GREEK City of Samos in Asia Minor - Silver Diobol 10mm (0.8
grams)
Struck circa 470-460 B.C.
Forepart of winged horse right.
Lion's scalp facing.
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Samos (Greek:
Σάμος) is a
Greek island in
the
North Aegean sea,
south of Chios,
north of Patmos
and the
Dodecanese, and off the coast of
Asia Minor.
Geography
NASA Satellite photo of Samos
The Psalida Beach.At the distant background the Kerketeas Mount of
Samos
The area of the
island is 478 km2 (184.6 sq mi), 43 km (27 mi) long and 13 km
(8 mi) wide. It is separated from
Anatolia,
by the approximately 1 mile (1.6 km)-wide Mycale Strait. While largely
mountainous, Samos has several relatively large and fertile plains.
A great portion of the island is covered with
vineyards, from which wine is made, including that from the
Vathy
grapes. The most important plains are that of Pythagorio, in the southeast,
Karlovasi in the northwest, and Marathokampos in the southwest. The island's
population is 33,814, which is the 9th most populous of the Greek islands. The
Samian climate is typically Mediterranean, with mild rainy winters, and warm
rainless summers.
The largest mountain is the Ampelos massif, which occupies the center of the
island and rises to 1,095 metres (3,590 ft). The island's highest point is the
summit of the Kerkis range, at 1,434 metres (4,700 ft). The mountains are a
continuation of the
Mycale range on the Anatolian mainland.
According to
Strabo, the name Samos is from Phoenician meaning "rise by the shore."[1]
Economy
The Samian economy depends mainly on agriculture and the tourist industry
which has been growing steadily since the early 1980s. The main agricultural
products include
grapes, honey,
olives,
olive oil,
citrus fruit, dried
figs and
almonds, and flowers. The
Muscat grape is the main crop used for wine production. Samian wine is also
exported under several other appellations. Samian wines have won several
international and domestic awards.[citation
needed]
Government
With the neighbouring islands of
Icaria and
Fourni, the island of Samos is administered as part of the
Samos Prefecture. Samos includes four of the eight
municipalities of the prefecture, which constitute more than 77 percent of
the prefecture's population (2001 census). The island's capital and main port is
the city of Vathy, most commonly called Samos; other municipalities are
Karlovasi
and
Pythagoreio. The smallest of the component municipalities is
Marathokampos.
Samos has a sister town called
Samo, which is located in
Calabria,
Italy.
[
Early and Classical
Antiquity
In classical antiquity the island was a centre of
Ionian culture
and luxury, renowned for its Samian wines and its red pottery (called
Samian
ware by the Romans). Its most famous building, was the
Ionic
order archaic Temple of goddess
Hera - the
Heraion.
Concerning the earliest history of Samos, literary tradition is singularly
defective. At the time of the great migrations it received an Ionian population
which traced its origin to
Epidaurus
in Argolis:
Samos became one of the twelve members of the
Ionian League. By the 7th century BC it had become one of the leading
commercial centres of Greece. This early prosperity of the Samians seems largely
due to the island's position near trade-routes, which facilitated the
importation of textiles from inner Asia Minor, but the Samians also developed an
extensive oversea commerce. They helped to open up trade with the population
that lived around the Black sea as well as with Egypt, Cyrene (Libya), Corinth,
and Chalcis. This caused them to become bitter rivals with Miletus. Samos was
able to become so prominent despite the growing power of the Persian empire
because of the alliance they had with the Egyptians and their powerful fleet.
The Samians are also credited with having been the first Greeks to reach the
Straits of Gibraltar. [[2]]
The feud between Miletus and Samos broke out into open strife during the
Lelantine War (7th century BC), with which we may connect a Samian innovation in
Greek naval warfare, the use of the
trireme. The
result of this conflict was to confirm the supremacy of the Milesians in eastern
waters for the time being; but in the 6th century the insular position of Samos
preserved it from those aggressions at the hands of Asiatic kings to which
Miletus was
henceforth exposed. About 535 BC, when the existing oligarchy was overturned by
the tyrant
Polycrates, Samos reached the height of its prosperity. Its navy not only
protected it from invasion, but ruled supreme in Aegean waters. The city was
beautified with public works, and its school, of sculptors, metal-workers and
engineers achieved high repute.
