Milos
From the island (sites of Demenegaki and Nychia) comes obsidian, a volcanic material widely distributed in the Aegean and the mainland since the end of the Mesolithic era (7th millennium BC). Large number of cemeteries (Pilos, Chalakas - Kalogries, Agios Pantaleon) of the proto-Cycladic era (3rd millennium BC). Thriving settlement during the Mycenaean era.
The most important prehistoric site of the island and one of the most important of the insular Aegean is Phylakopi. It was continuously inhabited from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. until the Mycenaean era (14th century BC), when a mega-shaped hegemonic building was established, resembling the palaces of the mainland. The building includes many rooms, corridors and a central hearth. During the Mycenaean period (1400 - 1100 BC) a sanctuary was founded, which provided a lot of information about religion and Mycenaean culture in the insular Aegean area.
The findings are exhibited in the Museum of Milos and the National Archaeological Museum.
At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC Milos receives Dorian settlers from Laconia. In the ancient city of Milos, the fortification, of various chronological phases, is preserved, which reaches to the sea, leaving out the port of the classical and Roman times in Klima (remains of houses, portico, tombs with written decoration and sunken jetty). The city of Milos had two citadels, at Prophet Ilias in the SE. (walled and with remains of an Ionic temple), and in Pereanti or Pyrgaki to the NE.; between them, the market with remains of a portico and a temple. The city flourished especially in the Hellenistic and Roman times. The theater is today the best preserved monument on the island. Outside the wall, to the SE, are the stadium and the gymnasium, where the famous statue of Aphrodite (dated around 120 BC) was found, today in the Louvre Museum. In Hellenistic times there was a cult of Poseidon (Poseidon and Amphitrite statues in the National Archaeological Museum, circa 120 - 100 BC). The island was an important center of sculpture (sculptures in the Archaeological Museum in Plaka and in the National Archaeological Museum). Ancient settlement also in the SW. of the island, on the mountain of Prophet Ilias. Near Trypiti, extensive underground early Christian cemetery (catacombs), 4th c. AD, unique in the Greek area, with numerous arcades and carved tombs (arkosolia). Names of dead Christians are mentioned in inscriptions. Near the same location, remains of an early Christian ecclesiastical complex that belonged to a basilica. In the Gardens and Black Wall sites, ruins of early Christian basilicas and baptisteries.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou