Delos

Cyclade island of Delos

Delos is a very small island (3,5 km²), arid and uninhabited since a long time. It is a holy sanctuary since antiquity, where it was forbidden to born or die.
It is near the island of Mykonos, difficult to reach, even inaccessible by bad weather.

The island is an immense archeological site today, registered as world inheritance of UNESCO.

Delos was important in ancient Greece, for the trade, but especially as a religious center.

In the mythology, Zeus immobilized the island which floated so that Leto hunted by the jealousy of Hera, found an asylum where she could put at the world its twins, Apollon and Artemis.
The first inhabitants would be Carians originating from minor Asia (towards 3000 b.C.), then Mycenaeans and Ionians lived there, at the top of the Kynthos hill.
In VIIIth b.C., the island were a place of festivals organized in the honor of Apollo.
During the In VIIth and VIth b.C. the historic monuments were built : Lions of Delos, the Colossus of Apollo, the gallery of Naxos and the statue of Nikandra.
Towards 540 b.C., the Pisistrate tyrant of Athens order the "purification" of the island by off-setting on the close island the burials and old or sick people.

 

See also :

• Cyclades > Delos > Photos from Delos
• Cyclades > Delos > Map of Delos
• Cyclades > Mykonos > HOTEL