Word island in greek

Results: 129082,
Time: 0.0291

Home

About

Blog

Contact Us

Log In

Sign Up

Follow Us

Our Apps

Greek toponyms , i.e. the proper names of geographical objects in modern Greek , have some linguistic and grammatical peculiarities.

They always have a grammatical gender ( gender ) and are sometimes also in the plural . Like all Greek proper names , they are declined with the definite article.

etymology

A considerable part of the toponyms for Greek places are derived from ancient Greek names. Some of them cannot be explained from Greek roots; they must have come from pre-Greek, possibly non- Indo-European languages ​​into Greek, which were often referred to as «Pelasgian» after the ethnonym Pelasger , which was taken over from ancient Greek . These include toponyms such as Korinthos ( Κόρινθος , Korinth ) or Parnassós ( Παρνασσός , Parnassus ). Further origins can be found in the languages ​​on the edge of the ancient Greek-speaking area, such as the river names Στρυμόνας ( Strymonas ) and Άρδας ( Ardas ), which come from Thracian .

As in the case of Athens, many ancient Greek place names continued to be used until modern times. Other ancient cities or new foundations from the period between late antiquity and the founding of the modern Greek state were given names in the Middle Ages and modern times that came from the languages ​​of the conquerors or immigrants and were not regrecised until after 1832.

Many Greek Toponyms existed after 1832 in two forms of speech, wherein the Katharevousa form sometimes received the plural which had given long in the vernacular (z. B. Ἀθῆναι Athine (f. Pl.) Vs. Αθήνα Athina (f. Sg. )).

The city of Heraklion, for example, was called Ἡρακλεία (Hērakleia) by the Dorians in ancient times , which is the feminine form of the adjective for the name of the ancient hero Heracles and thus means «the Heraklian» or «Heracles city». After the conquest by Arabs in 824, they named the place Arabic  خندق( Ḫandaq , «ditch»), from which Greek Χάνδαξ (Chándax) or Χάνδακας (Chándakas) became. The Italianized version of this name under the later ruling Venetians, Candia , was carried over to the entire island of Crete. After the conquest by the Turks, the modern Greek name Μεγάλο Κάστρο appears next to the Turkish form Kania ( Megálo Kástro «large castle»; kastron is borrowed from the Latin castrum ). After Crete was annexed to Greece in 1913, based on the name of a Roman port called Heracleum near the ancient city, the high-language neuter singular form neuerράκλειον (Iraklion) was adopted as the new name.

The Middle and Modern Greek toponyms include places named after saints or other religious terms such as Αγία Τριάδα ( Agía Triáda , «Holy Trinity») or Παρασκευή ( Paraskeví , «Friday»), but also modern Greek formations such as οι Πηγές ( i Pigés ( i Pigés) , «Sources») or τα Παξιμάδια ( ta Paximádia , «the rusks»).

Toponyms of non-Greek origin (especially Albanian , Slavic and Islamic origin) have been largely replaced by Greek in modern Greece, unless their origin is veiled. Some names of mainly small places have been preserved:

• French : Γαστούνη ( Gastoúni , after a Frankish baron «Gastogne»); Ανδραβίδα ( Andravída , from French «Andréville», «City of André»)
• Italian: Καβάλα ( Kavala , from Italian cavallo , «horse»); Σπέτσες ( Spetses , from Italian specie , «herbs»)
• Slavic: Γρανίτσα ( Granítsa , from Slav. граница granica , «border»); Ζαγορά ( Zagorá , from Slav. Загора Zagora , «beyond the mountains», «hinterland»)
• Arabic: Χατζής ( Chatzís , from Arabic.حاجي Hajji , actually the «Mecca pilgrim», in the Christian context: «Jerusalem pilgrim»)
• Turkish: Κιλελέρ ( Kileler , from Turkish göl «lake»), Δερβένι ( Derveni , from Turkish dervent «bottleneck», «mountain crossing», compare. Derwendschi )

Names of newly established municipalities

After the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, there were numerous new establishments with place names from the old settlement area. They often have the addition Neos or Nea («new»), e.g. B. Nea Ionia «New Ionia», Nea Alikarnassos «New Halicarnassus» or Neos Kafkasos «New Caucasus».

