Herod. v.
30, 31.) From the 8000 hoplites we may conclude that the free population amounted
to 50,000 souls, to which number we may add at least as many slaves. In B.C. 490
the Persians under Datis and Artaphernes landed upon the island, and in revenge
for their former failure laid it waste with fire and sword. Most of the inhabitants
took refuge in the mountains, but those who remained were reduced to slavery,
and their city set on fire. (Herod. vi. 96.) Naxos became a dependency of Persia;
but their four ships, which were sent to the Persian fleet, deserted the latter
and fought on the side of Grecian independence at the battle of Salamis. (Herod.
viii. 46.) They also took part in the battle of Plataeae. (Diod. v. 52.) After
the Persian wars Naxos became a member of the confederacy of Delos under the headship
of Athens; but about B.C. 471 it revolted, and was subdued by the Athenians, who
reduced the Naxians to the condition of subjects, and established 500 Athenian
Cleruchs in the island. (Thuc. i. 98, 137; Plut. Pericl. 11; Paus. i. 27. § 6.)
From this time Naxos is seldom mentioned in ancient history. It was off Naxos
that Chabrias gained a signal victory over the Lacedaemonian fleet in B.C. 376,
which restored to Athens the empire of the sea. (Xen. Hell. v. 4. 60, seq.; Diod.
xv. 34.) During the civil wars of Rome Naxos was for a short time subject to the
Rhodians. (Appian, B.C. v. 7.)
After the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, the Aegaean
sea fell to the lot of the Venetians; and Marco Sanudo, in 1207, took possession
of Naxos, and founded there a powerful state under the title of the Duchy of the
Aegaean Sea (Dux Aegaei Pelagi). He built the large castle above the town, now
in ruins, and fortified it with 12 towers; His dynasty ruled over the greater
part of the Cyclades for 360 years, and was at length overthrown by the Turks
in 1566. (Finlay, Medieval Greece, p. 320, seq.) Naxos now belongs to the new
kingdom of Greece. Its population does not exceed 12,000, and of these 300 or
400 are Latins, the descendants of the Venetian settlers, many of whom bear the
names of the noblest families of Venice.
The ancient capital of the island, also called Naxos, was situated
upon the NW. coast. Its site is occupied by the modern capital. On a small detached
rock, called Palati, about 50 yards in front of the harbour, are the ruins of
a temple, which tradition calls a temple of Dionysus. The western portal still
remains, consisting of three huge marble slabs, two perpendicular and one laid
across, and is of elegant, though simple workmanship. A drawing of it is given
by Tournefort. Stephanus B. mentions another town in Naxos called Tragia or Tragaea
(s. v. Tragia), but which Ross believes to be the small island Makares, between
Naxos and Donussa. Aristotle also (ap. Athen. viii. p. 348) mentioned a place,
named Lestadae (Lestadai), of which nothing further is known.
In the centre of the island a mountain, now called Zia, rises to the
height of 3000 feet. From its summit 22 islands may be counted; and in the distance
may be seen the outline of the mountains of Asia Minor. This mountain appears
to have been called Drius (Drios) in antiquity (Diod. v. 51); its modern name
is probably derived from the ancient name of the island (Dia). On it there is
a curious Hellenic tower; and near the bottom, on the road towards Philoti, an
inscription, horos Dios Melosiou. Another mountain is called Koronon (to Koronon),
which is evidently an ancient name, and reminds one of the Naxian nymph Coronis,
who brought up the young Dionysus (Diod. v. 52). The mountains of Naxos consist
partly of granite and partly of marble, the latter being scarcely inferior to
that of Paros. Good whetstones were also obtained from Naxos. (Hesych. s. v. Nachia
lithos; Plin. xxxvi. 6. s. 9.) There are several streams in the island, one of
which in ancient times was called Biblus (Biblos, Steph. B. s. v. Bibline).
The fertility of Naxos has been equally celebrated in ancient and
modern times. Herodotus says that it excelled all other islands in prosperity
(v. 28). It produces in abundance corn, oil, wine, and fruit of the finest description.
In consequence of the excellence of its wine Naxos was celebrated in the legends
of Dionysus, particularly those relating to Ariadne. Moreover, the priest of Dionysus
gave his name to the year, like the Archon Eponymus at Athens. (Bockh, Inscr.
2265.) The finest wine of Naxos is now produced at a place called Aperathos. It
is a superior white wine, and is celebrated in the islands of the Aegaean under
the name of Bacchus-Wine.
The plant which produces ladanum is found at Naxos; and in Thevenot's
time it was collected from the beards of goats, in the manner described by Herodotus
(iii. 112). Emery is also found there, particularly in the southern part of the
island, and forms an article of export. The goats of Naxos were celebrated in
antiquity. (Athen. xii. p. 540.)
One of the most remarkable curiosities in the island is an unfinished
colossal figure, still lying in an ancient marble quarry near the northern extremity
of the island. It is about 34 feet in length, and has always been called by the
inhabitants a figure of Apollo. On the side of the hill, at the distance of five
minutes from the statue, we still find the inscription, horos choriou hierou Apollonos.
Ross conjectures that the statue may have been intended as a dedicatory offering
to Delos. (Thevenot, Travels, p. 103, Engl. transl.; Tournefort, Voyage, vol.
i. p. 163, Engl. transl.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 93; Ross, Reisen
auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 22, seq.; Gruter, De Naxo Insula, Hal. 1833
Curtius, Naxos, Berl. 1846.)
This is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΠΑΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Paros or Parus (Eth. Parios: Paro), an island in the Aegaean sea, and one of the
largest of the Cyclades, lies west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel
about 6 miles wide. It was said to have been originally inhabited by Cretans and
Arcadians, and to have received its name from Parus, a son of the Arcadian Parrhasius.
(Callimach. ap. Steph. B. s. v.) It was also reported to have borne the names
of Pactia, Demetrias, Zacynthus, Hyleesa, Minoa, and Cabarnis. (Nicanor, ap. Steph.
B. s. v.) It was colonised by the Ionians, and became at an early period so prosperous
as to send colonies to Thasus (Thuc. iv. 104; Strab. x. p. 487), to Parium on
the Propontis (Strab. l. c.), and to Pharus on the Illyrian coast. (Strab. vii.
p. 315.) After the battle of Marathon, Miltiades in vain endeavoured to subjugate
the island. (Herod. vii. 133, seq.; Ephorus, ap. Steph. B. s. v.) The Parians
did not take part in the battle of Salamis, but kept aloof at Cythnus, watching
the course of events. (Herod, viii. 67.) They escaped, however, punishment, by
giving large bribes to Themistocles. (Herod. viii. 112.) Along with the other
islands in the Aegaean, Paros shortly afterwards became subject to Athens, and,
according to an inscription, paid the imperial city the yearly tribute of 19,440
drachmas. (Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr. No. 49.) Paros subsequently shared the fate
of the other Cyclades; and there is nothing further in its history to require
special mention. The poet Archilochus was a native of Paros.
