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KIMOLOS (Island) KYKLADES
Cimolus (Kimolos), a small island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades,
lying between Siphnos and Melos, and separated from the latter by a narrow strait
only half a mile in breadth. The extreme length of the island is 5 miles, and
its breadth 3 1/2 miles. Pliny relates (iv. 12. s. 23) that Cimolus was also called
Echinusa, a name which is not derived from Echidna, viper, as most modern writers
have supposed, but from Echinus, the seaurchin, of which there are several fossil
specimens on the west coast, and which are not found in any other of the Cyclades
or Sporades, except on the opposite coast of Melos. Cimolus is not mentioned in
political history, and appears to have followed the fate of the neighbouring island
of Melos; but it was celebrated in antiquity on account of its earth or chalk
(he Kimolia ge, Cimolia Creta), which was used by fullers in washing clothes.
This chalk was also employed in medicine. (Strab. x. p. 484; Eustath. ad Dionys.
530; Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. 713; Plin. iv. 12. s. 23, xxxv. 17. s. 57; Cels.
ii. 33.) This Cimolian earth is described by Tournefort as a white chalk, very
heavy, without any taste, and which melts away when it is put into water. The
island is covered with this white chalk, whence Ovid (Met. vii. 463) speaks of
cretosa rura Cimoli. The figs of Cimolus were celebrated by the comic poet Amphis
(Athen. i. p. 306); and though the soil is barren, figs are still produced in
the vallies. Another writer (quoted by Athenaeus, iii. p. 123, d) speaks of certain
caves of the island, in which water being placed became as cold as snow, though
warm before.
Cimolus contained 1200 inhabitants when it was visited by Ross in
1843. The modern town is in the SE. of the island, about a quarter of an hour
from the harbour, which is both small and insecure. In the middle of the west
coast there is a Paleokastron, situated upon a steep rock about 1000 feet in height;
but it appears only to have been built as a place of refuge to be used in times
of danger. The ancient town was situated at Daskalio, also called St. Andrew,
on the S. coast, opposite Melos. Daskalio, or St. Andrew, is the name given to
a rock, distant at present about 200 paces from the island, to which, however,
it was originally united. The whole rock is covered with the remains of houses,
among which Ross noticed a draped female figure of white marble, of good workmanship,
but without head and hands. As long as the rock was united to the island by an
isthmus, there was a good, though small harbour, on the eastern side of the rock.
Around this harbour was the burial-place of the town; and several of the sepulchral
chambers situated above the water were opened at the end of the last and the beginning
of the present centuries, and were found to contain painted vases and golden ornaments,
while above them were stelae with reliefs and inscriptions; but at present nothing
of the kind is discovered. The strip of coast containing the tombs is called Hellenika.
To the E. of Daskalio on the S. coast there is a small rock, containing a ruined
tower, called Pyrgos; and N. of the present town, there is upon the east coast
a good harbour, called Prasa, where there are said to be some Hellenic sepulchral
chambers. This harbour, and the one at Daskalio, are probably the two, which Dicaearchus
assigns to Cimolos (Descript. Graec. 138, p. 463, ed. Fuhr):
Epeita Siphnos kai Kimolos echomene,
Echousa limenas duo.
The Greeks still call the island Cimoli; but it is also called Argentiera, because
a silver mine is said to have been discovered here. Others suppose, however, that
this name may have been given to it even by the ancients from its white cliffs.
(Tournefort, Travels, &c. vol. i. p. 111, seq., transl.; Fiedler, Reise durch
Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 344, seq.; Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol.
iii. p. 22, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MILOS (Island) KYKLADES
Melos (Melos: Eth. Melios: Milo), an island in the Aegean sea, and
the most south-westerly of the Cyclades, whence it was called Zephyria by Aristotle
(ap. Plin. iv. 12. s. 23; comp. Steph. B. s. v.), and was even placed by Strabo
in the Cretan sea (x. p. 484). The latter writer says (l. c.) that Melos was 700
stadia from the promontory Dictynnaeum in Crete, and the same distance from the
promontory Scyllaeum in Argolis. The island is in reality 70 miles north of the
coast of Crete, and 65 miles east of the coast of Peloponnesus. It is about 14
miles in length and 8 in breadth. Pliny and others describe it as perfectly round
in shape ( insularum rotundissima, Plin. l. c.; Solin. c. 11; Isidor. Orig. xiv.
