Cyclades
Islands
: Amorgos, Andros,
Folegandros, Ios,
Kea, Kythnos,
Milos, Mykonos,
Naxos, Paros
and Antiparos, Santorini,
Sifnos, Serifos,
Sikinos, Syros,
Tinos
Northern
Aegean Islands:
Chios, Ikaria,
Limnos, Lesvos,
Samos, Samothraki,
Thassos
Ionian
Islands:
Corfu (Kerkyra), Ithaki,
Kefalonia, Kythera,
Lefkada, Paxos,
Zakynthos
Saronic
Islands:
Aegina, Angistri,
Poros, Hydra,
Salamina, Spetsis
Sporades
Islands:
Alonissos, Skiathos,
Skopelos, Skyros
Dodecanese
Islands:
Astypalia, Halki,
Kalymnos, Karpathos,
Kassos, Kastellorizo,
Kos, Leros,
Nisyros, Patmos,
Rhodes, Symi,
Tilos
Other
Islands:
Crete, Evia,
Cyprus
|
Northern Aegean Islands - Chios (Khios)
Chios is known for mastica, a sweet gum naturally extracted
from its trees, that was once commonly used as chewing
gum to sweeten the breath, and today is used as an ingredient
of artists varnish. But it is also known as the home of
Homer, the possible birthplace of both the Iliad and the
Odyssey, and it was in ancient
times the site of a school of bards. In the 8th century
BC it was one of the seven cities of the Pan-Ionian League,
and in later centuries boasted a renowned school of sculpture.
Though it was reputed to be one of the best-governed
cities of ancient Greece,
Chios was racked by civil strife in the 4th century BC,
when it declared independence from Athens. Its ancient
commerce depended heavily on wine, and ships sunk long
ago in the Mediterranean that sailed from Chios still
bear close-packed wine jugs bound for Italian and Greek
ports. Chios passed through many hands before becoming
a tributary to the Ottoman Turks. During the War for Greek
Independence, Chios suffered terribly; many of its Christian
inhabitants were massacred or sold into slavery. And Chios
was not reunited with Greece until the time of the Balkan
Wars, in the early 20th century.
Gum mastic is collected from a wild shrub to flavor mastikha,
a Greek liqueur, as well as for mastica gum and a local
jam. Citrus fruit, olives, and figs are grown in the fertile
land nearby, and exports today include lemons, oranges,
and tangerines. Antimony, calamine, and marble deposits
are also worked, and sculptors living in Chios today still
use marble mined from the island.
In the Anavatos village, history still haunts the inhabitants
where they live next to a crumbling castle; in Greece’s
war of independence versus the Turks, Turkish soldiers
swept through the island, killing and raping all the caught.
The castle of Anavatos alone held out, though starvation
threatened. One day, an old woman crept out a secret path
to gather food for her starving family. She was captured
by Turkish soldiers and tortured until she revealed the
secret way to them; they invaded the castle and killed
everyone they caught. To this day, only a few still inhabit
the village. The old castle has a haunted air, as if the
tragedy still lives there today.
|
