Naxos
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use dmy dates Template:EngvarB Template:Infobox islands
Naxos (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abrasives available.<ref>https://www.naxos.gr/emery-mines/?lang=en (viewed 01/07/2023).</ref>
The largest town and capital of the island is Chora or Naxos City, with 8,897 inhabitants (2021 census). The main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glynado.
HistoryEdit
Mythic NaxosEdit
According to Greek mythology, the young Zeus was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas ("Zas" meaning "Zeus"). Homer mentions "Dia"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". Károly Kerényi explains:
One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the Trojan War, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on this island after she helped him kill the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. Dionysus (god of wine, festivities, and the primal energy of life) who was the protector of the island, met Ariadne and fell in love with her. But eventually Ariadne, unable to bear her separation from Theseus, either killed herself (according to the Athenians), or ascended to heaven (as the older versions had it). The Naxos portion of the Ariadne myth is also told in the Richard Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos.
The giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes figure in at least two Naxos myths: in one, Artemis bought the abandonment of a siege they laid against the gods, by offering to live on Naxos as Otus's lover; in another, the brothers had actually settled Naxos.
It is also said that the sea god Poseidon was passing by Naxos whilst driving his chariot on the sea surface and is where he first laid eyes on his future wife, the nereid Amphitrite as she was dancing there.
Middle Paleolithic eraEdit
Stelida quarry, south-west of Chora,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> contains Mousterian tools dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, which indicates that Neanderthal activity on the island spanned almost 200,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The extinct dwarf elephant species Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi lived on Naxos at some point during the Late Pleistocene.<ref name="VanderGeer2014">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Cycladic civilisationEdit
Zas Cave, inhabited during the Neolithic era, contained objects of stone from Melos and copper objects including a dagger and gold sheet. The presence of gold and other objects within the cave indicated to researchers the status of the inhabitant.<ref>P Halstead – Neolithic Society in Greece Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999 Retrieved 4 July 2012 Template:ISBN</ref>
Emery was exported to other islands during that time.<ref>M Patton – Islands In Time: Island Sociogeography and Mediterranean Prehistory Psychology Press, 23 July 1996 Retrieved 4 July 2012 Template:ISBN</ref>
Classical era and Greco-Persian WarsEdit
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During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Naxos dominated commerce in the Cyclades.
Herodotus describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous Greek island.<ref>Herodotus, 5.28,5.31</ref>
In 499 BC, an unsuccessful attack on Naxos by Persian forces led several prominent men in the Greek cities of Ionia to rebel against the Persian Empire in the Ionian Revolt, and then to the Persian War between Greece and Persia.
Naxos was the first Greek city-state to attempt to leave the Delian League circa 469 BC; Athens quickly quashed the notion and forcibly removed all military naval vessels from the island's control. Athens then demanded all future payments from Naxos in the form of gold rather than military aid.
Byzantine eraEdit
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In Late Antiquity, the island was part of the province of the Islands.<ref name="ODB">Template:ODB</ref>
Pope Martin I was detained on the island of Naxos for almost a year after he was arrested by Byzantine authorities in Rome due to his holding of a synod that condemned monotheletism. He was held on the island prior to being taken to Constantinople for trial. While detained on the island, he wrote to a certain Theodore living in Constantinople.<ref>Andrew Ekonomou. Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes. Lexington books, 2007</ref>
Under the Byzantine Empire, Naxos was part of the thema of the Aegean Sea, which was established in the mid-9th century.
In Byzantine times, the island's capital was on the southern fortress of Apalyres.<ref name="EI2">Template:EI2</ref> During this time, it suffered from Saracen raids, particular during the existence of the Emirate of Crete (824–961), to which the island occasionally paid tribute. Traces of Muslim artistic influence are visible in frescoes from the 10th century.<ref name="EI2"/> Nevertheless, as in Antiquity, Naxos was celebrated for its agriculture and animal husbandry; the 12th-century geographer al-Idrisi records extensive cattle raising on the island.<ref name="EI2"/>
In the late 12th century, it may have been the capital of a short-lived thema of the "Dodekanesos".<ref name="ODB"/>
Duchy of NaxosEdit
In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, with a Latin Empire under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople, the Venetian Marco Sanudo conquered Naxos and most of the other Cyclades in 1205–1207.<ref name="ODB"/> Of all the islands, only on Naxos was there any opposition to Sanudo: a group of Genoese pirates had occupied the castle between the end of Byzantine rule and Sanudo's arrival. To steel his band's resolve, Sanudo burnt his galleys "and bade his companions to conquer or die". The pirates surrendered the castle after a five weeks' siege.<ref>Template:Latins in the Levant</ref>
Naxos became the seat of Sanudo's realm, known as the "Duchy of Naxos" or "Duchy of the Archipelago".<ref name="ODB"/> Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566; Venetian rule continued in scattered islands of the Aegean until 1714. Under Venetian rule, the island was called by its Italian name, Nasso.
