The island of Delos, Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann, 1847

The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. From its Sacred Harbour, the horizon shows the two conical mounds that have identified landscapes sacred to a goddess in other sites: one, retaining its archaic name Mount Kynthos^[1], is crowned with a sanctuary of Dionysus. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2536x1957, 445 KB) Description: Title: de: Die Insel Delos Technique: de: Öl, Pappe Dimensions: de: 35,5 × 45,5 cm Country of origin: de: Deutschland Current location (city): de: Karlsruhe Current location (gallery): de: Kunsthalle Other notes: de: Landschaftsmalerei Source: The... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2536x1957, 445 KB) Description: Title: de: Die Insel Delos Technique: de: Öl, Pappe Dimensions: de: 35,5 × 45,5 cm Country of origin: de: Deutschland Current location (city): de: Karlsruhe Current location (gallery): de: Kunsthalle Other notes: de: Landschaftsmalerei Source: The... Inntal bei Neubeuern, 1823. ... The Cyclades (Greek Κυκλάδες) are a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and an administrative prefecture of Greece. ... Coordinates 37°27′ N 25°20′ E Country Greece Periphery South Aegean Prefecture Cyclades Population 9,320 source (2001) Elevation 35 m Postal code 846 00 Area code 22890 Licence plate code ΕΜ Website mykonos. ... The Oricoli bust of Zeus, King of the Gods, in the collection of the Vatican Museum. ... Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth century Greek original (Louvre Museum) In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (Ancient Greek , Apóllōn; or , Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros, was the archer-god of medicine and healing, light, truth, archery and also a bringer of death... The Diana of Versailles, a Roman copy of a sculpture by Leochares (Louvre Museum) Artemis (Greek: nominative , genitive ), in Olympian Greek mythology the daughter of Zeus and of Leto and the twin sister of Apollo, was one of the most widely venerated gods and manifestly one of the oldest deities... Dionysus and Eros Naples Archeological Museum This article is about the ancient deity. ...

As a cult centre Delos had an importance that its natural resources could never have offered. In this vein Leto, searching for a birthing-place for Apollo, addressed the island: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Delos, if you would be willing to be the abode of my son Phoebus Apollo and make him a rich temple --; for no other will touch you, as you will find: and I think you will never be rich in oxen and sheep, nor bear vintage nor yet produce plants abundantly. But if you have the temple of far-shooting Apollo, all men will bring you hecatombs and gather here, and incessant savour of rich sacrifice will always arise, and you will feed those who dwell in you from the hand of strangers; for truly your own soil is not rich.

—Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo

Inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC, between 900 BC and AD 100, sacred Delos was a major cult centre, where Dionysus is as much in evidence as Leto, Apollo and Artemis. The island was a natural meeting-ground for the Delian League, which was first founded in 478 BC, and a separate quarter was reserved for foreigners and the sanctuaries of foreign deities. During the 3rd century BC, Hellenistic monarchs competed to honor Delos with civic monuments, both with stoas and with statues whose countless pedestals still line the Sacred Way. In 166 BC Delos was given by the Romans to the Athenian city-state, but in modern times it has become uninhabited. It is currently only used for archeology and tourism— "you will feed those who dwell in you from the hand of strangers". Marcus Aurelius and members of the Imperial family offer sacrifice in gratitude for success against Germanic tribes: contemporary bas-relief, Capitoline Museum, Rome Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning to make sacred, from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the... The 3rd millennium BC spans the Early to Middle Bronze Age. ... Centuries: 11th century BC - 10th century BC - 9th century BC Decades: 950s BC 940s BC 930s BC 920s BC 910s BC - 900s BC - 890s BC 880s BC 870s BC 860s BC 850s BC Events and Trends 909 BC - Zhou xiao wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China. ... -1... Dionysus and Eros Naples Archeological Museum This article is about the ancient deity. ... Delian League (Athenian Empire), right before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Corcyra was not part of the League The Delian League was an association of Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. It was led by Athens. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC Years: 483 BC 482 BC 481 BC 480 BC 479 BC - 478 BC - 477 BC 476 BC... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 3rd century BC started on January 1, 300 BC and ended on December 31, 201 BC. // Events The Pyramid of the Moon, one of several monuments built in Teotihuacán Teotihuacán, Mexico begun The first two Punic Wars between Carthage... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... The Painted Porch (Stoa poikile), during the 3rd century BC, was where Zeno of Citium taught Stoicism. ... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC - 160s BC - 150s BC140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC Years: 171 BC 170 BC 169 BC 168 BC 167 BC - 166 BC - 165 BC 164 BC 163... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... Nickname: City of Athena or Cradle of Democracy Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area    - City 38. ...

The Lions' Terrace in Delos.

