Kythnos ( el, Κύθνος), commonly called Thermia ( el, Θερμιά), is a Greek
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the Western
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 nam ...
between
Kea
The kea (; ; ''Nestor notabilis'') is a species of large parrot in the family Nestoridae found in the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings ...
and
Serifos
Serifos ( el, Σέριφος, la, Seriphus, also Seriphos; Seriphos: Eth. Seriphios: Serpho) is a Greek island municipality in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Sifnos. It is part of the Milos reg ...
. It is from the Athenian
harbor
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
of
Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...
. The municipality Kythnos is
in area and has a coastline of about . Mount
Kakovolo
Kakovolo (Greek: Κακόβολο) is a mountain on the island of Kythnos in the Cyclades, in Greece. It is the highest point of the island at an altitude of 365 meters.
Description
Kakovolo is located on the northwestern side of Kythnos.Hatzi ...
is island's highest peak (365m).
Settlements
![Kythnos-map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Kythnos-map.jpg)
The island has two significant settlements, the village of Messaria or
Chora
Chora may refer to:
Places Greece
''Chora'' (meaning "Town" in Greek), is often used as the name of the main town on an island, following the common practice in Greece when the name of the island itself is the same as the name of the principal ...
of Kythnos (pop. 561 in 2011 census), known locally as ''Chora'', and the village of Dryopis or
Dryopida
Dryopida ( el, Δρυοπίδα) is a village in Kythnos island, Greece. It most likely got its name from the first residents of the island, the Dryopes. It is declared as a traditional settlement because of its architecture. The village has an es ...
(pop. 325), also known as ''Chorio''. Both villages are notable for their winding and often stepped streets, too narrow for vehicular traffic. The villages are very picturesque but in different architectural styles. Chora has the more-typical flat roofs of the Cyclades, while Dryopida's rooftops are slanted and tiled. Chora is also notable for its large
Greek Orthodox
The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
.
There is also a growing coastal settlement called
Kanala on the
east
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
side of the island with the
homonymous
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...
Christian Orthodox shrine, and many of the larger beaches are settled by a handful of residents. Aghios Dimitrios, at the southern tip of the island, is a mostly modern settlement, with small vacation houses dotting the hillside above a wide beach that is dotted with sea daffodils. On the northeast end of the island lies Loutra (pop. 81), a village famous for its
thermal spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
s, which are said to have curative properties. Although the large tourist hotel there has been closed for several years, the bathhouse is still functioning and visitors may soak in its marble tubs for a modest fee.
The port town is called
Merichas (pop. 369), its population significantly fluctuating during the year. Before the 1970s, there were no year-round residents in recent history; a Greek
fisherman
A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...
named Manolas Psaras and his wife Foto were the first to live in the port year-round. Today, there is a growing year-round population, and, especially during the peak of the summer
tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
season, the town becomes quite busy. Many residents of the port speak at least some
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, the most popular
second language
A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
. Merihas is connected to Piraeus and to Lavrion by
ferry boat
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
, and the ride takes one to four hours, depending on the speed of the ship and the
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
. Construction of a new mole began in 2005 to accommodate larger ferryboats and was completed in 2008. Kythnos was until recently considered to be one of the last Cycladic islands unaffected by the impact of tourism, but this is inexorably changing. Still, the island has not yet been overdeveloped, and in the more remote areas of the villages,
tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
al ways live on relatively unchanged.
Name
The first inhabitants of Kythnos were the
Dryopes Dryopes (; grc, Δρύοπες) or Dryopians () were one of the aboriginal tribes of ancient Greece. According to Herodotus, their earliest abode is said to have been on Mount Oeta and its adjacent valleys, in the district called after them, Dryopi ...
whose mythical king was Kythnos (son of the
God Apollo), hence the name of the island. It was also known as Dryopis or Ofiousa. In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
it was called Thiramna, while Nilos Doxapatris mentions it with the name Thermia as early as 1143, from the hot springs that exist. Later, the Turks called it "Hamam Antassi" (=island of warm waters).
