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In ancient times, Samos, although
small, played a really significant role in culture and politics
not only for the region of Ionia, but for the entire ancient
Greece.
From the evidence that has been found, derives
that human beings have lived on Samos since the 3rd millenium
BC, if not earlier. Its favourable
position at the sea crossroad that link central Greece with
East played a significant role for its development.
Several megatheriums and other rare species of the prehistorical
era lived on this island. Bones that found the previous century
decorate the show -cases of the paleontological museums of
USA and Europe. Some of these paleontological findings are
in the museum of Mytilinion of Samos.
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Bones from the Paleontological
Museum of Mytilinion Samos
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Traces
of the human race have been found at the Hill of Castro from
the late Neolithic era (fourth millennium B.C.). The first
inhabitants belong to the Pelasgic tribes that spread the
worship of Hera. According to mythology, Hera was born at
the banks of the rive Imvras and was considered as the protector
of Samos. Thus, her sacred bird, the peacock, often appeared
on currency and escutcheons of the hegemony of Samos later.
It is possible that the name of Samos was given by the Phoenicians
and means "a place somewhere high". The island has
several other names, like Parthenia, Imvrasia, Anthemis, Dryousa,
Doryssa, Phyllas and others.
After the Pelasgics, the Kares and Leleges
inhabited the island. The first mythological king of Samos
was Angaeus, a hero of the Argonautic Expedition, who build
the first wooden temple and placed in it the golden status
of goddess Hera.
His mother was Eurynome and his father Lycurgus, and he was
in Arcadia. Having gathered together large numbers of colonists
from different parts of Greece, he went off to colonies Samos
in 1360 B.C.. He stayed for about 10 years and then accompanied
the Argonauts on their expedition to Colchis.
There are many various accounts of the death of Angaeus. Some
say that he returned to Samos, where he cultivated the wine
and was killed by a wild boar which had entered his vineyard,
and others that he was killed by robbers whom he tried to
tackle.
Angaeus was succeeded by his third son, Samos, who married
Parthenia and gave her name to the whole of the island. How
long he lived and how he died remains unknown.
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Samos reached its pinnacle during the period it was governed
by the tyrant Polycrates (546
- 522 BC).
Once Polycrates became tyrant, he exiled, in an attempt to
preclude possible conspiracies, certain aristocrats. He strengthened
the army which, according to Herodotus, included a thousand
archers, and built a fleet of one hundred penteconters. The
kind of ship which he planned was a new one - the 'Samaina',
an obtuse-prowed bireme. With this fleet, which frequently
went on piratical raids, he captured a fair number of islands
and certain coastal cities. He established Samian naval supremacy
in the Aegean Sea and tried to control the archipelago and
mainland towns of Ionia. It was then that Samos grew into
a great naval power and founded its own colonies.
Samos which constituted the bridge between Greece and East,
managed for many years, because of its power, to remain independent,
while at the same time flourishing, despite the battles that
were waged to conquer it. That was perhaps one of the reasons
that caused Samos to produce so many men of genius as well
as great artists such as the astronomer and mathematician
Aristarchus,
who put forward the heliocentric
system several centuries before Copernicus, Agatharchus, a
great painter who was the first to deal with scenography and
perspective, Theodore, an eminent artist and architect, Aesop,
the famous myth-maker, Damo, philosopher, daughter of Pythagoras,
Kolaeus, who was the first to travel to the Atlantic and many
others.
We should also mention Callistatus, who was responsible for
founding or establishing the 24 - letter alphabet, the architects
and sculptors Rhoikos and Theodoros, who built the famous
temple of Hera and the painters Saurias (the first painter
too use chiamoscuro in his work) and Calliphon, painter of
a number of master works which were to be seen in the temple
of Artemis at Ephesus.
But the most exceptional of all these figures, is Pythagoras
(580 - 500 BC) philosopher, mathematician and musician. He
was never a man to take things for granted, he sought in the
sciences, arts and travel, knowledge and experience which
would allow him with certainty, to assume his place in the
intellectual arena of his times.