On the occasion of the great Greek community reform of 1997, which as the «Ioannis Kapodistrias Program» summarized the 5775 communities to 1033 to date, and the 2010 Kallikratis reform , which reduced their number to 325, numerous names were created for the newly created communities are not genuine village or city names. Today, numerous municipal districts and communities bear the names of landscapes ( Oropedio Lasithiou » Lasithi plateau «, Notia Kynouria «South Kynouria»), mountains (Erymanthos, Agrafa), rivers ( Geropotamos , Evrotas ), ancient sanctuaries or cities in the municipality ( Asklipiio , «Asklepieion»; Archea Olymbia «Ancient Olympia») or famous personalities ( Nikos Kazantzakis , Aristotelis ).

Diglossia

For many Greek place names there are two or more variants, which on the one hand essentially correspond to the colloquial and now officially established standard language (English Standard modern Greek ), on the other hand to an outdated language usage, the former official language Katharevousa , which was valid until 1976 , which has a historicizing orthography and This was based on grammar, which is still used by the responsible Ministry of the Interior to this day, especially for regional authorities. Usually the names differ only slightly from each other, mostly only the endings are affected (e.g. Rethymn o ↔ Rethymn on, Kalambak i ↔ Kalambak io ↔ Kalambak ion ). The older name variant has often been adopted in many foreign languages ​​and is therefore more common in international use (e.g. in air traffic) than the modern Greek name. Some foreign travel guides and maps also still orient their transcriptions according to the older naming or according to the transcription of the corresponding ancient Greek name. Although the abolition of Katharevousa as the official language was more than three decades ago, the antiquated names are still used in Greece even on occasions where you want to emphasize a special solemnity. The Katharevousa names can still be found on old traffic signs, mostly still with the diacritical marks of the polytonic orthography that was abolished with the spelling reform of 1982 . While the use of the antiquated city names usually does not run into any problems of understanding among the local population, the earlier official names of villages are not understood straight away.

see also → Greek diglossia

grammar

In the modern Greek language , the gender of a proper name or place name is expressed in almost all sentence structure variants by the article, unambiguous ending morphemes are often given with names, but not always. For sentences like «… is a beautiful city / island», the gender and number of the place name must be known in order to be able to say the sentence grammatically correct.

Some place names of the same name can only be distinguished by their gender, for example there is a village «i Myrthios » in southern Crete , and in the middle of the island there is a male «o Myrthios» of the same name. Since the grammatical gender cannot be read from the ending of the word in all cases, Greeks also have to memorize it together with the name. This is not unreasonable insofar as in Greek names — including the proper names of people — always (except in the case of direct address) always appear with the corresponding article. So we do not say «I give Kostas a book,» but «I give the Kostas a book.» However, especially in the spoken language, the article is often left out of prepositional constructions with place names: πάω Αθήνα (“I’m going to Athens”), σήμερα φεύγω για [την] Καβάλα (“Today I’m leaving for Kavala”).

The Greek articles in the nominative in the singular are ο, η, το ( o, i, to — «der, die, das»), in the plural οι, οι, τα ( i, i, ta — «die»).

Greek cities and villages

The gender of the two largest cities in the country, Athens and Thessaloniki , is the feminine (in the singular), so one says in Greek η Αθήνα ( i Athína , «the Athens») and » Είμαι από τη Θεσσαλονίκη » ( Íme apo ti Thessaloníki , «I’m out of Thessaloniki»). Heraklion on Crete , however, is neuter: » Μένω στο Ηράκλειο » ( Meno sto Iraklio , «I live i m Iraklio»); Chania , the second largest city in Crete, is an example of a neuter plural form: » Πάω στα Χανιά » ( Pao sta Chaniá , «I’m going to the Chania s «).

All genera and numbers possible in the Greek language occur in place names:

ο Βόλος, ο Πειραιάς ( o Volos, o Pireas , mask. Sg.)

οι Δελφοί, οι Παξοί ( i Delfi, i Paxi , mask. Pl.)

η Αθήνα, η Θεσσαλονίκη, η Ζάκυνθος ( i Athina, i Thessaloniki, i Zakynthos , fem.Sg.)

οι Σέρρες ( i Serres , fem.pl.)

( to Iraklio, to Vathy , n.Sg.)

τα Χανιά ( ta Chania , n.pl.)