History
Pre-history
Kythnos can lay claim to one of the oldest known habitations in the Cycladic islands, a
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
settlement (
10000 BCE
The 10th millennium BC spanned the years 10,000 BC to 9001 BC (c. 12 ka to c. 11 ka). It marks the beginning of the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic via the interim Mesolithic (Northern Europe and Western Europe) and Epipale ...
– 8000 BCE) at
Maroulas on the northeast coast. The site, close to the village of
Loutra, is situated on the shore, and large portions have eroded into the sea. Excavations in 1996 found intact human
skeleton
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
s, along with stone artifacts and part of a floor pavement, which indicates a long-term settlement, probably of
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
s.
Pre-classical antiquity
Third millennium BCE
The 3rd millennium BC spanned the years 3000 through 2001 BC. This period of time corresponds to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, characterized by the early empires in the Ancient Near East. In Ancient Egypt, the Early Dynastic Period is followe ...
(First Cycladic Period) findings at Skouries near the highest peak of the island, Mt. Profitis Elias, suggest that Kythnos was a supplier of raw materials for
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
to other islands during the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
. Remains of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
smelting sites and open-air copper mines were investigated in 1984–1985. (A recen
paperby Myrto Georgakopoulo points to the seminal work here by Gale and others.)
The earliest inhabitants of the island known to historians were the Kares (
Carians
The Carians (; grc, Κᾶρες, ''Kares'', plural of , ''Kar'') were the ancient inhabitants of Caria in southwest Anatolia.
Historical accounts Karkisa
It is not clear when the Carians enter into history. The definition is dependent on c ...
), an Anatolian people probably allied to or under the dominion of the
Minoans, who eventually were forced by pressure of invading tribes to move on and settle in
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
.
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
(Bk. viii, 73) records that in the 13th century BCE, another pre-Hellenic tribe, the
Dryopes Dryopes (; grc, Δρύοπες) or Dryopians () were one of the aboriginal tribes of ancient Greece. According to Herodotus, their earliest abode is said to have been on Mount Oeta and its adjacent valleys, in the district called after them, Dryopi ...
, originally from the Greek mainland near
Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...
, migrated to the islands, first to
Euboea
Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...
and later spreading to Kea, Kythnos, and beyond. This tribe most probably gave rise to the name of one of the two main villages, Dryopis or
Dryopida
Dryopida ( el, Δρυοπίδα) is a village in Kythnos island, Greece. It most likely got its name from the first residents of the island, the Dryopes. It is declared as a traditional settlement because of its architecture. The village has an es ...
. Some sources say the island took its name from King Kythnos of the Dryopes; others suggest this is a mythical rather than a historical figure. (Speculations on the origin of the name are contained in Vallinda, 1896.) The Dryopes eventually moved on as well under pressure from Ionians, who migrated out of mainland Greece as
Dorian tribes moved in from the north.
![Vryokastro archaeological site (centre of site)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Vryokastro_archaeological_site_%28centre_of_site%29.JPG)
A Hellenistic site at
Vryokastro
Vryokastro (Greek language, Greek: Βρυόκαστρο) is an archaeological site in Kythnos, Greece. It is considered as the ancient capital of the island. It was inhabited from the 12th century BC until the Early Middle Ages. It was called Kyt ...
, above the bay of Episkopi on the northwest part of the island, was partially excavated in the mid-20th century, yielding floor plans of houses and a sanctuary, as well as a few artifacts. In Greek newspaper articles of December 19, 2002, archaeologist Alexandros Mazarakis-Ainian announced a spectacular discovery on this site: a
inner sanctum(adyton) of the temple was found intact and unplundered. Over 1,400 objects, including precious jewels and gold, silver and bronze artifacts,
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
figurines, and painted vases, were excavated from what the archaeologists have determined is a 2,700-year-old temple dedicated to either
Hera
In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...
