The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ;

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

: ,

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are among the most extensive in the Mediterranean; ongoing work takes place under the direction of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, and many of the artifacts found are on display at the

Archaeological Museum of Delos The Archaeological Museum of Delos ( el, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Δήλου) is a museum on the island of Delos, near Mykonos in the South Aegean, Greece. It is noted for its extensive collection of statues unearthed in the surround ...

and the

National Archaeological Museum of Athens The National Archaeological Museum ( el, Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο) in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is ...

. Delos had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. From its Sacred Harbour, the

horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

shows the three

conical A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

mounds that have identified landscapes sacred to a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

(it is predicted that the deity's name is Athena) - in other sites: one, retaining its Pre-Greek name

Mount Cynthus Mount Cynthus (, ''Kýnthos'') is located on the isle of Delos, part of the Greek Cyclades. Mythology In Greek mythology, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on this island, having been shunned by Zeus' wife Hera who was extremely jealous of ...

, is crowned with a sanctuary of Zeus. In 1990, UNESCO inscribed Delos on the World Heritage List, citing its exceptional archaeological site which "conveys the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port", its influence on the development of Greek architecture, and its sacred importance throughout Ancient Greece.

History

Ancient Greece

Investigation of ancient stone huts found on the island indicate that it has been inhabited since the third millennium BC. Thucydides identifies the original inhabitants as

piratical 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 ...

Carians who were eventually expelled by King Minos of Crete. By the writing of the '' Odyssey'', the island was already famous as the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis (although some confusion seems to exist of Artemis' birthplace being either Delos or the island of Ortygia). Between 900 BC and 100 AD, Delos was a major cult centre, where the gods

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

and Leto, mother of the twin

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

Apollo and Artemis, were revered. Eventually acquiring

Panhellenic Greek nationalism (or Hellenic nationalism) refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture.. As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in pre-modern times. It became a major political movement beginning in the 18th century, ...

religious significance, Delos was initially a religious pilgrimage for the Ionians. A number of " purifications" were performed by the city-state of Athens in an attempt to render the island fit for the proper worship of the gods. The first took place in the sixth century BC, directed by the tyrant

Pisistratus Pisistratus or Peisistratus ( grc-gre, Πεισίστρατος ; 600 – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular ...

, who ordered that all graves within sight of the temple be dug up and the bodies moved to another nearby island. In the fifth century BC, during the sixth year of the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

and under instruction from the

Delphic Oracle Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...

, the entire island was purged of all dead bodies.

Prohibition of dying Prohibition of dying is a political social phenomenon and taboo in which a law is passed stating that it is illegal to die, usually specifically in a certain political division or in a specific building. The earliest case of prohibition of death ...

was then ordered, so that no one should be allowed to die (or give birth) on the island due to its sacred importance, and to preserve its neutrality in commerce since no one could then claim ownership through inheritance. Immediately after this purification, the first quinquennial festival of the Delian games were celebrated there. Four years later, all inhabitants of the island were removed to Adramyttium in Asia as a further purification. After the Persian Wars, the island became the natural meeting ground for the

Delian League The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...

, founded in 478 BC, the

congresses A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

being held in the temple (a separate quarter was reserved for foreigners and the sanctuaries of foreign

). The league's common treasury was kept here as well until 454 BC, when Pericles removed it to Athens. During the Hellenistic period, a well-established Phoenician colony on the island had extensive trade relations. The island had no productive capacity for

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

, fiber, or timber, which were all imported. Limited water was exploited with an extensive

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

and aqueduct system,

wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

, and sanitary drains. Various regions operated ''

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

e'' (markets).

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

writes that the Greeks used the proverb "ᾌδεις ὥσπερ εἰς Δῆλον πλέων", meaning you sing as if sailing into Delos in reference to someone who is happy, light-hearted, and enjoying himself.

Iamblichus Iamblichus (; grc-gre, Ἰάμβλιχος ; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅 ''Yamlīḵū''; ) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of ...

writes that Delos Mysteries (similar to the Eleusinian Mysteries) were established.

Roman era

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

states that in 166 BC, the Romans converted Delos into a free port, which was partially motivated by seeking to damage the trade of Rhodes, at the time the target of Roman hostility. In 167 or 166 BC, after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War, the Roman Republic ceded the island of Delos to the

Athenians 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 a ...

, who expelled most of the original inhabitants. Roman traders came to purchase tens of thousands of slaves captured by the Cilician pirates or captured in the wars following the disintegration of the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

. It became the center of the slave trade, with the largest slave market in the larger region being maintained here. The Roman destruction of Corinth in 146 BC allowed Delos to at least partially assume Corinth's role as the premier trading center of Greece, but Delos' commercial prosperity, construction activity, and population waned significantly after the island was assaulted by the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus in 88 and 69 BC, during the Mithridatic Wars with Rome. Before the end of the first century BC, trade routes had changed; Delos was replaced by Puteoli as the chief focus of Italian trade with the east, and as a cult centre, too, it entered a sharp decline. Despite its decline, Delos maintained some population in the early Roman Imperial period. Pausanias (8,33,2), writing in the second century AD, states that Delos was uninhabited apart from a few custodians of the sanctuaries. Evidence has been found of Roman baths, coins, an aqueduct, residential and elite houses, multiple churches, basilicas, and a monastery all from the first to sixth centuries AD, which, however, does not suggest that the island was continuously inhabited in the period. The pottery found indicates that produce, such as wine and oil, continued to be imported from regional centres. Also, a number of wine presses were found amidst the ruins of the ancient city that date to this period, suggesting that the population at this time was engaged in considerable viticultural endeavour. Delos was eventually abandoned around the eighth century AD.

