[BACK TO DELOS]

Delos

The sacred island of Delos was, in the myths, the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Today the island is uninhabited. It is a vast archaeological site whose superb monuments draw thousands of visitors in pilgrimage to what was, for a thousand years or so after the ninth century BC, the political and religious centre of the Aegean.

The earliest traces of settlement on Delos reach back to the third millennium B.C., but the sacred isle first flourished in the second half of the second millennium B.C, the so-called Mycenaean period.

On the lower levels of the western slopes of the Mount Cynthus, East of the main Apollo sanctuary, were erected the temples of the foreign Gods introduced to Delos by the cosmopolitan inhabitants who flooded the island in the Hellenistic period.

The parts of the ancient temples in Delos that are still preserved, are the lower parts of the buildings and only the temple of Isis is in part restored. According to mythology, Zues, father of the Gods, was up to his old tricks. This time it was Leto, daughter of the Titans Kronos and Phoebe, he was chasing, and when she turned herself into a quail, he did the same and caught her. Hera, Zues's wife, was so cross that she swore that Leto would find no place on earth to have her child. Pursued by Hera, Leto found refuge on a floating rocky island, which Poseidon then anchored to the sea bottom with pillars of granite. Here, under a date palm tree, she gave birth to twins Apollo and Artemis. Apollo, symbol of manly beauty and God of a variety of matters, including truth, light, music, prophecy, medicine, archery, and the tending of flocks and herds. Artemis, virgin huntress and goddess of chastity. Arge and Opis, two maidens from the hyperborean regions of the north, attended the birth.

Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, this earlier population established a settlement on the hill of Kinthos, followed in the 2nd millennium by another settlement in the area of the later Sacred Precinct. From the 7th century BC, Delos was under the influence of Naxos, which promoted the development of the sanctuary. With Delphi, Delos became the most important sanctuary in the Greek world. Delos became the headquarters of the Delian Confederacy, a maritime league under the leadership of Athens, and the treasure contributed by the member states and cities of this Delian League was kept in the Apollo sanctuary. However, Athens has become a member of the league and it was determined not to allow a little island to become so powerful. In 454 BC the Athenians carried off the treasury of the league and deposited it on the Acropolis.

In the 6th century BC, Athens also announced that Delos must be "purified". No births or deaths were allowed on the island. Then Peisistratos carried out a second "purification" of the island, with the removal of all tombs (apart from the two hyperborean maidens) from Delos to the neighbouring island of Rhenia. The Athenians found Delos in a desirable and strategic position for a long time, from where they could control the Aegean, and therefore, by the 5th century it had come under their jurisdiction.

The Delians appealed for help to Sparti, Athens deported all the islanders in 442 BC and murdered their leaders, but Sparti was winning the Peloponnesian Wars, so Athens was forced to let the islanders back. In 314 BC Delos broke away from Athens to become independent and therefore enjoyed a period of great prosperity. The island reached its height in Hellenistic times, becoming one of the 3 most important religious centres in Greece and a flourishing centre of commerce. It traded through the Mediterranean and was populated with wealthy merchants, mariners and bankers from as far away as Egypt and Syria. These inhabitants built temples to the various Gods worshipped in their countries of origin, although Apollo remained the principal deity worshipped on the island.

In 166 BC, the Romans declared Delos a free port, which promoted its development as a trading centre, dealing, among other things, in slaves. This led to the growth of a considerable commercial town. In 88 BC it was sacked by Mithridates and 10,000 inhabitants were massacred. From then on, Delos was finished and was prey to pirates, and later, also to looters of antiquities. It frightened off pilgrims to the Temple. Shipping ceased. Builders from Tinos, Mykonos and Syros looted blocks of marble from the sanctuary and buildings, the Venetians removed statues and works of art to Venice and Rome.
 

<click to go back>