, queen of the gods, or
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...
, goddess of
love
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
. The artifacts date mostly from the 7th to the 5th centuries BCE. The site at Vryokastro was inhabited until
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
times. In this era, the islands of the Cyclades suffered frequent predation by
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
, and perhaps for this reason, the main settlements moved inland and to more defensible locations.
Remains of another old settlement, with extensive stone walls, can be seen in the extreme northern headland. This site, called Kastro (Greek for
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
), was likely the capital of the island from about the 1st century through the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era and into
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
times. This site seems nearly impregnable: on three sides is a sheer drop to the sea. The fourth side is approached via a narrow track, which was barricaded with a thick, high wall, parts of which are still extant (along with walls delineating hundreds of houses). Nevertheless, there is evidence that the town was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The population fluctuated dramatically during this period and at times the island was decimated due to marauders and
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
(Smith, 1854 and Bent, 1885, reprinted 2002).
Classical antiquity
Only rarely is the island mentioned by ancient authors. In the
Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...
(480 BCE), Herodotus records that Kythnos contributed a
trireme
A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean S ...
and a
penteconter
The penteconter (alt. spelling pentekonter, pentaconter, pentecontor or pentekontor; el, πεντηκόντερος, ''pentēkónteros'', "fifty-oared"), plural penteconters, was an ancient Greek galley in use since the archaic period.
In an ...
, and this contribution is commemorated on the base of a
golden tripod at
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
(Herodotus, Bk viii, 46).
Innumerable sources repeat, without providing a citation, that
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
praised the government of Kythnos in his "Constitution of Kythnos." Exactly what he wrote is difficult to ascertain, since all of his essays on the constitutions of 158 city-states are lost except for the one on
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. (Possibly, the origin of the quote is from the 2nd century lexicographer
Harpocration
__NOTOC__
Valerius Harpocration ( grc-gre, Οὐαλέριος or , ''gen''. Ἁρποκρατίωνος) was a Greek grammarian of Alexandria, probably working in the 2nd century AD. He is possibly the Harpocration mentioned by Julius Capitolinus ...
.)
In the
Roman period
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
Kythnos was a place of exile for important persons. In addition, in antiquity there were several temples on the island, which resulted in the island being visited by travelers from various regions (e.g. Egypt, Asia Minor, Italy, etc.). The painters
Timanthis and
Cydias Cydias ( grc-gre, Κυδίας), a native of Cythnus, who was living in 364 BC, may be presumed to have been a painter of considerable ability, as one of his pictures, representing Jason and his followers embarking for Colchis, in search of the Gold ...
were born in Kythnos in antiquity. Later Kythnos became part of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
.
Crusader and Venetian Era
In 1207, Kythnos was annexed to the Frankish overlord
Marco Sanudo
Marco Sanudo (c. 1153 – between 1220 and 1230, most probably 1227) was the creator and first Duke of the Duchy of the Archipelago, after the Fourth Crusade.
Maternal nephew of Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, he was a participant in the Fourth C ...
's Aegean
Duchy of the Archipelago
The Duchy of the Archipelago ( el, Δουκάτο του Αρχιπελάγους, it, Ducato dell'arcipelago), also known as Duchy of Naxos or Duchy of the Aegean, was a maritime state created by Venetian interests in the Cyclades archipelago ...
(or of Naxos). During this period, it was known as Thermia, a name derived from the hot mineral springs occurring on the northeastern coast at the village of Loutra (which means "baths" in Greek). These medicinal baths were renowned at least since Roman times and were a fashionable spa and resort area.
The island was ruled as an appanage of the Duchy of the Archipelago from the 16th century until the fall of the Duchy, where it became de facto independent.
In 1600, Thermia also became the new name of a Latin bishopric on the Cyclades, formerly known as
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ceo (now a Latin Catholic titular see).
