Skyros ( el, Σκύρος, ), in some historical contexts Latinized Scyros ( grc, Σκῦρος, ), is an island in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, the southernmost of the

Sporades The (Northern) Sporades (; el, Βόρειες Σποράδες, ) are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpageEB-Skyrosnotes " ...

, an archipelago in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

. Around the

2nd millennium BC The 2nd millennium BC spanned the years 2000 BC to 1001 BC. In the Ancient Near East, it marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. The Ancient Near Eastern cultures are well within the historical era: The first half of the mil ...

and slightly later, the island was known as The Island of the Magnetes where the

Magnetes The Magnetes (Greek: ) were an ancient Greek tribe. In book 2 of the ''Iliad,'' Homer includes them in the Greek Army that is besieging Troy, and identifies their homeland in Thessaly, in a part that is still known as Magnesia. They later also con ...

used to live and later Pelasgia and Dolopia and later Skyros. At it is the largest island of the Sporades, and has a population of about 3,000 (in 2011). It is part of the regional unit of

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 ...

. The

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

has a major base in Skyros, because of the island's strategic location in the middle of the Aegean.

Municipality

The municipality Skyros is part of the regional unit of

. Apart from the island Skyros, it consists of the small inhabited island of

Skyropoula Skyropoula (Greek: Σκυροπούλα, English: "Little Skyros") is a Greek island in the Sporades. The islet of Erinia lies directly to the east as well as the main island of Skyros. From 1860 until 2001, it was the private island of the Anto ...

and a few smaller uninhabited islands. The total area of the municipality is .

Geography

The north of the island is covered by a forest, while the south, dominated by the highest mountain, called Kochila, (792 m), is bare and rocky. The island's capital is also called Skyros (or, locally, ''Chora''). The main port, on the west coast, is Linaria. The island has a

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 ...

(the ''kastro'') that dates from the Venetian occupation (13th to 15th centuries), a Byzantine

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

(the Monastery of Saint George), the grave of English poet

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...

in an olive grove by the road leading to

Tris Boukes Tris, or tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, or known during medical use as tromethamine or THAM, is an organic compound with the formula (HOCH2)3CNH2, one of the twenty Good's buffers. It is extensively used in biochemistry and molecular biology as ...

harbour. There are many beaches on the coast. The island has its own breed of Skyrian ponies.

Climate

Skyros has a Mediterranean climate with mild winters and pleasant summers.

Etymology

One account associates the name ''Skyros'' with ''skyron'' or ''skiron'', meaning "stone debris". (The island had a reputation for its decorative stone.) File:Skyros Satellite.jpg, Satellite photo of Skyros and

File:Map of Skyros - Bordone Benedetto - 1547.jpg, Map of Skyros by Benedetto Bordone, 1547

History

According to

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describe ...

died on Skyros when the local king,

Lycomedes In Greek mythology, Lycomedes ( grc, Λυκομήδης), also known as Lycurgus, was the most prominent king of the Dolopians in the island of Scyros near Euboea during the Trojan War. Family Lycomedes was the father of seven daughters inclu ...

, threw him from a cliff. The island is also famous in the myths as the place from where

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

set sail for

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

after

Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...

discovered him in the court of Lycomedes.

Neoptolemus In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus (; ), also called Pyrrhus (; ), was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia, and the brother of Oneiros. He became the mythical progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Epi ...

, son of Achilles, was from Skyros (or ''Scyros'', as its name is sometimes transliterated), as told in Book Nineteen of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

'' (lines 326-327) and in the play by

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

Philoctetes Philoctetes ( grc, Φιλοκτήτης ''Philoktētēs''; English pronunciation: , stress (linguistics), stressed on the third syllable, ''-tet-''), or Philocthetes, according to Greek mythology, was the son of Poeas, king of Meliboea (Magnes ...

(line 239). A small bay named Achili on the east coast of the island is said to be the place from where Achilles left with the Greeks, or rather where Achilles landed during a squall that befell the Greek fleet following an abortive initial expedition landing astray in

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; el, Μυσία; lat, Mysia; tr, Misya) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the ...

. In 475 BC, according to

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...

(1.98),

Cimon Cimon or Kimon ( grc-gre, Κίμων; – 450BC) was an Athenian ''strategos'' (general and admiral) and politician. He was the son of Miltiades, also an Athenian ''strategos''. Cimon rose to prominence for his bravery fighting in the naval Batt ...

defeated the Dolopians (the original inhabitants) and conquered the entire island. From that date, Athenian settlers colonized it and it became a part of the

Athenian Empire 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 Plat ...