6); but it more resembles the form of a bow. On the northern side there is a deep
bay, which forms an excellent harbour. The island is said to have borne several
names in more ancient times. Besides that of Zephyria given to it by Aristotle,
it was also called Memblis by Aristides, Mimallis by Callimachus, Siphis and Acyton
by Heracleides (Plin. l. c.), and also Byblis by Stephanus B. (s. v. Melos); the
latter name is said to have been derived from its receiving a colony from the
town of Bybls in Phoenicia. Other writers mention this Phoenician colony, and
Festus derives the name of Melos from the founder of the colony. (Fest. s. v.
Melos.) Some connect the name with melon, an apple, on account of the round shape
of the island. The Phoenician settlement is probable; but we know that it was
colonised at an early period by the Lacedaemonians, and that it continued to be
inhabited by Dorians down to the time of the Peloponnesian War. According to the
Melians themselves, the Lacedaemonians settled in the island 700 years before
this war. (Herod. viii. 48; Thuc. v. 84, 112.) In the Peloponnesian War, the Melians
remained faithful to their mother city. In B.C. 426, the Athenians made an unsuccessful
attempt upon the island; but in 416 they captured the principal town, put all
the adult males to death, sold the women and children into slavery, and colonised
the island afresh by 500 Athenians. (Thuc. v. 84-116; Diod. xii. 80; Strab. l.
c.)
Melos is now called Milo. It is mountainous and of volcanic origin.
Its warm springs, which are now used for bathing, are mentioned in ancient times.
(Plin. xxxi. 6. s. 23; Athen. ii. p. 43.) Pliny says that the best sulphur was
found in Melos (xxxv. 15. s. 50); and among other products of the island he enumerates
alum (xxxv. 15. s. 52), pummice-stone (xxxvi. 21. s. 42), and a bright colour,
called Melinum pigments (xxxv. 6. s. 19; comp. Vitruv. vii. 7; Diosc. v. 180;
Plaut. Most. i. 3. 107). The mines of alum are on the eastern side of the island,
near a height which emits smoke, and has every appearance of having been a volcano.
In the south-western half of the island, the mountains are more rugged and lofty;
the highest summit bears the name of St. Elias. The island produces good wine
and olives, but there is not much care taken in the cultivation of the vine. In
antiquity Melos was celebrated for its kids. (Athen, i. p. 4.) One of its greatest
deficiencies is want of water. The inhabitants of Kastron depend almost exclusively
upon cisterns; and the only spring in the vicinity is to the westward of the ancient
city, on the sea-side, where is a chapel of St. Nicolas.
In ancient times the chief town in the island was called Melos. It
stood upon the great harbour. It is celebrated as the birthplace of Diagoras,
surnamed the Atheist. The town appears to have been small, since it is called
by Thucydides a chorion, not polis; and of the 3000 men who originally composed
the Athenian expedition, the smaller half was sufficient to besiege the place.
(Thuc. v. 84, 114.) The present capital of Melos is named Kastron, and is situated
upon a steep hill above the harbour. The former capital was in the interior, and
was deserted on account of its unhealthy situation. Between Kastron and the northern
shore of the harbour are the ruins of the ancient town, extending down to the
water-side. On the highest part, which is immediately over-looked by the village,
are some remains of polygonal walls, and others of regular masonry with round
towers. The western wall of the city is traceable all the way down the hill from
the summit to the sea: on the east it followed the ridge of some cliffs, but some
foundations remain only in a few places (Leake). Within the enclosure there is
a small hill, on which stand a church of St. Elias and a small monastery, and
which perhaps served in antiquity as a kind of acropolis. Here several architectural
fragments have boon found. On the southeastern side of the hill are some seats
cut out of the rock in a semi-circular form, of which only four remained uncovered
when Ross visited the island in 1843. They appear to have been the upper seats
of a small theatre or odeum, which was perhaps more ancient than the large theatre
mentioned below. In front of these seats is a quadrangular foundation of regular
masonry, of which in one part four or five courses remain. About 40 steps eastward
of this foundation are the remains of a temple or some other public building,
consisting of fragments of a Corinthian capital and part of a cornice. About a
hundred steps SW. is the larger theatre, which was cleared from its rubbish in
1836 by the king of Bavaria, then Crown Prince. The nine lowest rows of seats,
of white marble, are for the most part still remaining, but the theatre, when
entire, extended far up the hill. From the character of its architecture, it may
safely be ascribed to the Roman period. There are no other remains of the ancient
town worthy of notice.
Eastward of the ancient city is a village named Trupete, from the
tombs with which the hill is pierced in every part. Eastward of Trupete is a narrow
valley sloping to the sea, which also contains several sepulchral excavations.
Some of them consist of two chambers, and contain niches for several bodies. There
are, also, tombs in other parts of the island. In these tombs many works of art
and other objects have been discovered; painted vases, gold ornaments, arms, and
utensils of various kinds. Some very interesting Christian catacombs have also
been discovered at Melos, of which Ross has given a description. (Tournefort,
Voyage, vol. i. p. 114, Engl. tr.; Tavernier, Voyage, vol. i. p. 435; Olivier,
Voyage, vol. ii. p. 217; Leake, Northern Greece vol. iii. p. 77; Prokesch, Denkwurdigkeiten,
vol. i. p. 531, vol. ii. p. 200; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 369; Ross, Reisen
auf den Griechischen Inseln, vol. iii. pp. 3, 145.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SERIFOS (Island) KYKLADES
Seriphos or Seriphus (Seriphos: Eth. Seriphios: Serpho), an island
in the Aegaean sea, and one of the Cyclades, lying between Cythnos and Siphnos.
According to Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22) it is 12 miles in circumference. It possessed
a town of the same name, with a harbour. (Scylax, p. 22; Ptol. iii. 15. § 31,)
It is celebrated in mythology as the place where Danae and Perseus were driven
to shore in the chest in which they had been exposed by Acrisius, where Perseus
was brought up, and where he afterwards turned the inhabitants into stone with
the Gorgon's head. (Apollod. ii. 4. § 3; Pind. Pyth. x. 72, xii. 18; Strab. x.
p. 487; Ov. Met. v. 242) Seriphos was colonised by Ionians from Athens, and it
was one of the few islands which refused submission to Xerxes. (Herod. viii. 46,
48.) By subsequent writers Seriphos is almost always mentioned with contempt on
account of its poverty and insignificance (Aristoph. Acharn. 542; Plat. Rep. i.
p. 329; Plut. de Exsil. 7. p. 602; Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 3. 1, de Senect. 3);
and it was for this reason employed by the Roman emperors as a place of banishment
for state criminals. (Tac. Ann. ii. 85, iv. 21; Juv. vi. 564, x. 170; Senec. ad
Consol. 6.) It is curious that the ancient writers make no mention of the iron
and copper mines of Seriphos, which were, however, worked in antiquity, as is
evident from existing traces, and which, one might have supposed, would have bestowed
some prosperity upon the island. But though the ancient writers are silent about
the mines, they are careful to relate that the frogs of Seriphos differ from the
rest of their fraternity by being dumb. (Plin. viii. 58. s. 83; Arist. Mir. Ausc.
