Antimilos ( el, Αντίμηλος) is a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
island
An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...
in the
Cyclades
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 na ...
, northwest of
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 ''Ve ...
. Administratively, it is part of the municipality of Milos. Antimilos is an uninhabited mass of
trachyte (671 m height), often called Erimomilos (Desert Milos). It is a volcanic island and the
crater is still obvious. Ancient inhabitants transformed the crater to an open rain tank. On the island lives a rare variation of the common
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of ...
called ''Capra aegagrus pictus''. It is similar but not the same as the Cretan goat known as "
kri-kri" (''Capra aegagrus creticus'').
History
According to an interpretation of
Homer's ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
'', it is the island of the sun god
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
, where
Odysseus's companions slaughtered the sacred cattle of the sun god. Previously, the island was also known by the name Ephyra ( grc, Έφυρα)
or Ephora (Έφορα, meaning "watchtower"), because one could observe the sea from its highest point over long distances.
Settlement in prehistoric times can be assumed due to remains of walls and arrowheads made of obsidian found on the island. Remains of a cistern probably of
Roman or early Christian origin have also been found.
References
External links
Official website of Municipality of Mílos
Islands of Greece
Cyclades
Landforms of Milos (regional unit)
Islands of the South Aegean
Uninhabited islands of Greece
Subduction volcanoes
Volcanoes of Greece
Volcanoes of the Aegean
{{SouthAegean-geo-stub