Naxos

File:GR-Naxos-MtZas 2 View East 1.jpg

File:Portara Naxos 26.jpg (Portara)]]

According to Greek mythology, the young Zeus was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas ("Zas" meaning "Zeus"). Homer mentions "Dia"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". Károly Kerényi explains:

{{quote|This name, Dia, which means 'heavenly' or 'divine', was applied to several small craggy islands in our [Aegean] sea, all of them lying close to larger islands, such as Crete or Naxos. The name "Dia" was even transferred to the island of Naxos itself, since it was more widely supposed than any other to have been the nuptial isle of Dionysus.{{cite book| first= Karl |last=Kerenyi |author-link= Karl Kerenyi| year=1951 | title=The Gods of the Greeks | url= https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/page/n303 271]–272}}}}

One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the Trojan War, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on this island after she helped him kill the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. Dionysus (god of wine, festivities, and the primal energy of life) who was the protector of the island, met Ariadne and fell in love with her. But eventually Ariadne, unable to bear her separation from Theseus, either killed herself (according to the Athenians), or ascended to heaven (as the older versions had it). The Naxos portion of the Ariadne myth is also told in the Richard Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos.

The giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes figure in at least two Naxos myths: in one, Artemis bought the abandonment of a siege they laid against the gods, by offering to live on Naxos as Otus's lover; in another, the brothers had actually settled Naxos.

It is also said that the sea god Poseidon was passing by Naxos whilst driving his chariot on the sea surface and is where he first laid eyes on his future wife, the nereid Amphitrite as she was dancing there.

File:Case 09 Neolithic finds from Zas cave, AM Naxos, 176842.jpg

Stelida quarry, south-west of Chora,{{cite web|url=https://www.stelida.org/english|title=Introducing Stelida|website=stelida.org|access-date=17 October 2019}} contains Mousterian tools dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, which indicates that Neanderthal activity on the island spanned almost 200,000 years ago.{{cite journal|last1=Carter|first1=Tristan|last2= Contreras|first2=Daniel A.|last3=Holcomb|first3=Justin|last4=Mihailović|first4=Danica D.|last5=Karkanas|first5=Panagiotis|last6=Guérin|first6=Guillaume|last7=Taffin|first7=Ninon|last8=Athanasoulis|first8=Dimitris|last9=Lahaye|first9=Christelle|title=Earliest occupation of the Central Aegean (Naxos), Greece: Implications for hominin and Homo sapiens' behavior and dispersals|journal=Science Advances|date=16 October 2019|volume=5|issue=10|pages=eaax0997|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aax0997|pmid=31663021|pmc=6795523|bibcode=2019SciA....5..997C}} The extinct dwarf elephant species Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi lived on Naxos at some point during the Late Pleistocene.{{cite journal |last1=Van der Geer |first1=A. A. E. |last2=Lyras |first2=G. A. |last3=Van den Hoek Ostende |first3=L. W. |last4=De Vos |first4=J. |last5=Drinia |first5=H. |year=2014 |title=A dwarf elephant and a rock mouse on Naxos (Cyclades, Greece) with a revision of the palaeozoogeography of the Cycladic Islands (Greece) during the Pleistocene |url=http://repository.edulll.gr/3263 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=404 |pages=133–144 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.04.003 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10795/3263}}{{Cite journal |last1=Athanassiou |first1=Athanassios |last2=van der Geer |first2=Alexandra A.E. |last3=Lyras |first3=George A. |date=August 2019 |title=Pleistocene insular Proboscidea of the Eastern Mediterranean: A review and update |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379119300848 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=218 |pages=306–321 |bibcode=2019QSRv..218..306A |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.028 |s2cid=199107354}}

Zas Cave, inhabited during the Neolithic era, contained objects of stone from Melos and copper objects including a dagger and gold sheet. The presence of gold and other objects within the cave indicated to researchers the status of the inhabitant.P Halstead – [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgdthHDYY5UC&dq=neolithic+rocks&pg=PA155 Neolithic Society in Greece] Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999 Retrieved 4 July 2012 {{ISBN|1850758247}}

Emery was exported to other islands during that time.M Patton – [https://books.google.com/books?id=HTAc-DV_D1AC&dq=neolithic+rocks+prehistoric+Naxos&pg=PA143 Islands In Time: Island Sociogeography and Mediterranean Prehistory] Psychology Press, 23 July 1996 Retrieved 4 July 2012 {{ISBN|0415126592}}

File:Tempel der Demeter (Gyroulas) 18.jpg]]

During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Naxos dominated commerce in the Cyclades.