The island consists of a single round mountain, sloping evenly to
a maritime plain which surrounds the mountain on every side. It was celebrated
in antiquity for its white marble, which was extensively employed in architecture
and sculpture, and was reckoned only second to that of Mt. Pentelicus. The best
kind was called lithos luchnites, luchneos, or lugdos. (Athen. v. p. 205; Plin.
xxxvi. 5. s. 14: Diod. ii. 52.) The quarries were chiefly in Mt. Marpessa. (Steph.
B. s. v. Marpessa; Marpessia cautes, Virg. Aen. vi. 471.) The Parian figs were
also celebrated. (Athen. iii. p. 76.) According to Scylax (p. 22) Paros possessed
two harbours. Its chief city, which bore the same name as the island, was on the
western coast. It is now called Paroikia, and contains several ancient remains.
On a small hill SE. of the city Ross discovered in the walls of a house the inscription
Demetros Karpophorou, and close by some ancient ruins. This was probably the site
of the sanctuary of Demeter mentioned in the history of Miltiades, from which
we learn that the temple was outside the city and stood upon a hill. (Herod. vi.
134.) Paros had in 1835 only 5300 inhabitants. (Thiersch, Ueber Paros und Parische
Inschriften, in the Abhandl. der Bayrischen Akad. of 1834, p. 583, &c.; Ross,
Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 44; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii.
p. 85, &c.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Thera (Ion. There: Eth. Theraios: Santorin), an island in the Aegaean sea, and
the chief of the Sporades, is described by Strabo as 200 stadia in circumference,
opposite the Cretan island of Dia, and 700 stadia from Crete itself. (Strab. x.
p. 484.) Pliny places Thera 25 Roman miles S. of Ios (iv. 12. s. 23). Thera is
said to have been formed by a clod of earth thrown from the ship Argo, to have
received the name of Calliste, when it first emerged from the sea, and to have
been first inhabited by the Phoenicians, who were left there by Cadmus. Eight
generations afterwards it was colonised by Lacedaemonians and Minyae under the
guidance of the Spartan Theras, the son of Autesion, who gave his name to the
island. (Herod. iv. 147, seq.; Pind. Pyth. iv. 457; Callin. ap. Strab. viii. p.
347, x. p. 484; Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1762; Paus. iii. 1. § 7, iii. 15. § 6, vii. 2.
§ 2.) Its only importance in history is owing to its being the mother-city
of Cyrene in Africa, which was founded by Battus of Thera in B.C. 631.
(Herod. iv. 150, seq.) At this time Thera contained seven districts (choroi, Herod.
iv. 153.) Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 26) has preserved the names of two places, Eleusin
or Eleusis, and Oea; and a third, called Melaenae, occurs in an inscription. (Bockh,
Inscr, no 2448.) Like Melos, Thera sided with the Lacedaemonians at the commencement
of the Peloponnesian War (Thuc. ii. 9), but of its subsequent history we have
no information.
Thera and the surrounding islands are remarkable as having been the
scene of active volcanic operations in ancient as well as in modern times. In
consequence of the survey made by command of the English Admiralty, we now possess
precise information respecting these islands, the result of which, with additional
particulars, is given by Lieutenant Leycester in a paper published in the Journal
of the Royal Geographical Society, from which the following account is chiefly
taken. Thera, now called Santorin, the largest of the group, has been likened
in form to a horse-shoe; but a crescent with its two points elongated towards
the west would be a more exact description. The distance round the inner curve
is 12 miles, and round the outer 18, making the coast-line of the whole island
30 miles: its breadth is in no part more than 3 miles. Opposite to Thera westward
is Therasia, which still bears the same name. (Strab. i. p. 57, v. p. 484; Steph.
B. s. v. Therasia; Ptol. iii. 15. § 28; Plin. ii. 87, s. 89, iv. 12. s. 70.) Its
circuit is 7 1/2 miles, its length from N. to S. about 2 1/2 miles, and its breadth
a mile. About 1 3/4 mile S. of Therasia, lies Aspronisi, or White Island, only
a mile in circuit, and so called from being capped with a deep layer of pozzolana;
the name of this island is not mentioned by the ancient writers. These three islands,
Thera, Therasia, and Aspronisi, enclose an expanse of water nearly 18 miles in
circumference, which is in reality the crater of a great volcano. The islands
were originally united, and were subsequently separated by the eruption of the
crater. In the centre of this basin three volcanic mountains rise, known by the
name of Kammeni or the Burnt, (kammene, i. e. kaumene instead of kekaumene), and
distinguished as the Palaea or Old, the Nea or New, and the Mikra or Little. It
was formerly asserted that the basin was unfathomable, but its depth and shape
have been clearly ascertained by the soundings of the English Survey. Supposing
the basin could be drained, a gigantic bowl-shaped cavity would appear, with walls
2449 feet high in some places, and nowhere less than 1200 feet high, while the
Kammenis would be seen to form in the centre a huge mountain 5 1/2 miles in circumference
with three summits, the Palaea Kammeni, the Nea Kammeni, and the Mikra Kammeni,
rising severally from the bottom of the abyss to the height of 1606, 1629, and
1550 feet. The rim of the great crater thus exposed would appear in all parts
unbroken, except at the northern point between Thera and Therasia, where there
is a chasm or door into the crater about a mile in width, and 1170 feet in depth
midway between the two islands. If we now suppose the waters of the Aegaean let
in, the edges of the crater, forming the inner curve of Thera and Therasia, rise
above the sea from the height of 500 to 1200 feet, and present frightful precipices,
of the colour of iron dross, except where their summits are capped with a deep
layer of pozzolana. The Palaea Kammeni is 328 feet above the water; the Nea Kammeni
351 feet; and the Mikra Kammeni 222 feet.
Thera, Therasia, and Aspronisi are all composed of volcanic matter,
except the southern part of Thera, which contains Mount Elias, of limestone formation,
the peak of which rises 1887 feet above the level of the sea, and is the highest
land in the island. This mountain must have been originally a submarine eminence
in the bed of the Mediterranean before the volcanic cone was formed (Lyell, Principles
of Geology, p. 445, 9th ed.).
The first appearance of the three Kammenis belongs to historical times,
and has been narrated by several writers. The Nea Kammeni, which is the largest
of the group, did not emerge till the year 1707; but the other two were thrown
up in ancient times. The exact time of their appearance, however, is differently
related, and it is difficult, and in some cases impossible, to reconcile the conflicting
statements of ancient writers upon the subject. It appears certain that the oldest
of these islands is the most southerly one, still called the Palaea or Old Kammeni.
