During this period, the approach to the sanctuary was enclosed with two colonnades: the South Stoa, built by King Attalos I of Pergamon (post-250 BC), and the Stoa of Philip V of Macedonia (ca. BC, Delos came to enjoy a certain independence under the benevolent eye of Hellenistic kings. Today, the Delos Museum displays an array of ancient offerings and everyday objects recovered from Delos and Rineia: elegant statuary finely painted vases figurines of male and female deities wall paintings colorfully tessellated mosaics and a range of household items, including marble tables and simple cooking equipment.Īthenian hegemony over the Aegean waned in the 4th c. Nowadays, a symbolic palm tree continues to mark the divine twins’ birth-spot, although the adjacent lake was filled in over a century ago as a preventative measure against malaria. BC), could still see “Leto’s palm” standing beside the Sacred Lake. Roman visitors, including the orator/statesman Cicero (1st c. The palm tree was especially revered in Delos – brought in on the sea-going ships that connected the island to the outside world. BC) that also references several key Delian landmarks: “ …Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bore glorious children…as you rested against the great mass of the Cynthian hill hard by a palm tree by the streams of Inopus….” Mythical Leto, mother to Apollo and Artemis, is celebrated in the Third Homeric Hymn (HH3 early 6th c. 575 BC), which may constitute either the first temple to Apollo, a ceremonial dining hall or a storage space for cult equipment and votive offerings. 550-500 BC) and the Oikos of the Naxians (ca.
Within the Apollo sanctuary itself, they also installed a colossal statue of Apollo (590-580 BC) an L-shaped colonnade (stoa) that served to define the sacred space (ca. Visitors are compelled to seek shelter in slivers of shadow beside house walls or, for the better prepared, beneath umbrellas. In high summer, Delos radiates with light and heat, intensified by a lack of shade, as hardly a single tree can be found anywhere on the site.
Low-lying ruins near the residential Hill Quarter become weedy, seasonal ponds where frogs can be heard strangely croaking.īroad-leafed fig trees sprout from rain-filled cisterns, courtyard wells, and the narrow, overgrown banks of the Inopos – an ancient stream that still flows stealthily down from Kynthos. In springtime, Delos is awash in yellow, red and purple wildflowers. Beyond, set in the blue expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, are neighboring islands both large and small: Rineia to the west, Tinos to the north, Mykonos to the northeast, and Naxos and Paros to the south. Distinguishable from there are virtually all the various precincts and monuments of the island’s once-thriving community. These specialists continue to sift through diverse literary testimony, unearth further architectural and artifactual details and even probe the depths of the surrounding sea.įor a more complete view of the site, visitors can ascend to the nearby summit of Mt Kynthos. Since 1873, the French School at Athens, in collaboration with the Greek government, has excavated large areas of the island’s port city.Īmid the maze-like pattern of deserted dwellings and shops, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of doorways offer glimpses into a past way of life illuminated through the efforts of philologists, historians and archaeologists.
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