Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cyclades Highlights
Get immersed in the spell- binding sites of
Delos
(
Click here
)
and
Ancient Ak-
rotiri
(
Click here
)
Savour the scrumptious cuisine on
Santorini
(
Click here
),
Paros
(
Click here
) and
Ios
(
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)
Slip away to serenity on the remote-feel islands of
Kythnos
(
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)
or
Siki-
nos
(
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)
Soak up the glamour and party away on
Mykonos
(
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)
Explore quaint, artistic villages and recline on the white sand of
Naxos
(
Click
Amble along ancient footpaths through the deep valleys of
Andros
(
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)
Marvel in the dazzling monastery above the crashing waves on
Amorgos
(
Click
Make a pilgrimage to
Tinos
(
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) with its famous icon and marble orna-
mented villages
Join in the holiday atmos- phere on idyllic
Sifnos
(
Click here
)
Be mesmerised by the dramatic, volcanic coastline of
Milos
(
Click here
)
History
The Cyclades are said to have been inhabited since at least 7000 BC. Around 3000 BC
there emerged a cohesive Cycladic civilisation that was bound together by seagoing com-
merce and exchange. During the Early Cycladic period (3000-2000 BC) the tiny but dis-
tinctive Cycladic marble figurines, mainly stylised representations of the naked female
form, were sculpted. Recent discoveries on Keros, an uninhabited island near Koufonisia
in the Little Cyclades, indicate that the island was a possible pilgrimage site where figur-
ines that had been broken up as part of rituals were deposited.
In the Middle Cycladic period (2000-1500 BC) many of the islands were occupied by
the Minoans, who probably colonised from Crete. At Akrotiri, on Santorini, a Minoan
town has been excavated and artefacts from the site have all the distinctive beauty of
those from Crete's Minoan palaces. At the beginning of the Late Cycladic period
(1500-1100 BC) the archipelago came under the influence of the Mycenaeans of the
Peloponnese, who were supplanted by northern Dorians in the 8th century BC.
By the mid-5th century BC the Cyclades were part of a fully fledged Athenian empire.
In the Hellenistic era (323-146 BC) they were governed by Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasties
