The big quantity of small works
of art (ceramics, metalwork, marble idols…) found on the
island show the cultural advance of the people
and indicate that they were in frequent
contact with the other Cycladic islands as well as Crete.
At the end of the Cycladic period the Cycladic civilisation
in Amorgos lost its vigour, due to the growth of the Cretan
superiority in the Aegean.
From this time, Amorgos became an important sea-trade
station for the Cretans who controlled and colonised her.
During the Archaic period (7th –6th century BC), Amorgos
is colonised by the cities of Ionia, which gave to the
island a fast political and social development of its
three big cities, called the “city-states”.
During the Classical era (5th –4th century BC), the tree
cities of Amorgos (the “tripolis”) functioned as a federation,
manufacturing, trading and shipping.
Amorgos took part in the Persian
Wars, especially in the Battle of Salamana in 480 BC,
in which she used one of her own ships. |
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Great’s successors brought Amorgos into
the influence of the Hellenistic State of Egypt, the Ptolemies.
After the second
century BC the Romans took control of Amorgos; even then,
the three cities continued to be powerful and productive.
It’s only with the decline of the Roman Empire that the
three ancient cities of Amorgos lost their strength, and were destroyed causing decay to several monuments such as the Hellenistic tower in Arkesini.
It was in those years that Christianity was established
in Amorgos.
Then, the early Christian churches made their appearance
in the islands’ cities like Katapola and Paradissa.
During the Byzantine Period, the city of Hora was formed,
in the mountainous centre of Amorgos, to protect from
the pirates’ invasions.
During the 10th century,insecurity of the Amorgean population
was reduced, due to the improvement of affairs by the
Byzantines.
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In
desperation, a lot of people left their homes and went
to safer places like Crete.
Between 1200 AC and 1579 AC, the islands saw the occupation
by the Byzantines and the Venetians.
From 1579 to 1821 AC Amorgos was occupied by the Turkish
until the Greek Revolution.
In 1537, Barbarossa’s Turkish fleet conquered Amorgos,
who went back under Ottoman’s control. After the middle
of the century, the island was dealing permanently with
the Asia Minor and Constantinople. Amorgos became a small
self-governed democracy called “Amorgos Community”, taxed
by the Sultan.
Just before the Greek Revolution, inhabitants of Amorgos
(Georgos Exarxopoulos, Adonis Gavalas and more) had become
members of the Friendly Society, a secret society created
in some islands for Greek independence from the Turks.
The island welcomed a multitude of refugees, victims of
the Turkish reprisals.
In 1835, Amorgos Municipality was formed, easternmost
boundary of the New Greek State, and had one of the first
schools to function in free Greece (organised under the
initiative of the Hozoviotissa Monastery).
In the 20th century, Amorgos had preserved her identity
and kept a rich culture imprinted on her peoples’ behaviour
and its architectural heritage. |
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