It burst out of the sea in B.C. 197, and received the name of Hiera, a name frequently
given in antiquity to volcanic mountains. This fact is stated by Eusebius, Justin,
Strabo, and Plutarch. It is related by Strabo that flames burst out of the sea
for four days, and that an island was formed 12 stadia or 1 1/2 English mile in
circumference. (Euseb. Chron. p. 144, Olymp. 145. 4; Justin, xxx. 4; Strab. i.
p. 57; Plut. de Pyth. Or. 11. p. 399.) The unanimous statement of these four writers
is, however, at variance with that of Pliny (ii. 87. s. 89), who says that in
the 4th year of the 135th Olympiad [B.C. 237] there arose Thera and Therasia;
between these islands, 130 years later [B.C. 107], Hiera, also called Automate;
and 2 stadia from the latter, 110 years [A.D. 3] afterwards, in the consulship
of M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus, on the 8th of July, Thia. In another passage
he says (iv. 12. s. 23): Thera, when it first emerged from the sea, was called
Calliste. Therasia was afterwards torn away from it; between the two there presently
arose Automate, also called Hiera; and in our age Thia near Hiera. Seneca refers
apparently to the events mentioned by Pliny, when he states (Qu. Nat. ii. 26),
upon the authority of Posidonius, that an island arose in the Aegaean sea in the
memory of our ancestors (majorum nostrorum memoria), and that the same thing happened
a second time in our memory (nostra memoria) in the consulship of Valerius Asiaticus
[A.D. 46]. (Comp. Qu. Nat. vi. 21.)
According to the preceding statements there would have been five different
eruptions of islands in the space of little more than 200 years. First Thera and
Therasia themselves appeared in B.C. 237, according to Pliny; secondly Hiera,
according to Eusebius, Justin, Strabo, and Plutarch, in B.C. 197; thirdly Hiera
or Automate, according to Pliny, 130 years later than the first occurrence, consequently
in B.C. 107; fourthly, according to Pliny, 110 years afterwards, Thia, that is
in A.D. 3; fifthly, according to Seneca and other writers, who will be mentioned
presently, an island in the reign of the emperor Claudius, A.D. 46.
Now it is evident that there is some gross error in the text of Pliny,
or that he has made use of his authorities with a carelessness which is not unusual
with him. The most surprising thing is, that he has omitted the eruptions of the
islands in B.C. 197 and A.D. 46, which are guaranteed by several authorities.
His statement that Thera and Therasia first appeared in the 4th year of the 135th
Olympiad, i. e. B.C. 237, is absurd, as they are mentioned by Callinus and Herodotus,
and must have existed even long before the time of those writers; but if we suppose
a slight error in the numerals in the text of Pliny (reading Olympiadis cxxxxv
anno quarto instead of. Olympiadis cxxxv anno quarto. ), we have the very year
(B.C. 197) in which Eusebius and Justin place the appearance of Hiera. There can
be little doubt, therefore, that Pliny's authorities referred to this event, and
that it was only through carelessness that he spoke of the appearance of Thera
and Therasia in that year. Thus the first statement of Pliny may be reconciled
with the accounts of Eusebius, Justin, and the other writers. The appearance of
the second island, to which he falsely transfers the name of Hiera from the earlier
occurrence, must be placed in B.C. 67, according to the corrected chronology.
This. island no longer exists; and it must therefore either have been thrown up
and disappeared again immediately, as was the case in the eruption of 1650, or
it was simply an addition to the ancient Hiera, of which there are some instances
at a later period. It is apparently to this eruption that the statement of Posidonius,
quoted by Seneca, refers. The last statement of Pliny that a new island, named
Thia, was thrown up 2 stadia from Thia in the consulship of M. Junius Silanus
and L. Balbus, on the 8th. of July, is so exact that it seems hardly possible
to reject it; but here again is an error in the date. If we take the numbers as
they stand, this event would have happened in A.D. 3, or, according to the corrected
numbers, in A.D. 43, whereas we know that M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus were
consuls in A.D. 19. No other writer, however, speaks of an eruption of an island
in this year, which, if it actually happened, must again have disappeared. Moreover,
it is strange that Pliny should have passed over the eruption of the real Thia,
or Mikra Kammeni, which occurred in his lifetime, in the consulship of Valerius
Asiaticus, and in the reign of Claudius, A.D. 46. This event, with the difference
of only a single year, is mentioned by several writers. (Senec. Qu. Nat. ii. 26,
vi. 21; Dion Cass. lx. 29; Aurel. Vict. Caes. 4, Epit. 4; Oros. vii. 6; Amm. Marc.
xvii. 7; Georg. Cedren. i. p. 197, ed. Par.) Moreover Pliny himself, in another
passage (iv. 12. s. 23), says that Thia appeared in our age ( in nostro aevo ),
which can hardly apply to the consulship of Silanus and Balbus, since he was not
born till A.D. 23.
In A.D. 726, during the reign of Leo the Isaurian, Hiera, or the Palaea
Kammeni, received an augmentation on the NE. side. (Theoph. Chronogr. p. 338,
ed. Paris.; Cedren. i. p. 454, ed. Paris.; Nicephor. p. 37, ed. Par.) There have
been several eruptions in modern times, of which a full account is given by Lieut.
Leycester and Ross. Of these one of the most important was in 1573, when the Mikra
Kammeni is said to have been formed. But as we have already seen from several
authorities that an island was formed in the reign of Claudius, A.D. 46, we must
suppose either that the last-mentioned island sunk into the sea at some unknown
period, and made its appearance a second time as the Mikra Kammeni in 1573, or
that there was only an augmentation of the Mikra Kammeni this year. The latter
supposition is the more probable, especially since Father Richard, who records
it, was not an eye-witness, but derived his information from old people in the
island. There was another terrible eruption in 1650, which Father Richard himself
saw. It broke out at an entirely different spot from all preceding eruptions,
outside the gulf, off the NE. coast of Thera, about 3 1/2 miles from C. Kolumbo,
in the direction of Ios and Anydros. This submarine outbreak lasted about three
months, covering the sea with pumice, and giving rise to a shoal, which was found
by the English Survey to have 10 fathoms water over it. At the same time the island
of Thera was violently shaken by earthquakes, in which many houses were overthrown,
and a great number of persons and animals were killed by the pestilential vapours
emitted from the volcano. The sea inundated the flat eastern coast of the island
to the extent of two Italian miles inland. The ruins of two ancient towns at Perissa
and Kamari were disinterred, the existence of which was previously unknown, and
which must have been overwhelmed by some previous eruption of volcanic matter.
The road also, which then existed round Cape Messa-Vouno, was sunk beneath the
waters.
For the next 50 years, or a little longer, the volcanic fires slept,
but in 1707 they burst forth with redoubled fury, and produced the largest of
the three burnt islands, the Nea Kammeni. It originally consisted of two islands.
The first which rose was called the White Island, composed of a mass of pumice
extremely porous. A few days afterwards there appeared a large chain of dark rocks,
composed of brown trachyte, to which the name of the Black Island was given. These
two islands were gradually united; and in the course of the eruptions, the black
rocks became the centre of the actual island, the Nea Kammeni. The White Island
was first seen on the 23rd of May, 1707, and for a year the discharges of the
volcano were incessant. After this time the eruptions were less frequent; but
they continued to occur at intervals in 1710 and 1711; and it was not till 1712
that the fires of the volcano became extinct. The island is now about 2 1/2 miles
in circuit, and has a perfect cone at its SE. side, which is 351 feet high. From
1712 down to the present day there has been no further eruption.
