"Milos".
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Milos (formerly Melos, and before the Athenian genocide Malos; see also List of traditional Greek place names, Greek: Μήλος, not related to the Modern Greek word "μήλο" = "milo" for apple which has the same spelling except for the trailing sigma) is a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea.
Antimelos or Antimilos, 13 miles (20 km) north-west of Milos, is an uninhabited mass of trachyte, often called Erimomilos (Desert Milos). Kimolos, or Argentiera, 1.6 km (1 mi) to the north-east, was famous in antiquity for its figs and fuller's earth, and contained a considerable city, the remains of which cover the cliff of St. Andrew's. Polinos, Polybos or Polivo (anc. Polyaegos) lies 2 km south-east of Kimolos. It was the subject of dispute between the Milians and Kimolians. It has long been almost uninhabited.
The harbour town is Adamas; from this there is an ascent to the plateau above the harbour, on which are situated Plaka, the chief town, and Kastro, rising on a hill above it, and other villages. The ancient town of Melos was nearer to the entrance of the harbour than Adamas, and occupied the slope between the village of Tripiti and the landing-place at Klima. Here is a theatre of Roman date and some remains of town walls and other buildings, one with a fine mosaic excavated by the British school at Athens in 1896. Numerous fine works of art have been found on this site, notably the Venus de Milo in the Louvre, the Asclepius in the British Museum, and the Poseidon and an archaic Apollo in Athens. Other villages includes Triovasalos, Pera Triovasalos, Plakes, Pollonia and Zefyria.
In historical times the island was occupied by Dorians from Laconia. In the 6th century BC it again produced a remarkable series of vases, of large size, with mythological subjects and orientalizing ornamentation, and also a series of terra-cotta reliefs.
Though Milos inhabitants sent a contingent to the Greek fleet at Salamis Island, it held aloof from the Delian League, and sought to remain neutral during the Peloponnesian War. But in 415 BC the Athenians, having attacked the island and compelled the Milians to surrender, slew all the men capable of bearing arms, made slaves of the women and children, and introduced 500 Athenian colonists. Lysander restored the island to its Dorian possessors, but it never recovered its former prosperity.
There were many Jewish settlers in Milos in the beginning of the Christian era, and Christianity was early introduced. During the "Frankish" period the island formed part of the duchy of Naxos, except for the few years (1341-1383) when it was a separate lordship under Marco Sanudo and his daughter.
Today's population, about 4700, is considerably less than it was in 1907 (then 4,864 in the commune, 12,774 in the province).
See Leycester, "The Volcanic Group of Milo, Anti-Milo, &c.," in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc. (1852); Tournefort, Voyage; Leake, Northern Greece, iii.; Prokesch von Osten, Denkwiirdigkeiten, &c.; Bursian, Geog. von Griechenland, ii.; Journ. Hell. Stud, xvi., xviL, xviii.; Excavations at Phylakopi; Inscr. grace, xii. iii. 197 sqq.; on coins found in 1909, see Jameson in Rev. Num. 1909; 188 sqq.
Cities and towns in Greece | The Cyclades | Islands of Greece | Subduction volcanoes | Volcanoes of Greece | Volcanoes of the Aegean
Milos | Μήλος | Meloso | Milo | Milo (Grecia) | Mílos | Melos | Melos | Milos | Melos | 米洛斯岛
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