70; Aelian, Hist. An. iii. 37; Suidas, s. v. Batrachos ek Seriphou.) The modern
town stands upon the site of the ancient city, on the eastern side of the island,
and contains upwards of 2000 inhabitants. It is built upon a steep rock, about
800 feet above the sea. There are only a few remains of the ancient city. (Ross,
Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 134, seq.; Fiedler, Reise, &c. vol.
ii. p. 106, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SIFNOS (Island) KYKLADES
Siphnos or Siphnus (Siphnos: Eth. Siphnios: Siphno Gr., Siphsanto
Ital.), an island in the Aegaean sea, one of the Cyclades, lying SE. of Seriphos,
and NE. of Melos. Pliny (iv. 12. s. 22. § 66) describes it as 28 miles in circuit,
but it is considerably larger. The same writer says that the island was originally
called Merope and Acts; its ancient name of Merope is also mentioned by Stephanus
B. (s. v.). Siphnos was colonised by Ionians from Athens (Herod. viii. 48), whence
it was said to have derived its name from Siphnos, the son of Sunius. (Steph.
B. s. v.) In consequence of their gold and silver mines, of which remains are
still seen, the Siphnians attained great prosperity, and were regarded, in the
time of Polycrates (B.C. 520), as the wealthiest of all the islanders. Their treasury
at Delphi, in which they deposited the tenth of the produce of their mines (Paus.
x. 11. § 2), was equal in wealth to the treasuries of the most opulent states;
and their public buildings were decorated with Parian marble. Their riches, however,
exposed them to pillage; and a party of Samian exiles, in the time of Polycrates,
invaded the island, and levied a contribution of 100 talents. (Herod. iii. 57,
58.) The Siphnians were among the few islanders in the Aegaean who refused tribute
to Xerxes, and they fought with a single ship on the side of the Greeks at Salamis.
(Herod. viii. 46, 48.) Under the Athenian supremacy the Siphnians paid an annual
tribute of 3600 drachmae. (Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr. n. 52.) Their mines were afterwards
less productive; and Pausanias (l. c.) relates that in consequence of the Siphnians
neglecting to send the tenth of their treasure to Delphi, the gods destroyed their
mines by an inundation of the sea. In the time of Strabo the Siphnians had become
so poor that Siphnion astragalon became a proverbial expression. (Strab. x. p.
448; comp. Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 525; Hesych. s. v. Siphnios arrhabon.) The
moral character of the Siphnians stood low; and hence to act like a Siphnian (Siphniazein)
was used as a term of reproach. (Steph. B.; Suid.; Hesych.) The Siphnians were
celebrated in antiquity, as they are in the present day, for their skill in pottery.
Pliny (xxxvi. 22. § 159, Sillig) mentions a particular kind of stone, of which
drinking cups were made. This, according to Fiedler, was a species of talc. and
is probably intended by Stephanus B. when he speaks of Siphnion poterion.
Siphnos possessed a city of the same name (Ptol. iii. 15. § 31), and
also two other towns, Apollonia and Minoa, mentioned only by Stephanus B. The
ancient city occupied the same site as the modern town, called Kastron or Seraglio,
which lies upon the eastern side of the island. There are some remains of the
ancient walls; and fragments of marble are found, with which, as we have already
seen, the public buildings in antiquity were decorated. A range of mountains,
about 3000 feet in height, runs across Siphnos from SE. to NW.; and on the high
ground between this mountain and the eastern side of the island, about 1000 feet
above the sea, lie five neat villages, of which Stavri is the principal. These
villages contain from 4000 to 5000 inhabitants; and the town of Kastron about
another 1000. The climate is healthy, and many of the inhabitants live to a great
age. The island is well cultivated, but does not produce sufficient food for its
population, and accordingly many Siphnians are obliged to emigrate, and are found
in considerable numbers in Athens, Smyrna, and Constantinople. (Tournefort, Voyage,
&c. vol. i. p. 134, seq. transl.; Fiedler, Reise, vol. ii. p. 125, seq.; Ross,
Reise auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. i. p. 138, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MILOS (Island) KYKLADES
An island in the Aegaean Sea, the most westerly of the Cyclades.