Some common names in German or English for Greek cities have retained plural forms of ancient Greek or Katharevousa , which have disappeared in today’s Greek, as loan translations, e.g. B. Patras (fem. Pl.) For old Gr. Πάτραι or English Athens ( Ἀθῆναι , fem. Pl.).

Especially with many names of villages and small towns, it is noticeable that they are derived directly from a place or field name, the grammatical gender of which they have adopted in most cases. Unlike the Germans, the word origin of the name is often transparent: Βρύσες Vrises «well», Παλαιόλουτρα Paleoloutra «old source» Πλατάνες Platanes «plane» Ιεράπετρα Ierapetra «holy rock» Μεγαλόκαμπος Megalokambos «large field», Δάφνη Dafni «Laurel» . In addition, there are very many Greek toponyms that come from the world of Orthodox Christianity: Άγιος Βασίλειος Agios Vassilios “St. Basil » Άγιοι Ανάργυροι Agii Anargyri (about :)» the free acting saints » Άγιοι Πάντες Agii Pantes » All Saints » Προφήτης Ηλίας Prophet Elias » Elijah » Παντοκράτορας Pandokratoras » (Christ) Almighty, «etc.

An orthographic peculiarity results from the colloquial name of the Greeks for Istanbul / Constantinople , the short form Πόλη ( Póli , «city») from Κωνσταντινούπολη (Konstandinoupoli) . In Greek nouns are written in lower case, names are capitalized. But since «the city», when referring to Istanbul or Constantinople, has a name character, it is always capitalized: η Πόλη , » the city ​​par excellence: Constantinople».

Cities outside Greece

Non-Greek place names are also given a grammatical gender in Greek, many even with a Greek declension ending and declined, as are numerous German cities, whose respective Greek gender mostly corresponds to that of the Latin or Romance names.

• 
  το Βερολίνο ( to Verolíno , Latin. Berolinum ), το Μόναχο ( to Mónacho , Latin. Monac (hi) um ), το Αμβούργο ( to Amvoúrgo , Latin. Hamburgum ), το Ανόβερο (to Anovero) :
  Hamburg ) : Berlin Hanover
• η Νυρεμβέργη ( i Niremvérgi ., Latin Norimberga ), η Στουτγάρδη ( i Stutgárdi , compare ital. Stoccarda ), η Φρανκφούρτη (i Frankfoúrti) , η Βρέμη ( i Vrémi , Latin. Brema ):
  Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bremen.
• Plural endings from Romance languages ​​are given in Greek as plural names: οι Κάννες ( i Kánnes , «Cannes»), οι Βερσαλλίες ( i Versallíes , «Versailles»)
• Many city names remain unchanged, so they do not receive a gender-indicating final morpheme. The grammatical gender of these names is the neuter, and they are indeclinable (the article, however, is declined): §το Βούπερταλ§ ( to Voúpertal , «Wuppertal»), το Πάσσαου (to Passau) , το Πουατιέ ( to Pouatié , «Poitiers «). Feminine are exceptions: η Χαϊλμπρόν ( i Chailbrón , «Heilbronn»), η Χάναου ( i Chánau , «Hanau»), η Καγιέν ( i Kagién , «Cayenne»).
• Even with inclinable city names, the emphasis in Greek often differs from that in German, and in some cases there are also competing genera: η Νταχάου vs. το Νταχάου («Dachau», stressed on the first syllable in German).
• Obviously there are masculine city names outside of Greece only if they are male personal names that can be translated into Greek: Άγιος Μαρίνος ( Agios Marinos , San Marino ). But here, too, there are purely phonetic transmissions with a neutral gender: Σαν Φρανσίσκο (San Fransísko) . All other cities outside of Greece are feminine or neutral.
• Some feminine city names are also translations, e.g. B. Αγία Πετρούπολη ( Agía Petroúpoli , «Saint Peter City » — Saint Petersburg ).

Greek islands

In Greek, island names, like the ancient Greek word νῆσος (nēsos) for «island», are usually feminine, even if the ending ( -ος ) belongs to the mostly masculine o-declension:

• Ending -ος : η Ρόδος ( Rhodes ), η Κος or η Κως ( Kos ), η Λέσβος ( Lesbos ), η Σίφνος ( Sifnos ).
• Ending -α and -η : η Θήρα ( Thira ), η Κέρκυρα ( Kerkyra ), η Κρήτη ( Kriti ), η Σαμοθράκη ( Samothraki ).
• Plural form -ες : οι Σπέτσες (f. Pl., Spetses ).