. The island lay on the strategic trade route between Attica and the Black Sea (Athens depended on supplies of grain reaching it through the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

). Cimon claimed to have found the remains of Theseus, and returned them to Athens. In 340 BC, the

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...

ians took over the island and dominated it until 192 BC, when King

Philip V of Macedon Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon ag ...

and the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

an forces restored it to Athens. Admiralty Chart No 2048 Skyros, Published 1851

After the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

of 1202–1204, the island became part of the domain of

Geremia Ghisi Geremia Ghisi was a Venetian nobleman who in ca. 1207, following the Fourth Crusade, captured the Greek islands of Skiathos, Skopelos, and Skyros and became their lord, while his brother Andrea Ghisi conquered the islands of Tinos and Mykonos. The ...

. The Byzantines retook it in 1277. After the

Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...

, Venetians ruled again the island until 1538, when it passed to the Ottoman Empire. It became part of the new Greek state in 1830. In 1848, Captain Thomas Graves commanding surveyed Skyros for the British Admiralty. He travelled around the island, and a record of his observations was published the following year.

, the famous English poet, is buried on Skyros, having died on board a French hospital-ship moored off the island on 23 April 1915, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Present at Brooke's burial that same evening, were

Patrick Shaw-Stewart Patrick Houston Shaw-Stewart (17 August 1888 – 30 December 1917) was a British scholar and poet of the Edwardian era who died on active service as a battalion commander in the Royal Naval Division during the First World War. He is best remember ...

and

William Denis Browne William Charles Denis Browne (3 November 1888 – 4 June 1915), primarily known as Billy to family and as Denis to his friends, was a British composer, pianist, organist and music critic of the early 20th century. He and his close friend, poet Ru ...

. The tomb that visitors see today when they visit the grave, which is located in the Tris Boukes Bay, is one that was commissioned by Brooke’s mother and was placed after the 1st World War. On the tomb is an inscription of Brooke's famous poem ''The Soldier''. In 1941

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning poet

Karl Shapiro Karl Jay Shapiro (November 10, 1913 – May 14, 2000) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1945 for his collection ''V-Letter and Other Poems''. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to th ...

wrote the

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 ...

poem ''Scyros'', which he set on the island Skyros "because it was a tribute to and irony upon Rupert Brooke." In 1963 the Archaeological Museum of Skyros was established, with the inauguration taking place 10 years later in 1973. The Faltaits Folklore Museum was founded in 1964 - one of the first local folklore museums to operate in Greece.

Spanish flu

In 1918, during the

spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

, approximately one third of the island's population died in less than 30 days. The influenza began on 27 October 1918, and among the 3,200 inhabitants of the island, almost 2,000 were infected and 1,000 died.

Historical population

Transportation

Air travel

Skyros is home to the

Skyros Island National Airport Skyros Island National Airport ( gr, Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Σκύρου) is an airport serving the island of Skyros in Greece. It is located 17 km northwards from the town of the island (also called Skyros), in an area call ...

, a one-runway airport.

Sea travel

Skyros Shipping Company operates the ferry service to Skyros. During holiday season the ferry runs twice daily from

Kymi Kymi may refer to: *Kymi, Greece, a town in Euboea, Greece *Kymi, Finland, a former municipality in Finland *Kymi (constituency), a constituency in the Finnish Parliament *Kymi (region), or ''Kymenlaakso'', the region of Finland *Kymi B.C., a basket ...

to Linaria on Skyros. During the winter months the service operates daily. The ship has the name "Achilleas SKYROS SHIPPING CO." (Greek: Αχιλλέας ΣΚΥΡΟΣ ΝΑΥΤΙΚΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΙΑ).

Gallery

File:The town of Skyros island, Greece - panoramio.jpg, View of Chora File:A street in Skyros, Greece.jpg, Street of Skyros File:Skyros, Greece.jpg, Aerial view File:The Skyros pony.jpg, Skyros pony File:Skyros - 2013-03 - Carnaval place centrale (dimanche).JPG, Fest during the

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 ...

File:Skyros - 2013-03 - Plateia Brook.JPG, Brooke Square File:Vraka Skyros Greek Costume.JPG, Traditional dress (Vraka) of Skyros File:Skyros2.jpg, Traditional costumes of Skyros ( PFF's archives) File:Archaeological Site of Palamari at Skyros 2022.jpg, Archaeological Site of Palamari File:Agios Nikolaos Church in Skyros 2022.jpg, Agios Nikolaos Church in Molos File:Shipwreck on Agalipas Beach in Skyros.jpg, Shipwreck on Agalipas Beach

References

Sporades
at the official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
The official website of the Skyros Shipping Company

External links

* {{Authority control Hellenic Air Force bases Islands of Central Greece Islands of Greece Landforms of Euboea (regional unit) Locations in Greek mythology Locations in the Iliad Mediterranean port cities and towns in Greece Municipalities of Central Greece Populated places in Euboea (regional unit) Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands Sporades Territories of the Republic of Venice