IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Κονιώτη Μαρία , Κονιώτη Μαρία Μετάφραση : Βελέντζας Γεώργιος , Καριώρης Παναγιώτης , Καλογεροπούλου Γεωργία (5/10/2006) Για παραπομπή : Κονιώτη Μαρία , Κονιώτη Μαρία , "Sikinos", 2006, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10457> Περίληψη : Γενικές Πληροφορίες Area: 41.676 km2 Coastline length: 40 km Population: 238 Island capital and its population: Sikinos (238) Administrative structure: Region of South Aegean, Prefecture of the Cyclades, Province of Thera, Community of Sikinos Museums: Byzantine Collection, Folklore Museum Archaeological sites and monuments: Ruins of an ancient city at Agia Marina, Temple-shaped funerary building of the 3d century AD at the ancient cemetery Natural monuments: Mavri Spilia (Blach Cave), Drakontospilies, Drakofrydo. The island has been declared an Important Bird Area of Greece Festivals: Sikinos' Festival (July), Documentary Days (July) Religious feasts: Dormition of Virgin Mary (August 15th), Feast of the Presentation (November 21st), Feast at the Monastery of Pantanassa (March 27th) 1. Geography-Natural environment In the Aegean Sea, there are not only the famous big islands but also numerous small ones with a population of less than 1.000 residents. One of the best known is Sikinos, in the south Aegean Sea, between Ios and Folegandros. Sikinos covers an extent of 41 sq. klm and its population is 238 people. It is one of the most mountainous Cycladic islands. Its highest peak is the mountain Troulos in its centre, with an altitude of 552 m. The southeast side of Sikinos is smooth, while the northwest part of the island is dominated by a sheer drop of 300 m. above the sea. On the northwest coasts, on the edge of the rock that is sunk in the sea, on a location ideally protected against hostile raids, the Hora or Kastro of Sikinos is built on an altitude of 280 m. The settlement of Alopronia, which is also the port of the island, is part of the community as well. The rough rocky soil of the island prompted the islanders to define the land with terraces and stone fences, so that they retain the precious for the agriculture earth and exploit even the smallest part of the ground. Sikinos is also a protected biotope according to the European network Natura 2000, as wild pigeons and rare seabirds nestle here. It is also a sanctuary of the Mediterranean seal. There are many uninhabited rocky islets between Sikinos and Folegandros, namely Kalogeroi, Karavos, Adelfia and Kardiotissa, which is of considerable size. 2. History The island of Sikinos is mentioned by the majority of the most important ancient writers, such as Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy and Strabo. The ancient name of the island was Oinoi, due to the extensive vine growing and the chosen quality of wine(Oinos in Greek) that it produced. The name Sikinos derived, according to the mythology, from Sikinos, the son of the king of Limnos. It is said that when the women of Lemnos revolted and slaughtered all the male population of the island, Hypsipyle, the daughter of king Thoas, in Δημιουργήθηκε στις 26/9/2021 Σελίδα 1/4 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Κονιώτη Μαρία , Κονιώτη Μαρία Μετάφραση : Βελέντζας Γεώργιος , Καριώρης Παναγιώτης , Καλογεροπούλου Γεωργία (5/10/2006) Για παραπομπή : Κονιώτη Μαρία , Κονιώτη Μαρία , "Sikinos", 2006, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10457> order to save her father’s life, put him in a pithos and threw him into the sea, until he was brought to the coasts of Oinoi. By the union of Thoas with a Naias nymph, Sikinos was born. The settlement remains prove that habitation on Sikinos was continuous at least since the Mycenaean Period. The ancient city of the island, mentioned particularly by Scylax, is likely to be identified with the settlement that was located on Palaiokastro, off the cape Malta. The remains are considerably extensive and the occupation of the site goes back to the Prehistoric times with obvious historical continuity from the Geometric up to the Late Hellenistic period. Another settlement of a later date lies on the site Agia Marina, south of Episkopi, where remains of defensive walls, public buildings and temples dated in the Hellenistic and Roman period are to be seen. The island, which was first inhabited by Ionian settlers, followed the fate of the other Cycladic islands, thus becoming a member of the Athenian Leaque, contributing an annual tax of thousand Attica drachmas. Then, it passed under the control of the Macedonians, the Ptolemies and it was subjugated by the Romans, who used it as a place of exile. Later, Sikinos is found under the sovereignty of the Byzantines. From 1207 it belonged to the Duchy of Naxos while in 1262 it was recovered by the Byzantines. In 1307 the island was conquered by the Spanish House of Dacoronia who controlled it until 1464. Sikinos, along with other islands, came