The Sanudi introduced Western feudal law to the island, based on the Assizes of Romania. However, the native Greek population continued to use Byzantine law for civil matters at least until the late 16th century.<ref name="ODB"/>
In the 13th century, following the capture of Antalya and Alanya on the southern Anatolian coast by the Seljuk Turks, refugees from these areas settled in Naxos.<ref name="EI2"/> In the 14th century, the island was once more exposed to raids, this time from the Anatolian Turkish beyliks, chiefly the Aydınids. In turn, the Sanudi assisted the Genoese in capturing Chios in 1304 and the Knights Hospitaller in their conquest of Rhodes in 1309, in order to stop these islands being used as Turkish pirate base. Nevertheless, raids against Naxos are recorded in 1324 and 1326, and in 1341, Umur of Aydın carried off 6,000 people from the island and imposed a payment of tribute. Two years later, however, the Smyrniote crusade captured his main port, Smyrna.<ref name="EI2"/>
The relief was temporary, however, as Turkish raids recommenced later in the century. The island was so depopulated that Cristoforo Buondelmonti in Template:Circa claimed that there were not enough men to wed the Naxiot women.<ref name="EI2"/> The rising Ottoman Empire first attacked the island in 1416, but the Sultans recognized Venetian overlordship over the Duchy in successive treaties, in exchange for an annual tribute.<ref name="EI2"/>
Ottoman era (1566–1821)Edit
The Ottoman administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians; the Porte's concern was satisfied by the returns of taxes. Very few Turks ever settled on Naxos, and Turkish influence on the island was insignificant. Under Ottoman rule the island was known in Turkish as Template:Transliteration. Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted; Naxos finally became part of the Greek state in 1832.Template:Citation needed
Early commentatorsEdit
Early commentators in English on the island include:<ref> http://www.ucke.de/christian/naxos/Naxos_Old_Travel_Descriptions.pdf (viewed 01/07/2023).</ref>
Bernard Randolph, in The Present State of the Islands in the Archipelago (1687, Oxford, pp. 20-21).
Jean de Thévenot, in Travels into the Levant (1687, London, pp. 103–105).
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, in A Voyage Into the Levant (1718, London, pp. 161–176).
Thomas Bankes et al., in A new royal authentic and complete system of universal geography antient and modern... (1787, London, p. 943).
Edward Daniel Clarke, in Travels in Various Countries (1814, vol. 3, section 2, London, pp. 377–400).
William Martin Leake, in Travels in Northern Greece (1835, vol. 3, London, pp. 93-95).
Theodore Bent, in The Cyclades, or Life Among the Insular Greeks (1885, London, pp. 329–371).
GeographyEdit
ClimateEdit
Naxos experiences both a Mediterranean climate (Csa) and a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh) depending on the location. According to the stations of the National Observatory of Athens, various locations in Naxos have a hot semi-arid climate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Inland areas of the island are much wetter and cooler in winter, owing to their higher elevation.
EconomyEdit
Historical populationEdit
| Year | Island population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 14,037 | – |
| 1991 | 14,838 | +801/+5.71% |
| 2001 | 18,188 | +3,350/+22.58% |
| 2011 | 18,904 | +716/+3.93% |
TourismEdit
Naxos is a popular tourist destination, with several places of touristic interest, including beaches, villages and old ruins. Beaches on the island include Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Aliko, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them on the western side of the island, near Chora. As other cycladic islands, Naxos is considered a windy place perfect for windsurfing, as well as kitesurfing. There are seven sports clubs in the island that offer both of these sports and other water activities.
