Santorini Island is probably one of the beautiful and picturesque Greek Islands in the Aegean Sea that has connections to the legendary city of Atlantis described by Plato.
Location: Cyclades Islands Map
Official site: www.thira.gr
Santorini Island is also known as Thera or Thira. It is a small volcanic island in the South Aegean Sea and make up Cyclades group of islands. It in the ancient times it was a large round island, but after eruption of the Bronze Age around 1500 BC it was reduced to a rim of land and a small volcanic island in the centre. This horrible eruption became the largest in the recorded history overshadowing even eruption of Krakatau in the 19th century. Archaeological digs on Santorini yielded ruins of a magnificent ruins of a Minoan civilization. Unfortunately the centre of the city was destroyed along with palaces, temples and rich residences and villas. All that was left were poorer, less prosperous suburbs of the city, but what was discovered in the ancient archaeological site of Akrotiri stunned scientists. Many immediately drew similarities between Santorini and the legendary island nation of Atlantis from the Classical Greek myths.
Many historians today
consider Santorini or Thera as the most plausible candidate for the
legend of Atlantis as it was told by great Greek philosopher Plato.
Santorini was a seat of a power of advanced Minoan civilization.
Archaeological digs on Santorini in 1967 under supervision of
Professor Spyridon Marinatos unearthed magnificent houses that were
at least three stories high. Additionally these buildings had
plumbing and washrooms. Europe will not develop indoor toilets until
centuries later. It is also logical to assume that dormant volcano
might have been the source of hot springs that was used by the local
residents. Similar themes are mentioned in the story of Atlantis-
Santorini. Plato described residents of Atlantis as having great
engineering skills. Their houses had both cold and hot water from
two springs in the centre of the island ("two springs of water from
beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold" Plato).
In that sense description of a mythical land correlate with citizens
of Santorini.
Geology and layout of Santorini might also
give certain clues about the link with ancient civilization. Plato
described Atlantis as having white, red and black stone that was
used by the ancients to build magnificent buildings. On Santorini we
see the same type of rock in color and texture. Additionally Plato
describes the city of Atlantis round in shape with a series of
causeways and water channels. It is hard to think of round inland
water channels when you see at the modern island of Santorini.
Outside surviving rim of land is roughly round in shape and contains
central island that might have been the heart of the Atlantis
Empire.
Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your
state in our histories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in
greatness and valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power
which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and
Asia, and to which your city put an end. This power came forth out
of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable;
and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are
by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than
Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and
from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent
which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the
Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but
that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly
called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there
was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole
island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and,
furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya
within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far
as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to
subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region
within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in
the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She
was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of
the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled
to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger,
she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from
slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated
all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars. But afterwards
there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day
and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the
earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the
depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is
impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the
way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.
I have told you briefly, Socrates, what the aged
Critias heard from Solon and related to us.
I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island, which I will describe. Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the centre of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side.
In this mountain there dwelt one of the earth born primeval men of
that country, whose name was Evenor, and he had a wife named
Leucippe, and they had an only daughter who was called Cleito. The
maiden had already reached womanhood, when her father and mother
died; Poseidon fell in love with her and had intercourse with her,
and breaking the ground, inclosed the hill in which she dwelt all
round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller,
encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water,
which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference
equidistant every way from the centre, so that no man could get to
the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet. He himself, being
a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the
centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the
earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every
variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil. He also begat
and brought up five pairs of twin male children; and dividing the
island of Atlantis into ten portions, he gave to the first-born of
the eldest pair his mother's dwelling and the surrounding allotment,
which was the largest and best, and made him king over the rest; the
others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men, and a
large territory. And he named them all; the eldest, who was the
first king, he named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the
ocean were called Atlantic. To his twin brother, who was born after
him, and obtained as his lot the extremity of the island towards the
Pillars of Heracles, facing the country which is now called the
region of Gades in that part of the world, he gave the name which in
the Hellenic language is Eumelus, in the language of the country
which is named after him, Gadeirus. Of the second pair of twins he
called one Ampheres, and the other Evaemon. To the elder of the
third pair of twins he gave the name Mneseus, and Autochthon to the
one who followed him. Of the fourth pair of twins he called the
elder Elasippus, and the younger Mestor. And of the fifth pair he
gave to the elder the name of Azaes, and to the younger that of
Diaprepes. All these and their descendants for many generations were
the inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea; and
also, as has been already said, they held sway in our direction over
the country within the Pillars as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia.