Herodotus describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous Greek island.Herodotus, 5.28,5.31

In 499 BC, an unsuccessful attack on Naxos by Persian forces led several prominent men in the Greek cities of Ionia to rebel against the Persian Empire in the Ionian Revolt, and then to the Persian War between Greece and Persia.

Naxos was the first Greek city-state to attempt to leave the Delian League circa 469 BC; Athens quickly quashed the notion and forcibly removed all military naval vessels from the island's control. Athens then demanded all future payments from Naxos in the form of gold rather than military aid.

{{Main|Aegean Sea (theme)}}

File:Moni Fotodotis Naxos 10-15 c AD 13M577.jpg

In Late Antiquity, the island was part of the province of the Islands.{{ODB|title=Naxos|last=Gregory|first=Timothy E.|pages=1444–1445}}

Pope Martin I was detained on the island of Naxos for almost a year after he was arrested by Byzantine authorities in Rome due to his holding of a synod that condemned monotheletism. He was held on the island prior to being taken to Constantinople for trial. While detained on the island, he wrote to a certain Theodore living in Constantinople.Andrew Ekonomou. Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes. Lexington books, 2007

Under the Byzantine Empire, Naxos was part of the thema of the Aegean Sea, which was established in the mid-9th century.

In Byzantine times, the island's capital was on the southern fortress of Apalyres.{{EI2 | last = Savvides | first = A. | title = Naḳs̲h̲e | volume = 7 | pages = 939–941 | url = https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5782}} During this time, it suffered from Saracen raids, particular during the existence of the Emirate of Crete (824–961), to which the island occasionally paid tribute. Traces of Muslim artistic influence are visible in frescoes from the 10th century. Nevertheless, as in Antiquity, Naxos was celebrated for its agriculture and animal husbandry; the 12th-century geographer al-Idrisi records extensive cattle raising on the island.

In the late 12th century, it may have been the capital of a short-lived thema of the "Dodekanesos".

{{further|Duchy of the Archipelago}}

File:ShepherdByzempire1265.jpg, as they were in 1265.William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 1911]]

File:Tower of Sanudo, front view.JPG

File:GR-naxos-pirgos-belonia.jpg

In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, with a Latin Empire under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople, the Venetian Marco Sanudo conquered Naxos and most of the other Cyclades in 1205–1207. Of all the islands, only on Naxos was there any opposition to Sanudo: a group of Genoese pirates had occupied the castle between the end of Byzantine rule and Sanudo's arrival. To steel his band's resolve, Sanudo burnt his galleys "and bade his companions to conquer or die". The pirates surrendered the castle after a five weeks' siege.{{Latins in the Levant|page=43}}

Naxos became the seat of Sanudo's realm, known as the "Duchy of Naxos" or "Duchy of the Archipelago". Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566; Venetian rule continued in scattered islands of the Aegean until 1714. Under Venetian rule, the island was called by its Italian name, Nasso.

The Sanudi introduced Western feudal law to the island, based on the Assizes of Romania. However, the native Greek population continued to use Byzantine law for civil matters at least until the late 16th century.

In the 13th century, following the capture of Antalya and Alanya on the southern Anatolian coast by the Seljuk Turks, refugees from these areas settled in Naxos. In the 14th century, the island was once more exposed to raids, this time from the Anatolian Turkish beyliks, chiefly the Aydınids. In turn, the Sanudi assisted the Genoese in capturing Chios in 1304 and the Knights Hospitaller in their conquest of Rhodes in 1309, in order to stop these islands being used as Turkish pirate base. Nevertheless, raids against Naxos are recorded in 1324 and 1326, and in 1341, Umur of Aydın carried off 6,000 people from the island and imposed a payment of tribute. Two years later, however, the Smyrniote crusade captured his main port, Smyrna.

File:I Naxos Nixia - Buondelmonti Cristoforo - 1420.jpg]]

The relief was temporary, however, as Turkish raids recommenced later in the century. The island was so depopulated that Cristoforo Buondelmonti in {{circa|1420}} claimed that there were not enough men to wed the Naxiot women. The rising Ottoman Empire first attacked the island in 1416, but the Sultans recognized Venetian overlordship over the Duchy in successive treaties, in exchange for an annual tribute.

