History Of The Cyclades
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History Of The Cyclades
The Cyclades (Greek: Κυκλάδες ''Kykládes'') are Greek islands located in the southern part of the Aegean Sea. The archipelago contains some 2,200 islands, islets and rocks; just 33 islands are inhabited. For the ancients, they formed a circle (κύκλος / kyklos in Greek) around the sacred island of Delos, hence the name of the archipelago. The best-known are, from north to south and from east to west: Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, Naxos, Amorgos, Syros, Paros and Antiparos, Ios, Santorini, Anafi, Kea, Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos, Folegandros and Sikinos, Milos and Kimolos; to these can be added the little Cyclades: Irakleia, Schoinoussa, Koufonisi, Keros and Donoussa, as well as Makronisos between Kea and Attica, Gyaros, which lies before Andros, and Polyaigos to the east of Kimolos and Thirassia, before Santorini. At times they were also called by the generic name of Archipelago. The islands are located at the crossroads between Europe and Asia Minor and the Near East as wel ...
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Cyclades Map-fr
The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands ''around'' ("cyclic", κυκλάς) the sacred island of Delos. The largest island of the Cyclades is Naxos, however the most populated is Syros. History The significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic, flat sculptures carved out of the islands' pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age Minoan civilization arose in Crete to the south. (These figures have been looted from burials to satisfy a thriving Cycladic antiquities market since the early 20th century.) A distinctive Neolithic culture amalgamating Anatolian and mainland Greek elements arose in the western Aegean before 4000 BCE, based on emmer and wild-type barley, sheep and goats, ...
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Anafi
Anafi or Anaphe ( el, Ανάφη; grc, Ἀνάφη) is a Greek island community in the Cyclades. In 2011, it had a population of 271. Its land area is . It lies east of the island of Thíra (Santorini). Anafi is part of the Thira regional unit. History According to mythology, the island was given the name Anafi because Apollo made it appear to the Argonauts as a shelter from a bad storm, using his bow to shed light upon it (i.e. the island name is derived from , ). If the name of the island derives from this word, and means 'revelation', then Anafi is linked to Delos, an island whose name also derives from an ancient Greek word meaning 'to reveal'. Others say that the name is due to the non-existence of snakes on the island: "" ("without snakes"). Despite its small size, Anafi offers archaeological as well as mythological interest. At the monastery of Panagia Kalamiotissa there are ruins of a temple built as an offering to the god Apollo Aegletus. Some of the inscriptions f ...
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Donoussa
Donousa ( el, Δονούσα, also Δενούσα ''Denousa''), and sometimes spelled Donoussa, is an island and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. Donousa is the easternmost island of the Lesser Cyclades. Geography Donousa is located east of the island of Naxos and about north of Amorgos. Its area is and its highest point is . Its population is 167 inhabitants (2011 census), most of which live in the main settlement Donousa (also ''Stavros''). Other villages include Mersini (on the southeastern coast), Kalotaritissa (near its northern coastline) and Charavgi (in the south). History Tracing all the way back to ancient Greek mythology in the prehistoric times, Dionysus, the god of winemaking and wine, took Ariadne from Naxos to hide her from Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of At ...
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Keros
Keros ( el, Κέρος; anciently, Keria or Kereia ( grc, Κέρεια) is an uninhabited and unpopulated Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisia. It has an area of and its highest point is . It was an important site to the Cycladic civilization that flourished around 2500 BC. It is now forbidden to land in Keros. Keros is especially noted for the flat-faced Cycladic marble statues which later inspired the work of Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore. Keros hoard The "Keros Hoard" is a very large deposit of Cycladic figurines that was found on the island of Keros. In 2006-2008, the Cambridge Keros Project, co-directed by Colin Renfrew with others, conducted excavations at Kavos on the west coast of the island. This general area is believed to be the source of the so-called "Keros Hoard" of fragmentary Cycladic figurines. The material excavated in 2006-2008 includes Cycladic figurines, vessels and other objec ...
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Koufonisi
Koufonisia ( el, Κουφονήσια) is a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 26.025 km2. Geography Koufonisia includes three main islands: * Epano, Pano or Ano Koufonisi (for Upper) often merely called Koufonisi (in Greek: επάνω κουφονήσι) * Kato Koufonisi (for Lower) (in Greek: Κάτω Κουφονήσι) and * Keros or Karos (in Greek: Κέρος) Geographically, they are located on the south-southeast side of Naxos and on the west-northwest of Amorgos and belong to the archipelago of the Lesser East Cyclades. Uninhabited Keros is a protected archaeological site from which a large number of ancient Cycladic art pieces have been excavated in the 20th century. History There are two proposed explanations for the origin of the name of the island. According to the first, Koufonisia was the ...
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Schoinoussa
Schoinoussa or Schinoussa ( el, Σχοινούσσα, before 1940: Σχοινούσα, ; anciently, grc, Σχινοῦσσα) is an island and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies south of the island of Naxos, in the Lesser Cyclades group, between the island communities of Irakleia and Koufonisia. The population was 256 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Its land area is . Description Schoinoussa is located south of Naxos, in the middle about of the Lesser Cyclades island group. It is the fourth largest island of the Lesser Cyclades and the second most populated, after Ano Koufonisi. The island has three settlements, Chora the capital of the island, Mesaria and Mersini which is the port of the island. The derivation of the name Schinoussa is not precisely known. It is believed that the name either derives from the corruption of the ancien ...
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Irakleia, Cyclades
Irakleia or Heraklia ( el, Ηρακλειά; grc, Ἡράκλεια) is an island and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. Its population was officially 141 inhabitants at the 2011 census, and its land area . It is a small island between the islands of Naxos and Ios. Close to Schoinoussa, Koufonisi, Donoussa, and Keros, together they form the Lesser Cyclades. The port is called Agios Georgios, while the "capital"/chora on the top of the island is called Panagia ( Madonna). The biggest caves in the Cyclades are located on Irakleia. Irakleia can be reached by ferries from Athens, Naxos and Paros. Description Iraklia is the largest island of the Lesser Cyclades. It is located in the eastern part of the archipelago, which is south of Naxos. The island has two settlements, Panagia in the middle of the island and Agios Georgios, where the port is lo ...
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Kimolos
Kimolos ( el, Κίμωλος; la, Cimolus) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It lies on the southwest of the island group of Cyclades, near the bigger island of Milos. Kimolos is the administrative center of the municipality of Kimolos, which also includes the uninhabited islands of Polyaigos, Agios Efstathios and Agios Georgios. The island has a land area of , while the municipality's land area is , and it reported a population of 910 inhabitants in the 2011 census. History Kimolos is an island with rich history records. According to tradition, it is named after Kimolos, the very first resident of the island. Echinousa is also a recorded name of the island during the ancient times, probably because of the snake Echidna (viper), being common even today on the island. Since the ancient era, it has been a battlefield between Ancient Athens, the ruler of the island, and Sparta, the ruler of Milos. In the Middle Ages it was known as Argentiera ( el, Αρτζεντιέρα), beca ...
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Milos
Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus de Milo'' (now in the Louvre) and the ''Asclepius of Milos'' (now in the British Museum) were both found on the island, as were a Poseidon and an archaic Apollo now in Athens. Milos is a popular tourist destination during the summer. The municipality of Milos also includes the uninhabited offshore islands of Antimilos and Akradies. The combined land area is and the 2021 census population was 5193 inhabitants. History Obsidian (a glass-like volcanic rock) from Milos was a commodity as early as 15,000 years ago. Natural glass from Milos was transported over long distances and used for razor-sharp "stone tools" well before farming began and later: "There is no early farming village in the Near East that doesn't get obsidian". The mining o ...
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Sikinos
Sikinos ( el, Σίκινος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Cyclades. It is located midway between the islands of Ios and Folegandros. Sikinos is part of the Thira regional unit. It was known as Oenoe or Oinoe ( grc, Οἰνόη, Island of Wine) in Ancient Greece. It contrasts with nearby islands, such as Ios, in being quiet and relatively less developed. There are two villages, "Allopronia" on the south sea side, being the port, and another higher up in the hills being the chora. The chora up on the hills is composed of two settlements adjacent to each other, "Castro" to the west and "Chorio" to the east. There are a handful of tavernas in the harbor. The beach at the harbor is one of two large sandy beaches on the island. Several ancient ruins rest on the island, although some are remote. There are two paved roads, although a third is being built to connect the nascent heliport and eventually a new resort on the other sandy beach, and there are several well-mai ...
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Folegandros
Folegandros (also Pholegandros; el, Φολέγανδρος) is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea that, together with Sikinos, Ios, Anafi and Santorini, forms the southern part of the Cyclades. Its surface area is and it has 765 inhabitants. It has three small villages, Chora, Karavostasis, and Ano Meria, which are connected by a paved road. Folegandros is part of the Thira regional unit. Mythology According to Greek mythology, it was said to have derived its name from a son of Minos. History Little is known about the ancient history of Folegandros. Its inhabitants were Dorians. Later it came under Athenian rule. The island contained a ''polis'' (city-state) called Pholegandros, which was sited at the modern Chora and a member of the Delian League where it appears on Athenian tribute lists between 425/4 and 416/15 BCE. The island was called the iron Pholegandros by Aratus on account of its ruggedness, and is also noted by ancient geographers Strabo and Ptolemy, ...
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Sifnos
Sifnos ( el, Σίφνος) is an island municipality in the Cyclades island group in Greece. The main town, near the center, known as Apollonia (pop. 869), is home of the island's folklore museum and library. The town's name is thought to come from an ancient temple of Apollo on the site of the church of Panayia Yeraniofora. The second-largest town is Artemonas (pop. 800), thought to be named after an ancient temple of Apollo's sister-goddess Artemis, located at the site of the church of Panayia Kokhi. The village of Kastro (pop. 118), was the capital of the island during ancient times until 1836. It is built on top of a high cliff on the island's east shore and today has extensive medieval remains and is the location of the island's archeological museum. The port settlement, on the west coast of the island is known as Kamares (245). Geography Sifnos lies in the Cyclades between Serifos and Milos, west of Delos and Paros, about (80 nautical miles) from Piraeus (Athens' p ...
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