Now Atlas had a numerous and honourable family, and they retained
the kingdom, the eldest son handing it on to his eldest for many
generations; and they had such an amount of wealth as was never
before possessed by kings and potentates, and is not likely ever to
be again, and they were furnished with everything which they needed,
both in the city and country. For because of the greatness of their
empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and
the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the
uses of life. In the first place, they dug out of the earth whatever
was to be found there, solid as well as fusile, and that which is
now only a name and was then something more than a name, orichalcum,
was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, being more
precious in those days than anything except gold. There was an
abundance of wood for carpenter's work, and sufficient maintenance
for tame and wild animals. Moreover, there were a great number of
elephants in the island; for as there was provision for all other
sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and
rivers, and also for those which live in mountains and on plains, so
there was for the animal which is the largest and most voracious of
all. Also whatever fragrant things there now are in the earth,
whether roots, or herbage, or woods, or essences which distil from
fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land; also the fruit
which admits of cultivation, both the dry sort, which is given us
for nourishment and any other which we use for food-we call them all
by the common name pulse, and the fruits having a hard rind,
affording drinks and meats and ointments, and good store of
chestnuts and the like, which furnish pleasure and amusement, and
are fruits which spoil with keeping, and the pleasant kinds of
dessert, with which we console ourselves after dinner, when we are
tired of eating-all these that sacred island which then beheld the
light of the sun, brought forth fair and wondrous and in infinite
abundance. With such blessings the earth freely furnished them;
meanwhile they went on constructing their temples and palaces and
harbours and docks. And they arranged the whole country in the
following manner:
First of all they bridged over the zones of sea which surrounded the
ancient metropolis, making a road to and from the royal palace. And
at the very beginning they built the palace in the habitation of the
god and of their ancestors, which they continued to ornament in
successive generations, every king surpassing the one who went
before him to the utmost of his power, until they made the building
a marvel to behold for size and for beauty. And beginning from the
sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one
hundred feet in depth and fifty stadia in length, which they carried
through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to
this, which became a harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to
enable the largest vessels to find ingress. Moreover, they divided
at the bridges the zones of land which parted the zones of sea,
leaving room for a single trireme to pass out of one zone into
another, and they covered over the channels so as to leave a way
underneath for the ships; for the banks were raised considerably
above the water. Now the largest of the zones into which a passage
was cut from the sea was three stadia in breadth, and the zone of
land which came next of equal breadth; but the next two zones, the
one of water, the other of land, were two stadia, and the one which
surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width. The
island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five
stadia. All this including the zones and the bridge, which was the
sixth part of a stadium in width, they surrounded by a stone wall on
every side, placing towers and gates on the bridges where the sea
passed in. The stone which was used in the work they quarried from
underneath the centre island, and from underneath the zones, on the
outer as well as the inner side. One kind was white, another black,
and a third red, and as they quarried, they at the same time
hollowed out double docks, having roofs formed out of the native
rock. Some of their buildings were simple, but in others they put
together different stones, varying the colour to please the eye, and
to be a natural source of delight. The entire circuit of the wall,
which went round the outermost zone, they covered with a coating of
brass, and the circuit of the next wall they coated with tin, and
the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light
of orichalcum.
The palaces in the interior of the citadel were constructed on this
wise:-in the centre was a holy temple dedicated to Cleito and
Poseidon, which remained inaccessible, and was surrounded by an
enclosure of gold; this was the spot where the family of the ten
princes first saw the light, and thither the people annually brought
the fruits of the earth in their season from all the ten portions,
to be an offering to each of the ten. Here was Poseidon's own temple
which was a stadium in length, and half a stadium in width, and of a
proportionate height, having a strange barbaric appearance. All the
outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they
covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold. In the interior of
the temple the roof was of ivory, curiously wrought everywhere with
gold and silver and orichalcum; and all the other parts, the walls
and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum. In the temple
they placed statues of gold: there was the god himself standing in a
chariot-the charioteer of six winged horses-and of such a size that
he touched the roof of the building with his head; around him there
were a hundred Nereids riding on dolphins, for such was thought to
be the number of them by the men of those days. There were also in
the interior of the temple other images which had been dedicated by
private persons. And around the temple on the outside were placed
statues of gold of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their
wives, and there were many other great offerings of kings and of
private persons, coming both from the city itself and from the
foreign cities over which they held sway. There was an altar too,
which in size and workmanship corresponded to this magnificence, and
the palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the
kingdom and the glory of the temple.