It was first colonized by the Phoenicians, who called it Byblos or Byblis, and
afterwards by the Lacedaemonians, or at least by Dorians. Hence, in the Peloponnesian
War, it embraced the side of Sparta. In B.C. 416 it was taken by the Athenians,
who killed all the adult males, sold the women and children as slaves, and peopled
the island with an Athenian colony. The length of the island is about fourteen
miles from east to west, and its breadth from north to south eight miles. In 1820,
among the ruins of the ancient city of Melos near the theatre was found the exquisite
statue usually called the Venus of Milo (Venere di Milo), now in the Louvre at
Paris, having been purchased by the Marquis de Riviere, and by him presented to
Louis XVIII. It is composed of two blocks of marble, which unite just above the
garment which covers the legs. Melos was the birthplace of Diagoras the Atheist,
whence Aristophanes calls Socrates also "the Melian".
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SERIFOS (Island) KYKLADES
Now Serpho; an island in the Aegaean Sea, and one of the Cyclades.
It is celebrated in mythology as the island where Danae and Perseus landed after
they had been exposed by Acrisius, where Perseus was brought up, and where he
afterwards turned the inhabitants into stone with the Gorgon 's head. Seriphus
was colonized by Ionians from Athens, and it was one of the few islands which
refused submission to Xerxes. The island was employed by the Roman emperors as
a place of banishment for State criminals.
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SIFNOS (Island) KYKLADES
An island in the Aegaean Sea, forming one of the Cyclades, southeast
of Seriphus. It is of an oblong form, and about forty miles in circumference.
Its original name was Merope, and it was colonized by Ionians from Athens. In
consequence of their gold and silver mines, of which the remains are still visible,
the Siphnians attained great prosperity, and were regarded in the time of Herodotus
as the wealthiest of the islanders. Siphnus was one of the few islands which refused
tribute to Xerxes; and one of its ships fought on the side of the Greeks at Salamis.
The moral character of the Siphnians stood low, and hence to act like a Siphnian
(Siphniazein) became a term of reproach.
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SERIFOS (Village) SERIFOS
In 1207 Siphnos was under the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Naxos.
Later, after vicissituses of various sorts, it came under the more stable sway
of the Catalan family Da Coronia in 1307.
The settlement in the fortress
(castro) of Siphnos is elipsidal in form because it follows the morphology of
the land. It is defensive in character and still preserves the form of its mediaeval
defensive system.
Two defense circuits along the western side are visible and on the
outer line there are a considerable number of single houses. The Latin cathedral
is in the centre and preserved nearby is the stele with the 14th century inscription
of Giannoule da Coronia.
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MILOS (Island) KYKLADES
Melos, famous because of the statue of Aphrodite in the Louvre (Venus de Milo), is the most southwesterly of the Cyclades. To the northwest the island is almost completely divided by a deep gulf. Port Adamas provides a safe harbor within the gulf. The uninhabited southern portion of the island rises to 773 m on the hill of Profitis Illias. Like Thera, Melos is of volcanic origin, and produced obsidian, a black volcanic glass used for cutting tools, and other useful minerals throughout antiquity. The Classical city of Melos, which was destroyed by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War, has well-preserved walls and. from a later period, early Christian catacombs
A titular see, suffragan of Naxos
in the Cyclades. The island
has had different names: Zephyria, Memblis, Mimallis, Siphis, Acyton, Byblis,
etc. The Phoenicians seem to bave been the first to colonize the island; then
came the Dorians from Laconia
in the twelfth century B. C. This Dorian colony lasted for seven hundred years,
when the Athenians, jealous of their fidelity to the Spartans, took possession
of the island in 416 B. C. All the men were massacred and replaced by five hundred
Athenian colonists; the women and children were carried captive to Attica.
Later on, when these children were grown, they returned to occupy the island.
Melos then passed under the domination of the Macedonians, then under that of
the Romans, and finally under that of the Byzantines, who retained possession
of it until 1207, when Marco Sanudo annexed it to the Italian Duchy of Naxos.
