Cyclades

Cyclades, group of about 30 islands, South Aegean (Modern Greek: Nótio Aigaío) periféreia (region), southeastern Greece. The islands made up the nomós (department) of Cyclades until 2011 when local government in Greece was restructured and the islands were divided among nine of the new perifereiakés enótites (regional units). They lie off Attica (Attikí) in the Aegean Sea.

The islands, which have a total land area of 976 square miles (2,528 square km), are peaks of submerged mountain ranges. In antiquity they were the centre of a Bronze Age culture, the Cycladic, noted for its white marble idols. The name Cyclades means “encircling islands,” and they are so named because they form a rough circle around the sacred island of Delos (Dílos), which was the legendary birthplace of Artemis and her brother Apollo. Virtually all of the islands have some archaeological interest. Windmills and cube-shaped whitewashed houses are characteristic features of the modern landscape.

The earliest inhabitants of the Cyclades are believed to have been Carians (from the ancient district of Caria in southwestern Anatolia [now Turkey]). According to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, the Carians were expelled from the islands by King Minos. The Greek historian Herodotus says the Carians were subjects of Minos and that they were expelled from the islands much later, by the Dorians and the Ionians. A rich material culture of the Bronze Age is much in evidence throughout the islands, and on many of the islands are found remarkable and characteristic (mostly female) figurines. The Cyclades were colonized by Ionians in the 10th and 9th centuries bce and flourished in the 8th to 6th century bce, but later only Delos remained important. It served as the headquarters and treasury of the Athenian-led Delian League in the 5th century bce. Over time the Cyclades came under of the rule of virtually every power in the region, including the Crusaders, who in 1204 gave the islands to Venice. Many of the islands bear architectural traces of Venetian rule during the Middle Ages. The Cyclades’ antiquities have been periodically ransacked for use as building stone.

Náxos (Náchos), the largest and most fertile island, and the highest in elevation, produces fruits, nuts, and wheat. The island of Thera (Thíra) consists of the remains of a volcano that exploded about 1600 bce. The other major islands of the Cyclades include Ándros, Íos, Kéa, Kímolos, Kíthnos, Melos (Mílos), Mýkonos, Páros, and Tínos. The Cyclades export wines, brandy, tobacco, hides, pottery, and handicrafts. Important tourist centres, the islands of the Cyclades have huge archaeological significance as well. The islands were being rapidly depopulated until the development of tourism.