AgricultureEdit
Naxos is the most fertile island of the Cyclades. It has a good supply of water in a region where water is usually inadequate. Mount Zeus (Template:Convert) is the highest peak in the Cyclades, and tends to trap the clouds, permitting greater rainfall. This has made agriculture an important economic sector with various vegetable and fruit crops as well as cattle breeding, making Naxos the most self-sufficient island in the Cyclades. Naxos is well known within Greece for its "Arseniko Naxou" cheese, potatoes, Kitron (a local lemon-citrus spirit), and Naxian honey (which is largely derived from the nectar of thyme).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
MarbleEdit
The quarrying of marble on Naxos began before 550 BCE.<ref name="nama">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Naxian marble was used for the creation of the roof tiles at ancient Olympia and on the Athenian Acropolis,<ref>Aenne Ohnesorg: Inselionische Marmordächer. de Gruyter, Berlin 1993.</ref> As of 2016, about 5,000 m³ of high value Naxian marble was being exported annually.<ref>Trianet: Gestein und Bergbau Template:Webarchive.</ref>
SportsEdit
Notable peopleEdit
- Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus III of Constantinople (1762–1842)
- Ecumenical Patriarch Callinicus III of Constantinople (died 1726)
- Keti Chomata (1946–2010), singer
- Manolis Glezos (1922–2020), rebel, politician, writer
- Giannoulis Fakinos (born 1989), soccer player
- Iakovos Kambanelis (1922–2011), poet, playwright, lyricist and novelist
- Kostas Manolas (born 1991), soccer player
- Stelios Manolas (born 1961), soccer player
- Nikolaos Mykonios, fighter of the Greek War of Independence and officer of the Greek Army
- Iakovos Nafpliotis (1864–1942), cantor
- Nicodemus the Hagiorite (1749–1809), saint
- Giorgos Ninios (born 1959), actor
- Michalis Polytarchou, basketball player, Former Captain of AEK Athens BC
- Petros Protopapadakis (1854–1922), Prime Minister of Greece
GalleryEdit
- Naxos Νάξος Chora 2020-08-20 28 Portara Πορτάρα.jpg
View through Portara on the peninsula Palátia towards Chora of Naxos
- Agios Nikolaos at Grotta, Naxos, 4th to 7th c, 213443.jpg
Agios Nikolaos on the Grotta of Naxos Town (Chora)
- Valley between Potamia and Moni, Naxos, 19M7555.jpg
Valley between Potamia and Moni, Naxos. View from road from Apeiranthos to Filoti
- Heiligtum des Dionysos (Yria) 03.jpg
- 028MAD Sphinx.jpg
- Building from terrace, Byzantine Museum Naxos, 143770.jpg
Crispi tower, housing the Byzantine museum
- Naos Drosianis Naxos 03.jpg
Panagia Drosiani church, Moni village
- Naxos Moni Faneromenis.JPG
The monastery of Faneromeni
- Akadimoi Naxos Greece 2018081316330N09239.jpg
Chalki, Naxos
- Atsipapi, Naxos, Greece 2018081216580N08690.jpg
Agios Isidoros at Atsipapi
- Kaloxilos Naxos Greece 2018081018100N08139.jpg
Kaloxilos, Naxos
- Vourvouria Naxos Greece 2018081119110NH8230.jpg
Vourvouria
- Catholic cathedral, Kastro, Noxos Town, 1207-1963 AD, 144131.jpg
Presentation of the Lord Catholic church of Naxos
- Koronos, Naxos, 119500.jpg
Koronos village
- Panagia Damiotissa Naxos Greece 2018080816280N05907.jpg
Panagia Damiotissa, Chalki
- TO FILOTI APO TOYS PROPODES TOY ZA.jpeg
Filoti village
- Tower in Filoti, Naxos, commemorated 1620, 119754.jpg
Tower in Filoti
- Απόλλωνας Νάξου.jpeg
Apollonas village
- Naxos Keramoti.JPG
Keramoti village
- Castle (Kastro) in Apeiranthos, Naxos, 101911.jpg
Tower in Apeiranthos
- Aerial view of Hawaii Beach on Naxos Island, Greece.jpg
Hawaii beach, Alykos, Naxos
See alsoEdit
- Communities of the Cyclades
- Emery (rock), mined on Naxos
- Kitron
- Moutsouna
CitationsEdit
General and cited referencesEdit
- Agelarakis, A., "The Naxos Island Archaic Period Necropolis: Archaeological-Anthropology Research Report", Hellenic Antiquities Authority, Archival Report, 2005, Naxos.
- Ernst Curtius, Naxos. Ein Vortrag im wissenschaftlichen Verein zu Berlin 1846 gehalten, neu herausgegeben von Martin Biastoch, Göttingen, 2012.
External linksEdit
- Template:Official website Template:In lang
- Moving Postcards Naxos
- Municipality of Naxos and Small Cyclades Template:In lang
- Photos from Naxos inclusive Tourist-Infos
Template:The Cyclades Template:Aegean Sea Template:Authority control