Delos is the most sacred island of the ancient Greek world, as it is believed by mythics to be the birth place of Apollo, the god of light, harmony, and balance; along with his twin sister Artemis, the moon goddess. These mythical gods constitute two of the most important deities of the ancient Greek Parthenon.
The sacred island grew rapidly, in 167 BC, after it was declared a “free port” establishing the tax free transfer of goods. As a result all commercial activities of the eastern Mediterranean region quickly began to flow through the tiny, less than 5 square kilometer, island. Wealthy merchants and bankers from the entire Mediterranean region soon build houses and business centers in Delos. The small island soon gained the title of “maximum emporium totius orbis terranum”, i.e. the greatest commercial center of the world.
Delos was allied with Rome and this afforded some protection but also made it a prime target for those antagonistic to the empire. The 30,000 plus literally defenseless inhabitants were attacked and the city of Delos was sacked in 88 BC by the Mithridates from the Black Sea region. Prior to this attack more than 750,000 tons of goods were transferred through the Delos ports annually. The city was burned and looted. It is estimated that over 10,000 people were slaughtered, as there was literally no military presence on the island. The people of Delos rebounded and rebuilt their mercantile capital over the next ten years only to be sacked once again in 69 BC by Athenodorus pirates, allies of the Mithridates. Two attacks in approximately 20 years was too much for the trade center to accept, so fairly rapidly the island was abandoned except for a small group of priests who maintained the sanctuaries. Gradually, the lavish houses and temples were looted and demolished for their marble and thousands of tons of rock was transferred throughout the Mediterranean to build other structures.
Today the main sites of interest are the Lions of the Naxians that have unfortunately been naturally worn and sand blasted over the last hundred years since being unearthed.
(Replicas now outside with actual lions in the museum.)
Close to the lions is the Granite Palaestra or one of the main ancient water sources. These wells are so reliable and pure that the current archeological village uses it as their source.
A fun and reasonable climb is to the Sanctuary of Zeus and Athena, situated on the highest point on the island. The views are tremendous of the port and surrounding islands.
Returning down the hill, to the port, there are four main sites. The first is Temple of Hera and is the only temple with remaining statuary.
Second is the ancient theatre. These structures never cease to intrigue me. I wish we had a few modern theatres like this. I think a nice place to start would be with the Mountain Play site on Mt.Tamalpais.
Past the theatre is the House of Cleopatra. Who knows if there was an actual connection but the idea makes sense with the fame, timing, and status of the port.
Finally, the Dolphin and Poseidon houses were sites for beautiful mosaic floors. It is like a treasure hunt in this part of the city to try to find which ruin has mosaics.
(You may need to click on the picture to enlarge for detail.)
Meeting new people continues to be half the fun of this trip. Today was no exception. Nobu and I met Patty and Ken, a couple from Hong Kong, on the ferry ride from Athens to Mykonos. They were on the island of Delos too and we rode the ferry back to Mykonos together. They are well traveled and have been to almost every continent. Ken was the first person since leaving Kenya to properly identify my belt as being Masai. (That can be your challenge when we meet to see if I’m actually wearing the Masai belt that day.) The four of us had a great time over lunch together.
The rest of the afternoon was spent blogging and e-mailing in an attempt to try to catch up a little. Then the sun put on an Aegean shadow show with the Mykonos windmills, churches, and surf as a foreground.
No comments:
Post a Comment