Only in a few exceptions are island names not feminine:

• τα Κύθηρα (pl., Kythira ).
• ο Πόρος (m. Sg., Poros , actually «ford»).
• Islands with the names of male saints, such as ο Άγιος Ευστράτιος (m. Sg., Agios Efstratios «Saint Eustratios») or ο Άγιος Μηνάς Φούρνων ( Agios Minas , Saint Minas near Fourni).
• other smaller inhabited islands in the masculine gender, as ο Σκορπιός ( Skorpios ) ο Κάλαμος ( Kalamos ) ο Δοκός ( Dokos ), as well as some masculine uninhabited how ο Πάτροκλος ( Patroclus ) or ο Κίναρος ( Kinaros ).
• numerous very small islands ending in -νήσι (n. Sg.) or -νήσια (n. pl.), z. B. τα γλαρονήσια ( ta glaronisia , «the seagull islands «).

Islands outside Greece

Islands outside Greece also have mostly feminine names, but not in -ος . They have the endings -α and -η: Σικελία (Sicily), Βρετανία (Britain), Νέα Ζηλανδία (New Zealand), Κορσική (Corsica), Μαδαγασκάρη (Madagascar).
Archipelagos are therefore declined in the feminine plural with the ending -ες : οι Κομόρες (Comoros), οι Σεϋχέλλες (Seychelles), οι Φιλιππίνες (Philippines).

The only exceptions are island names that correspond to male first names ( Μαυρίκιος «Mauritius», Άγιος Θωμάς «São Tomé») and small islands, largely unknown in Greece, which are mostly neutral and indeclinable ( το Μάιναου , «Mainau») ).

country names

Also country names in Greek have — as in English the Sudan, the Switzerland — a particular grammatical gender, plurals result from some self-designations of States ( οι Κάτω Χώρες i Káto chores , f Pl — «the Netherlands»;.. Οι Ενωμένες Πολιτείες της Αμερικής — «the United States of America»). Many countries or states have the ending -ία and are feminine ( η Ιταλία i Italía , «Italy»; η Γερμανία i Germanía , «Germany»; η Γαλλία i Gallía , «France»), but there are also masculine ( ο Καναδάς o Kanadás , «Canada») and neutral forms ( το Ιράν to Irán ).

See also

• List of Greek exonyms for German toponyms

Remarks

1. ↑ The ancient Greek city of Ἡράκλειον (Hērakleion) was in Macedonia .
2. ↑ Exceptions are Cyprus ( η Κύπρος ) and the formerly Greek islands of Imvros ( η Ίμβρος ) and Tenedos ( η Τένεδος ) , which are now part of Turkey .

literature

• Konstantin Amantos: The suffixes of the modern Greek place names. Contribution to modern Greek place name research. Munich 1903.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Greek island. For the Apple operating system, see iOS. For other uses, see IOS (disambiguation).

Ios Ίος Nios
Island and municipality
Clockwise from top: Church of Saint Irene, Odysseas Elytis Theatre, Cathedral Church Of Ios, Chora Hill, Windmills in Chora
Logo[1]
Nickname:  Μικρή Μάλτα (Little Malta)[2]
Coordinates: 36°43′0″N 25°20′11″E / 36.71667°N 25.33639°ECoordinates: 36°43′0″N 25°20′11″E / 36.71667°N 25.33639°E
Country	Greece
Administrative region	South Aegean
Regional unit	Thira
Municipality founded	10 March 1835
Capital	Chora
Government
• Mayor	Gkikas Gkikas (Independent)
Area
• Total	109.024 km2 (42.094 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Kastro Peak)	713 m (2,339 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,024
• Density	19/km2 (48/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Ιήτης (Iitis)[3] (official) Ιέτης (Ietis)[4] (Ancient Alternative) Νιώτης (Niotis) (local) Iitian or Ietian(anglicised)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	840 01
Telephone	22860
Website	ios.gr

Ios, Io or Nio (Greek: Ίος, Greek pronunciation: [ˈi.os]; Ancient Greek: Ἴος [í.os]; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides, situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about 18 kilometres (11 miles) long and 10 kilometres (6 miles) wide, with an area of 109.024 square kilometres (42.094 sq mi).^[5] Population was 2,024 in 2011 (down from 3,500 in the 19th century). Ios is part of the Thira regional unit.^[6]