The Ottoman administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians; the Porte's concern was satisfied by the returns of taxes. Very few Turks ever settled on Naxos, and Turkish influence on the island was insignificant. Under Ottoman rule the island was known in Turkish as {{transliteration|ota|Nakşa}}. Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted; Naxos finally became part of the Greek state in 1832.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Early commentators in English on the island include: http://www.ucke.de/christian/naxos/Naxos_Old_Travel_Descriptions.pdf (viewed 01/07/2023).

Bernard Randolph, in The Present State of the Islands in the Archipelago (1687, Oxford, pp. 20-21).

Jean de Thévenot, in Travels into the Levant (1687, London, pp. 103–105).

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, in A Voyage Into the Levant (1718, London, pp. 161–176).

Thomas Bankes et al., in A new royal authentic and complete system of universal geography antient and modern... (1787, London, p. 943).

Edward Daniel Clarke, in Travels in Various Countries (1814, vol. 3, section 2, London, pp. 377–400).

William Martin Leake, in Travels in Northern Greece (1835, vol. 3, London, pp. 93-95).

Theodore Bent, in The Cyclades, or Life Among the Insular Greeks (1885, London, pp. 329–371).

Naxos experiences both a Mediterranean climate (Csa) and a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh) depending on the location. According to the stations of the National Observatory of Athens, various locations in Naxos have a hot semi-arid climate.{{Cite web|url=https://www.meteo.gr/Monthly_Bulletins.cfm|title=Monthly Bulletins|website=www.meteo.gr}}{{cite web | url=https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/naxos/ | title=Latest Conditions in Naxos, Cyclades }}

{{cite web | url=https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/mikrivigla/ | title=Latest Conditions in Mikri Vigla of Naxos }} Inland areas of the island are much wetter and cooler in winter, owing to their higher elevation.

{{Weather box

|location = Naxos town (0m)

