SANTORINI HISTORY

The legend of Atlantis has been presented to us by Plato and seems to be half history, half imagination. Very often the destruction of Thera is identified with the sinking of mythical Atlantis.

The real fact of the submergence of Santorini or other Islands in Aegean Sea during an eruption of the volcano, together with the imagination or wish for a Perfect City, may explain the legend.

The legend, which Plato presented in his dialogues Timaios and Kritias, is a story which was told to Kritias by his great-grandfather, who had heard it from his father, Dropidas, and he from the sagacious legislator Solon. According to the story, Atlantis was an extensive insular continent whose inhabitants had developed an exceptionally high standard of civilization. The unique power of the kings of Atlantis was not only confined to their own continent but extended to the surrounding islands and controlled part of Libya, as far as Egypt, as well as part of Europe up to Tyrrhenia (Northern Italy).

Since the days of Plato to the present day, many attempts have been made to interpret the myth or even to rediscover Atlantis. Thousands of studies and articles have been written on this subject. The fact is that Plato, through the myth, presented to his fellow-citizens a paradigm of an ideally organized state, which flowered and prospered for as long as men respected and enforced the laws and worshipped the gods who had given them the legislation. However, when the men became arrogant and ceased to obey the laws of their state the wrath of the gods was such that they were condemned to annihilation.

Nevertheless, Atlantis can be more than true, at least within our imagination. It is believed that Atlantis was very close to Santorini

The volcano first manifested itself about 80.000 years or so ago. This first eruption was terrific. Apart from the ash, the crater expelled other, heavier substances, which covered the surface of the sea and joined with the existing islets to form an approximately circular island with a diameter of 14 to 15 kilometres.

About 3.000 B.C the island was inhabited by people who called it Strongyle (that means "round").
The volcano erupted for a second time, equally destructively, at 1450 B.C wiping out all the life on the Island and sinking the greater part of Strongyle beneath the waves. All that was left above the surface of the sea were segments of its perimeter which today are called Santorini, Thirasia , and Aspronisi.

One of the greatest and most cosmopolitan harbours of the Mediterranean during the first half of the second millennium, Akrotiri was buried under a thick mantle of ash when the volcano erupted in about 1.600 BC.

The island was inhabited at around 3200 B.C. when Cretes showed up.

The influence of the Minoan culture on the island was obvious when excavations started on Akrotiri found a whole village with houses decorated with wall paintings similar to those found in the Minoan palace in Crete.

Before the volcano started its destructive work, the island was called Strongyle, from its shape.

But in 1500 B.C., something occurred that completely changed the story of the ancient world. It was the explosion of the volcano in the centre of the island causing the greater part of it to sink.

The tidal wave which was caused by the explosion, estimated at around 100m high, destroyed the palace of Knossos and did a lot of damage to the north coast of Crete.

197 BC. Eruption of the volcano.

19 AD. Eruption of the volcano.

46 AD. Eruption of the volcano

726 AD. Eruption of the volcano.

1204 AD. The Fourth Crusade created the Latin Empire of the Bosphorous.

1207 AD. The Duchy of Naxos of the Archipelago was founded and assigned to Marco I Sanudo. Thera was ceded as a Barony to Giacomo Barozzi. The administration remained to five Barozzis until 1296. The Barozzis used to call themselves "Dominatores insularum Santorini et Therasiae".

1296 AD. The Byzantine Likarios liberated Santorini along with the islands of Amorgos, Seriphos, Kea, Ios, Siphnos and Pholegandros.. However that freedom was very short and, before the year was out, the Barozzis had returned to Santorini.

During the next years the history of the island is the history of the rivalries between local lords and the Duke of Naxos or disputes between the latter and the Turks.

1570 or 1573 AD. Eruption of the volcano.

1579-1821 AD. Turkish occupation

1650 AD. Eruption of the volcano (26th Sept - 6 Dec)

1707 AD. Eruption of the volcano (23rd May - 17th Jan 1708)

1821 AD. Santorini is liberated.

1866-1870 AD Eruption of the volcano.

1870 AD. Mamet and Gorceix made trial investigation in Akrotiri where a late Minoan settlement exists.

1899 AD. Robert Zahn carried out minor investigations at the site of Potamos (Akrotiri)

1925 AD 11th Aug - 1926 AD 21st May. Eruption of the volcano

1928 AD. Eruption of the volcano (23rd Jan - 17th Mar)

1939 AD End Aug - 1941 Beg July. Eruption of the volcano

1950 AD. Eruption of the volcano (10th Jan - 2nd Feb)

1967 AD. Professor Marinatos began excavations at Akrotiri and brought back to life a Late Minoan settlement.

Today Santorini is an Island which can be described as paradise for tourists and archaeologists.

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