Chora[edit]

The Port of Ios is at the head of the Ormos harbour in the northwest. There is a path up the nearby hill to Chora, named after the Greek word for the main village on an island. Chora is a white and cycladic village, full of stairs and narrow paths that make it inaccessible for cars. Today, the main path through this village is completely taken over by tourism with restaurants, boutiques, bars and discothèques catering to visitors. Apart from the port and the village of Chora, Ios has a few small settlements that consist of groups of spread out houses in the background of major beaches (Theodoti, Kalamos, Manganari). Since the 1990s, the island mayor Pousseos has worked on Ios’ development towards attracting different types of tourists. With the help of European Community funds some roads have been built, all of them paved, and a scenic amphitheatre was created by the German architect Peter Haupt at the top of the village hill.

Name[edit]

According to Plutarch, it is thought that the name has derived from the Ancient Greek word for violets «Ία»(Ia) because they were commonly found on the island^[7] and it is the most accepted etymology. It is also posited that the name was derived from the Phoenician word iion, meaning “pile of stones”. Pliny the Elder also wrote that the name comes from the Ionians who lived on the island.^[8] In the Ottoman period the island was called Anza or Aina, and its present name was officially established in the 19th century after over 2000 years of usage. During the ancient times the island was also called «Φοινίκη» (Phiniki), named after and by the Phoenicians and in the 3rd century, when the island joined League of the Islanders, was likely temporarily named Arsinoe after the wife of Ptolemy II^[9][7] Today the inhabitants of the Cycladic Islands call the island Nio, a name deriving from the Byzantine Era.^[10] The name Little Malta, which is found in texts of travelers during the Ottoman domination, is related to the permanent presence of pirates on the island.^[2] In languages with Latin script, the island name is Nio or Io.

Geography and geology[edit]

The shape of Ios resembles a rectangle, with an average side size of 15 km (9.3 mi) and 7 km (4.3 mi) respectively. The longest axis is in the NW direction, from the Karatza cape to the
Achlades Peninsula and is 17.5 km (10.9 mi) long, while the longest axis, in the AD direction, is
14 km (8.6 mi) long. Ios has 86 km (53.4 mi) of coastline, of which 32 km (19.9 mi) are sandy beaches.^[11]

The highest elevation (723 m, 2372 ft) is the Kastro (Greek: Κάστρο) peak also called Pyrgos (Greek: Πύργος), located in the center
of the island, while around the Kastro are the next three
Highest peaks: Xylodema (Greek: Ξυλόδεμα) (660 m, 2165 ft), Kostiza (Greek: Κοστίζα) (586 m, 1923 ft) and Prophetis Elias (Greek: Προφήτης Ηλίας) (490 m, 951 ft).^[11]

Ios consists almost entirely of metamorphic rocks, on
which lie limited quaternary appearances.^[11]

Plan Homer[edit]

In case of extreme events like earthquakes and wildfires, the Municipality of Ios had prepared a general plan called Homer (Greek: Όμηρος) which includes the cooperation of all Iitians.^[12]

Demographics[edit]

Historic population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1696	3,000	—
1771	1,400	−1.01%
1829	2,177	+0.76%
1856	2,167	−0.02%
1879	2,113	−0.11%
1889	2,043	−0.34%
1896	2,171	+0.87%
1907	2,090	−0.35%
1920	2,154	+0.23%
1928	1,797	−2.24%
1940	2,041	+1.07%
1951	1,753	−1.37%
1961	1,343	−2.63%
1971	1,270	−0.56%
1981	1,362	+0.70%
1991	1,654	+1.96%
2001	1,838	+1.06%
2011	2,024	+0.97%
Source: [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] [21][22] [23][24]

According to the Greek census 2011 in Ios live 2084 people, 1754 of them live in Chora.
From the 1940s to the early 1970s, the population of the island reduced consistently. The main causes of this phenomenon were the migration movement, the epidemiological conditions of the time and to a lesser extent, the loss of men aged between 18 and 45 during the war.^[11]

Food[edit]

The island is famous for its local cheeses. They are mainly made in the municipal creamery using milk from goats or sheep. The most famous one is the «skotíri» (σκοτύρι), a sour cheese with the smell of summer savory. Popular dishes of Ios are the «tsimediá» (τσιμεντιά , pumpkin flowers stuffed with rice) and «mermitzéli» (μερμιτζέλι, handmade barley).^[25]

