Delos: The Sacred Island of Apollo and Artemis

The Story of Delos

Delos is tiny, dry and windswept, yet for the ancient Greeks it was one of the holiest places on earth. According to myth, when the goddess Leto was pregnant with the twins of Zeus, the jealous Hera forbade any land to give her shelter. Only Delos, a small island that was said to float freely on the sea, agreed to receive her. There, beside a palm tree, Leto gave birth to Artemis and Apollo. In gratitude, the island was fixed in place, and Apollo made it his own.

From early times, Delos became the religious center of the Ionian Greeks, who gathered here for festivals of music, dance and athletic contests. The people of Naxos dedicated a row of marble lions in the 7th century BC to guard the sacred area. These lions, with their lean bodies and open mouths, became the most famous image of Delos. The originals are now protected in the island's museum, while copies stand in their place along the Terrace of the Lions.

After the Persian Wars, Delos took on a political role. In 478 BC the Greek allies founded the Delian League, an alliance against Persia, and kept its treasury on the island. In 454 BC the Athenians moved the treasury to Athens, where it helped fund the building of the Parthenon. Athens also took control of the sanctuary, and in 426 BC it purified the island, removing old graves and declaring that no one should be born or die on sacred Delos. From then on, the dying and women about to give birth were taken to the neighboring island of Rheneia.

The sanctuary of Apollo was filled with temples, treasuries and offerings. In fact there were three temples of Apollo side by side, built at different times. The Naxians also set up a colossal marble statue of Apollo, more than 8 meters tall, whose broken torso still lies near the temples. Beyond the sanctuary rose sanctuaries of foreign gods, including Egyptian and Syrian deities, a sign of how international the island became.

In 167 BC the Romans made Delos a free port, and it grew into one of the busiest trading centers of the Mediterranean. Merchants from Italy, Egypt and the Near East built rich houses decorated with beautiful mosaics, and the island became notorious as a huge slave market. Its prosperity ended suddenly. In 88 BC Delos was sacked by forces of King Mithridates of Pontus, an enemy of Rome, and in 69 BC it was attacked again by pirates. The island never recovered and was slowly abandoned.

French archaeologists began excavating Delos in 1873, and work has continued ever since. They uncovered not only the sanctuaries but a whole ancient town, with streets, shops, a theater, water cisterns and houses. Among the most admired are the House of Dionysus and the House of the Dolphins, named after their splendid mosaic floors. In 1990 Delos was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Today Delos is an easy day trip by boat from Mykonos, and in summer from other Cycladic islands as well. Nobody lives on the island apart from site staff, and visitors cannot stay overnight, so every visit is a journey back in time. Walk along the Sacred Way to the temples of Apollo, see the lions and the houses with their mosaics, and climb Mount Kynthos for a view over the Cyclades. Bring water and a hat, as there is very little shade under the island's bright sun.