Delos
Delos is a place, which is historically and archaeologically very important. This is because of the fact that Delos is home to one of the most remarkable collection of remnants and vestiges in the whole of Greece. Scholars and archaeologists are unanimous in their opinion that the ruins of Delos date back to 3000 BC. Although Delos used to be the abode of pre-historic inhabitants Delos was the birthplace of the highly venerated Greek God.
The then inhabitants of Mykonos were the first to be aware of Delos had holy significance to the people of the Greek world, It wasn't until the presence of the Ionians in 1100 BC that led to a spurt in building holy temples and shrines dedicated to the Greek God Apollo.
The Athenians who were wealthy and prosperous contributed immensely towards the development of Delos. They issued a diktat in 425 BC that Delos being the birth place of Apollo, no one from then on would be allowed to be born there nor would they be allowed to die at Delos. This decree was primarily meant to preserve the sanctity of the place.
Accordingly all the graves from Delos were removed for ever. In the years to come the eastern part of the Mediterranean witnessed tremendous population growth and increasingly became prosperous due largely through maritime trade and commerce. Towards the end of the 4th century BC , it was the turn of the mighty Macedonians to rule over Delos.
The Macedonians with their pioneering spirit and visionary approach quickly understood the huge advantage that Delos’ strategic geographic location afforded them. Without wasting time on further deliberations, the Macedonians gradually turned Delos into a thriving commercial hub. The Romans were able to capture Delos and it was during their sovereignty that there was a tremendous surge in the population.
The best part of the demography was that apart from Greeks and Italians, there were a diverse range of other races like the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians and Jews. During the rule of the Romans, Delos boasted of a population which was in access of 25,000 which was a staggering number in those days. The gradual decay of Delos started from the 1st century BC .
The Romans instead of consolidating their hold on Delos, started looking for greener pastures and stumbled upon Rhodes and began to develop Rhodes as a key port in the eastern part of the island. Due to the gradual negligence of Delos by the Romans, much of Delos’s population deserted or abandoned the city and as a result most of the traditional beliefs and customs got eroded from Delos’s cultural landscape as well.
Delos began to be plundered from 8th century AD. But the actual destruction of its elegant edifices started after the advent of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans completely destroyed the very basis of Delos. For instance, the bronze vaults that were primarily used to hold the ancient edifices were done away with to make way for metal.
Today largely due to the pioneering efforts of the renowned French School of archaeology, much of Delos' rich virile past has been unraveled by way of excavations which began from 1873. Undoubtedly Delos happens to be one of the world’s foremost archaeological sites which was blessed with an ancient and highly evolved civilization.
