.gif)
Naxos (island)
Encyclopedia
Naxos is a Greek
island, the largest island (429 km² (166 sq mi)) in the Cyclades
island group in the Aegean
. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture.
The island comprises the two municipalities of Naxos
and Drymalia
. The largest town and capital of the island is Hora or Naxos City
, with 6,533 inhabitants (2001 census). The main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glinado
.
Naxos is a popular tourist destination
, with several easily accessible ruins.
It has a number of beautiful beaches, such as those at Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Alikos, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them near Hora. 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 (1003 metres) 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 also known within Greece for its potato
es.
, the young Zeus
was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas ("Zas" meaning "Zeus"). Homer
mentions "Dia"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". Karl Kerenyi
explains (speaking as if he were an ancient Greek):
One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the Trojan War
, Theseus
abandoned the princess Ariadne
of Crete
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.
During the 8th and 7th centuries, Naxos dominated commerce in the Cyclades.
In 502 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.
In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade
, with a Latin Emperor
under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople
, the Venetian
Marco Sanudo
conquered the island and soon captured the rest of the islands of the Cyclades, establishing himself as Duke of Naxia, or Duke of the Archipelago. 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.
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 is slight. Under Ottoman rule the island was known as Turkish
: Nakşa. Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted; Naxos finally became a member of the Greek state in 1832.
37°5′00"N 25°28′00"E
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
island, the largest island (429 km² (166 sq mi)) in the Cyclades
Cyclades
The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...
island group in the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture.
The island comprises the two municipalities of Naxos
Naxos (city)
Naxos is a town and a former municipality on the island of Naxos, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It has 6,533 inhabitants . The Naxos municipal unit covers an...
and Drymalia
Drymalia
Drymalia is a former municipality on the island of Naxos, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. With a land area of 302.828 km² , it comprises about 70 percent of the island, in the...
. The largest town and capital of the island is Hora or Naxos City
Naxos (city)
Naxos is a town and a former municipality on the island of Naxos, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It has 6,533 inhabitants . The Naxos municipal unit covers an...
, with 6,533 inhabitants (2001 census). The main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glinado
Glinado
Glynado is a community on the island of Naxos, in the Cyclades, Greece. Its population averages at 509 but increases in the summer months...
.
Naxos is a popular tourist destination
Tourist destination
A tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
, with several easily accessible ruins.
It has a number of beautiful beaches, such as those at Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Alikos, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them near Hora. 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 (1003 metres) 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 also known within Greece for its potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es.
Mythic Naxos
According to a story in Greek mythologyGreek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, the young Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas ("Zas" meaning "Zeus"). Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
mentions "Dia"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". Karl Kerenyi
Karl Kerényi
Károly Kerényi was a Hungarian scholar in classical philology, one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology.- Hungary 1897–1943 :...
explains (speaking as if he were an ancient Greek):
One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
, Theseus
Theseus
For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...
abandoned the princess Ariadne
Ariadne
Ariadne , in Greek mythology, was the daughter of King Minos of Crete, and his queen Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios, the Sun-titan. She aided Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur and was the bride of the god Dionysus.-Minos and Theseus:...
of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
on this island after she helped him kill the Minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
and escape from the Labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
. Dionysus (god
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
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
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
opera Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
.
The giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes
Aloadae
In Greek mythology, the Aloadae were Otus and Ephialtes , sons of Iphimedia, queen of Aloeus, by Poseidon, whom she induced to make her pregnant by going to the seashore and disporting herself in the surf or scooping seawater into her bosom. From Aloeus they received their patronymic, the Aloadai...
figure in at least two Naxos myths: in one, Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
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.
Greek and Byzantine Naxos
Revolt of Naxos
Herodotus describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous Greek island.In 502 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
Ionian Revolt
The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC...
, and then to the Persian War
Greco-Persian Wars
The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus...
between Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Persia.