The island capital remained at Kastro of Oria or Katakefalo, which was rebuilt as a Frankish fortress and was known as the Tower of Thermia (Bent, 1885, reprinted 2002).
After a period of depopulation in the early 15th century some
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
communities moved from nearby
Euboea
Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...
. They were assimilated into the local Greek population.
[Jochalas, Titos P. (1971): Über die Einwanderung der Albaner in Griechenland: Eine zusammenfassene Betrachtung On the immigration of Albanians to Greece: A summary" München: Trofenik. pg. 89-106]
Ottoman Era
Following a siege, the Turks were victorious over the last Venetian overlord,
Angelo III Gozzadini, in 1617. According to a myth recounted by J.L. Bent in his 1885 travelogue on the Cyclades, Kastro fell only because of a treacherous ploy by the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
: a young woman, heavy with child and apparently in pain, approached the entrance and begged to be admitted; the watchman's daughter opened the gate for her—and for the Turks hiding nearby. Bent writes that this version is preserved in a popular island ballad.
After its fall to the Turks, Kastro was abandoned and the new capital was located inland, as the name Messaria suggests. Later, this town became known as Hora (the generic Greek name for a capital town, also spelled Chora). During this period Kythnos was a poor, under-populated place, still beset by pirates and suffering frequent epidemics.
In 1791 a Greek school was opened in Chora (Messaria), which was housed in the monastery of
Panagia of Nikous. The monk Parthenios Koulouris from
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 f ...
initially taught there. He was succeeded in 1809 by the monk Makarios Filippaios from Kythnos, who continued teaching during the years of
Ioannis Kapodistrias
Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: ...
.
In 1806 a pirate raid, although repelled, resulted in groups of locals emigrating to the coast of
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, from where some later repatriated, bringing back customs to the island from the places where they had lived.
Kythnos took part in the
1821 Revolution
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
and during its duration was a safe haven for Greek refugees from areas such as
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...
,
Psara
Psara ( el, Ψαρά, , ; known in ancient times as /, /) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Together with the small island of Antipsara (Population 4) it forms the municipality of Psara. It is part of the Chios regional unit, which is part of ...
and
Aivali. In 1823 a plague broke out. Kythnos was represented in the 3rd National Assembly of Epidaurus, in the 3rd National Assembly of Troizina by Moschos Filippaios (Chora) and N. Economidis Levantis (Dryopida). In the following years until 1832 Kythnos was represented in the National Assemblies by N. Vallindas.
Modern Kythnos
In 1828 five schools were operating on the island, including private schools, and by 1833 there were only two schools operating.
[Κορδατζή-Πρασσά p. 69] They were financially supported by contributions from the residents and income from monasteries on the island.
During the reign of King
Othon, Kythnos was a place of
exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
for
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s and was the scene of an unsuccessful revolt in 1862 by rebels from
Syros
Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census).
The largest towns are Ermoupoli, A ...
who attempted to free the prisoners.
![Kythnos02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Kythnos02.JPG)
In the 19th century, Kythnians mainly earned their living as they had for centuries before: as shepherds or by fishing. The island had few natural resources and, lacking a deep-water mooring for boats, was relatively inaccessible. On the other hand
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
and
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
flourished in Kythnos, with Kythnian craftsmen leaving for
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
in the summers and returning in the winter.
At the beginning of the 20th century the production of high quality
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
and
semolina
Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well.
Etymo ...
increased greatly and exports increased accordingly. As the new century dawned, iron ore was discovered on the island and Kythnians were able to supplement their meager incomes by working in the mines. These mines, however, were mostly played out by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and once again, the population of the island went into decline, as young people left to find employment and a better life in Athens or even further afield. During the
Axis Occupation of Greece, many Kythnians living in Athens returned to the island for better living conditions.
