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Tinos

Due to the strong winds people believed, according to mythology, that Tinos was the island of Eolos, God of the Winds. The ancient name of Tinos was Ofinoysa due to the many snakes that were on the island. The Ionians came here around 1000 BC. In the 6th century B.C. it was ruled by Eretria, while in 490 BC it was seized by the Persians, regaining its freedom after the battle of Marathon.

In Tinos one can see the remains of the temple of Poseidonas and Amfitritis at Kionia, which show that people worshipped Poseidona. In 1207, the Venetians conquered Tinos. Venetian rule here lasted longer than any other island of the Cyclades. In 1715, the Turks took Tinos, to be liberated by the Greeks in the War of Independence of 1821. The year 1822 was an important one for Tinos, for it was then that the famous icon of the Blessed Virgin was discovered, after a nun in the Kechrovouni convent saw it in a dream.

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