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THASOS

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 728 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THASOS , an See also:

island in the See also:north of the See also:Aegean See also:Sea, off the See also:coast of See also:Thrace and the See also:plain of the See also:river Nestus (now the Kara-Su). The island was colonized at an See also:early date by Phoenicians, attracted probably by its See also:gold mines; they founded a See also:temple of Heracles, which still existed in the See also:time of See also:Herodotus. Thasus, son of See also:Phoenix, is said to have been the See also:leader of the Phoenicians, and to have given his name to the island. In 720 or 708 B.C. Thasos received a See also:Greek See also:colony from See also:Paros. In a See also:war which the Parian colonists waged with the Saians, a Thracian tribe, the poet See also:Archilochus threw away his See also:shield. The Greeks ex-tended their See also:power to the mainland, where they owned gold mines which were even more valuable than those on the island. From these See also:sources the Thasians See also:drew See also:great See also:wealth, their See also:annual revenues amounting to 200 or even 300 talents. Herodotus, who visited Thasos, says that the best mines on the.island were those which had been opened by the Phoenicians on the See also:east See also:side of the island facing See also:Samothrace. The See also:place was important during the Ionian revolt against See also:Persia. After the See also:capture of See also:Miletus (494 B.c.) See also:Histiaeus, the Ionian leader, laid See also:siege to Thasos. The attack failed, but, warned by the danger, the Thasians employed their revenues to build war See also:ships and strengthen their fortifications., This excited the suspicions of the' Persians, and See also:Darius compelled them to surrender their ships and pull down their walls.

After the defeat of See also:

Xerxes the Thasians joined the Delian confederacy; but afterwards, on See also:account of a difference about the mines and marts on the mainland, they revolted. The Athenians defeated them by sea, and, after a siege that lasted more than two years, took the See also:capital, Thasos, probably in 463, and compelled the Thasians to destroy their walls, surrender their ships, pay an See also:indemnity and an annual contribution (in 449 this was 2i talents, from 445 about 30 talents), and resign their possessions on the mainland. In 411 B.C., at the time of the oligarchical revolution at See also:Athens, Thasos again revolted from Athens and received a Lacedaemonian See also:governor; but in 407 the partisans of See also:Lacedaemon were expelled, and the Athenians under See also:Thrasybulus were admitted. After the See also:battle of See also:Aegospotami (405 B.c.), Thasos again See also:fell into the hands of the Lacedaemonians under See also:Lysander who formed a decarchy there; but the Athenians must have recovered it, for it formed one of the subjects of dispute between them and See also:Philip II. of See also:Macedonia. In the embroilment between Philip III. of Macedonia and the See also:Romans, Thasos submitted to Philip, but received its freedom at the hands of the Romans after the battle of Cynoscephalae (197 B.C.), and it was still a " See also:free " See also:state in the time of See also:Pliny. After a See also:period of Latin occupation, it was captured by the See also:Turks in 1462; it was given by the See also:Sultan Mahmud II. to Mehemet See also:Ali of See also:Egypt, and still remains the See also:property of the See also:khedive. Thasos, the capital, stood on the north side of the island, and had two harbours, one of which was closed. Archilochus described Thasos as " an See also:ass's backbone crowned with See also:wild See also:wood," and the description still suits the mountainous island with its forests of See also:fir. The highest See also:mountain, Ipsario, is 3428 ft. high. Besides its gold mines, the See also:wine, nuts and See also:marble of Thasos were well known in antiquity. The mines and marble quarries are no longer worked; and the See also:chief exports are now fir See also:timber for See also:shipbuilding, See also:olive oil, See also:honey and See also:wax. The imports consist of manufactured goods, beasts of See also:burden and See also:corn, for the island is too mountainous to grow enough corn for the inhabitants.

The See also:

population, distributed in ten villages, is estimated at 8000. The See also:people are Greek Christians, and do not differ in See also:appearance from the inhabitants of the other Greek islands. The villages are mostly situated at some distance from the sea; for the island suffered from pirates. Even in the early See also:part of the 19th See also:century sentinels stood on See also:duty See also:night and See also:day, and at a See also:signal of alarm the whole population, including the See also:Turkish See also:aga himself, used to hide in the See also:woods. For a description of the island and its remains of antiquity, see A. Conze, Reise auf den Inseln See also:des thrakischen Meeres (See also:Hanover, 1860); for See also:inscriptions see Inscr. Gr. xii. 8; the island is fully described by J. if. See also:Baker-Penoyre in See also:Journal See also:Hell. See also:Stud. See also:xxix. (1909).

End of Article: THASOS

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