GREECE: Island of Delos
The tiny island of Delos lies in the Mediterranean, in the centre of the
Cyclades archipelago, a short boat-trip from the Greek holiday island of
Mykonos. Archaeologists consider the island had probably been a place of
worship for at least a millennium before Greek mythology elevated it to
sanctuary status, as the birthplace of the twin deities, Apollo and Artemis.
In 1000 BC the Ionian inhabitants of the Cyclades made it their religious
capital and when the Athenian city-state rose to power, around 6BC, it was
formally purified for worship. Even the dead were exhumed, and transferred
to the neighbouring island of Rhenia for re-burial. Delos abounds in the
ruins of temples, fountains and shrines. One of the most evocative sights is
the Avenue of the Lions, a long avenue once lined by twelve ferocious marble
guardians of the Sacred Lake. The original beasts are in the Delos
Archaeological Museum which contains various antiquities, including
marvellous mosaic reliefs and statues of Gods and Goddesses. One such statue
depicts Artemis -the Virgin Huntress - slaying a deer. A small Sanctuary to
Dionysus, the Greek God of Wine and Fertility, has several phallic monuments
dedicated to Apollo and emphasising the bacchanalian orgies of Dionysian
festivals. Today Delos is uninhabited, but ferries from Mykonos land
thousands of day-trippers at the Sacred Harbour.