Milos

Melos redirects here; for the Japanese short story, see Run, Melos

Milos Μήλος
Milos island
Geography
Coordinates:	36°40′45″N 24°25′07″E / 36.67917°N 24.41861°E / 36.67917; 24.41861Coordinates: 36°40′45″N 24°25′07″E / 36.67917°N 24.41861°E / 36.67917; 24.41861
Island Chain:	Cyclades
Area:	160.147 km² (62 sq.mi.)
Highest Mountain:	Mt. Profitis Elias (748 m (2,454 ft))
Government
Greece
Periphery:	South Aegean
Prefecture:	Cyclades
Capital:	Plaka
Statistics
Population:	4,771 (as of 2001)
Density:	30 /km² (77 /sq.mi.)
Postal Code:	840 xx
Area Code:	22870
License Code:	EM
Website
www.milos.gr

Milos (in Greek, Μήλος), formerly known as Μῆλος – Melos, and before the Athenian massacre and recolonization in 416 BC as Μάλος (Doric Greek) – Malos, is a volcanic Greek island in the Sea of Crete, just south of the Aegean Sea.

The island is famous for the statue of Aphrodite (the "Venus de Milo", now in the Louvre), and also for statues of the Greek god Asclepius (now in the British Museum) and the Poseidon and an archaic Apollo in Athens. The Municipality of Milos also includes the uninhabited offshore islands of Antimilos and Ananes. The combined land area is 160.147 km² and the 2001 census population was 4,771 inhabitants.

History

"Aphrodite of Milos"

Obsidian from Milos was a commodity as early as 13000 years ago. Milos natural glass used for razor sharp 'stone tools' was transported well before farming began and later: "There is no early farming village in the Near East that doesn't get obsidian".^[1] The material was transported for thousands of miles.

The position of Milos, between Greece and Crete, and its possession of obsidian, made it an important centre of early Aegean civilization. Milos lost its arms-making importance when bronze became the preferred material for the manufacture of weapons.^[2]

At the Bronze Age site of Phylakopi (Greek=Φυλακωπή), the chief settlement, on the north-east coast, excavations by the British School of Archeology revealed a town wall and a Minoan palace with some important and very interesting wall paintings. "The famous fresco of the flying fish^[3] found in the ruins of the principal house or palace at Phylakopi, with its delicate coloring and graphic observation of nature in the graceful movement of the fish, seems to be the work of a Cretan artist, who probably was summoned to Milos for the purpose."^[4] Part of the site has been washed away by the sea.

The antiquities found were of three main periods, all preceding the Mycenaean age of Greece. Much pottery was found, including examples of a peculiar style, with decorative designs, mostly floral, and also considerable deposits of obsidian. There are some traditions of a Phoenician occupation of Milos.

"Antonio Vassilacchi was a Greek Artist born on Milos in 1556^[5]".

In historical times, the island was occupied by Dorians from Laconia. In the 6^th century BC, it again produced a remarkable series of vases, of large size, with mythological subjects and orientalizing ornamentation, and also a series of terra-cotta reliefs.

Thucydides and the Athenian genocide of the Melians

Some scholars label the Athenian attack on Melos in 416 BCE as a genocide because, as A.B. Bosworth points out, "Athens' actions fall squarely within the terms of Article 2 of the Genocide Convention, in that they were intended to destroy a national group (as the Melian city-state could be defined) "in whole or in part," and they were largely successful in achieving that end."^[6] This conclusion comes from their interpretations of the Greek historian Thucydides' account of the events known as The Melian Debate in Book Five of his work The Peloponnesian War. Although The Melian Debate is probably not a verbatim account of the negotiations between the Athenian military leaders and the Melian civic leaders it is the most reliable and in-depth contemporary account of the events on Melos in 416 BCE. Thucydides reports that in the aftermath of the Athenian victory all the Melian men of military age were killed, the women and children were sold into slavery and a colony of 500 Athenians was planted on the island.^[7]

Tradition purports that the Melians claimed Spartan descent but had remained neutral throughout the Peloponnesian War.^[2] In 426 BCE Athens had prosecuted a brief perfunctory operation on the island but had withdrawn quickly because they were at the time involved in open conflict with Sparta. Bosworth suggests that this attack was due to Athens' uneasiness with Melian neutrality. In 425 BCE Athens claimed suzerainty over Melos and had demanded tribute.^[6] The second attack on Melos occurred five years after Athens and Sparta had signed a peace agreement and some historians like Bosworth believe that Athens' campaign against Melos in 416 BCE was motivated by imperial expansion.^[6]

According to Thucydides, the Athenian contingent proposed to the Melian council that the city join the Athenian dominated Delian League and pay tribute to Athens. Upon their refusal the Athenian generals Cleomedes and Tisias established a siege around the city. Thucydides claims that the Melians launched a few counter-siege operations which were successful in harassing the Athenian garrison. This forced the Athenians to deploy a substantial force to the island and "vigorously" prosecute the siege. Thucydides points to this increased pressure from Athens and "some trechory from inside" the city as the reasons for the Melians' surrender to Athens.^[7]

Thucydides account is important because it highlights the increasingly totalitarian and despotic nature of Athenian leadership of the Delian League. Although modern historians appreciate the Melian Debate for its objective perspective ^[8] it is evident that Thucydides tried to condemn the event and suggest to contemporary readers that Athens was no longer the protector of Greek liberty and opponents to despotism.^[9] This conclusion is due to the extensive coverage of the event and the efforts he took in the Melian Debate to illustrate the Athenians realpolitik logic.^[9]

Thucydides wrote the Melian Debate in more complex and difficult Greek than his laconic narrative, this passage, is a locus classicus for the contest between raison d'état and ethical action, and is the point at which the state of Athens history abandoned the noble ideals with which it had entered the war and began to pursue simply its own self-interest. Lysander restored the island to its Dorian possessors, but it never recovered its former prosperity.^{[citation needed]}

Milos in the Common Era

There were many Jewish settlers^{[citation needed]} in Milos in the beginning of the common era, and Christianity was introduced early. During the Frankish period the island formed part of the Duchy of Naxos, except for the few years (1341–1383) when it was a separate lordship under Marco Sanudo and his daughter.

Geography

Milos, Kimolos (north), Polyaigos (East), Antimilos (west)

The bay of Milos.

Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group, 120 km (75 miles) due east from the coast of Laconia. From east to west it measures about 23 km (14 mi), from north to south 13 km (8 mi), and its area is estimated at 151 km² (58.3 mi²). The greater portion is rugged and hilly, culminating in Mount Profitis Elias 748 m (2,454 ft) in the west. Like the rest of the cluster, the island is of volcanic origin, with tuff, trachyte and obsidian among its ordinary rocks. The natural harbour is the hollow of the principal crater, which, with a depth diminishing from 70 to 30 fathoms (130–55 m), strikes in from the northwest so as to separate the island into two fairly equal portions (see photo), with an isthmus not more than 18 km (11 miles) broad. In one of the caves on the south coast, the heat from the volcano is still great, and on the eastern shore of the harbour, there are hot sulphurous springs.

Antimelos or Antimilos, 13 miles (20 km) north-west of Milos, is an uninhabited mass of trachyte, often called Erimomilos (Desert Milos). Kimolos, or Argentiera, 1.6 km (1 mi) to the north-east, was famous in antiquity for its figs and fuller's earth, and contained a considerable city, the remains of which cover the cliff of St. Andrew's. Polyaigos (also called Polinos, Polybos or Polivo — alternative spelling Polyaegos) lies 2 km south-east of Kimolos. It was the subject of dispute between the Milians and Kimolians. It is now uninhabited.

Natural resources

Bentonite, perlite, pozzolana and small quantities of kaolin are mined in Milos and sold all over the world. In the past, baryte, sulfur, millstones and gypsum were also mined. In ancient times the alum of Milos was reckoned next to that of Egypt (Pliny xxxv. 15 [52]). The Melian earth was employed as a pigment by ancient artists. Milos was a source of obsidian during the Neolithic ages for the Aegean and Mediterranean. Orange, olive, cypress, tamarisk, juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus) and arbutus trees grow throughout the island, which, however, is too dry to have any profusion of vegetation. Vines, cotton and barley are the main crops.

Demographics

The harbour town is Adamas; from this there is an ascent to the plateau above the harbour, on which are situated Plaka, the chief town, and Kastro, rising on a hill above it, and other villages. The ancient town of Milos was nearer to the entrance of the harbour than Adamas, and occupied the slope between the village of Tripiti and the landing-place at Klima. Here is a theatre of Roman date and some remains of town walls and other buildings, one with a fine mosaic excavated by the British school at Athens in 1896. Numerous fine works of art have been found on this site, notably the Aphrodite in Paris, the Asclepius in London, and the Poseidon and the archaic Apollo in Athens. Other villages include Triovasalos, Pera Triovasalos, Pollonia and Zefyria (Kampos).

Beaches

Sarakiniko (moon beach), Firiplaka, Papikinou, Provatas, Paleochori, Klima, Gerontas, Plathenia, Pollonia, Hivadolimni, Tsigrado, Gerakas, Triades, Agios Ioannis.

Historical population

Notable people

• Antonio Vassilacchi (1556–1629), a painter
• Diagoras (5th century BC), a philosopher
• Peter Mikelis, the only Greek victim of the battle of Navarino
• Katerine Vihos, possibly the oldest women on Milos Island ever at 105 years & 11 months (1903-2008)

See also

• List of volcanoes in Greece
• List of beaches on Milos Island

Notes

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• I.F. Stone, 1988, The trial of Socrates, Anthos.
• Cambridge Ancient History, Vol.II, 1924, New York, MacMillan
• Colin Renfrew and Malcolm Wagstaff (editors), 1982, An Island Polity, the Archaeology of Exploitation in Melos, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Colin Renfrew (editor), 1985, The Archaeology of Cult, the Sanctuary at Phylakopi, London, British School at Athens and Thames & Hudson.
• Leycester, "The Volcanic Group of Milo, Anti-Milo, &c.," in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc. (1852).
• Tournefort, Voyage.
• William Martin Leake, Northern Greece, iii.
• Prokesch von Osten, Denkwiirdigkeiten, &c.
• Bursian, Geog. von Griechenland, ii.; Journ. Hell. Stud, xvi., xviL, xviii., Excavations at Phylakopi; Inscr. grace, xii. iii. 197 sqq.;
• on coins found in 1909, see Jameson in Rev. Num. 1909; 188 sqq.
• "Mílos". Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0102-03=. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 
• Seaman, Michael G., "The Athenian Expedition to Melos in 416 B.C.," Historia 46 (1997) pp. 385–418.
• Chalk, Frank; Jonassohn, Kurt (1990). History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 0-300-04445-3. 
• Bosworth, A.B. (2005). "[<http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/

athens-melos> "Athens and Melos." Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity ed. Dinah L. Shelton.]". Gale Cengage, enotes.com. <http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/ athens-melos>. Retrieved 26 September, 2009. 

• Connor, W. Raymond (1984). Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 151. 
• Thucydides (1954). The Peloponnesian War. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 

External links

• Official website (English) (Greek)

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