In the next place, they had fountains, one of cold and another of
hot water, in gracious plenty flowing; and they were wonderfully
adapted for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of
their waters. They constructed buildings about them and planted
suitable trees, also they made cisterns, some open to the heavens,
others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths; there were
the kings' baths, and the baths of private persons, which were kept
apart; and there were separate baths for women, and for horses and
cattle, and to each of them they gave as much adornment as was
suitable. Of the water which ran off they carried some to the grove
of Poseidon, where were growing all manner of trees of wonderful
height and beauty, owing to the excellence of the soil, while the
remainder was conveyed by aqueducts along the bridges to the outer
circles; and there were many temples built and dedicated to many
gods; also gardens and places of exercise, some for men, and others
for horses in both of the two islands formed by the zones; and in
the centre of the larger of the two there was set apart a
race-course of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to extend
all round the island, for horses to race in. Also there were
guardhouses at intervals for the guards, the more trusted of whom
were appointed-to keep watch in the lesser zone, which was nearer
the Acropolis while the most trusted of all had houses given them
within the citadel, near the persons of the kings. The docks were
full of triremes and naval stores, and all things were quite ready
for use. Enough of the plan of the royal palace.
Leaving the palace and passing out across the three you came to a
wall which began at the sea and went all round: this was everywhere
distant fifty stadia from the largest zone or harbour, and enclosed
the whole, the ends meeting at the mouth of the channel which led to
the sea. The entire area was densely crowded with habitations; and
the canal and the largest of the harbours were full of vessels and
merchants coming from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept up a
multitudinous sound of human voices, and din and clatter of all
sorts night and day.
I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace
nearly in the words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent
the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land. The whole
country was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side
of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the
city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which
descended towards the sea; it was smooth and even, and of an oblong
shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across
the centre inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the
island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north.
The surrounding mountains were celebrated for their number and size
and beauty, far beyond any which still exist, having in them also
many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and
meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame, and
much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of
work.
I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by
the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. It was
for the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of
the straight line followed the circular ditch. The depth, and width,
and length of this ditch were incredible, and gave the impression
that a work of such extent, in addition to so many others, could
never have been artificial. Nevertheless I must say what I was told.
It was excavated to the depth of a hundred, feet, and its breadth
was a stadium everywhere; it was carried round the whole of the
plain, and was ten thousand stadia in length. It received the
streams which came down from the mountains, and winding round the
plain and meeting at the city, was there let off into the sea.
Further inland, likewise, straight canals of a hundred feet in width
were cut from it through the plain, and again let off into the ditch
leading to the sea: these canals were at intervals of a hundred
stadia, and by them they brought down the wood from the mountains to
the city, and conveyed the fruits of the earth in ships, cutting
transverse passages from one canal into another, and to the city.
Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth-in winter
having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water
which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals.
As to the population, each of the lots in the plain had to find a
leader for the men who were fit for military service, and the size
of a lot was a square of ten stadia each way, and the total number
of all the lots was sixty thousand. And of the inhabitants of the
mountains and of the rest of the country there was also a vast
multitude, which was distributed among the lots and had leaders
assigned to them according to their districts and villages. The
leader was required to furnish for the war the sixth portion of a
war-chariot, so as to make up a total of ten thousand chariots; also
two horses and riders for them, and a pair of chariot-horses without
a seat, accompanied by a horseman who could fight on foot carrying a
small shield, and having a charioteer who stood behind the
man-at-arms to guide the two horses; also, he was bound to furnish
two heavy armed soldiers, two slingers, three stone-shooters and
three javelin-men, who were light-armed, and four sailors to make up
the complement of twelve hundred ships. Such was the military order
of the royal city-the order of the other nine governments varied,
and it would be wearisome to recount their several differences.
As to offices and honours, the following was the arrangement from
the first. Each of the ten kings in his own division and in his own
city had the absolute control of the citizens, and, in most cases,
of the laws, punishing and slaying whomsoever he would. Now the
order of precedence among them and their mutual relations were
regulated by the commands of Poseidon which the law had handed down.
These were inscribed by the first kings on a pillar of orichalcum,
which was situated in the middle of the island, at the temple of
Poseidon, whither the kings were gathered together every fifth and
every sixth year alternately, thus giving equal honour to the odd
and to the even number. And when they were gathered together they
consulted about their common interests, and enquired if any one had
transgressed in anything and passed judgment and before they passed
judgment they gave their pledges to one another on this wise:-There
were bulls who had the range of the temple of Poseidon; and the ten
kings, being left alone in the temple, after they had offered
prayers to the god that they might capture the victim which was
acceptable to him, hunted the bulls, without weapons but with staves
and nooses; and the bull which they caught they led up to the pillar
and cut its throat over the top of it so that the blood fell upon
the sacred inscription. Now on the pillar, besides the laws, there
was inscribed an oath invoking mighty curses on the disobedient.
When therefore, after slaying the bull in the accustomed manner,
they had burnt its limbs, they filled a bowl of wine and cast in a
clot of blood for each of them; the rest of the victim they put in
the fire, after having purified the column all round. Then they drew
from the bowl in golden cups and pouring a libation on the fire,
they swore that they would judge according to the laws on the
pillar, and would punish him who in any point had already
transgressed them, and that for the future they would not, if they
could help, offend against the writing on the pillar, and would
neither command others, nor obey any ruler who commanded them, to
act otherwise than according to the laws of their father Poseidon.
This was the prayer which each of them-offered up for himself and
for his descendants, at the same time drinking and dedicating the
cup out of which he drank in the temple of the god; and after they
had supped and satisfied their needs, when darkness came on, and the
fire about the sacrifice was cool, all of them put on most beautiful
azure robes, and, sitting on the ground, at night, over the embers
of the sacrifices by which they had sworn, and extinguishing all the
fire about the temple, they received and gave judgment, if any of
them had an accusation to bring against any one; and when they given
judgment, at daybreak they wrote down their sentences on a golden
tablet, and dedicated it together with their robes to be a memorial.
There were many special laws affecting the several kings inscribed
about the temples, but the most important was the following: They
were not to take up arms against one another, and they were all to
come to the rescue if any one in any of their cities attempted to
overthrow the royal house; like their ancestors, they were to
deliberate in common about war and other matters, giving the
supremacy to the descendants of Atlas. And the king was not to have
the power of life and death over any of his kinsmen unless he had
the assent of the majority of the ten.
Such was the vast power which the god settled in the lost island of
Atlantis; and this he afterwards directed against our land for the
following reasons, as tradition tells: For many generations, as long
as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws,
and well-affectioned towards the god, whose seed they were; for they
possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness
with wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse
with one another. They despised everything but virtue, caring little
for their present state of life, and thinking lightly of the
possession of gold and other property, which seemed only a burden to
them; neither were they intoxicated by luxury; nor did wealth
deprive them of their self-control; but they were sober, and saw
clearly that all these goods are increased by virtue and friendship
with one another, whereas by too great regard and respect for them,
they are lost and friendship with them. By such reflections and by
the continuance in them of a divine nature, the qualities which we
have described grew and increased among them; but when the divine
portion began to fade away, and became diluted too often and too
much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the upper
hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved
unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for
they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts; but to those
who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and
blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and
unrighteous power. Zeus, the god of gods, who rules according to
law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an
honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict
punishment on them, that they might be chastened and improve,
collected all the gods into their most holy habitation, which, being
placed in the centre of the world, beholds all created things. And
when he had called them together, he spake as follows. (The rest
of the work is lost)
Name
Before the great volcanic catastrophe of prehistoric
times the island was round and had the name Strongyli, while later
it acquired the names Kallisti or Kallisto (from the ancient
kallisti "the most beautiful"), Filiteri or Filotera, Kalavria,
Thiari, Karisti, Karisti, Karisti Ρήνεια.
The later classic
name of the island of Thira came from the ancient Spartan Thira who
came from Sparta and was the first to colonize this island. The name
Santorini comes from the passing Frankish Crusaders who during their
passage stood for supplies near the church of Agia Irini, located in
the present-day area of Perisa behind the sanctuary of the Holy
Cross (they called it Santa Irina), which existed on the island.
Initially it was thought that this church was the chapel of Agia
Irini that existed in Thirasia, today it is considered more likely
to be the majestic early Christian three-aisled basilica of Agia
Irini in Thira, the ruins of which were discovered in 1992.
During the Turkish occupation, the Turks called it Dermetzik or
Dimertzik ("small mill"), probably because of the many small
windmills that stood out from afar. After the liberation of Greece,
the name Thira was officially established, but foreign maps
continued to name it Santa-Irina, from which it remained with little
corruption by the Greeks as Santorini.
Geography
Santorini
is located at latitude from 36o 19 '56 "to 36o 28' 40" North and
longitude from 25o 19 '22 "to 25o 29' 13" East. The current
semicircular and more horseshoe-shaped shape of the island is due to
the occasional volcanic eruptions that changed its original round
shape. Its face from the side of the volcano is rocky and steep in
contrast to the smoothness of its soil in the rest of it. Its
surface, 76.19 square kilometers, is mostly pumice very receptive to
cultivation. In the SE part, is the mountain of Profitis Ilias with
the homonymous monastery of the 18th century, which has an altitude
of 567 meters and consists of titanic rocks and white marble. These
limestone rocks are the oldest in Santorini and formed a small
island before the volcanic activity began. Continuation of this is
the Mesa Vouno or Mount of Agios Stefanos, due to the early
Christian church that exists there and which has an altitude of 366
meters. The intermediate neck that connects the two mountains is
called Sellada. The perimeter of Santorini is about 36 nautical
miles and has six bays: Ammoudi or Agios Nikolaos, in Pano Meria
(Oia Thiras), Armeni, also in Pano Meria, Mouzaki bay, Fira and
Athinios bays and Balos bay in Akrotiri.