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Thera
Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek language, Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English language, English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greece, Greek mainland. It is the largest island of a small circular archipelago, which bears the Santorini caldera, same name and is the remnant of a caldera. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km2 (28 sq mi) and a 2011 census population of 15,550. The municipality of Santorini includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia, as well as the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi and Christiana Island, Christiana. The total land area is 90.623 km2 (34.990 sq mi). Santorini is part of the Thira (regional unit), Thira regional unit. The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded h ...
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Minoan Eruption
The Minoan eruption was a catastrophic Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruption that devastated the Aegean Islands, Aegean island of Thera (also called Santorini) circa 1600 BCE. It destroyed the Minoan civilization, Minoan settlement at Akrotiri (prehistoric city), Akrotiri, as well as communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of Crete with subsequent earthquakes and tsunamis. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index, VEI magnitude between 6 and 7, resulting in an ejection of approximately of dense-rock equivalent (DRE), the eruption was List of known large volcanic eruptions, one of the largest volcanic events on Earth in human history. Since tephra from the Minoan eruption serves as a marker horizon in nearly all archaeological sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, its precise date is of high importance and has been fiercely debated among archaeologists and volcanologists for decades, without coming to a definite conclusion. Although there are no clear ...
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Ancient Thera
Ancient Thera ( el, Αρχαία Θήρα) is the name of an ancient perfectly round volcano island now known as Santorini. It was named after the mythical ruler of the island, Theras, and is known to have been inhabited by Greek Minoans as early as the 15th century BC when the volcano erupted resulting in a significant change to the shape of the island and killing many of the Minoan inhabitants. Starting in 1895, Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen systematically investigated the city until 1904. Later excavations by N. Zapheiropoulos between 1961 and 1982, under the auspices of the Archaeological Society of Athens, unearthed the city's necropolis in Sellada. Findings from these excavations are on exhibit at the archaeological museum in Fira. Excavation work was again taken up between 1990 and 1994 under the leadership of Wolfram Hoepfner of the Free University of Berlin and resulted in a more precise understanding of the history of the southern Aegean. Ancient Thera is today open ...
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Akrotiri (prehistoric City)
Akrotiri (Greek: Ακρωτήρι, pronounced ) was a Cycladic Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini (Thera). The settlement was destroyed in the Theran eruption sometime in the 16th century BC and buried in volcanic ash, which preserved the remains of fine frescoes and many objects and artworks. Akrotiri has been excavated since 1967 after earlier excavations on Santorini. History The earliest evidence for human habitation of Akrotiri can be traced back as early as the fifth millennium BC, when it was a small fishing and farming village. By the end of the third millennium, this community developed and expanded significantly. One factor for Akrotiri's growth may be the trade relations it established with other cultures in the Aegean, as evidenced in fragments of foreign pottery at the site. Akrotiri's strategic position on the primary sailing route between Cyprus and Minoan Crete also made it an important point for the copper trade, thus allowing it to ...
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Minoan Civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC until it ended around 1100BC, during the early Greek Dark Ages, part of a wider bronze age collapse around the Mediterranean. It represents the first advanced civilization in Europe, leaving behind a number of massive building complexes, Minoan art, sophisticated art, and writing systems. Its economy benefited from a network of trade around much of the Mediterranean. The civilization was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. The name "Minoan" derives from the mythical Minos, King Minos and was coined by Evans, who identified the site at Knossos with the labyrinth of the Minotaur. The Minoan civilization has been described as the earliest of its kind in Europe, and his ...
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Therasia
Therasia, also known as Thirasía ( el, Θηρασία), is an island in the volcanic island group of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades. It lies north-west of Nea Kameni, a small island formed in recent centuries by volcanic activity and thus marking the centre of the island group. Therasia is the second largest island of the group, the largest by far being Thera. Therasia has a land area of and its population was 319 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It is part of the municipal unit of Oia (Δημοτική Ενότητα Οίας). Thera and Therasia were separated by the Thera eruption. At Knossos, in a LMIIIA context (14th century BC), seven Linear B texts while calling upon "all the gods" make sure to grant primacy to an elsewhere-unattested entity called ''qe-ra-si-ja'' and, once, qe-ra-si-jo. However this probably refers to a god or a person rather than to an island *Qherasia > Therasia. Anciently, the island of Therasia possessed a town of the same name. ''Thirasia'' is ...
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Oia, Greece
Oia or Ia (Greek: Οία, pronounced ) is a small village and former community in the South Aegean on the islands of Thira (Santorini) and Therasia, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of the municipality of Santorini, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the whole island of Therasia and the northwesternmost part of Santorini, which it shares with the municipal unit of Santorini. The main street is named Nikolaou Nomikou. The population was 1,545 inhabitants at the 2011 census, and the land area is 19.449 km2. Oia was previously known as Apäno Meria (Απάνω Μεριά or Επάνω Μεριά, "upper side"), a name which still occurs locally as Pano Meria, and the inhabitants are still called Apanomerites (Απανωμερίτες). The Ancient Greek Oia was one of the two harbours of ancient Thera and was located in the southeast of the island, where Kamari is now. Oia reached the peak of prosperity in the late 19th a ...