|single line = Yes

|metric first = Yes

|Jan record high C = 22.2

|Feb record high C = 22.3

|Mar record high C = 25.4

|Apr record high C = 30.5

|May record high C = 33.6

|Jun record high C = 36.2

|Jul record high C = 37.4

|Aug record high C = 34.0

|Sep record high C = 33.0

|Oct record high C = 30.8

|Nov record high C = 28.8

|Dec record high C = 24.0

|year record high C = 37.4

|Jan high C = 14.3

|Feb high C = 14.4

|Mar high C = 15.7

|Apr high C = 18.6

|May high C = 21.9

|Jun high C = 25.7

|Jul high C = 26.6

|Aug high C = 26.2

|Sep high C = 24.6

|Oct high C = 21.4

|Nov high C = 18.6

|Dec high C = 15.8

|year high C = 20.3

|Jan mean C = 12.0

|Feb mean C = 12.1

|Mar mean C = 13.3

|Apr mean C = 16.1

|May mean C = 19.4

|Jun mean C = 23.2

|Jul mean C = 24.7

|Aug mean C = 24.4

|Sep mean C = 22.6

|Oct mean C = 19.3

|Nov mean C = 16.2

|Dec mean C = 13.7

|year mean C = 18.1

|Jan low C = 9.3

|Feb low C = 9.3

|Mar low C = 10.2

|Apr low C = 12.5

|May low C = 15.4

|Jun low C = 19.2

|Jul low C = 21.7

|Aug low C = 21.7

|Sep low C = 19.8

|Oct low C = 16.6

|Nov low C = 13.4

|Dec low C = 10.9

|year low C = 15.0

|Jan record low C = 0.4

|Feb record low C = -1.0

|Mar record low C = 2.0

|Apr record low C = 5.1

|May record low C = 7.1

|Jun record low C = 12.0

|Jul record low C = 14.8

|Aug record low C = 13.6

|Sep record low C = 11.2

|Oct record low C = 7.2

|Nov record low C = 4.5

|Dec record low C = 2.0

|year record low C = -1.0

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 71.3

|Feb precipitation mm = 58.6

|Mar precipitation mm = 49.8

|Apr precipitation mm = 18.4

|May precipitation mm = 9.8

|Jun precipitation mm = 2.8

|Jul precipitation mm = 0.6

|Aug precipitation mm = 2.8

|Sep precipitation mm = 5.7

|Oct precipitation mm = 39.3

|Nov precipitation mm = 47.4

|Dec precipitation mm = 69.4

|year precipitation mm = 375.9

|Jan humidity = 72.0

|Feb humidity = 71.2

|Mar humidity = 72.0

|Apr humidity = 69.5

|May humidity = 70.7

|Jun humidity = 67.8

|Jul humidity = 68.7

|Aug humidity = 70.2

|Sep humidity = 71.1

|Oct humidity = 73.2

|Nov humidity = 73.8

|Dec humidity = 73.3

|year humidity = 71.1

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 8.4

|Feb precipitation days = 7.7

|Mar precipitation days = 5.7

|Apr precipitation days = 3.1

|May precipitation days = 1.4

|Jun precipitation days = 0.5

|Jul precipitation days = 0.1

|Aug precipitation days = 0.1

|Sep precipitation days = 0.6

|Oct precipitation days = 3.0

|Nov precipitation days = 5.0

|Dec precipitation days = 8.6

|year precipitation days = 44.2

|source 1 = NOAA

{{cite web

| url = ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG_VI/GR/16732.TXT

| title = Naxos Climate Normals 1961–1990

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = 2 March 2015}}

|date=June 2013

}}

{{Weather box

| location = Apeiranthos village (600m)

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

| Jan high C = 9

| Feb high C = 10.2

| Mar high C = 13

| Apr high C = 15.4

| May high C = 21.9

| Jun high C = 25.1

| Jul high C = 27.9

| Aug high C = 28.7

| Sep high C = 24.9

| Oct high C = 22.5

| Nov high C = 16.1

| Dec high C = 12.3

| Jan low C = 4.8

| Feb low C = 5.9

| Mar low C = 7.8

| Apr low C = 9.7

| May low C = 15

| Jun low C = 18.6

| Jul low C = 21.1

| Aug low C = 21.8

| Sep low C = 18.7

| Oct low C = 16.3

| Nov low C = 11.7

| Dec low C = 8.6

|precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 208.3

| Feb precipitation mm = 137.8

| Mar precipitation mm = 80.3

| Apr precipitation mm = 77.4

| May precipitation mm = 4.7

| Jun precipitation mm = 1.1

| Jul precipitation mm = 19.4

| Aug precipitation mm = 0.1

| Sep precipitation mm = 24.2

| Oct precipitation mm = 60.9

| Nov precipitation mm = 91.1

| Dec precipitation mm = 155.9

| source = http://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/apiranthos/ (2019 - 2020 averages)

}}

File:Naxos emery-mine.JPG mine]]

File:GR-naxos-kinidaros-marmor-alexander.jpg

Naxos is a popular tourist destination, with several places of touristic interest, including beaches, villages and old ruins. Beaches on the island include Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Aliko, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them on the western side of the island, near Chora.

As other cycladic islands, Naxos is considered a windy place perfect for windsurfing, as well as kitesurfing. There are seven sports clubs in the island that offer both of these sports and other water activities.

Naxos is the most fertile island of the Cyclades. It has a good supply of water in a region where water is usually inadequate. Mount Zeus ({{convert|1,004|m|ft|disp=or|abbr=off}}) is the highest peak in the Cyclades, and tends to trap the clouds, permitting greater rainfall. This has made agriculture an important economic sector with various vegetable and fruit crops as well as cattle breeding, making Naxos the most self-sufficient island in the Cyclades. Naxos is well known within Greece for its "Arseniko Naxou" cheese, potatoes, Kitron (a local lemon-citrus spirit), and Naxian honey (which is largely derived from the nectar of thyme).{{cite journal |last1=Lisiecki |first1=Chelsea |last2=Foufopoulos |first2=Johannes |title=Profits vs. preservation: How can shepherds balance the social and ecological costs of livestock grazing on Naxos? |journal=World Development Perspectives |date=2022 |volume=26|doi=10.1016/j.wdp.2022.100430 |doi-access=free }}

The quarrying of marble on Naxos began before 550 BCE.{{cite web |title=Archaic Period |url=https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collection/archaiki-periodos/ |website=Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο |publisher=Government of Greece |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |quote=Item #10 in slide show}} Naxian marble was used for the creation of the roof tiles at ancient Olympia and on the Athenian Acropolis,Aenne Ohnesorg: Inselionische Marmordächer. de Gruyter, Berlin 1993. As of 2016, about 5,000 m³ of high value Naxian marble was being exported annually.[http://nibis.ni.schule.de/~trianet/naxos/region/region08.htm Trianet: Gestein und Bergbau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194240/http://nibis.ni.schule.de/~trianet/naxos/region/region08.htm |date=2016-03-04 }}.