There are several thermal and mineral springs at Thera and the surrounding
islands, of which Lieut. Leycester gives an account, and which are more fully
described by Landerer in the treatise entitled Peri ton en Therai (Santorenei)
thermon hudaton, Athens, 1835. The most important are the iron springs in a bay
on the SE. side of Nea Kammeni. There are springs on the NE. side of Palaea Kammeni,
likewise near Cape Exomiti in the south of Thera, and at other places. Fresh water
springs are very rare at Thera, and are only found round Mount Elias springing
from the limestone. The inhabitants depend for their supply of water upon the
rain which they catch in the tanks during the winter.
The principal modern town of the island is now called Thera, or Phira,
and is situated in the centre of the curve of the gulf. When Tournefort visited
Thera, the capital stood upon the promontory Skaro, a little to the N. of the
present capital, and immediately under the town of Merovouli. The promontory Skaro
projects about one third of a mile into the sea; and upon it are the remains of
a castle built by the dukes of Naxos. The chief town in the island, after the
capital, is Epanomeria, on the NW. promontory, and directly opposite to Therasia.
As space is of the utmost value in this small island, all the principal towns
are built upon the very edge of the cliffs, and present a very singular appearance,
perched in some cases more than 900 feet above the sea. Wood being very scarce,
the houses are excavated in the face of the vast beds of pozzolana. In order to
make approaches to the towns upon the cliffs, the inhabitants have cut zig-zag
stairs or roads in the sides of the precipices. The road upon the summit runs
along the edge of the precipices, and, in many cases, over the habitations, which
are built in the face of them. The population of the island in 1848 was about
14,000, and, including Therasia, about 14,380. In the time of Tournefort there
were 10,000 inhabitants, so that the increase has been nearly a third in about
150 years. The island is carefully cultivated; and the chief production is wine,
which is mostly exported to the Russian ports in the Black Sea.
The antiquities of the island have been explained at length by Ross
and Lieut. Leycester. There are remains of an ancient city situated on the SE.
point of the island, upon the summit of Messa-Vouno, a mountain about 1100 feet
above the level of the sea, connected with Mount Elias by the ridge of the Sellada.
The mountain of Messa-Vouno slopes suddenly off to the precipices on the NE. side,
which rise perpendicularly 600 feet above the water and form the cape of the same
name. The walls exhibit masonry of all ages, from the most ancient Cyclopean to
the regular masonry of later times. The walls may still be traced, and enclose
a circuit of only seven-tenths of a mile; but the houses appear to have been built
terrace-fashion upon the side of the hill. Several inscriptions, fragments of
sculpture, and other antiquities, have been discovered here. The name of this
city has been a subject of some dispute. In an inscription found below Messa-Vouno,
at Kamari, in the church of St. Nicholas, the name Oea occurs, which, as we have
already seen, is one of the two towns mentioned by Ptolemy. But in an inscription
upon some steps cut out of the rock of Messa-Vouno we find Thera polis. Ross,
however, does not consider this to be a proof that Thera was the name of tile
city spposing that polis here signifies only the political community of the Theraeans.
On the other hand, it was so usual for the islands of the Aegaean to possess a
capital of the same name, that, taken in connection with the inscription last
mentioned, it is probable, either that Ptolemy has accidentally omitted the name
of the capital, or that in his time the Theraeans had removed from the lofty site
at Messa-Vouno to Oea upon the sea-coast at Kamari, where submarine ruins still
exist. Upon the other or S. side of the Cape Messa-Vouno, at Perissa, there are
also so many ancient remains as to lead us to suppose that this was the site of
an ancient city, but no inscription has been discovered to give a clue to its
name. Upon either side of the mountain of Messa-Vouno there are numerous tombs.
South of Perissa is C. Exomiti, and a little to the N. of this cape
there are the remains of an ancient city, which is probably the Eleusis of Ptolemy.
Here are the ruins of a mole under water, and upon the side of the mountain many
curious tombs. There are likewise some ruins and tombs at C. Kolumbo, in the NE.
of the island, which Ross conjectures may be the site of Melaenae. The island
of Therasia possessed a town of the same name (Ptol. iii. 15. § 28), the ruins
of which were discovered by Ross opposite Epunomeria in Thera.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΣΕΡΙΦΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Seriphos or Seriphus (Seriphos: Eth. Seriphios: Serpho), an island
in the Aegaean sea, and one of the Cyclades, lying between Cythnos and Siphnos.
According to Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22) it is 12 miles in circumference. It possessed
a town of the same name, with a harbour. (Scylax, p. 22; Ptol. iii. 15. § 31,)
It is celebrated in mythology as the place where Danae and Perseus were driven
to shore in the chest in which they had been exposed by Acrisius, where Perseus
was brought up, and where he afterwards turned the inhabitants into stone with
the Gorgon's head. (Apollod. ii. 4. § 3; Pind. Pyth. x. 72, xii. 18; Strab. x.
p. 487; Ov. Met. v. 242) Seriphos was colonised by Ionians from Athens, and it
was one of the few islands which refused submission to Xerxes. (Herod. viii. 46,
48.) By subsequent writers Seriphos is almost always mentioned with contempt on
account of its poverty and insignificance (Aristoph. Acharn. 542; Plat. Rep. i.
p. 329; Plut. de Exsil. 7. p. 602; Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 3. 1, de Senect. 3);
and it was for this reason employed by the Roman emperors as a place of banishment
for state criminals. (Tac. Ann. ii. 85, iv. 21; Juv. vi. 564, x. 170; Senec. ad
Consol. 6.) It is curious that the ancient writers make no mention of the iron
and copper mines of Seriphos, which were, however, worked in antiquity, as is
evident from existing traces, and which, one might have supposed, would have bestowed
some prosperity upon the island. But though the ancient writers are silent about
the mines, they are careful to relate that the frogs of Seriphos differ from the
rest of their fraternity by being dumb. (Plin. viii. 58. s. 83; Arist. Mir. Ausc.
70; Aelian, Hist. An. iii. 37; Suidas, s. v. Batrachos ek Seriphou.) The modern
town stands upon the site of the ancient city, on the eastern side of the island,
and contains upwards of 2000 inhabitants. It is built upon a steep rock, about
800 feet above the sea. There are only a few remains of the ancient city. (Ross,
Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 134, seq.; Fiedler, Reise, &c. vol.
ii. p. 106, seq.)
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
ΣΙΦΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Siphnos or Siphnus (Siphnos: Eth. Siphnios: Siphno Gr., Siphsanto
Ital.), an island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades, lying SE. of Seriphos,
and NE. of Melos. Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22. § 66) describes it as 28 miles in circuit,
but it is considerably larger. The same writer says that the island was originally
called Merope and Acts; its ancient name of Merope is also mentioned by Stephanus
B. (s. v.). Siphnos was colonised by Ionians from Athens (Herod. viii. 48), whence
it was said to have derived its name from Siphnos, the son of Sunius. (Steph.
