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Samothrace

In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages Samothrace was occupied by people of Thracian stock. From 'the topmost peak of wooded Samothrace', Poseidon watched the fighting on the plains of Troy, a city supposedly founded from the island though in fact more likely founded from Limnos.

Archaeological evidence contradicts the classical tradition that the colonists came earlier from Samos. The colonists' dialect has been shown by inscription to have been Aeolian rather than Ionian and probably derived from Lesbos or the Troad. In the 6th century Samothrace had a silver coinage, the city reached its greatest extent and colonies were established on the mainland. The Samothracian navy was represented at Salamis. In the 5th century her power declined, though the fame of her cult increased until the island became the chief center of religious life in the north Aegean.

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods Herodotus and King Lysander of Sparta were initiated. Here Philip of Macedonia met and fell in love with his wife Olympias of Epirus, mother of Alexander the Great. The Macedonian dynasty continued to adorn the sanctuary until their downfall. Though the presence of the sanctuary assured the independence of the city, the island was used as a naval base by the Second Athenian League, by King Lysimachos of Thrace and by the Ptolemaius, Seleucids and Macedonians in turn. After the battle of Pydna, Perseus, the last king of Macedon, sought refuge in the island, only to be taken prisoner by the Romans.

The island, a natural port of call between the Troad and Neapolis, saw St. Paul on his way to Philippi. In 1419 the island was visited by Buondelmonte and in 1444, when it had passed into the hands of Genoese Gattilusi, princes of Enos and Samothrace, by Cyriacus of Ancona. It was conqured by the Turks in 1457, passed to Greece after the First World War and suffered a Bulgarian occupation in 1941-44.

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