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Welcome to Santorini
Did the catastrophic volcanic eruption that ravaged Santorini circa 1600 BC destroy Crete's ancient Minoan civilization-and give birth to the myth of Atlantis? In 1967, archaeologists on Santorini unearthed the remains of a Bronze Age city that may have been home to as many as 30,000 people. Whether the Lost Continent of Atlantis is rooted in myth or reality, an undisputed fact remains. The eruption created a caldera and one of the most dramatic land and seascapes in the entire Mediterranean. On Santorini, white washed buildings cling to vertiginous cliffs that plunge to a turquoise sea. Part of the Cyclades Archipelago, the three island group of Santorini, Thirasia and uninhabited Aspronisi present the traveler with a unforgettable vistas.
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Welcome to Santorini
Did the catastrophic volcanic eruption that ravaged Santorini circa 1600 BC destroy Crete's ancient Minoan civilization-and give birth to the myth of Atlantis? In 1967, archaeologists on Santorini unearthed the remains of a Bronze Age city that may have been home to as many as 30,000 people. Whether the Lost Continent of Atlantis is rooted in myth or reality, an undisputed fact remains. The eruption created a caldera and one of the most dramatic land and seascapes in the entire Mediterranean. On Santorini, white washed buildings cling to vertiginous cliffs that plunge to a turquoise sea. Part of the Cyclades Archipelago, the three island group of Santorini, Thirasia and uninhabited Aspronisi present the traveler with a unforgettable vistas.
Please see set comments for Santorini Overview
Oia Known as Calliste (“Most Beautiful”) in antiquity, Thera (Santorini) was occupied before 2000 BC. One of the largest volcanic eruptions known occurred on the island. This is thought to have occurred about 1500 BC, although, based on evidence obtained during the 1980s from a Greenland ice-core and from tree-ring and radiocarbon dating, some scholars believe that it occurred earlier, during the 1620s BC. Ash and pumice from the eruption have been found as far away as Egypt and Israel, and there has been speculation that the eruption was the source of the legend of Atlantis and of stories in the Old Testament book of Exodus.
During the Bronze Age the island of Crete, some 70 miles (110 km) south of Thera, was the centre of Minoan civilization. About 1450 BC most major settlements in central and southern Crete were destroyed by fire and abandoned. In 1939 the Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos suggested that the eruption on Thera had led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization; his theory was widely accepted. During the 1980s, however, archaeologists found evidence that Minoan culture continued to flourish for some time after the eruption. Archaeological evidence also indicated that the amounts of ash from the eruption that fell on Crete were not enough to cause significant damage to crops or buildings.
About the beginning of the first millennium BC, Dorian settlers from the mainland landed on Thera. About 630 the important Theran colony of Cyrene was settled on the north coast of Africa, in accord with a command of the Delphic oracle. From 308 to 145 the island, a member of the Cycladic League, was a Ptolemaic protectorate.
From that period date many of the ruins of the ancient city of Thera, unearthed (1895–1903) by a German archaeologist on the east coast. The earliest excavations by the French School at Athens (1869) uncovered a Middle Minoan, or Cycladic (c. 2000–c. 1570 BC), city beneath the pumice at the northern tip of Thirasía. Of even greater significance was the excavation begun by Marinatos during the 1960s south of Akrotíri village, which revealed a rich Minoan city buried under the volcanic debris just as it stood at the time of the eruption. The city (still being excavated) consisted of large, well-built, multi-story houses that contain some of the finest Minoan frescoes found in the Mediterranean.