B. s. v.) In consequence of their gold and silver mines, of which remains are
still seen, the Siphnians attained great prosperity, and were regarded, in the
time of Polycrates (B.C. 520), as the wealthiest of all the islanders. Their treasury
at Delphi, in which they deposited the tenth of the produce of their mines (Paus.
x. 11. § 2), was equal in wealth to the treasuries of the most opulent states;
and their public buildings were decorated with Parian marble. Their riches, however,
exposed them to pillage; and a party of Samian exiles, in the time of Polycrates,
invaded the island, and levied a contribution of 100 talents. (Herod. iii. 57,
58.) The Siphnians were among the few islanders in the Aegaean who refused tribute
to Xerxes, and they fought with a single ship on the side of the Greeks at Salamis.
(Herod. viii. 46, 48.) Under the Athenian supremacy the Siphnians paid an annual
tribute of 3600 drachmae. (Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr. n. 52.) Their mines were afterwards
less productive; and Pausanias (l. c.) relates that in consequence of the Siphnians
neglecting to send the tenth of their treasure to Delphi, the gods destroyed their
mines by an inundation of the sea. In the time of Strabo the Siphnians had become
so poor that Siphnion astragalon became a proverbial expression. (Strab. x. p.
448; comp. Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 525; Hesych. s. v. Siphnios arrhabon.) The
moral character of the Siphnians stood low; and hence to act like a Siphnian (Siphniazein)
was used as a term of reproach. (Steph. B.; Suid.; Hesych.) The Siphnians were
celebrated in antiquity, as they are in the present day, for their skill in pottery.
Pliny (xxxvi. 22. § 159, Sillig) mentions a particular kind of stone, of which
drinking cups were made. This, according to Fiedler, was a species of talc. and
is probably intended by Stephanus B. when he speaks of Siphnion poterion.
Siphnos possessed a city of the same name (Ptol. iii. 15. § 31), and
also two other towns, Apollonia and Minoa, mentioned only by Stephanus B. The
ancient city occupied the same site as the modern town, called Kastron or Seraglio,
which lies upon the eastern side of the island. There are some remains of the
ancient walls; and fragments of marble are found, with which, as we have already
seen, the public buildings in antiquity were decorated. A range of mountains,
about 3000 feet in height, runs across Siphnos from SE. to NW.; and on the high
ground between this mountain and the eastern side of the island, about 1000 feet
above the sea, lie five neat villages, of which Stavri is the principal. These
villages contain from 4000 to 5000 inhabitants; and the town of Kastron about
another 1000. The climate is healthy, and many of the inhabitants live to a great
age. The island is well cultivated, but does not produce sufficient food for its
population, and accordingly many Siphnians are obliged to emigrate, and are found
in considerable numbers in Athens, Smyrna, and Constantinople. (Tournefort, Voyage,
&c. vol. i. p. 134, seq. transl.; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 125, seq.; Ross,
Reise auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 138, seq.)
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ΣΥΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Syros or Syrus (Suros, also Surie, Hom. Od. xv. 403, and Sura, Diog.
Laert. i. 115; Hesych.; Suid.: Eth. Surios: Syra (Sura), and the present inhabitants
call themselves Suriotai or Surianoi, not Surioi), an island in the Aegaean sea,
one of the Cyclades, lying between Rheneia and Cythnus, and 20 miles in circumference,
according to some ancient authorities. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 22.) Syros produces good
wine, but is upon the whole not fertile, and does not deserve the praises bestowed
upon it by Homer (l. c.), who describes it as rich in pastures, cattle, wine,
and wheat. It is usually stated upon the authority of Pliny (xxxiii. 12. s. 56)
that Syros produced: Sil or yellow ochre; but in Sillig's edition of Pliny, Scyros
is substituted for Syros.
Syros had two cities even in the time of Homer (Od. xv. 412), one
on the eastern, and the other on the western side of the island. The one on the
eastern side, which was called Syros (Ptol. iii. 15. § 30), stood on the same
site as the modern capital of the island, which is now one of the most flourishing
cities in Greece, containing 11,000 inhabitants, and the centre of a flourishing
trade. In consequence of the numerous new buildings almost all traces of the ancient
city have disappeared; but there were considerable remains of it when Tournefort
visited the island. At that time the ancient city was abandoned, and the inhabitants
had built a town upon a lofty and steep hill about a mile from the shore: this
town is now called Old Syra, to distinguish it from the modern town, which has
arisen upon the site of the ancient city. The inhabitants of Old Syra, who are
about 6000 in number, are chiefly Catholics, and, being under the protection of
France and the Pope, they took no part in the Greek revolution during its earlier
years. Their neutrality was the chief cause of the modern prosperity of the island,
since numerous merchants settled there in consequence of the disturbed condition
of the other parts of Greece.
There are ruins of the second ancient city on the western coast, at
the harbour of Maria della Grazia. Ross conjectures that its name may have been
Grynche or Gryncheia, since we find the Grunches, who are otherwise unknown, mentioned
three times in the inscriptions containing lists of the tributary allies of Athens.
There was another ancient town in the island, named Eschatia. (Bockh, Inscr. no.
2347, c.) Pherecydes, one of the early Greek philosophers, was a native of Syros.
(Comp. Strab. x. pp. 485, 487; Scylax, p. 22; Steph. B. s. v.; Tournefort, Voyage,
vol. i. p. 245, seq. Engl. tr.; Prokesch, Erinnerungen, vol. i. p. 55, seq.; Ross,
Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 5, seq., vol. ii. p. 24, seq.; Fiedler,
Reise, vol. ii. p. 164, seq.)
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ΤΗΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Eth. Tenios: Tino. An island in the Aegaean sea, and one of the Cyclades,
lying between Andros and Delos, distant from tile former 1 mile and from the latter
15 miles. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 22.) It stretches from NW. to SE., and is 15 miles
long according to Pliny (l. c.), or 150 stadia according to Scylax. It was also
called Hydrussa (Hudroussa, Hudroessa) from the number of its springs, and Ophiussa
because it abounded in snakes. (Plin. l. c.; Mela, ii. 7. § 11; Steph. B. s. v.)
The sons of Boreas are said to have been slain in this island by Hercules. (Apoll.
Rhod. i. 1304, with Schol.) In the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, the Tenians were
compelled to serve in the Persian fleet; but a Tenian trireme deserted to the
Greeks immediately before the battle of Salamis (B.C. 480), and accordingly the
name of the Tenians was inscribed upon the tripod at Delphi in the list of Grecian
states which had overthrown the Persians. (Herod. viii. 82.) Pausanias relates
that the name of the Tenians was also inscribed on the statue of Zeus at Olympia
among the Greeks who had fought at the battle of Plataea (v. 23. § 2). The Tenians
afterwards formed part of the Athenian maritime empire, and are mentioned among
the subject allies of Athens at the time of the Sicilian expedition (Thuc. vii.
57). They paid a yearly tribute of 3600 drachmae, from which it may be inferred
that they enjoyed a considerable share of prosperity. (Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr.