In 1537 it was taken by the corsair Barbarossa and joined to the Ottoman
Empire. The island continued to prosper, serving as a market and even as a refuge
to the corsairs of the West, especially the French; it was so until the eighteenth
century, when it began to decline because of a volcano which arose in the vicinity.
From 20,000 inhabitants the population decreased to about 2000. The chief town,
called Plaka, possesses a
very fine harbour; nearby are the ruins of ancient Melos, with a cemetery, two
citadels, a temple of Dionysius, a necropolis, and a theatre. Near the theatre
was found in 1820 the celebrated Venus of Melos, now at the Museum of the Louvre
at Paris, the work of a sculptor
of Antioch on the Meander,
in the second century B. C. The earliest known Bishop of Melos, Eutychius, assisted
at the Sixth Oecumenical Council in 681. The Greek diocese was a suffragan of
Rhodes.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Douglas J. Potter
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
KIMOLOS (Island) KYKLADES
A small island of volcanic origin in the S Aegean, separated by a
narrow channel from the island of Melos to the S. In antiquity Kimolos was best
known as a source of kaolin (he Kimolia ge), a fine white clay still quarried
as a component of porcelain and for other commercial uses.
Very little is known about the history of the island. Limited archaeological
exploration has indicated that it was inhabited during the Bronze Age. After the
fall of the Mycenaean civilization the island--along with its neighbor Melos and
other islands of the S Aegean--came to be occupied by Doric-speaking Greeks, and
it is likely that its early history was closely connected with that of Melos.
As Dorian islands, Kimolos and Melos were not members of the Delian Confederacy
and, therefore, not tributary to Athens. As a result of the fall of Melos to Athens
in 416-415 B.C. (Thuc. 5.84ff), Kimolos seems to have achieved (perhaps by the
early 4th c. at the latest) a certain independence. But, at least by the last
half of the 3d c., it--along with many of the other Aegean islands--came under
the influence of the Macedonian kings. Thereafter its history is unknown.
Archaeological exploration and excavation have indicated that the
ancient town lay on the SW coast of the island, in an area known today as Ellinika
(Limni). Here a large cemetery of Late Mycenaean, Early Iron Age, Classical, and
Hellenistic times has been found. Of special interest was the discovery of some
20 cremation burials containing over 200 vases of the 9th and 8th c. B.C., one
of the richest collections of Geometric pottery from the Aegean islands. The site
has been partially submerged owing to a change of sea level since antiquity. Walls
and other indications of ancient habitation can be seen in the shallow water along
the shore as well as on the offshore islet of Haghios Andreas (Daskalio), which
was once part of the mainland. It is possible that Haghios Andreas was the site
of the Sanctuary of Athena, apparently the principal religious center of Kimolos,
at least during Hellenistic times. Evidence of ancient and mediaeval (or later)
occupation has also been noted on the height of Palaiokastri, located N and E
of Ellinika.
T. W. Jacobsen, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
MILOS (Island) KYKLADES
One of the islands in the Cyclades, constituted of a volcanic massif
whose radius was probably an ancient crater. From the written tradition we know
that the island was anciently inhabited by a Phoenician population. Excavation
testifies to a flourishing prehistoric civilization. Thucydides (5.112,116) places
the Doric invasion 700 years before the Athenian conquest, about the 13th c. B.C.
The Athenians took Melos in 416 during the Peloponnesian War and subsequently
lost it. It was liberated by Sparta, then fell under the Macedonians, was eventually
conquered by Rome, and was abandoned in the 5th c. A.D.
In the W part of the island there are traces of prehistoric settlements.