Education[edit]

In 1827 the local leaders of Ios wrote a letter to the revolutionary government of Greece requesting a school to open in the island.^[26] During the 1850s the first school opened which housed a small number of students of all ages. The type of school that operated was called Skolarcheion (Greek: Σχολαρχείον) and was equivalent to an elementary school with some high school basic courses. Most students at the time didn’t graduate as their time was occupied helping their families in the fields. This resulted in a large percentage of illiterate children. The richer families sent their children to schools of the nearby islands. From 1936 the first elementary school was founded. In 1972 the first kindergarten was opened and in 1980 the first high school that had some senior high school courses. Today, in Chora there is a kindergarten, a high school, a senior high school and an EPAL high school.^[27]

History[edit]

Prehistory[edit]

Ios from the prehistoric era and thanks to its safe natural harbour played an important role on the sea roads to Crete. The early Cycladic settlement on Skarkos hill and other prehistoric sites on the island have been found by archaeologists.^[28]

Ios was under the influence of the Minoan and then of the Mycenaean civilisation. The Phoenicians most likely arrived on the island and maintained their presence until the 9th century BC.

Ios became Ionian at some point after, as testified by its membership in the Delian Amphictyony.^[29] From 534 BC the island paid taxes to Athens.^[28]

Classical and Hellenistic times[edit]

Ios was an important and strong city in Classical and Hellenistic times. Its decline began with the Roman occupation, when it was used as a place for exile, and continued in Byzantine times. The island experienced a recovery at the time of the Duchy of Naxos, but the Ottoman domination interrupted it. Palaiokastro, a ruined Venetian castle from the 15th century lies on the northern part of the island.^[28] Ios was important enough in the Roman province of Insulae to become a suffragan see of the Metropolis of Rhodes, but later faded and disappeared.

Numismatics[edit]

During the 3rd and 2nd century BC as Ios became part of the league of the islanders, she minted her own coins, most of them can be found in the Berlin Archaeological Museum and British Museum. There are 28 known different coins. They depict Homer, a palm tree or Athena, as she was worshiped on the island. Most of them had the writing ΙΗΤΩΝ meaning of the people of Ios.^[30]

1820s[edit]

Although Ios did not have a strong naval force, it was one of the first islands to raise the flag of revolution in when the Greek War of Independence began in 1821. Ios took part in the naval battle at Kuşadası on July 9, 1821, as well as in the Second National Assembly at Astros in 1823 and in the Third National Assembly at Troezen in 1827.

Modern times[edit]

In a modern era, the island began to emerge in the 1970s as an increasingly popular tourist destination for young people in Europe. Today Ios retains its reputation as an island of youth and entertainment, with excellent tourist infrastructure, an organised marina at its harbour and an adequate road network.^[31]

Ecclesiastically, its territory is now part of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Thera, Amorgos and the Islands of the Church of Greece.

Homer’s death[edit]

The legend[edit]

The island is very strongly connected with Homer, because according to the legend, Homer died in Ios. Considered the greatest epic poet of the Greeks, the legend accounts that he died because he violated a Pythian oracle. According to Pausanias, Homer visited the Delphi oracle to ask Pythia about his parents and origins. Pythia replied with the oracle «Your mother’s home is the island of Ios, which will accept you when you die, but you should be careful of the enigma of the young children.» The poet, however, broke the oracle and traveled to Ios. There he saw some small children fishing on the coast. He asked what they had caught and the children replied: «Whatever we get we leave it and whatever we don’t get we take it with us». The children were talking about lice. Those who found them, killed them, but those who did not find them, had them to their heads. Homer did not find the answer, but he remembered the warning of Pythia. He was horrified and ran away quickly.^[32] The road was muddy and the poet in his hurry slipped and fell, hitting his head and dying almost instantaneously.^[33]

According to another version, Homer died from his sadness that he did not solve the puzzle, while a third version says he was already seriously ill and went to Ios because he knew he would die. Of course, the death of Homer is not based on historical records, but on myths and traditions that circulated from oral tradition. Pausanias simply recorded a popular narrative.^[32][34]

Graf Pasch van Krienen expedition[edit]