No. 49.) Alexander of Pherae took possession of Tenos for a time (Dem. c. Polycl.
p. 1207); and the island was afterwards granted by M. Antonius to the Rhodians
(Appian, B.C. v. 7.) After the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins, Tenos
fell to the share of the Venetians, and remained in their hands long after their
other possessions in the Aegaean had been taken by the Turks. It was ceded by
Venice to the Sultan by the peace of Passarovitz, 1718. It is still one of the
most prosperous islands in the Aegaean, and the inhabitants are remarkable for
their industry and good conduct. The present population is about 15,000 souls,
of whom more than half are Catholics,-a circumstance which, by bringing them into
closer connection with western Europe, has contributed to their prosperity.
The ancient city of Tenos, of the same name as the island, stood at
the south-western end upon the same site as St. Nieolaos, the present capital.
Scylax says that it possessed a harbour, and Strabo describes it as a small town.
(Scyl. p. 22; Strab. x. p. 487; Ptol. iii. 14. § 30.) In the neighbourhood of
the city there was a celebrated temple of Poseidon situated in a grove, where
festivals were celebrated, which were much frequented by all the neighbouring
people. (Strab l. c.; Tac. Ann. iii. 63; Clem. Protr. p. 18; Bockh, Inscr. No.
2329, 2331.) The attributes of Poseidon appear on the coins of Tenos. There was
another town in the island named Eriston (Eriston; Bockh, Inscr. 2336, 2337),
which was situated in the interior at the village of Komi. Among the curiosities
of Tenos was mentioned a fountain, the water of which would not mix with wine.
(Athen. ii. p. 43, c.). The island was celebrated in antiquity for its fine garlic.
(Aristoph. Plut. 18.) The chief modern production of the island is wine, of which
the best kind is the celebrated Malvasia, which now grows only at Tenos and no
longer at Monembasia in Peloponnesus, from which place it derived its name.
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ΦΟΛΕΓΑΝΔΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Pholegandros (Strab. x. p. 484, seq.; Steph. B. s. v.; Pholekandros
or Phelokandros, Ptol. iii. 15. § 31: Eth. Pholegandrios, Pholegandrinos: Polykandro),
an island in the Aegaean sea, and one of the smaller of the Cyclades, lying between
Melos and Sicinos. It was said to have derived its name from a son of Minos. (Steph.
B. s. v.) It was called the iron Pholegandros by Aratus, on account of its ruggedness,
but it is more fertile and better cultivated than this epithet would lead one
to suppose. The modern town stands upon the site of the ancient city, of which
there are only a few remains, upon the northern side of the island. (Ross, Reisen
auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 146.)
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ΑΜΟΡΓΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
An island, one of the Sporades, and the birthplace of the poet Simonides. The Roman emperors used it as a place of banishment.
ΑΝΔΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
The most northerly and one of the largest islands of the Cyclades,
southeast of Euboea, twenty-one miles long and eight broad, early attained importance,
and colonized Acanthus and Stagira about B.C. 654. It was celebrated for its wine,
whence the whole island was regarded as sacred to Dionysus.
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ΓΥΑΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
(Guaros). A small island of the Archipelago, classed by Stephanus
of Byzantium among the Sporades, but belonging rather to the Cyclades. It lay
southwest of Andros, off the coast of Attica. So wretched and poor was this barren
rock, being inhabited only by a few fishermen, that they deputed one of their
number to wait upon Augustus, then at Corinth, after the battle of Actium, to
petition that their taxes, which amounted to 150 drachmae (about $25), might be
diminished, as they were unable to raise more than 100. This island became subsequently
notorious, as the spot to which criminals or suspected persons were banished by
order of the Roman emperors. The modern name is Chioura.
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ΔΗΛΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
An island of the Aegean, situated nearly in the centre of the
Cyclades. This island was called also Asteria, Pelasgia, Chlamydia, Lagia, Pyrpilis,
Scythias, Mydia, and Ortygia. It was named Ortygia from ortux, "a quail,"
and Lagia from lagos, "a hare," the island formerly abounding with both
these creatures. On this account, according to Strabo, it was not allowed to have
dogs at Delos, because they destroyed the quails and hares. The name Delos was
commonly derived from delos, "manifest," in allusion to the island having
floated under the surface of the sea until made to appear and stand firm by order
of Poseidon. This was done for the purpose of receiving Leto, who was on the eve
of delivery, and could find no asylum on the earth, Here having bound it by an
oath not to receive her; but as Delos at the time was floating beneath the waters,
it was freed from the obligation. Once fixed in its place, it continued, according
to popular belief, to remain so firm as even to be unmoved by the shocks of an
earthquake. This, however, is contradicted by Thucydides and Herodotus, who report
that a shock was felt there before the Peloponnesian War.
Delos was celebrated as the natal island of Apollo and Artemis,
and the solemnities with which the festivals of these deities were observed there
never failed to attract large crowds from the neighbouring islands and the continent.
Among the seven wonders of the world was an altar at Delos which was made of the
horns of animals. Tradition reported that it was constructed by Apollo with the
horns of deer killed in hunting by his sister Artemis. Plutarch says he saw it,
and he speaks of the wonderful interlacing of the horns of which it was made,
no cement nor bond of any kind being employed to hold it together. Portions of
this altar are identified by archaeologists in the scattered blocks of marble
lately found in the so-called Hall of the Bulls, to the east of the great temple,
and named from its “taurine” capitals representing recumbent bulls. The Athenians
were commanded by an oracle, in the time of Pisistratus, to purify Delos, which
they did by causing the dead bodies which had been buried there to be taken up
and removed from all places within view of the temple. In the sixth year of the
Peloponnesian War, they, by the advice of an oracle, purified it anew by carrying
all the dead bodies to the neighbouring island of Rhenaea, where they were interred.
After having done this, in order to prevent its being polluted in the time to
come, they published an edict that for the future no person should be suffered
to die, nor any woman to be brought to bed, in the island, but that, when death
or parturition approached, they should be carried over into Rhenaea. In memory
of this purification, it is said, the Athenians instituted a solemn quinquennial
festival.
When the Persian armament, under Datis and Artaphernes, was
making its way through the Grecian islands, the inhabitants of Delos left their
rich temple, with its treasures, to the protection of its tutelary deities, and
fled to Tenos. The fame of the sanctuary, however, saved it from spoliation. The
Persians had heard that Delos was the birthplace of two deities who corresponded
to those who held the foremost rank in their own religious system--the sun and
moon. This comparison was probably suggested to them by some Greek who wished
to save the temple. If we may credit the tradition which was current in the days
of Herodotus, Delos received the highest honours from Datis. He would not suffer
his ships to touch the sacred shore, but kept them at the island of Rhenaea. He
also sent a herald to recall the Delians who had fled to Tenos, and offered sacrifice
to the god, in which 300 talents of frankincense are said to have been consumed
After the Persian War, the Athenians established at Delos the treasury of the
Greeks, and ordered that all meetings relative to the confederacy should be held
there. In the tenth year of the Peloponnesian War, not being satisfied with the
purifications which the island had hitherto undergone, they removed its entire
population to Adramyttium, where they obtained a settlement from the Persian satrap
Pharnaces. Here many of these unfortunate Delians were afterwards treacherously
murdered by order of Arsaces, an officer of Tissaphernes. Finally, however, the
Athenians restored those that survived to their country after the battle of Amphipolis,
as they considered that their ill success in the war proceeded from the anger
of the god on account of their conduct towards this unfortunate people. Strabo
says that Delos became a place of great commercial importance after the destruction
of Corinth, as the merchants who had frequented that city then withdrew to this
island, which afforded great facilities for carrying on trade on account of the
convenience of its port, and its advantageous situation with respect to the coasts
of Greece and Asia Minor, as well as from the great concourse of people who resorted
thither at stated times. It was also very famous for its bronze. The Romans especially
favoured the interests of the Delians, though they had conceded to the Athenians
the sovereignty of the island and the administration of the temple. But on the
occupation of Athens by the generals of Mithridates, they landed troops in Delos
and committed the greatest devastations there in consequence of the inhabitants
refusing to espouse their cause (B.C. 87). After this calamity it remained in
an impoverished and deserted state. The town of Delos was situated at the foot
of Mount Cynthus, in a plain watered by the little river Inopus, and by a lake
called Trochoeides by Theognis and Herodotus. Remains of the great temple of Apollo,
of the temple of Leto, a theatre, a private house, and of several porticoes are
among the antiquities that are now visible. Since 1877, M. Homolle and others,
on behalf of the French Archaeological Institute, have prosecuted very extensive
investigations on the site of the town.
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The ancient name of Delos. Since Artemis and Apollo were born at Delos, the poets sometimes call the goddess Ortygia, and give the name of Ortygiae boves to the oxen of Apollo. The ancients connected the name with ortux, a quail.
After the destruction of Corinth, in the middle of the second century B.C., the island of Delos enjoyed a brief but brilliant period of prosperity.
ΔΟΝΟΥΣΑ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
(Donusa) or Donusia (Donousia). One of the smaller Sporades in the Aegaean Sea near Naxos. It produced green marble, whence Vergil calls the island viridis. Under the Roman emperors it was used as a place of banishment.
ΙΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
An island in the Aegean Sea, to the north of Thera. Here, according to some accounts, Homer was interred ( Pliny H. N.iv. 12). It was also said that the poet's mother was a native of this island. The modern name is Nio.
ΙΟΥΛΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΕΑ
The chief town in Ceos; the birthplace of Simonides.
ΚΑΡΘΑΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΕΑ
A town on the south side of the island of Ceos.
ΚΕΑ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
(Keos) or Cea. An island in the Aegean Sea, now Zea: one of
the Cyclades, between the Attic promontory Sunium and the island Cythnus, celebrated
for its fertile soil and its genial climate. Its chief town was Iulis, the birthplace
of Simonides, whence we read of the Ceae munera neniae.
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ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Cyclades. A name applied by the ancient Greeks to that cluster (kuklos)
of islands which encircled Delos. Strabo says that the Cyclades were at first
only twelve in number, but were afterwards increased to fifteen. These, as we
learn from Artemidorus, were Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, Melos, Siphnos, Cimolos,
Prepesinthos, Olearos, Paros, Naxos, Syros, Myconos, Tenos, Andros, and Gyaros,
which last, however, Strabo himself was desirous of excluding, from its being
a mere rock, as also Prepesinthos and Olearos. It appears from the Greek historians
that the Cyclades were first inhabited by the Phoenicians, Carians, and Leleges,
whose piratical habits rendered them formidable to the cities on the continent
till they were conquered and finally extirpated by Minos. These islands were subsequently
occupied for a short time by Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, and the Persians; but
after the battle of Mycale (B.C. 479) they became dependent on the Athenians.
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ΜΑΡΠΗΣΣΑ (Βουνό) ΠΑΡΟΣ
(Marpessa). A mountain in Paros, from which the celebrated Parian marble was obtained. Hence Vergil speaks of Marpesia cautes.
ΜΗΛΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
An island in the Aegaean Sea, the most westerly of the Cyclades.
It was first colonized by the Phoenicians, who called it Byblos or Byblis, and
afterwards by the Lacedaemonians, or at least by Dorians. Hence, in the Peloponnesian
War, it embraced the side of Sparta. In B.C. 416 it was taken by the Athenians,
who killed all the adult males, sold the women and children as slaves, and peopled
the island with an Athenian colony. The length of the island is about fourteen
miles from east to west, and its breadth from north to south eight miles. In 1820,
among the ruins of the ancient city of Melos near the theatre was found the exquisite
statue usually called the Venus of Milo (Venere di Milo), now in the Louvre at
Paris, having been purchased by the Marquis de Riviere, and by him presented to
Louis XVIII. It is composed of two blocks of marble, which unite just above the
garment which covers the legs. Melos was the birthplace of Diagoras the Atheist,
whence Aristophanes calls Socrates also "the Melian".
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ΜΥΚΟΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
(Mukonos). A small island in the Aegaean Sea, one of the Cyclades, east of Delos, is celebrated in mythology as one of the places where the giants were defeated by Heracles. The island was popularly supposed to contain an unusual number of bald persons.
ΝΑΞΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Now Naxia; an island in the Aegaean Sea, the largest of the Cyclades, especially
celebrated for its wine. It is about eighteen miles in length and twelve in breadth.
It was also called Dia, Strongyle, and Dionysias. Here Dionysus is said to have
come to Ariadne after she had been deserted by Theseus. It was colonized by Ionians,
who had emigrated from Athens. After the Persian Wars, the Naxians were the first
of the allied States whom the Athenians reduced to subjection (B.C. 471). The
chief town of the island was also called Naxos.
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ΠΑΡΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
An island in the Aegaean Sea, one of the larger of the Cyclades,
was situated south of Delos and west of Naxos, being separated from the latter
by a channel five or six miles wide. It is about thirty-six miles in circumference.
It was inhabited by Ionians, and became so prosperous, even at an early period,
as to send out colonies to Thasos and to Parium on the Propontis. In the first
invasion of Greece by the generals of Darius, Paros submitted to the Persians;
and after the battle of Marathon Miltiades attempted to reduce the island, but
failed in his attempt, and received a wound of which he died. After the defeat
of Xerxes, Paros came under the supremacy of Athens, and shared the fate of the
other Cyclades. The most celebrated production of Paros was its marble, which
was extensively used by the ancient sculptors. It was chiefly obtained from a
mountain called Marpessa. Paros was the birthplace of the poet Archilochus.
In Paros was discovered the celebrated inscription called the
Parian Chronicle. The modern name of the island is Paro.
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ΡΗΝΕΙΑ (Νησί) ΜΥΚΟΝΟΣ
(Rheneia), also Rene (Rene). Anciently called Ortygia and Celadussa, an island in the Aegaean Sea and one of the Cyclades, west of Delos, from which it was divided by a narrow strait only four stadia in width.
ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Now Santorin; an island in the Aegaean Sea, and the chief of the Sporades, distant from Crete 700 stadia, and 25 Roman miles south of the Island of Ios.
An island of the Aegean; called also Thera.
ΣΕΡΙΦΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Now Serpho; an island in the Aegaean Sea, and one of the Cyclades.
It is celebrated in mythology as the island where Danae and Perseus landed after
they had been exposed by Acrisius, where Perseus was brought up, and where he
afterwards turned the inhabitants into stone with the Gorgon 's head. Seriphus
was colonized by Ionians from Athens, and it was one of the few islands which
refused submission to Xerxes. The island was employed by the Roman emperors as
a place of banishment for State criminals.
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ΣΙΦΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
An island in the Aegaean Sea, forming one of the Cyclades, southeast
of Seriphus. It is of an oblong form, and about forty miles in circumference.
Its original name was Merope, and it was colonized by Ionians from Athens. In
consequence of their gold and silver mines, of which the remains are still visible,
the Siphnians attained great prosperity, and were regarded in the time of Herodotus
as the wealthiest of the islanders. Siphnus was one of the few islands which refused
tribute to Xerxes; and one of its ships fought on the side of the Greeks at Salamis.
The moral character of the Siphnians stood low, and hence to act like a Siphnian
(Siphniazein) became a term of reproach.
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ΤΗΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
A small island in the Aegaean Sea, southeast of Andros and north of Delos. Here was a celebrated temple of Poseidon
ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
The Cycladic Islands, Crete, and the Dodekanese are the result of
the collision of the African continental plate with Europe. The African plate
is sliding beneath Europe, being melted, and molten volcanic rock has pushed to
the surface to form the islands we see today. The Cyclades is a cluster of islands
in the center of the Aegean, so named in antiquity because they lay in a circle
(kuklos) around the small island of Delos, sacred as the birthplace of Apollo.
Two chains of islands can be distinguished: to the west are Keos, Kythnos, Seriphos,
Siphnos, Kimolos, Melos and Pholegandros, and to the east are Tenos, Mykonos,
Delos, Syros, Paros, Naxos, Ios, Amorgos, Santorini (Thera), and Anaphe. Of these
many islands, some are of volcanic origin, such as Melos and Santorini, and others
are formed of crystalline schists, limestones, and marbles, thrust up from the
ocean floor. In antiquity gold and silver were mined at Siphnos.
All of the Cyclades are mountainous and extremely arid. As a consequence,
there is little good farming and Naxos and Melos alone have sufficient pasture
to produce and export cheese. The Cycladic economy has relied on seafaring since
the beginning of the Bronze Age. Because of their location and good harbors, the
Cyclades have always provided ports of call on the short route from Greece to
Samos and Asia Minor. Delos and Syros, situated in the center of the island cluster,
have provided markets of exchange at different periods of history.
History
In the Bronze Age, the Cyclades enjoyed a flourishing culture, much
influenced in the second millennium by the Mycenaean and Minoan cultures. Ionic-speaking
settlers from continental Greece occupied these islands after 1000 B.C. In the
eighth century B.C., Eretria, the Athenian tyrant Pisistratos, and Polycrates
of Samos divided control of the islands. In the sixth century Lygdamis of Naxos
controlled some of them as well. None of these powers, however, could protect
the Cyclades or their inhabitants from the Persian invasion of 490 B.C. After
the Persian Wars, c. 478/7, the Cyclades entered the Athenian League at Delos,
and soon Athens became the administrative power of the islands.
Sites
Although Delos is one of the smallest of the Aegean islands, with
an area of 3.6 sq. km, it was one of the most important in antiquity both as a
political and religious center. As the birthplace of both Apollo and Artemis,
Delos was sacred. The island boasted an oracle second only to the Oracle of Delphi,
and a temple to Apollo raised by a common contribution of the Greek states.
Andros is the most northerly of the Cyclades, lying 11 km east of
Euboea. Although Andros has an area of only 380 sq. km, it possesses two harbors,
one at Batsi and the other at Gavrion. A characteristic feature of the landscape
of Andros, and of many other islands in the Classical period are the great stone
towers that marked farmsteads and lookout points near the coast.
Southwest of Andros is Naxos. Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades
islands (428 sq. km), and it houses the largest mountains. Zia rises to a height
of 1003 m in the interior of the island, with a gradual slope to the foot of the
mountain. The west coast is well watered and fertile. Naxos is famous from mythology
as the place where Theseus abandoned the princess Ariadne on his return voyage
from Crete. There, Dionysos found her and made her his wife. Historically, Naxos
developed a prosperous maritime trade in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.
It produced an important school of sculptors. At Melones, a city located in southeastern
Naxos, at the quarries of Flerio, there still lie two unfinished and abandoned
seventh century kouroi, and near the emery quarries of Appollona there lies another
unfinished colossal kouros.
Just to the west of Naxos is the island of Paros ( 194 sq km), famed
in antiquity for its beautiful marble. From the central height of Profitis Illias
(750 m), the fertile hilly landscape of Paros slopes down to the coast on all
sides.
Thera is the most southerly of the Cyclades, lying only 140 km north
of Crete. Since 1626 B.C., when a violent volcanic eruption destroyed the island,
Thera has taken the shape of a semicircle opening to the west. Across from the
main island there are two smaller uninhabited islands: Therasia, with an area
of 9 sq. km, and Aspronisi with an area of 2 sq. km. Excavations on these islands
and at the site of Akrotiri have shown that Thera was flourishing and prosperous
in the second millennium B.C., and while the inhabitants of the island were in
contact with the Minoan civilization of Crete, they developed an individual and
unique culture. Thera was not re-inhabited until many years after the huge eruption,
when Dorian settlers established themselves on the island. On a southeastern section
of the island, above the coastal village of Kamari, lies the rocky site of the
ancient village of Thera. The site includes a temenos, a temple to Apollo Pythios
and to Apollo Karneios, an agora, and a gymnasium with many inscriptions. There
is an archaeological museum on the island which houses material from the Cycladic
and Minoan periods.
Melos, famous because of the statue of Aphrodite in the Louvre (Venus
de Milo), is the most southwesterly of the Cyclades. To the northwest the island
is almost completely divided by a deep gulf. Port Adamas provides a safe harbor
within the gulf. The uninhabited southern portion of the island rises to 773 m
on the hill of Profitis Illias. Like Thera, Melos is of volcanic origin, and produced
obsidian, a black volcanic glass used for cutting tools, and other useful minerals
throughout antiquity. The Classical city of Melos, which was destroyed by the
Athenians in the Peloponnesian War, has well-preserved walls and. from a later
period, early Christian catacombs.
This text is cited Jan 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΝΑΞΟΣ (Νησί) ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ
Naxos is famous from mythology as the place where Theseus abandoned the princess Ariadne on his return voyage from Crete. There, Dionysos found her and made her his wife. Historically, Naxos developed a prosperous maritime trade in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. It produced an important school of sculptors. At Melones, a city located in southeastern Naxos, at the quarries of Flerio, there still lie two unfinished and abandoned seventh century kouroi, and near the emery quarries of Appollona there lies another unfinished colossal kouros.
ΑΡΚΕΣΙΝΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΜΟΡΓΟΣ
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