The site was discovered by the École française d'Athènes in 1873. It was not permitted to be born or to die on the island due to its sacred importance. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1024x1536, 730 KB) DE:Beschreibung Delos, Löwe von der Löwenterasse, Griechenland Fotograf: Heiko Gorski (Moonshadow) Datum: Mai 2003 Quelle:hochgeladen vom Fotografen Lizenz: GFDL-self EN:Description Delos, lion of lions terrace, Greece photographer: Heiko Gorski (Moonshadow) date: may... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1024x1536, 730 KB) DE:Beschreibung Delos, Löwe von der Löwenterasse, Griechenland Fotograf: Heiko Gorski (Moonshadow) Datum: Mai 2003 Quelle:hochgeladen vom Fotografen Lizenz: GFDL-self EN:Description Delos, lion of lions terrace, Greece photographer: Heiko Gorski (Moonshadow) date: may... École française dAthènes (the French School of Athens) or the EfA with the f decapitalized is a French-speaking university school promoting the studies of the language, the history and Ancient Greece. ...

In 1990, UNESCO inscribed Delos on the World Heritage List, citing it as the "exceptionally extensive and rich" archaeological site which "conveys the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port". [1]. This article is about the year. ... UNESCO logo UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ...

Landmarks on the island

• The small Sacred Lake in its circular bowl, now dry, is a topographical feature that determined the placement of later features.
• The Minoan Fountain was a rectangular public well hewn in the rock, with a central column; it formalized the sacred spring in its present 6th century BC form, reconstructed in 166 BC, according to an inscription. Tightly-laid courses of masonry form the walls; water can still be reached by a flight of steps that fill one side.

Column with phallus at the Stoibadeion

• There are several market squares. The Hellenistic Agora of the Competaliasts by the Sacred Harbour retains the postholes for market awnings in its stone paving. Two powerful Italic merchant guilds dedicated statues and columns there.
• The Temple of the Delians is a classic example of the Doric order; a pen-and-wash reconstruction of the temple is illustrated at Doric order
• The Terrace of the Lions dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BC, had originally nine to twelve squatting, snarling marble guardian lions along the Sacred Way; one is inserted over the main gate to the Venetian Arsenal. The lions create a monumental avenue comparable to Egyptian avenues of sphinxes. (There is a Greek sphinx in the Delos Museum.)
• The meeting hall of the Poseidoniasts of Beirut housed an association of merchant, warehousemen, shipowners and innkeepers during the early years of Roman hegemony, late 2nd century BC. To their protective triad of Baal/Poseidon, Astarte/Aphrodite and Echmoun/Asklepios, they added Roma.
• The platform of the Stoibadeion dedicated to Dionysus bears a statue of the god of wine and the life-force. On either side of the platform, a pillar supports a colossal phallus, the symbol of Dionysus. The southern pillar, which is decorated with relief scenes from the Dionysiac circle, was erected ca. 300 BC to celebrate a winning theatrical performance. The statue of Dionysus was originally flanked by those of two actors impersonating Paposilenoi (conserved in the Delos Museum). The marble theatre is a rebuilding of an older one, undertaken shortly after 300 BC.

House of Dionysus floor mosaic

• The Doric Temple of Isis was built at the beginning of the Roman period to venerate the familiar trinity of Isis, the Alexandrian Serapis and Anubis.
• The Temple of Hera, ca 500 BC, is a rebuilding of an earlier Heraion on the site.
• The House of Dionysus is a luxurious 2nd century private house named for the floor mosaic of Dionysus riding a panther.
• The House of the Dolphins is similarly named from its atrium mosaic, where erotes ride dolphins; its Phoenician owner commissioned a floor mosaic of Tanit in his vestibule.

