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Samos (/ ˈ s eɪ m ɒ s /, [2] also US: / ˈ s æ m oʊ s, ˈ s ɑː m ɔː s /; [3] [4] [5] Greek: Σάμος, romanized: Sámos) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the 1.6-kilometre-wide (1.0 mi) Mycale Strait.
- Early Settlement
- Polycrates The Tyrant
- The Delian League
- Hellenistic & Roman Periods
- The Heraion
- Archaeological Remains
Samos was first occupied in the Neolithic period, and a late Bronze Age presence is attested by Mycenaean remains. Carians followed next in the 10th century BCE. The Greeks themselves recorded that in the Archaic period colonists arrived from Ionia. According to Thucydides those settlers themselves had originally come from Attica. A city was founde...
During the reign of Aeaces' son, Polycrates (c. 535-522 BCE), Samos particularly flourished, controlling that part of the Aegean and the Cyclades with its 100 warships and the help of its Egyptian ally Ahmose II. The city also gained a reputation as a cultural centre, attracting poets such as Anacreon and Ibycus, and was home to the famous architec...
In 478 BCE Samos became a member of the Delian League. As the League gradually transformed into the Athenian empire and members were compelled to pay tribute, some sought to leave and Samos was one such disaffected city-state in the 440's BCE. However, Athens, at the time led by Pericles, besieged the island c. 440 BCE and forced Samos to remain, e...
In 322 BCE, at the end of the Lamian War between Macedon and a Greek coalition led by Athens, the island became independent. Catching the eye of several rulers during the Successor Wars, Samos eventually came under the control of the Ptolemies of Egypt from 281 BCE. There followed a period of re-building of both the city and the Heraion. As so ofte...
The cult of Hera on Samos dates back to Mycenaean times when a stone altar was set up in honour of the goddess. Hera was the patron of Samos, and in Greek mythology she was born there, daughter of Cronus and Rhea. The site became more grandiose over the next few centuries until the first substantial temple was built in the sacred complex known as t...
Samos has several other architectural features of interest. The first is the 1 km long tunnel constructed by Eupalinus of Megara in the 6th century BCE, which functioned as an aqueduct and carried water to the city. The mole built by Polycrates survives, as do parts of the fortifications built in the same period. Areas of the city have been excavat...
- Mark Cartwright
Samos became a great power during the 6h century BC when it was ruled by the tyrant Polycrates who managed to turn the island into a huge naval power. Under its rule, the arts and sciences flourished and the Eupalinus Tunnel and the magnificent Heraion (Sanctuary of Hera) were built. The history of Samos has been marked by some famous ...
Polycrates (flourished 6th century bc) was a tyrant (c. 535–522 bc) of the island of Samos, in the Aegean Sea, who established Samian naval supremacy in the eastern Aegean and strove for control of the archipelago and mainland towns of Ionia. Polycrates seized control of the city of Samos during a celebration of a festival of Hera outside the ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Samos History Timeline. 15th century BC First residents of Samos, probably were Phoenicians …. 1350-570 B.C. Agaios, the first king of Samos and his heirs ... 541 (~ 537) - 515 B.C. The tyrant Polycrates overthrows his father and takes the kingdom, golden age of Samos, His treacherous assassination by the Persians and the next governors ...
After the murder of Polycrates by Oroetes, Samos was ruled by Maeandrius. [31] After some time, Syloson, the brother of Polycrates, was installed as governor of Samos by Achaemenid ruler Darius I, receiving the help of general Otanes to expel the impostor who had taken control after Oroetes. [36] [37]
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During the Bronze Age, Samos was an important center of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, playing a significant role in the trade networks of the Aegean. Archaic and Classical Periods: In the 7th century BCE, Samos became a major naval and commercial power under the rule of the tyrant Polycrates.