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Fira
Firá ( el, Φηρά, pronounced ) is the modern capital of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). A traditional settlement,http://www.visitgreece.gr Greek National Tourism Organisation "Firá" derives its name from an alternative pronunciation of "Thíra", the ancient name of the island itself. Fira is a city of whitewashed houses built on the edge of the high caldera on the western edge of the semi-circular island of Thera. The two main museums of interest are the Archaeological Museum of Thera, east of the cable car entrance, and the Museum of Prehistoric Thera at the southeast corner of the White Orthodox Cathedral of Ypapanti , built on the site of an earlier church destroyed in the 1956 Amorgos earthquake. The town also hosts a number of churches, including the Cathedral of Ypapanti and the Three Bells of Fira. Access to Fira is mainly by roads on its eastern side, climbing from its port via the zigzag footpath on foot or on donkeys, or by riding the stee ...
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Aspronisi
Aspronisi (Greek: Ασπρονήσι) is an uninhabited island lying within the Santorini caldera. The island was originally formed by the massive Minoan eruption in the 2nd millennium BC, after which it was gradually built up by successive volcanic activity. The name Aspronisi, which means 'White Island' in Greek, is derived from the island being partially composed of white pumice.Schönrock, Dirk / Fohrer Eberhard: ''Santorini''. Michael Müller Verlag, 3., überarbeitete und aktualisierte Auflage, Erlangen 2006, . p. 242 Formation Aspronisi was formed through the gradual volcanic activity in the Santorini caldera, which itself is composed of four distinct shield volcanoes. The island was formed along with the current Santorini caldera during a massive eruption in the 2nd millennium BC that expelled 14 cubic miles (60 km3 ) of dense rock. Aspronisi was briefly a submarine volcano before the force of the eruption pushed the islet above the surface, after which dense layers ...
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Palaia Kameni
Palea Kameni, also known as Palia Kameni, is a volcanic island within the Santorini Caldera. The island was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions that formed large deposits of pumice and dacite. The island's name translates to "Old Burnt Island". This Island is in the west of the Greek coast and is private territorium. It wasn't inhabited for 15000 years until it was bought in 1899 and sold in 1975. It is available for tourists though. The owners build various hotels and made multiple beaches public. History Palea Kameni was formed by a series of eruptions between 197 BCE and 47 CE. The appearance of the island was first noted in the journal of Roman scientist Cassius Dio, who wrote "This year 7 CEa small islet, hitherto unknown, made an appearance close to the island of Thera." The island was gradually built up by further volcanic activity, though outright eruptions ceased by the end of the 1st century CE. No signs of activity were reported on the island until ...
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Santorini Caldera
Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 kilometers north of Crete in Greece. Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consisting of Santorini (classic Greek Thera), the main island, Therasia and Aspronisi at the periphery, and the Kameni islands at the center. It has been designated a Decade Volcano. Geography The caldera measures about , with high steep cliffs on three sides. There are two small volcanic islands at the center of the caldera, Nea ("New") Kameni and Palea ("Old") Kameni. The main island, Santorini has an area of , Therasia , and the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni , Palea Kameni and Aspronisi . Santorini's high walls, draped by whitewashed villages, combined with a sunny climate and good observation conditions, have made it a magnet for volcanologists, as well as a highlight of tourism in the Aegean. Geology The volcanic complex of Santorini is the most active part of the South ...
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Nea Kameni
Nea Kameni is a small uninhabited Greek island of volcanic origin located in the Aegean Sea, within the flooded Santorini caldera. Nea Kameni and the neighbouring small island Palea Kameni (the new and old burnt islands) have formed over the past two millennia through repeated eruptions of dacite lava and ash. The Roman historian Cassius Dio records in the year 47 CE "This year a small islet, hitherto unknown, made an appearance close to the island of Thera." Cassius' report may refer to Palaia Kameni. Pliny the Elder reports a new island emerging on July 8, in the year of the consulship of M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus, thus 19 CE. Major eruptions over the past 300 years took place in 1707–1712, 1866–1870, 1925–1928, and 1939–1941. The last small eruption happened in 1950 and involved lava dome extrusion. Nea Kameni is nearly round, and has a diameter of approximately 2 kilometers and an area of 3.4 km2. It is monitored closely by scientists from the I ...
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Dacite
Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. It is composed predominantly of plagioclase feldspar and quartz. Dacite is relatively common, occurring in many tectonic settings. It is associated with andesite and rhyolite as part of the subalkaline volcanic rock, subalkaline tholeiite, tholeiitic and calc-alkaline magma series. Composition Dacite consists mostly of plagioclase feldspar and quartz with biotite, hornblende, and pyroxene (augite or enstatite). The quartz appears as rounded, corroded phenocrysts, or as an element of the ground-mass. The plagioclase in dacite ranges from oligoclase to andesine and labradorite. Sanidine occurs, although in small proportions, in some dacites, and when abundant gives rise to rocks that form rhyodacite, transitions to the rhyolites. The rel ...
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