In 1771, a Dutch count named Pasch di Krienen after having read the narrative, came to Ios in order to find the grave. He was informed by a local priest of the Saint Aikaterini Chapel that there is a place with marbles and some of which had inscriptions. He was told that they were constructed long after Homer’s death but he persisted and with the help of Spyridon Valetas he found three graves and the last one had inscriptions about Homer including Ενθάδε την ιερήν κεφαλήν κατά γαία καλύπτει ανδρών ηρώων κοσμήτορα θείον Όμηρον which means here under the earth lies the sacred head of heroic Homer. When he found this, Pasch was sure that the grave belonged to the epic poet but he realised some grammatical mistakes on the gravestone and he began doubting its authenticity. After having spent considerable time and money, he decided to give up after having also found two graves at Agia Theodoti^[35][36]

Beaches[edit]

Ios attracts a large number of young tourists, many of whom used to sleep on their sleeping bags during the 1970s on the popular beach of Mylopotas after partying through the night. Today Mylopotas beach has been developed to an equivalent mass package tourism resort like Platys Gialos and Paradise Beach of Mykonos.

Climate[edit]

Ios has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate with mild winters and pleasant summers. Similar to other Cyclades islands, there is an almost constant breeze from the north during summer, known as meltemi, which moderates temperatures.

Timeline[edit]

Year	Event
3rd millennium BC	Humans start living in the island
350 BC	The island minted the first coins depicting Homer
314 BC	The island joined the League of the Islanders
300 BC — 200	It becomes part of the Roman Empire and part of the provincia insularum
286	It becomes part of the Byzantine Empire
1207	The island is conquered by the Franks and becomes a part of the Duchy of Naxos
1269	The island is regained by the Byzantine Empire
1296	The island is conquered by Domenico Schiavi and remained in his family
1335	The island is conquered for a second time by the Duchy of Naxos
1371	The island is under Francesco I Crispo’s control and his family’s
1537	The island is occupied by Hayreddin Barbarossa but remains under the control of the Crispo family
1558	The island is attacked by Pirates causing most of the people of Ios to move to other islands
1566	After the death of the last Cripi, the island becomes part of the Ottoman Empire and its under the administration of Joseph Nasi
March 1, 1821	Panagiotis Amoiradakis raised the flag of the Greek revolution in Ios
July 9, 1821	The island takes part in the Naval battle of Kuşadası
1830	Ios becomes part of Greece

Notable people[edit]

Ancient[edit]

• Critheïs, mother of Homer

Modern[edit]

• Spyridon Valetas (1779–1843), scholar, member of Filiki Eteria
• Lakis Nikolaou (1949– ), footballer
• Jean-Marie Drot (1929-2015), writer and cinematographer who loved the island and also founded The Jean Marie Drot Museum in Ios^[37]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Tomb of Homer

• 

  View of Chora

• 

  Chora

• 

• 

  Windmills

• 

  Manganari Beach

• 

  Young Hippies on Ios during the 1970s

• 

  Western view of Ios

• 

  Eastern view of Ios

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Ios travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Municipality of Ios (in Greek and English)

Like the names of the cities, so do the names of the Greek islands are not at all random. During antiquity times, there were periods of great geological turbulence and the naming of parts of land that was cut off or islands that changed form also served the need for recording these turbulences. Did you know, for example, that the island of Agistri was once called Kecryphaleia, and so the ancient world understood that it was a reef?”

No name is random and there is a history behind the naming and the meaning of this name. Some of them large and some of them small, each island has its own past and its name has its own interpretation.

What do they mean and how did the names of 21 Greek islands come out

Paxos

The beautiful island of the Ionian Sea took its name from the word “passion”. According to the legend, the god Poseidon, having fallen in love with the nymph Amphitrite, would gain her only if he gave her a land of her own, just as she asked of him. So he picked up his cosmic trident, cut a piece of Corfu, which… he moved a little further south and there, in Paxos, he housed his love with the nymph.

Folegandros

The island of Cyclades at the beginning was called “Polykandros” because it had a very large population. Its first settler was Folegandros, son of Minos, who brought to the island a large population of Cretans while also giving his name to it.

Andros

Andros or Andrea was a famous oracle, so great that Rodamanthis, brother of Minos, gave him the island. Rhadamanthis was considered the fairest man in the world and, when he died, he continued to be fair so he became the judge of the Underworld. He considered that the most famous oracle of the time was Andros and so he decided to give him an entire island.