The Greek tourist boom beginning in the mid-20th century largely bypassed Kythnos because its harbor lacked a deep-water dock for ferryboats. The construction of a new mole in 1974 precipitated great changes. Today, the island is a modern, prosperous place, with a burgeoning tourist trade. It is in the forefront of alternative energy experiments, with the establishment in 1982 of Greece's first wind park. With the addition of a photovoltaic system and storage batteries, the amount of diesel fuel required to supply the island's electricity has been reduced by 11%. Numerous individual houses on remote coves are equipped with
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
systems, and nearly all houses employ
solar water heaters.
Due to its proximity to Athens, Kythnos has become a fashionable setting for vacation homes, in addition to being an accessible destination for foreign visitors. Besides its numerous beaches and picturesque villages, it also is the site of one of the largest caves in Greece,
Katafyki Cave in
Dryopida
Dryopida ( el, Δρυοπίδα) is a village in Kythnos island, Greece. It most likely got its name from the first residents of the island, the Dryopes. It is declared as a traditional settlement because of its architecture. The village has an es ...
. This cave, first visited in the 1830s and described by the geologist Fiedler, has unique "schratten" or rock curtains, as well as speleotherms. It was the site of an iron mine until 1939 and has now been developed as a tourist attraction.
Folklore
Swings
Swings or Kounies (
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 ...
: Κούνιες) is an Easter custom that has been preserved to this day. A wooden swing is tied to a tree or to stakes in the centre of the village and young men and women swing on it, exchanging praise and poetry.
May Day
On the eve of the first of May they would prepare the "May" wreath with flowers and sing to music. This is a custom that is still preserved today.
Lazanis
At noon on the Tyrian Sunday, the "Lazanis", a straw puppet who supposedly came to "take the lasagna (spaghetti)", would be baptized. The custom is still maintained to this day, with 'Lazanis' occupying the role of King
Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
.
Music and dance tradition
The violin and the lute are the main musical instruments of the island, which form the "Zyas", as they are called on the island. The tsampouna (or kaida) is the characteristic instrument heard on Carnival.
Traditions
In the legends and beliefs of Kythnos there are multiple references to
fairies
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...
,
vampires
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths ...
,
dragons
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
etc. living in various places on the island such as: ancient ruins, mills, threshing floors, isolated beaches etc.
Gastronomy
Representative dishes of the local cuisine are sfougata (fried
cheese balls), kolopi (pita with greens) and poulos (a bread roll filled with salted
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
). The island also has other traditional products such as
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
and various types of
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
.
Beaches
Kythnos has more than 90
beaches
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...
, many of which are still inaccessible by road. Of particular note is the crescent-shaped isthmus of fine sand at Kolona. Other beaches are: Episkopi, Apokrousi, Megali Ammos, Schinari, Simousi, Martinakia, Zogaki, Naoussa, Kouri, Agios Stefanos, Vasilika, Lefkes & Liotrivi.
Notable people
*
Timanthes
Timanthes of Cythnus ( el, Τιμάνϑης) was an ancient Greek painter of the fourth century BC. The most celebrated of his works was a picture representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia, in which he finely depicted the emotions of those who to ...
(4th century BC), painter
*
Ignatius of Mariupol
Ignatius of Mariupol (1716 – 1786) was an 18th-century Greek bishop of Gothia and Caffa in Crimea and later of Mariupol, modern-day Ukraine. He is venerated as a saint by the Orthodox Church.
Biography
He was born in 1716 in Kythnos as Ia ...
(1716–1786), bishop, founder of Mariupol
*
Giorgos Zambetas
Giorgos Zampetas (Pronounced 'Zabetas', el, Γιώργος Ζαμπέτας, sometimes romanized as George Zambetas / George Zabetas / Giorgos Zabetas; 25 January 1925 – 10 March 1992) was a Greek bouzouki musician. He was born and died in At ...
1925–1992, composer
*
Leonidas Paraskevopoulos
Leonidas Paraskevopoulos ( el, Λεωνίδας Παρασκευόπουλος; 7 October 1860 – 16 May 1936) was a senior officer of the Hellenic Army and politician. He played a major role in Greece's war effort during World War I, and was the ...
