Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 124 miles (200 kilometers) southeast from Greece’s mainland. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 28 square miles (73 square kilometers) and a population of 13,670 in 2001. It is comprised of the Municipality of Thíra and the Community of Oía, which have a total land area of 35 square miles (90 square kilometers) and includes the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi, and Christiani (all part of the Municipality of Thira). Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. Its spectacular physical beauty, along with a dynamic nightlife, has made the island one of Europe’s tourist hot spots. It is the most active volcanic center in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The name Santorini was given it by the Latin empire in the 13th century, and is a reference to Saint Irene. Before then it was named Kallistē (“the most beautiful one”), Strongylē (“the circular one”), and Thera.
Ancient History of Greece
The shores of Greece’s Aegean Sea saw the emergence of the first advanced civilizations in Europe whose impact is inseparable from today’s western institutions, cultural and political development. Home first to the Minoan and Mycenean worlds and the Classical civilization and its Hellenistic inheritor, Greece was then subject to Roman governance and in the process transformed Rome itself. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity of Hellenistic society and culture, which remained essentially unchanged until the advent of Christianity, it did mark the end of Greek political independence. The Greek peninsula became a province of Rome, while Greek culture continued to dominate the eastern Mediterranean. When the Roman Empire finally split in two, the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, centered around Constantinople and remained Greek in nature, encompassing Greece itself.
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posted by Hills @ 10:42 PM
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