Oh, what a wonderful wonder of the whole universe,
Delos, as people call it,
which the heavens from Olympus
with a shining star
of the bluish land call it!
Pindar, Fragment on the Island of Delos
The Greek island of Delos, translated as “brought to light,” is located in the center of the Cyclades islands. It doesn’t have tall mountains, it is rocky and barren, sunny from dawn till dusk. The surviving temples, agora, market, amphitheater, statues, are witnesses of a rich history. Because of its position, the Greek poet and scholar Callimachus called it the heart of all islands.
According to myth, the goddess Leto, who was being chased by Hera, found a safe haven on the island where she gave birth to the twins Apollo and Artemis, children of Zeus. The island, which had been floating before, anchored itself at the bottom of the sea. The myth says that since then, on this sacred place, no mortal will be allowed to be born or die. There are records that in certain historical periods, women about to give birth and people facing death would go to the neighboring island of Rineia.
Oh, Delos, would you like to be the seat To my son,
Should I build a temple to wealthy Phoebus Apollo?
No one else will touch you or appreciate you!
(…)
I would gladly accept a long-distance ruler
From birth. Because people truly speak terrifyingly about me,
While this way I would become highly esteemed.
But – I will not hide from you – these words make me tremble:
They say that Apollo will be too proud…
(…)
Therefore, I am terribly afraid in my soul and in my heart,
When Apollo once sees the light of the sun,
That he will scorn the island because my land is rocky,
And he will kick me and push me into the sea.
There, the mighty waves will constantly crash over my head
And elsewhere he will go, wherever he pleases,
To build his temple and gardens full of trees.
Hymn to Apollo, Hesiod
Mighty Apollo, god of light and sun, music and beauty, the archer who shoots his arrows in search of truth, and Artemis, goddess of hunting, the moon, and purity, who rules over instinctive and animal-like aspects, they are the protectors of the island which has developed into a significant cult, cultural, trade and maritime center.
Records from history
According to Thucydides, the original inhabitants of the island were the Karinjani pirates who were expelled from Crete by King Minos. Delos experienced its Renaissance period between the 9th and 1st centuries BC, when the sanctuaries of Apollo and Artemis were already famous, and the worship of the twins gained a pan-Hellenic character. Although several sources state that in the 1st century BC up to 30,0001 inhabitants lived on it, this seems incredible when we consider that its surface area is only 3.4 km2. Throughout its long and dynamic history, Delos was under the control of Rome, Byzantium, Venice, and the Ottoman Empire.
Because of its favorable maritime position, ships carrying grain, linen fabrics, and papyrus from Egypt, as well as fish from the Black Sea, cattle, leather, wool from Miletus, Persian carpets, aromatic oils from Arabia, bronze and footwear from Etruria, and copper from Euboea and Cyprus would dock at Delos… In the 2nd century BC, it was the largest trading center in the known world at the time. Although most of the population was from Athens and Rome, Delos was… Syrians, Phoenicians, Libyans, Egyptians… In such a cosmopolitan atmosphere, there was a harmonious coexistence and respect for different deities.
An anecdote best describes the island’s value. During the Persian conquest of the Cyclades islands, Delos was spared. Herodotus says that the Delians abandoned Delos and fled to Tenos. When Datis, the leader of the Persian army, learned where the Delians were, he sent them a message: “Holy people, why are you fleeing and suspecting me of dishonorable actions? I myself have enough reason, and the king has given me such orders, not to harm the land where two gods were born.”
Because of all the aforementioned, it became an important center in shaping historical events. One of them is the famous Delian League from 478 BC, the unification of Greek city-states led by Athens. They convened in the temple of Apollo, where the treasury was also located. After about twenty years, Pericles relocated it to Athens, and Plutarch writes that many they did not like the procedure because they saw in it Pericles’ intention to build Athens with common funds. Delos in the 1st century BC was sentenced to an attack by Mithridates VI, king of Pontus and Lesser Armenia, a great enemy of the Roman Empire, after which all forms of religious, commercial, and maritime activities slowly declined. Pausanias states that since then the island has been almost uninhabited. The question remains open as to how the vibrant life on Delos actually declined. Why did the temples and the luxurious palaces of wealthy merchants and shipowners become empty almost overnight? History has once again proven in this geographically small area that civilizations and cultures have their birth, rise, and decline, which will soon catch up with the entire ancient Hellas after Delos.
Life on Delos
The events on Delos in the pre-Christian era were as popular as the Olympic and Pythian Games. Delian music and poetry festivals resembled today’s festivals, and the whole world flocked to to see the most popular performers from all parts of Greece. These events took place in a theater built in the 4th century BC, which could accommodate around seven thousand spectators.
In honor of Apollo, every four years a celebration called “Delia” was held, organized by the alliance of Greek tribes and city-states gathered around Apollo’s sanctuary. After the ceremonial festivities, there were gymnastic, sports, and musical competitions, choral singing, and dances.
The celebration called “Minor Delia” or “Apollonia” was held every year to honor Theseus’ victory over the Minotaur. The Athenians were obligated to worship Apollo every year by sending delegates on Theseus’ ship to Delos. In order to preserve the purity of the occasion, no executions were allowed during the absence of the ship, which at one point lasted for thirty days. The day before Socrates was sentenced to death, the ceremonial ship sailed to Delos, and the execution was also postponed until its return.
There is a special tradition… The connection between Delos and mathematics. The mathematical concept of the “Delian problem” is one of the well-known classical mathematical problems. According to myth, during the plague, the Delphic Oracle advised the Delians to build an altar twice the volume to appease the god Apollo, while still maintaining its cubic shape – with the condition that rulers and compasses were the only tools allowed to determine its dimensions. This problem reduces to the geometric solution of the cubic equation of the form: x3 = 2a3. Today, we know that this problem is unsolvable with rulers and compasses.
It is known that during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, “Heronisiae” celebrations were also held on Delos in honor of the Greeks from Hersonesos, a city on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula where Hercules was worshiped. The city was founded by Doric Greeks during the peak of Greek colonization in the 5th century BC, and it is said that there were also Delians among them.
The sporting spirit flourished in the gymnasiums and on the stadium, trade was conducted in the agora, and the main square was a gathering place for the gr. In ancient times, the people were gathering to form armies or discussing politics and philosophy.
The biographer of Pythagoras, Jamblichus, mentions, unlike the famous mysteries of Samothrace and Eleusis, the lesser-known mysteries of Delos, stating that Delos was also a sacred place for the initiation into the secret knowledge of the meaning of life and death.
An Open-Air Museum
In addition to the most famous temple of Apollo, which housed an eight-meter-high wooden statue covered in gold, Delos, according to various sources, also had temples dedicated to Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Hermes, the temple of the goddess Leto, Hera, the temple of Hercules, Asklepios, and even a Synagogue. Many temple ruins still exist today.
The famous lion statues, which the inhabitants of the island of Naxos dedicated to Apollo, guarded the entrance to the temple with their terrifying wide-open jaws. It is believed that there were more than 163 of them.
Next to Apollo’s sanctuary stood a Minoan fountain, carjanskog i arhitektonskom smislu ostalo očuvano. Delos je proglašen UNESCO-ovim svjetskim kulturnim dobrom i popularno je turističko odredište. Posjetitelji mogu istraživati ruševine drevnog grada, posjetiti muzej i diviti se bogatoj arheološkoj baštini koja je ovdje sačuvana. Delos je mjesto koje oduzima dah i sjeća nas na bogatu prošlost antičke Grčke. In both philosophical and religious sense, it has remained preserved from oblivion. In 1990, UNESCO included Delos on the list of world heritage sites.
Monuments, small and large, in the waters of the Aegean Sea preserve much more than what is visible to the eye – the longing of the soul to find echoes of eternity in these traces.
1 Greek Ministry of Culture Portal
http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2371
2 The city was located in the present-day Sevastopol.
3 Today, only 5 are preserved, and 3 in fragments.
4 Peplos – typical clothing for women from the classical period of ancient Greece (up to 500 BC).