The remains of three such settlements have been found at Phylakopi, on a promontory
dominating the sea. The first dates from the Ancient Minoan period (2600-2000),
and was a center of commerce in obsidian. The second dates from the Middle Minoan
I-III (ca. 2000-1700) and the Late Minoan I and II (1600-1500) and has houses
decorated with frescoes, the most famous of which is of fish and is now at the
National Museum in Athens. This settlement was destroyed by fire. The third (1500-1000)
underwent Mycenaean influence and has a walled palace which represents the height
of Cycladic civilization on Melos. It was destroyed by the Dorians who settled
on the island. A vast necropolis, contemporary with the third settlement, has
rock-cut tombs forming large niches, with double chambers and small dromoi. The
hill of the Prophet Elias constituted the acropolis of ancient Melos, where there
remain a few traces of ancient walls and of the city. The theater, now in a poor
state of preservation, was rebuilt by the Romans. Adjacent to it there were walls
belonging to either a stadium or a gymnasium. Near the port a portico has been
uncovered on the site of the Sanctuary of Poseidon, where the famous statue of
the god (mid 2d c. B.C.), now in the National Museum at Athens, was discovered.
A sanctuary dedicated to Asklepios has been found, from which came a head of the
god, now in the British Museum in London. Near the theater remains of catacombs
include a large room with sarcophagi, from which open four smaller galleries with
Christian tombs, including some ornamented by frescoes.
Production of the so-called Melian reliefs is attributed to the island
of Melos. Over a hundred examples have been noted of these small reliefs in terracotta,
dating from between 480 and 440-30 B.C., and coming largely from tombs. A single
tablet was found in the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Kos. The clay tablets
were stamped in molds, and were probably reproductions of clay models. They have
holes, which leads to the supposition that they were used as a covering, perhaps
on wooden caskets. They are the modest work of artisans, important because they
show the influence of Ionic art and of the great painters, particularly Polygnotos.
After the middle of the 5th c. Attic influence is felt instead. The figurative
cycle is composed of mythological scenes and scenes of daily life.
Klima, founded about 700 B.C., took up the role formerly held by Phylakopi
until its destruction, after a hiatus of 4 c. The ancient remains are few, though
in 1820 a Greek peasant found here, in pieces, the famous statue of Aphrodite
in Parian marble that was bought by the French ambassador to Istanbul as a gift
for Louis XVIII, and since 1821 has been on display at the Louvre. During excavations
undertaken at Melos in 1828 a base was found with part of a signature (. . .andros),
datable to about 100 B.C., which was tried as a support for the instable statue
of Aphrodite.
Zephiria, today known as Paleokora, was a rather prosperous city served
by two ports, one on the Bay of Haghia Triada, and the other on the Bay of Paleokora.
Only traces of the ancient foundations have been found under successive constructions.
In 1204 the Venetians occupied the island, holding it until the arrival of the
Turks in 1537. Zephiria, because of its position, suffered numerous epidemics,
and was finally abandoned in 1793.
G. Bermond Montanari, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SIFNOS (Island) KYKLADES
Cycladic graves, figurines, and pottery have been found in various
parts of the island, and there is a fortified acropolis site at Haghios Andreas.
The town of Siphnos lay in the center of the E coast at modern Kastro; its acropolis
and slopes have been excavated only partially as the site has been continuously
inhabited from before 800 B.C. Among the discoveries were part of a probable circuit
wall from that date, Geometric houses, and two 7th c. votive deposits containing
pottery, figurines, and objects of ivory, bone, and bronze. Further walls and
other signs of habitation dated from archaic Greek to Roman Imperial times. (There
are also considerable mediaeval architectural remains.)
Herodotos calls Siphnos the richest of the islands ca. 525 B.C., mentioning
a Parian marble prytaneion and agora (no traces have been found), and the treasury
at Delphi (q.v.), built from a tithe on the gold and silver mines. Siphnians fought
for Greece at Salamis, paid 3 talents a year to the Delian League, joined the
Second Athenian Confederacy, and resisted Macedon, at least in the 330s. Some
40 so-called Hellenic towers are recorded. As the mines ceased to produce (those
at Haghios Sostis were perhaps inundated), the island declined. Reasonably rich
glass and other finds in the Roman cemetery indicate revival under the Early Empire.
Various sarcophagi are reported. The island was (and is) known for its pottery;
the ancient potter's Siphnian stone was probably a steatite, not the lead-slag
favored by the modern workmen.
M. B. Wallace, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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