• Pannaxiakos A.O. (sports club)

== Notable people ==

• Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus III of Constantinople (1762–1842)
• Ecumenical Patriarch Callinicus III of Constantinople (died 1726)
• Keti Chomata (1946–2010), singer
• Manolis Glezos (1922–2020), rebel, politician, writer
• Giannoulis Fakinos (born 1989), soccer player
• Iakovos Kambanelis (1922–2011), poet, playwright, lyricist and novelist
• Kostas Manolas (born 1991), soccer player
• Stelios Manolas (born 1961), soccer player
• Nikolaos Mykonios, fighter of the Greek War of Independence and officer of the Greek Army
• Iakovos Nafpliotis (1864–1942), cantor
• Nicodemus the Hagiorite (1749–1809), saint
• Giorgos Ninios (born 1959), actor
• Michalis Polytarchou, basketball player, Former Captain of AEK Athens BC
• Petros Protopapadakis (1854–1922), Prime Minister of Greece

File:Naxos Νάξος Chora 2020-08-20 28 Portara Πορτάρα.jpg|View through Portara on the peninsula Palátia towards Chora of Naxos

File:Agios Nikolaos at Grotta, Naxos, 4th to 7th c, 213443.jpg|Agios Nikolaos on the Grotta of Naxos Town (Chora)

File:Valley between Potamia and Moni, Naxos, 19M7555.jpg|Valley between Potamia and Moni, Naxos. View from road from Apeiranthos to Filoti

File:Heiligtum des Dionysos (Yria) 03.jpg|Sanctuary of Dionysus (Yria)

File:028MAD Sphinx.jpg|Sphinx of Naxos, now at Delphi Archaeological Museum

File:Building from terrace, Byzantine Museum Naxos, 143770.jpg|Crispi tower, housing the Byzantine museum

File:Naos Drosianis Naxos 03.jpg|Panagia Drosiani church, Moni village

File:Naxos Moni Faneromenis.JPG|The monastery of Faneromeni

File:Akadimoi Naxos Greece 2018081316330N09239.jpg|Chalki, Naxos

File:Atsipapi, Naxos, Greece 2018081216580N08690.jpg|Agios Isidoros at Atsipapi

File:Kaloxilos Naxos Greece 2018081018100N08139.jpg|Kaloxilos, Naxos

File:Vourvouria Naxos Greece 2018081119110NH8230.jpg|Vourvouria

File:Catholic cathedral, Kastro, Noxos Town, 1207-1963 AD, 144131.jpg|Presentation of the Lord Catholic church of Naxos

File:Koronos, Naxos, 119500.jpg|Koronos village

File:Panagia Damiotissa Naxos Greece 2018080816280N05907.jpg|Panagia Damiotissa, Chalki

File:TO FILOTI APO TOYS PROPODES TOY ZA.jpeg|Filoti village

File:Tower in Filoti, Naxos, commemorated 1620, 119754.jpg|Tower in Filoti

File:Απόλλωνας Νάξου.jpeg|Apollonas village

File:Naxos Keramoti.JPG|Keramoti village

File:Castle (Kastro) in Apeiranthos, Naxos, 101911.jpg|Tower in Apeiranthos

File:Aerial view of Hawaii Beach on Naxos Island, Greece.jpg|Hawaii beach, Alykos, Naxos

• Communities of the Cyclades
• Emery (rock), mined on Naxos
• Kitron
• Moutsouna

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• Agelarakis, A., "The Naxos Island Archaic Period Necropolis: Archaeological-Anthropology Research Report", Hellenic Antiquities Authority, Archival Report, 2005, Naxos.
• Ernst Curtius, Naxos. Ein Vortrag im wissenschaftlichen Verein zu Berlin 1846 gehalten, neu herausgegeben von Martin Biastoch, Göttingen, 2012.

{{refend}}

{{Commons}}

• {{Official website|http://www.naxos.gr/}} {{in lang|de|el|en}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160715203738/http://www.movingpostcards.tv/naxos/ Moving Postcards Naxos]
• [http://www.e-naxos.eu/ Municipality of Naxos and Small Cyclades] {{in lang|el}}
• [https://www.instagram.com/naxoslife/ Photos from Naxos inclusive Tourist-Infos]

{{The Cyclades}}

{{Aegean Sea}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Euboean colonies

Category:Greek city-states

Category:Islands of Greece

Category:Islands of the South Aegean

Category:Landforms of Naxos (regional unit)

Category:Members of the Delian League