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The
island was inhabited at around 3200 B.C. when Cretes showed
up. The influence of the Minoan culture on the island was
obvious when excavations started on Akrotiri and found a whole
village with houses decorated with wallpaintings similar to
those found in the Minoan palace in Crete. Before the volcano
started its destructive work the island was called Stroggili,
from its shape. But in 1500 B.C. happened something that completely
changed the story of the ancient world. It was the explosion
of the volcano which was in the center of the island and the
greater part sunk. The tidal wave which was caused by the
explosion , estimated at around 100m high, destroyed the palace
of Knossos and did a lot of damage at the north coast of Crete.
The site of Ancient Thira, through which Phoenicians, Dorians,
Romans and Byzantines all passed, is of particular interest.
The city is divided down the middle by the Sacred Way. Apart
from the clusters of buildings dating from various different
eras, there are the agoras, public baths, theatres, a number
of sanctuaries, the House of Ptolemy Euergetes, |
tombs from the Archaic and Classical periods, Early Christian
relies, etc.
Graffiti etched out of the nearby rocks record in the ancient
Thiran alphabet appellations to the god Apollo and the names
of men and youths who danced at the gods festival. At Akrotiri
ruins of a Minoan city destroyed by an eruption of the island's
volcano around 1500 B.C. |