(2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (960x1280, 304 KB) Phallic symbol from the island of Delos Personal photograph File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (960x1280, 304 KB) Phallic symbol from the island of Delos Personal photograph File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... The Agora of the Competaliasts is one of the main markets on the island of Delos, which dates to the last quarter of the 2nd century BC. This market is directly adjacent to the Sacred Harbour. ... The uncompleted Doric temple at Segesta, Sicily, has been waiting for finishing of its surfaces since 430–420 BC The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. ... The primary use of “Naxos” is as the name of a Greek island in the Cyclades. ... Centuries: 8th century BC - 7th century BC - 6th century BC Decades: 650s BC 640s BC 630s BC 620s BC 610s BC - 600s BC - 590s BC 580s BC 570s BC 560s BC 550s BC Events and Trends Fall of the Assyrian Empire and Rise of Babylon 609 BC _ King Josiah... The Porta Magna at the Venetian Arsenal The Venetian Arsenal (Italian: Arsenale di Venezia) is a shipyard and naval depot that played a leading role in Venetian empire-building. ... The Great Sphinx of Giza, with the Pyramid of Khafre in the background For other uses, see Sphinx (disambiguation). ... Beirut ( translit: ) is the capital, largest city, and chief seaport of Lebanon. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 2nd century BC started on January 1, 200 BC and ended on December 31, 101 BC. // Coin of Antiochus IV. Reverse shows Apollo seated on an omphalos. ... Baal (; Hebrew: בעל) is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning master or lord that is used for various gods, spirits and demons particularly of the Levant, cognate to Assyrian bêlu. ... Neptune reigns in the city centre, Bristol, formerly the largest port in England outside London. ... Astarte on a car with four branches protruding from roof. ... The Birth of Venus, (detail) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 Aphrodite (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη, pronounced in English as and in Ancient Greek as ) was the Greek goddess of love, lust, beauty, and sexuality. ... Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology, according to which he was born a mortal but was given immortality as the constellation Ophiuchus after his death. ... This coin struck under Philip the Arab to celebrate Saeculum Novum bears, on the reverse, a temple devoted to the goddess Roma In Roman mythology, Roma was a deity personifying the Roman state, or an personification in art of the city of Rome (as seen on the column of Antoninus... Dionysus and Eros Naples Archeological Museum This article is about the ancient deity. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC - 300s BC - 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC Years: 305 BC 304 BC 303 BC 302 BC 301 BC - 300 BC - 299 BC 298 BC... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 189 KB) Picture taken by me personally in May 2003, while visiting the ancient ruins. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 189 KB) Picture taken by me personally in May 2003, while visiting the ancient ruins. ... The uncompleted Doric temple at Segesta, Sicily, has been waiting for finishing of its surfaces since 430–420 BC The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. ... :This article discusses the ancient goddess. ... Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ... Anubis is the Greek name for the ancient jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology whose hieroglyphic is more accurately spelled Anpu (also Anup, Anupu, Wip, Ienpw, Inepu, Yinepu, or Inpw). ... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... In Anatomy, atrium refers to a structure of the heart. ... Delphinus, being Latin for Dolphin, is a rather small (ranked 69th) northern constellation very close to the celestial equator. ... Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. ... Basic Tanit symbol Tanit was a Carthaginian lunar goddess. ...

See also

• Delian League

Delian League (Athenian Empire), right before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Corcyra was not part of the League The Delian League was an association of Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. It was led by Athens. ...

Notes

The Diana of Versailles, a Roman copy of a sculpture by Leochares (Louvre Museum) Artemis (Greek: nominative , genitive ), in Olympian Greek mythology the daughter of Zeus and of Leto and the twin sister of Apollo, was one of the most widely venerated gods and manifestly one of the oldest deities... Classical Roman statue of Diana. ...

References

• Hellenic Ministry of Culture site: Delos
• Perseus site: Delos
• Archaeological World: Delos
• Grisel Gonzalez, 2000, "Delos". Photo gallery with accurate informative captions.
• EfA website with history of the Delos Archaelogical site (in French)
• Delos photos
• Delos Island on WikiMapia

World Heritage Sites in Greece

Acropolis, Athens | Archaeological Site of Delphi | Archaeological Site of Epidaurus | Archaeological Site of Olympia | Archaeological Site of Vergina | Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns | Christian Sites of Pátmos | Delos | Meteora | Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni | Mount Athos | Mystras | Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika | Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos | Medieval City of Rhodes | Temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae Image File history File links Flag_of_Greece. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ... The Acropolis of Athens, seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... The amphitheatre, seen from above. ... Panoramic view of the theater at Epidaurus Epidaurus (Epidauros) was a small city (polis) in ancient Greece at the Saronic Gulf. ... Olympia (Greek: Ολυμπία Olympía or Ολύμπια Olýmpia, older transliterations, Olimpia, Olimbia), a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. ... Vergina´s ( Βεργίνα ) location in Macedonia, in Greece Vergina (in Greek Βεργίνα; also spelled Verghína and Veryína) is a small town in northern Greece, located at coordinates , in the prefecture of Imathia in the region of Central Macedonia. ... A clay tablet with writing in Linear B from Mycenae. ... Map ot Tiryns Tiryns (in ancient greek Τίρυνς) is a Mycenaean archeological site in the Greek nomos of Argolis in the Peloponnese peninsula, some kilometres north of Nauplion. ... Skala viewed from the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos, one of the UN World Heritage Sites. ... Meteora is also an album by the band Linkin Park. ... Dafni or Daphni (Greek Δάφνι before the spelling change, Dafnion Δάφνιον or Daphnion) is a monastery 11 km north-west of downtown Athens in Chaidari, south of Athinon Avenue (GR-8A). ... The monastery of St. ... Capital Karyes Languages Koine Greek, Church Slavonic (both liturgical), as well as Modern Greek, Russian, Serbian, Georgian, Bulgarian, Romanian (civil) Head of State Greek Minister of For. ... For a village in the prefecture of Ioannina, see Mystras (Ioannina), Greece The Vale of Laconia seen from the battlements of Mystras Mystras (also Mistra, Mystra and Mistras Greek: Μύστρας , Μυζηθράς Mizithras or Myzithras in the chronicle of Morea ) was a fortified town in Morea (the Peloponnesus), on Mt. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Heraion redirects here. ... Rhodes (Greek: Ρόδος - Ródos) is the main city of the Greek island of Rhodes, in the Aegean Sea. ... The Temple of Apollo at Bassae, built around 420 BC is a Doric style temple that faces up-down, unlike most other temples that face left-right. ...

Coordinates: 37°24′N 25°16′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...