under the control of the House of Gozantini, where it remained until 1617. In 1537 it was seized by Barbarossa and paid tax of subjugation to the Sultan. For a short period, during the Russian-Ottoman War, it was found under Russian possession (1770-1774) and in 1774 it devolved again to the hands of Ottomans, until Sikinos was incorporated into the Greek state, at 1830. In 1941 Sikinos was initially included in the Italian administration, within the scope of occupation of the Greek territories by the Axis forces. After the capitulation of Italy in 1943, the island was integrated into the German Command until the liberation in 1944. Important evidence and valuable information for the island are testified in the writings of foreigner travellers who visited Sikinos from the 15th until the 19th century and recorded their impressions. (Transl. Georgia Kalogeropoulou - Panagiotis Karioris) 3. Archeological sites and monuments 3. 1. Episkopi of Sikinos A monastery complex is built in the position ‘Episkopi’, in the southwest part of the island. It is opposite a naturally rising piece of ground, where the ruins of the ancient town of Sikinos still exist, within a relatively short distance from the steep cliffs, at an altitude of 270 m. The complex consists of the church of Episkopi, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Byzantine chapel of St. Anna as well as dilapidated cells and other facilities. The church of Episkopi took on its present form in the Post Byzantine years, in the 17th century, when a former temple-like burial monument in antis with underground vaulted crypts was transformed into a domed Christian church with a semi-circular niche. The original building, with external dimensions of about 10x7 m, belongs to the common architectural type of mausoleums, which prevailed during the 2nd and the 3rd centuries AD in the Aegean and, mainly, in southwest Asia Minor. The transformation of the Roman mausoleum into a place of worship for Christianity was accomplished by adding a semi-circular niche on the east wall, the construction of a dome in the centre of the cella and the masonry built to wall the intervals between the pillars on the facade of the formerly open portico. The sanctuary of the church has built-in architectural parts of an Early Byzantine stone iconostasis from grey hard stone, similar to the construction material of the Roman monument. There are a small column and a double parapet built-in on the apse of the sanctuary as well as a detached small column, used as the basis of the Altar. The sculpted decoration of the parts of the Early Byzantine iconostasis supports the supposition about a former Christian phase of the monument. The church of Episkopi is characterized by its particular archaeological, historical and architectural value, for it clearly preserves its basic and original morphological and structural features and, at the same time, it unmistakably preserves the characteristics of the Δημιουργήθηκε στις 26/9/2021 Σελίδα 2/4 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Κονιώτη Μαρία , Κονιώτη Μαρία Μετάφραση : Βελέντζας Γεώργιος , Καριώρης Παναγιώτης , Καλογεροπούλου Γεωργία (5/10/2006) Για παραπομπή : Κονιώτη Μαρία , Κονιώτη Μαρία , "Sikinos", 2006, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10457> transformation into a Christian church, thus vividly demonstrating the long-lasting history of the place. (Transl. Georgios Velentzas) 3. 2. Byzantine and Post-byzantine churches As far as the Byzantine period is concerned, six Byzantine churches have been located to the present–a relatively big number considering the small size of the island. The original frescoes dated in the 13th and 14th century are still preserved. These churches are Agios Nikolaos at Raches Katergou and Virgin Mary at Sykia near Alopronia, Christ or Metamorphosis of Saviour near Hora, Agios Stefanos close to Horio, Agia Anna, a chapel of Episkopi, and Agios Georgios near Episkopi. They are all small in size, typical Cycladic buildings, with specific architecture in the type of single-aisled arched-roof temple with projected semicircular apses. Fragments of Byzantine wall paintings cover the interior walls, following the pictorial pattern of the period. The painted decoration of Agios Nikolaos at Raches Katergou and Agios Georgios near Episkopi in particular, is accurately dated by their inscriptions in 1300 and 1351 respectively. It is also known from the dedicatory inscription that the dedicators of the temple of Agios Georgios were the priest Georgios and his spouse. In the temple of Agios Stefanos a representation of the couple of the dedicators was revealed on the west wall. Other important monuments of Sikinos are also the church of Pantanassa, with a carven gilded screen and post byzantine icons, as well as the monastery of Zoodohos Pigi. The monastery is dated in 1690. It is built at an imposing location to the northwest of Hora.