Samos

The island of Samos took its name from the Mycenaean word “sami” or “samos”, which means hill next to the coast. The geomorphology of Samos confirms this name since the island has several mountains and elevations.

Tinos

The name of Tinos comes from the ancient Greek root “tan”, which gave us the “tanaos” which means long, because of the shape of the island. The word ‘tanaos’ may no longer be used, but this word also indicates the word ‘tainia (film)’.

Naxos island

The island of Naxos in ancient times was called Zeus, because it is the largest in the Cyclades Islands. So it was named after the greatest of the gods. When it was colonized by the hero Naxos, Son of Endymion the Lover of the Moon, it was named after the hero’s name getting name it now has. Paros: The name of the island means “beach”.

Ithaca

Ithaca took its name from “ithys”, which means straight, alined, long. The long and narrow island. From the word “ithys” comes also the word “ichthys” (fish) because it is also long.

Zakynthos

Zakynthos was named after Zakynthos who was the son of Prince Trojan, father of the Trojans. When the Trojan campaign ended, Zakynthos and his people left Troy and settled on an island named after him.

Chios

The island was named after Chioni, who was the daughter of Poseidon. When she was born on the island, snow fell, so the baby was named Chioni (snow) and after her the island of Chios was named. They even say that when Poseidon arrived on the island it was deserted and with the snow that fell its soil became fertile.

Crete

The name of the favourite, for many people, island means crataios. Crataios means strong, powerful. Crete was the largest Sea-Queen in the ancient world and its first guardians were the Kouretes from whom the Cretans took their name.

Kefalonia

Kefalonia was named after the hero Kefalos, the first ruler of the island, who was an Athenian leader and son of the god Dionysus. Kefalos was expelled from Athens for murder, was exiled and settled on the island. That’s why the correct name is Kefalonia with one lambda (letter “l”).

Ikaria

Ikaria was named after Icarus, who, trying to fly with waxwings, fell into the sea and the waves washed away his body on the island.

Amorgos

Photo Source: Stathis24

The name of this atmospheric island arises from amorgi, a plant from which the ancients made an excellent flax, a transparent linen fabric. Hence in antiquity, the amorgian fabric was particularly popular, from which they made the best tunics.

Alonnisos

The name of Alonissos is derived from the ancient Greek word “als” (=sea) plus the word island.

Serifos

The name of Serifos arises from the root “ser”, which has given us the serifon, a marine plant and also various other herb names. Combined with the abundant gold it had in antiquity, it meant that these herbs were strong and with healing powers. Therefore, the name Serifos denotes the rich in healing powers flora of the island and its a rich subsoil.

Kos

The name of Kos comes from “Kofos” (f represents the ancient bigamma a letter exactly similar to the Latin “F”), which means island with many caves. From “cofos” emerges the word cave, in English, as well as the name of the crab, the shell of which resembles a cave.

Agistri island

Photo Source: Ggia

In ancient times the island was called Kekryfalia, which meant the top of a reef because it is a small island like a top of a reef. Today it’s called Agistri because it’s hooked to Aegina.

Sifnos

It was named after the hero Sifnos, who was the son of the hero Sounios who first inhabited the island.

Poros island

Poros is essentially two islands. One was called Spheria by Sfairos, the chariot driver of Pelops (who remarkably was the denominator of the Peloponnese). Sfairos died and was buried on one island. The other island was Kalauria and was named so because it had a good aura. These two islets became one and were named Poros because there is a small passage (poros) that separates the island from Galatas.

Lefkada

The name of Lefkada is delivered to us by Homer. It comes from the “white” because it was white, i.e. it had white soil. The name of the island of Lefkada is delivered to us by Homer and comes from the colour “white”.

Skiathos

The name that Skiathos has, arises from the shade because it is a very shady island with many trees. Another interpretation states that the name arises from the shadow of Athos, which “falls” on the island.

Euboea

The country with the good oxen, because of the many herds of oxen it had. It is well known that oxen consume large quantities of food and could not survive on a small island. In fact, in the coins of Euboea, in antiquity, there was a cow as a symbol.

External photography source: Anemos2000

With information from the book “Aegean Islands” by Giorgos Lekakis

The exotic Greek beaches which were pirate-related