Sikinos ( el, Σίκινος) 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 isla ...

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 ...

in the Cyclades. It is located midway between the islands of Ios and

Folegandros Folegandros (also Pholegandros; el, Φολέγανδρος) is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea that, together with Sikinos, Ios, Anafi and Santorini, forms the southern part of the Cyclades. Its surface area is and it has 765 inhabitants ...

. Sikinos is part of the Thira regional unit. It was known as Oenoe or Oinoe ( grc, Οἰνόη, Island of Wine) in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...

. It contrasts with nearby islands, such as Ios, in being quiet and relatively less developed. There are two villages, "Allopronia" on the south sea side, being the port, and another higher up in the hills being the chora. The chora up on the hills is composed of two settlements adjacent to each other, "Castro" to the west and "Chorio" to the east. There are a handful of tavernas in the harbor. The beach at the harbor is one of two large sandy beaches on the island. Several ancient ruins rest on the island, although some are remote. There are two paved roads, although a third is being built to connect the nascent heliport and eventually a new resort on the other sandy beach, and there are several well-maintained dirt roads. Much of the island is very difficult to access due to the terrain. Nearly all of the island's area is covered by terraces once used for extensive agriculture. Now only a handful are used across the island, most operating on government subsidies. The municipality had 273 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It includes the uninhabited island of Kardiotissa and other uninhabited islets. Its total land area is . In antiquity, the island contained a town of the same name. It is said to have been originally called Oenoë from its cultivation of the vine, but to have been named Sicinos after a son of Thoas and Oenoe. It was probably colonised by Ionians. Like most of the other Grecian islands, it submitted to Xerxes I in the

Greco-Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of th ...

, but it afterwards formed part of the

Athenian 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 ...

maritime empire. There are some remains of the ancient city situated upon a lofty and rugged mountain. There is also still extant an ancient temple of the

Pythian Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, now converted into the church Episkopí (ἡ Ἐπισκοπή). It stands in a depression between the main range of mountains, and the summit lying more to the left, upon which the ruins of the ancient city stand. We learn from an inscription found there by Ross that it was the temple of the Pythian Apollo.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Cyclades Municipalities of the South Aegean Populated places in Thira (regional unit) Islands of Greece Landforms of Thira (regional unit) Islands of the South Aegean Members of the Delian League Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece Greek city-states