Landmarks

* The small sacred lake in its circular bowl, now intentionally left dry by the island's caretakers to suppress disease-spreading bacteria, is a topographical feature that determined the placement of later features. * The Minoan Fountain was a rectangular public well hewn in the rock, with a central column; it formalized the sacred spring in its present sixth-century BC form, reconstructed in 166 BC, according to an inscription. Tightly laid courses of masonry form the walls; water can still be reached by a flight of steps that fill one side. * Several market squares were found; the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Agora of the Competaliasts by the Sacred Harbour retains the

postholes In archaeology a posthole or post-hole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide; however, truncation may not make this apparent. Although the remains of the timber may survive, most p ...

for market

awnings An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of Acrylic fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tig ...

in its stone paving. Two powerful Italic

merchant guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

s dedicated statues and columns there. * The Temple of the Delians, dedicated to Apollo, is a classic example of the Doric order. Beside the temple, once stood a colossal kouros of Apollo, only parts of which remain. Dating to the sixth century BC, parts of the upper torso and pelvis remain '' in situ'', a hand is kept at the local museum, and a foot is in the British Museum. Terrace of the Lions 01

* The Terrace of the Lions, also was dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BC. It originally had 9-12 squatting, snarling marble guardian lions along the Sacred Way; one was removed and is presently situated over the main gate of the Venetian Arsenal. The lions create a monumental avenue comparable to Egyptian avenues of sphinxes. (A Greek sphinx is in the Delos Museum.) Today, only seven of the original lions remain. * The Oikos of the Naxians (House of the Naxians), first quarter of sixth century BC, has a long hall with one central ionic colonnade, a west porch tristyle in antis, and an east marble prostasis of the middle of the six,th century BC. * The Establishment of the Poseidoniasts, clubhouse of "the Koinon of the

Berytian ) or Laodicea in Canaan (2nd century to 64 BCE) , image = St. George's Cathedral, Beirut.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Roman ruins of Berytus, in front of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in mode ...

Poseidoniast merchants, shipmasters, and warehousemen", during the early years of Roman hegemony, late 2nd century BC. To their protective triad of Baal/ Poseidon, Astarte/ Aphrodite and Eshmun/

Asklepios Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of ...

, they added

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

* The

Temple of Isis was built on a high, overlooking hill at the beginning of the Roman period to venerate the familiar trinity of Isis, the Alexandrian Serapis, and Anubis. * The Temple of Hera, ''circa'' 500 BC, is a rebuilding of an earlier Heraion on the site. * The House of Dionysus is a luxurious second-century private house named for the floor mosaic of Dionysus riding a panther. * The House of the Dolphins is similarly named from its atrium mosaic, where erotes ride dolphins; its Phoenician owner commissioned a floor mosaic of Tanit in his

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

. * The

Stoivadeion The Stoibadeion (in Modern Greek: ''Stoivadeion'') is a temple to Dionysus located on the Greek island of Delos. Description The Stoibadeion contains a rectangular platform containing a statue of Dionysus, which was flanked by two actors impe ...

dedicated to

bears a statue of the god of wine and the life-force. On either side of the platform, a pillar supports a colossal

phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisel ...

, the symbol of Dionysus. The southern pillar, which is decorated with relief scenes from the Dionysiac circle, was erected around 300 BC to celebrate a winning theatrical performance. The statue of Dionysus was originally flanked by those of two actors impersonating ''Paposilenoi'' (conserved in the

). The marble theatre is a rebuilding of an older one, undertaken shortly after 300 BC. * The

Delos Synagogue The synagogue of Delos, Greece, is one of the oldest synagogues known today, its proposed origin dating between 150 and 128 BCE, although its identification as a synagogue has been disputed. Discovery and excavation The structure was discovered in ...

, the oldest

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

known today.

Current population

The 2001 Greek census reported a population of 14 inhabitants on the island. The island is administratively a part of the municipality of Mýkonos. According to more recent numbers, in 2011 the island counted 24 inhabitants.

Gallery

File:Theatre Quarter, Delos 04.jpg, The Theatre Quarter File:Sacred Way, Delos 03.jpg, Sacred Way File:Establishment of the Poseidoniasts, Delos 01.jpg, Establishment of the Poseidoniasts File:Delos House of Dionysus floor mosaic.jpg, House of Dionysus floor mosaic File:House of the Masks 01.jpg, House of the Masks File:House of Cleopatra, Delos.jpg, House of Cleopatra File:Delos House of Cleopatra.jpg, Statues at the House of Cleopatra File:Ancient Delos.jpg, House of the Lake File:Temple of Isis, Delos 03.jpg, Temple of Isis File:Bust of Hermes, Delos 01.jpg, Bust of Hermes File:Mosaic from the Insula of the Jewellery 04.jpg, Mosaic from the Insula of the Jewellery File:Dolphins in Delos.JPG, A mosaic on the floor of the House of the Dolphins File:Agora of the Italians, Delos 02.jpg, Agora of the Italians File:Heraion, Delos 02.jpg, Heraion (Temple of

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 ...

) File:House of the Trident 03.jpg, House of the Trident

References

External links

Hellenic Ministry of Culture site: Delos

Delos Island on WikiMapiaThe Barrington Atlas Directory notes: Delos GRE
{{Authority control Ancient Greek geography Islands of Greece World Heritage Sites in Greece Ancient Greek sanctuaries in Greece Landforms of Mykonos Islands of the South Aegean Delian League Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands Phoenician colonies in Greece