Gulet Charter Delos

Delos was first inhabited in 2500 BC. The first residents were the Carians, followed by the Mycenaeans. In 1100 BC, the Ionians populated the island. Around 700 BC, Delos had already been established as the religious centre of the Ionians who held their Great Assembly there along with other Panhellenic events. Paros, Naxos, Samos, Athens and many other Ionian cities offered numerous oblations to the sacred island. When the Persian invaders came, they respected the island’s sacred character. It was here that the first Delian [or Athenian] League was established (478 BC), aimed at protecting the Ionian cities against the Persians.

During the 3rd century BC the Athenian influence weakened, and Delos came under the influence of the Macedonians. From the middle of the 3rd century BC, Apollo’s sacred island turned into a significant trading centre, with wealthy traders and bankers settling in. During the Roman period, the island was declared a free trading port and wealthy Roman merchants and ship owners moved in. At that time, 20,000 Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, Phoenicians and Jews lived in Delos.

In 88 BC the island was destroyed by Mithridates, the King of Pontus, and completely lost its sacred character. During the early centuries of Christianity, the population of the island diminished, and Delos gradually fell into an irreversible decline. Any remnants of the old days of glory died away after the iconoclast Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian plundered the island in 727 AD, to be followed by the Slavs in 769 AD, and finally by the Saracens in 821 AD.