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SCYROS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 525 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCYROS , a small rocky barren See also:

island in the See also:Aegean See also:Sea, off the See also:coast of See also:Thessaly, containing a See also:town of the same name. In 469 B.C. it was conquered by the Athenians under See also:Cimon, and it was probably about this See also:time that the legends arose which connect it with the See also:Attic See also:hero See also:Theseus, who was said to have been treacherously slain and buried there. A mythic claim was thus formed to justify the Athenian attack, and Cimon brought back the bones of Theseus to See also:Athens in See also:triumph. The inhabitants of Scyros before the Athenian See also:conquest were Dolopes (Thuc. g8); but other accounts speak of See also:Pelasgians or Carians as the earliest inhabitants. There was a See also:sanctuary of See also:Achilles on the island, and numerous traditions connect Scyros with that hero. He was concealed, disguised as a woman, in the See also:palace of Lycomedes, See also:king of the island, when his See also:mother wished to keep him back from the Trojan See also:War; he was discovered there by See also:Odysseus, and gladly accompanied him to See also:Troy. An entirely different See also:cycle of legends relate the conquest of Scyros by Achilles. The actual See also:worship on the island of a hero or See also:god named Achilles, and the probable kinship of its inhabitants with a Thessalian See also:people, whose hero Achilles also was, See also:form the See also:historical See also:foundation of the legends. Scyros was See also:left, along with See also:Lemnos and See also:Imbros, to the Athenians by the See also:peace of Antalcides (387 B.C.). It was taken by See also:Philip, and continued under Macedonian See also:rule till 196, when the See also:Romans restored it to Athens, in whose See also:possession it remained throughout the See also:Roman See also:period. It was sacked by an See also:army of Goths, HerDli and Peucini, in A.D. 269.

The See also:

ancient See also:city was situated on a lofty rocky See also:peak, on the See also:north-eastern coast, where the See also:modern town of St See also:George now stands. A See also:temple of See also:Athena, the See also:chief goddess of Scyros, was on the See also:shore near the town. The island has a small stream, called in ancient times Cephissus.

End of Article: SCYROS

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