About Delos
History
According to mythology, Leto, pursued by Hera,
found refuge on a floating rocky island, which
Poseidon then anchored to the sea bottom with
pillars of granite. Here, under the palm, she
bore to Zeus the twins Apollo and Artemis, attended
by Arge and Opis, two maidens from the hyperborean
regions of the north, which god was required
to visit annually. From
the 7th century BC, Delos was under the influence
of Naxos, which promoted the development of
the sanctuary. In the 6th century BC, Peisistratos
carried out a "purification" of
the island, with the removal of all tombs
(apart from the two hyperborean maidens) from
Delos to the neighboring island of Rheneia.
Athenians coveted Delos
for a long time, seeing its strategic position
as one from where they could control the Aegean,
and by the 5th century it had come under their
jurisdiction. At that time, Delos became the
headquarters of the Delian Confederacy, a
maritime league under the leadership of Athens,
but in 454 BC the Athenians carried off the
treasury of the league and deposited it on
the Acropolis.
In 314 BC Delos broke
away from Athens to become independent and
therefore enjoyed a period of great prosperity.
The island reached its height in Hellenistic
times, becoming one of the 3 most important
religious centers in Greece and a flourishing
center of commerce. It traded through the
Mediterranean and was populated with wealthy
merchants, mariners and bankers from as far
away as Egypt and Syria.
These inhabitants built
temples to the various gods worshipped in
their countries of origin, although Apollo
remained the principal deity worshipped on
the island. In 166 BC the Romans declared
Delos a free port, which promoted its development
as a trading center and led to the growth
of a considerable commercial town. In 88 BC
it was sacked by Mithridates and 10.000 inhabitants
were massacred. From then on, Delos was prey
to pirates, and later, also to looters of
antiquities.
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