His genius, combined with deep study and ascetism allowed
him to develop his knowledge to a point which is still of
fundamental importance to mathematical theory and the Pythagorean
theorem in geometry is, naturally, still used as are the Pythagorean
tables in arithmetic.
In the middle of the 5th century B.C., Samos had developed
trade, navigation, education and arts. That period big constructions
finished such as the temple of Hera, the walls, the port and
the Efpalinio
tunnel.
After the Persian wars, Samos acquired its freedom and became
an equal member of the Athenian alliance. During the Peloponnesian
war, Samos fought on the side of Athens. In 129 B.C. Samos
was conquered by the Romans, who stripped the island of all
its treasures and took them Rome. Later, in 4o A.D. Samos
was conquered by Byzantines and belonged to the Byzantine
state until the disruption of the empire and the crusaders
in A.D. 1204. The island was hard hit by several attacks and
sacks by pirates, Arabs, Venetians, Turks and other invaders,
Nevertheless, it managed to maintain its Christian and Greek
features. In 1475, being pressed by Turk invaders inhabitants
immigrated to Chios and the opposite coasts. Its population
was reduced so much, that many refer to this period until
1565 as the "devastation" of Samos. In the middle
of the 16th century, Samos was settled by Greek populations
with special privileges were given by the sultan, and which
privileges established some kind of self-government under
the rule of the Sultan. Slowly the population increased and
the today villages were formed.
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The Samian warship
"Samaina"
Pythagoras
The Temple of
Hera in Heraion Samos
The famous Samian
Kouros
The Efpalinio Tunnel
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The Samian War Flag
during the revolution in 1821
The leader of the Revolution,
Lykourgos Logothetis
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In
1821 the island revolutionized having as leader Logothetis
Lykourgos and acquired its freedom, but in 1830 when the independence
of the Greek state was recognized, Samos was not included
within the limits of Greece .Samians continued fighting for
their union with Greece until 1834 but they didn't succeed.
The European Powers, England, France and Russia decided to
declare Samos as an autonomous hegemony under the suzerainty
of the High Gate. The Sultan conceded privileges and in 1834,
the regime of Hegemony was inflicted. The administration of
the island was exercised by the Governor, a Greek Christian
official of the Gate, appointed by the Sultan, The Parliament
consisting of 4 members, elected by the proxies of the villages
of Samos, who formed every year the General Meeting of the
proxies. Samos remained under this regime until 1912, when
after a revolution by Themistoklis Sofoulis, its union with
Greece was declared. |
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In
the Second World War, in 1941, the island was conquered by
Italian troops, while during the occupancy, a resistant movement
developed on its mountains, against the "powers of the
axe". It was the first Greek island to acquire its freedom,
but only temporarily, from September 1943 until November 1943,
when it experienced the German occupation. After the civil
war, Samos begun developing again, and today, despite the
destructions due to fires every years, it remains one of the
most green and beautiful islands of eastern Aegean.
One can find several monuments of ancient civilisation at
its archaeological museums and throughout the plains of Chora
, from the Pythagorio to the Heraion, One can visit the Byzantine-Ecclesiastical
Museum , The Public Library, the two historical Archives,
a Paleontological and a Folkloric Museum. Excavations are
being carried out at its archaeological sites, while the Efpalinion
tunnel has been cleaned and electrically lit, in order to
be accessible to visitors.
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The Tram in Karlovasi
at the begining of the 20th century
A honorary plaque for
the Samians in Kastania who executed by Germans in
World War II
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The statue of Pythagoras in Pythagoreion
Samos |
The
modern culture of Samos impressed on the traditional built-up
areas, the extraordinary churches, most of which were build
during the 18th and 19th century, the 16th century monasteries,
the impressive neoclassical buildings, the tanneries at Karlovasi,
tobacco factories and wine-stores that also indicate the main
activities of its inhabitants. We must add to these, the several
hotel groups, which imply the modern vocational activities
of the island |
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