Eupalinian aqueduct
In the 6th century BC Samos was ruled by the famous
tyrant
Polycrates.
During his reign, two working groups under the lead of the engineer
Eupalinos
dug a tunnel through Mount Kastro to build an
aqueduct to
supply the ancient capital of Samos with fresh water, as this was of the utmost
defensive importance (since being underground, it was not easily detected by an
enemy who could otherwise cut off the supply). Eupalinos' tunnel is particularly
notable for being the first tunnel in history to be methodically dug from both
ends. With a length of over 1km, Eupalinos' subterranean aqueduct is today
regarded as one of the masterpieces of ancient engineering. The aqueduct is now
part of the UNESCO
World Heritage Site, the
Pythagoreion.
[
Persian Wars and
Persian rule
After Polycrates death Samos suffered a severe blow when the Persian
Achaemenid Empire conquered and partly depopulated the island. It had
regained much of its power when in 499 BC it joined the general revolt of the
Ionian
city-states against Persia; but owing to its long-standing jealousy of Miletus
it rendered indifferent service, and at the decisive battle of Lade (494 BC)
part of its contingent of sixty ships was guilty of outright treachery. In 479
BC the Samians led the revolt against Persia.
Peloponnesian War
During the
Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), Samos took the side of
Athens against
Sparta,
providing their port to the Athenian
fleet.
In the
Delian League they held a position of special privilege and remained
actively loyal to Athens until 440 when a dispute with Miletus, which the
Athenians had decided against them, induced them to secede. With a fleet of
sixty ships they held their own for some time against a large Athenian fleet led
by Pericles
himself, but after a protracted siege were forced to capitulate. It was
punished, but Thucydides tells us not as harshly as other states which rebelled
against Athens. Most in the past had been forced to pay tribute but Samos was
only told to repay the damages that the rebellion cost the Athenians: 1,300
talents, to pay back in installments of 50 talents per annum.
At the end of the Peloponnesian War, Samos appears as one of the most loyal
dependencies of Athens, serving as a base for the naval war against the
Peloponnesians and as a temporary home of the Athenian democracy during the
revolution of the Four Hundred at Athens (411 BC), and in the last stage of
the war was rewarded with the Athenian franchise. This friendly attitude towards
Athens was the result of a series of political revolutions which ended in the
establishment of a democracy. After the downfall of Athens, Samos was besieged
by Lysander
and again placed under an oligarchy.
In 394 the withdrawal of the Spartan navy induced the island to declare its
independence and reestablish a democracy, but by the peace of Antalcidas (387)
it fell again under Persian dominion. It was recovered by the Athenians in 366
after a siege of eleven months, and received a strong body of military settlers,
the
cleruchs which proved vital in the
Social War (357-355 BC). After the
Lamian War
(322), when Athens was deprived of Samos, the vicissitudes of the island can no
longer be followed.
Famous Samians of
Antiquity
Perhaps the most famous persons ever connected with classical Samos were the
philosopher
Pythagoras and
Aesop. In 1955 the town of Tigani was renamed Pythagoreio in honor of the
philosopher.
Other notable personalities include the philosopher
Epicurus,
who was of Samian birth and the
astronomer
Aristarchus of Samos, whom history credits with the first recorded
heliocentric model of the
solar system. The historian
Herodotus,
known by his
Histories resided in Samos for a while.
Samos is also notable in the history of art, having produced a school of
sculptors and architects that included
Rhoecus, the
architect of the temple of Hera, and the great sculptor and inventor
Theodorus, who is said to have invented with Rhoecus the art of casting
statues in bronze.
The vases of Samos were among the most characteristic products of lonian
pottery in the 6th century.
Hellenistic & Roman
Eras
For some time (about 275-270 B.C.) Samos served as a base for the Egyptian
fleet of the
Ptolemies, at other periods it recognized the overlordship of
Seleucid Syria. In 189 B.C. it was transferred by the Romans to their
vassal, the
Attalid dynasty's Hellenistic kingdom of
Pergamon,
in
Asia Minor.
Enrolled from 133 in the Roman province of Asia Minor, Samos sided with
Aristonicus (132) and
Mithridates (88) against its overlord, and consequently forfeited its
autonomy, which it only temporarily recovered between the reigns of
Augustus
and Vespasian.