, military officer
In popular culture
*
Clive Barker's story
Babel's Children is set in Kythnos.
Gallery
File:Kythnos,-stone-walls.jpg, alt=, Throughout Kythnos, drylaid stone walls delineate individual parcels of land
File:Kolona beach, Kythnos 2009 n01.jpg, alt=, Kolona Beach
File:Kythnos03.JPG, Dryopida
Dryopida ( el, Δρυοπίδα) is a village in Kythnos island, Greece. It most likely got its name from the first residents of the island, the Dryopes. It is declared as a traditional settlement because of its architecture. The village has an es ...
village, Kythnos
File:Driopis-street.jpg, alt=, Typical alley in Dryopida
File:Δρυοπίδα Kythnos.jpg, Dryopida
File:Katafiki corridors.jpg, Katafiki, Dryopida
File:Χώρα Κύθνου από μονοπάτι για Παναγία του Νίκους.jpg, View of Chora, Kythnos
File:Αγ. Παντελεήμων Χώρα Κύθνου.jpg, Agios Panteleimon, Chora
File:Aghios Savvas.jpg, alt=, Church of Agios Savvas in Chora.
File:Colorful porch.jpg, alt=, Alley in Chora
File:Γεωργία Κύθνος.jpg, alt=, Landscape
File:Loutra, Kythnos, 190200.jpg, Loutra
File:Kanala, Kythnos, 190421.jpg, Kanala
File:Agios Dimitrios Kythnos panoramic 201808.jpg, Agios Dimitrios
File:Traditional old mill.jpg, alt=, A ruined mill & Agios Nektarios church
References
Sources
*
Bent, James Theodore, "The Cyclades: Life Among the Insular Greeks," 1885, reprinted in 2002 by Archaeopress, Oxford. Chapter 17 recounts his impressions of Kythnos
* Freely, John (2006). The Cyclades : discovering the Greek islands of the Aegean. London: I.B. Tauris. . .
*
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
, "The History," translated by David Greene, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, paperback edition, 1988
* Smith, William, ed., "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography," 1854. Can be accessed at the
Perseus Project
The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University, which assembles digital collections of humanities resources. Version 4.0 is also known as the "Perseus Hopper", and it is hosted by the Department of Classical Studies. The proj ...
.
* Vallinda, Antoniou, "History of the Island of Kythnos," monograph (in Greek), 1896, reprinted by the Syndesmos Kythnion, Athens, 1990.
* Βάλληνδα, Αντωνίου (1882). Κυθνιακά ήτοι της νήσου Κύθνου χωρογραφία και ιστορία μετά του βίου των συγχρόνων Κυθνίων εν ω ήθη και έθη και γλώσσα και γένη κλπ. Εν Ερμουπόλει: Τυπ. της "Προόδου".
* Βάλληνδα, Αντωνίου (1896). Ιστορία της νήσου Κύθνου . Αθήνα.
* Κορδατζή-Πρασσά, Αναστασία (1996-01-01)
Η ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΣΗ ΣΤΙΣ ΚΥΚΛΑΔΕΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΚΑΠΟΔΙΣΤΡΙΑΚΗ ΠΕΡΙΟΔΟ (1828-1832) Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών (ΕΚΠΑ), Σχολή Φιλοσοφική, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας. .
* Χρυσού-Καρατζά, Κυριακή (2006)
Τροφή και διατροφή στις Κυκλάδες (19ος-20ος αι.) Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών (ΕΚΠΑ). Σχολή Φιλοσοφική. Τμήμα Φιλολογίας. Τομέας Βυζαντινής Φιλολογίας και Λαογραφίας. .
External links
*
{{Authority control
Islands of Greece
Municipalities of the South Aegean
Members of the Delian League
Greek city-states
Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands
Populated places in Kea-Kythnos