The Dukes of Naxos
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
, with a Latin Emperor
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, the Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Marco Sanudo
Marco Sanudo
Marco Sanudo was the creator and first Duke of the Duchy of the Archipelago, after the Fourth Crusade.Maternal nephew of Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, he was a participant in the Fourth Crusade...
conquered the island and soon captured the rest of the islands of the Cyclades, establishing himself as Duke of Naxia, or Duke of the Archipelago. 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
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
name: Nasso.
Ottoman Naxos (1564–1821)
The OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
; the Porte's concern was satisfied by the returns of taxes. Very few Turks ever settled on Naxos, and Turkish influence on the island is slight. Under Ottoman rule the island was known as Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: Nakşa. Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted; Naxos finally became a member of the Greek state in 1832.
Historical population
| Year | Island population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 14,037 | - |
| 1991 | 14,838 | +801/+5.71% |
| 2001 | 18,188 | +3,350/+22.58% |
Notable people
- Manolis GlezosManolis GlezosManolis Glezos is a Greek left wing politician and writer, worldwide known especially for his participation in the World War II resistance.- 1939 - 1945 :...
(1922-) politician, writer - Iakovos KambanelisIakovos KambanelisIakovos Kambanelis or Kampanellis was a Greek poet, playwright, lyricist, and novelist. Born 2 December 1922 in Hora in the island of Naxos, Kambanelis appears as one of the most prominent Greek artists of the 20th century...
(1922-2011) poet, playwright, lyricist and novelist - Nicodemus the Hagiorite (1749–1809), saint
- Ecumenical Patriarch Callinicus III of Constantinople
- Petros ProtopapadakisPetros Protopapadakis-Life and work:Born in 1854 in Apeiranthos, Naxos, Protopapadakis studied mathematics and engineering in Paris but was keenly interested in politics. He was a professor at the Scholi Evelpidon, the military academy of Greece....
(1854–1922) Prime Minister of Greece - Thanasis Polykandriotis musician, bouzouki expert and composer
- Spyros Papadopoulos actor
- Giorgos NiniosGiorgos NiniosGiorgos Ninios is a Greek television, film and stage actor with an extensive filmography.He has won two awards at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for Best Supporting Actor in 1989 and 1991.-References:*...
actor - Eirini Halkou poet
- Stelios ManolasStelios ManolasStylianos "Stelios" Manolas is a retired Greek football defender.Arguably the best football defender ever to come out of Greece, Manolas, a product of AEK Athens FC's youth academy...
football player - Kostas ManolasKostas ManolasKonstantinos "Kostas" Manolas is a Greek football defender currently playing for AEK Athens. Kostas Manolas is a nephew of Greek football and AEK legend Stelios Manolas. Manolas also wears the number 4, previously worn by his uncle...
football player - Euthycartides (7th century BC), sculptor
- Markellos-Michail Kontopidis (1651–1716), medical philosopher
- Methodius of Antioch (Patriarch)
- Nikolaos Planas (1851–1932), saint
- Patriarch Anthimus III of Constantinople (1762–1842)
- Ioannis Sakellion (1815–1891), Scholar, principal of Patmos' School
- Εleftherios Kastrisios (1843–1931), Military Dean
- Antonios Mangakis (1890–1952), politician, father of politician Alexandros Mangakis
- Emmanouil Drys, Deputy Dean of the National Technical University
- Stylianos Korres (1910–1989), Dean, Founder of the Company of Cycladic Studies
- Nikos Sfiroeras (1913), Litterateur, Poet
- Vasilis Sfyroeras (1921), Professor in the University of Athens
- Manos Chorianopoulos (1925–2007), Reporter
- Iakovos Psarras (1936–2006), actor
- Keti Chomata, Singer
- Manolis Korres, Acropolis' restorator, Professor of Architecture in the National Technical University
See also
- Communities of the Cyclades
- Emery (mineral)Emery (mineral)Emery is a very hard rock type used to make abrasive powder. It largely consists of the mineral corundum , mixed with other species such as the iron-bearing spinels hercynite and magnetite, and also rutile...
mined on Naxos, the main source of supply for the ancient world, since antiquity
External links
37°5′00"N 25°28′00"E