Nevertheless, Samos remained comparatively flourishing, and was able to contest
with Smyrna and
Ephesus the
title first city of lonia; it was chiefly noted as a health resort and for the
manufacture of pottery. Since Emperor Diocletian's
Tetrarchy
it became part of the Provincia Insularum, in the diocese of Asiana in
the eastern empire's pretorian prefecture of Oriens.
Byzantine & Genoese
Eras
As part of the
Byzantine Empireee, Samos became the head of the Aegean theme (military
district). After the 13th century it passed through much the same changes of
government as Chios,
and, like the latter island, became the property of the Genoese firm of
Giustiniani (1346-1566; 1475 interrupted by an Ottoman period).
Ottoman Rule
During the early years of the
Ottoman Empire most Samians abandoned the island[citation
needed]. Those remaining lived inland in small settlements up in
the mountains, hiding from pirates and other invaders. Around the 17th century
Samos was granted the status of a semi-independent state. Many Greeks of Samian
decent as well as others from Greek speaking territories settled on the island.
The village of Mytilinioi for example, was inhabited by people from the island
of
Mytilini. Other settlers followed from various provinces in mainland Greece
and as far away as Albania. A substantial population came from
Ipiros and therefore the accent of the Samians even till the present day
resembles that of mainland Greece. Samos, (Ottoman
Turkish: سيسام Sisam) belonged to the
Ottoman Empire since 1533, as part of the Elayet of Djeza'ir-i Bahr-i
Sefid i.e. "of the White Sea" (Mediterranean) until the year 1821.[citation
needed]
Greek Revolution
During the Greek War of Independence, Samos played a conspicuous part,
setting up a revolutionary government under the following heads of local
government:
-
18 April
1821 -
April 1821 Konstantinos Lachanas
-
April 1821 - April 1828 Lykourgos Logothetis (1st time)
-
April 1828 - February 1829
Ioannis Kolettis (1st time)
-
February 1829 - October 1829 Dimitrios Christides
-
October 1829 - July 1830 Ioannis Kolettis (2nd time)
-
July 1830 - 1833 Lykourgos Logothetis (2nd time)
In July 1824, an ottoman army assembled to invade the island, but Greek naval
victories off
Samos and at
Gerontas averted the threat. The island remained free for the remainder of
the war. Nevertheless, the treaties concluding the war, which established the
independent
Greek kingdom, again put Samos under Turkish suzerainty.
The autonomous
Principality
In 1835, the Samians achieved self-government as a semi-independent state
tributary to Ottoman Turkey, paying the annual sum of £2700.[2]
It was governed by a Christian of Greek descent though nominated by the Porte,
who bore the title of "Prince." The prince was assisted in his function as chief
executive by a 4-member senate. These were chosen by him out of eight candidates
nominated by the four districts of the island: Vathư, Khōra, Marathókampos, and
Karlóvasi. The actual legislative power belonged to a chamber of 36 deputies,
presided over by the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan. The seat of the government was
the port of Vathư.
The consecutive 'princely' governors were:
The population in 1900 was about 54,830, not including the 15,000 Samians
living nearby on the mainland. The predominant religion was the Greek Orthodox.
The metropolitan district included Samos and Ikaria. In 1900 there were 634
foreigners on the island (523 Hellenes, 13 Germans, 29 French, 28 Austrians and
24 of other nationalities).[citation
needed]
The modern capital of the island was, until the early 20th century, at
Khora, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the sea and from the site of the ancient
city.
After reconsidering political conditions, the capital was moved to Vathư, at
the head of a deep bay on the North coast. This became the residence of the
prince and the seat of government.
Since then a new town has grown, with a harbour.[citation
needed]
Modern Era
The island was finally united with the
Kingdom of Greecee in 1912, with the outbreak of the
Balkan
Wars. During World War II, the island was occupied by Italian and later
German troops.
On
August 3,
1989, a
Shorts 330 aircraft of the Olympic Airways (now
Olympic Airlines) crashed near Samos Airport; thirty-one passengers died. In
the summer of 2000 a fire burned about 30% of the island's forests.
Architecture
The island is the location of the joint
UNESCO
World Heritage Sites of the
Heraion of Samos and the
Pythagoreion which were inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1992.[3]]
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