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Ancient Man and His First Civilizations

The oldest coin in the world

The oldest coin known today, was discovered in Efesos, an ancient city and prosperous trading center on the coast of Anatolia (Turkey). The 1/6 stater, pictured below, is more than 2,700 years old, making it one of the very earliest coins. Made from electrum, a natural occuring alloy of gold and silver, the coin originated in the area of Lydia. It had a design on one side only, a result of the primitive method of manufacture. This ancient stater was hand struck. A die with a design (in this case a lion's head) for the obverse (front) of the coin was placed on an anvil. A blank piece of metal was placed on top of the die, and a punch hammered onto the reverse. The result was a coin with an image on one side and a punch mark on the other.

The stater is a key exhibit in the Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum, which houses one of the world's finest numismatic collections, comprising about 1 million objects. The earliest issues, thought to date from the reign of Alyattes (about 610 - 560 BC) or perhaps his predecessor Sadyattes - both of the Mermnad dynasty - they feature the Lydian kings' emblem of a roaring lion, almost always with a curious knob, often called a 'nose wart,' on its forehead.

It was minted around 600 B.C in Lydia, in Asia Minor, currently, Turkey. Also, Lydian Lion was found by a scuba diver, on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. In addition, it is made of electrum, called ’white gold’, an alloy of gold and silver. The weighs was 4.71 gram and has the dimension of 13mm diameter x 4mm thick.

Just as the rulers of the Middle East today have become wealthy from oil, so the ancient Lydian kings became rich by accumulating and minting coins from electrum. The capital city of ancient Lydia was Sardis, and it was a major commercial center linking the Asian kingdoms of the east with the coastal Greek cities of Ionia, including Miletus. It is not an accident that the first coins appeared in the important commercial centers of Lydia and adjacent Ionia, nor that the first system of bimetallic currency - the first system of interrelated gold and silver issues - was also developed there. As the 19th century German historian Ernst R. Curtius wrote, 'The Lydians became on land what the Phoenicians were by sea, the mediators between Hellas and Asia.'

1. The oldest coin in the world was just sold by a rare coin company in Austin to a private collector. Estimated to be one of only twelve known in the world today, the coin was struck 2,650 years ago.
2. The earliest dated coin is a Samian silver tetradrachm struck in Zankle (now Messina), Sicily, dated year 1, viz 494 BC - shown as the letter 'A' on one side. The earliest Christian Era dated coin is: MCCXXXIIII (1234) Bishop of Roskilde coins, Denmark (six known). All records listed on our website are current and up-to-date.
3. The Oldest Coin in the World. 600-300 BC: Round, base metal coins were invented in China, independent of the Lydian coinage. 600-570 BC: The use of coins spread from Lydia to Greece, where the Greek began minting their own coins. 546 BC: Croesus, the.

The Ancient Anatolians

Scientists at the British Museum have discovered how and why coins were first made.

The earliest known coins - minted more than 2,600 years ago in what is now Turkey - were invented as a way of guaranteeing an exact balance between gold and silver in a naturally occurring alloy. The world's first coinmakers had to add varying amounts of silver to the molten alloy called electrum. Up to around 620BC all non-barter commercial transactions were made using weighed quantities of relatively pure scrap silver or scrap gold, but one state - the Kingdom of Lydia in what is now western Turkey - had vast natural reserves of electrum.

However, it had a big problem - the electrum was not of a constant consistency.

The British Museum research - directed by the museum's chief metallurgist, Paul Craddock - reveals how the invention of coins solved this problem. The early coin makers added extra silver to achieve a consistent balance in the electrum of 55 per cent gold to 45 per cent silver. They then put a guarantee stamp on each lump - and the world's first coins were created. Very quickly electrum coinage began to spread from Lydia to the Greek city-states of what is now the Aegean coast of Turkey. But further afield electrum as a means of exchange never caught on. Using an alloy - and getting people to treat a local Lydian stamp of guarantee - could not compete as a means of exchange against weighed quantities of gold or silver.

Archaeologists believe the Lydians then created the world's first gold refinery - at Sardis, the ancient capital - to improve the quality of the coins. The craftsmen mixed natural electrum dust and salt in a clay pot, then heated the mixture to a relatively constant 750C - 250 degrees below the alloy's melting point. The iron minerals from the clay of the pot reacted with the salt to produce ferric chloride and chlorine gasses, which in turn reacted with the silver in the electrum to form gaseous silver chloride. Using this method, it would have taken up to three days to extract the silver from five kilos of electrum - leaving behind pure gold.

The Lydian electrum from which they made their refined gold came from a river associated with classical mythology's most famous gold-related personality - King Midas.

THE SPARTANS

Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century B.C. From c. 650 B.C, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.

Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights), Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans), Perioikoi (freedmen), and Helots (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanxes were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world.

The Spartiates or Homoioi (Greek 'those who are alike') were the males of Sparta known to the spartans as 'peers' or 'men of equal status'. From a young age, male Spartiates were trained for battle and put through grueling challenges intended to craft them into fearless warriors. In battle, they had the reputation of being the best soldiers in Greece, and the strength of Sparta's hoplite forces let the city become the dominant state in Greece throughout most of the Hellenic period. No other City-state would dare to attack Sparta even though it only could muster a force of about 8000 Spartiates during the zenith of its dominance.

Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious, though at great cost. Sparta's defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta's prominent role in Greece. However, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC.

Note: Herodotus in his book 'The Persian Wars' circa 440 B.C. Book 4 - MELPOMENE [4.143]-[4.159]: Identifies the Spartans, not as Whites, but as a combination of Phoenicians and Minyae (Minyans): who along with the Pelasgians were the original Black inhabitants of Greece. See Herodotus text below.

The Hoplite

A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. Hoplites were primarily armed as spear-men and fought in a phalanx formation. The word 'hoplite' derives from 'hoplon' the type of the shield used by the soldiers, although, as a word, 'hopla' could also denote weapons held or even full armament. In later texts, the term hoplite is used to denote any armored infantry, regardless of armament or ethnicity.

A hoplite was primarily a free citizen who was usually individually responsible for procuring his armor and weapon. They were expected to take part in any military campaign when they were called for duty. The Lacedaemonian citizens (Spartans) were renowned for their life-long combat training and almost mythical military prowess, while their greatest adversaries, the Athenians, were exempted from service after the 60th year of their lives.

THE PARTHENIAE

In Ancient Greece, the Partheniae or Parthenians (literally “sons of virgins”) are a lower ranking Spartiate population which, according to tradition, left Laconia to go to Magna Graecia and founded Taras, modern Taranto, in the current region of Apulia, in southern Italy.

Greek Black Figure Pottery

Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic, was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries B.C, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century B.C. Figures and ornaments were painted on the body of the vessel using shapes and colors reminiscent of silhouettes. Delicate contours were incised into the paint before firing, and details could be reinforced and highlighted with opaque colors, usually white and red. The principal centers for this style were initially the commercial hub Corinth, and later Athens.

The Frauds

Purposeful modifications to deceive

Whites have said that the Black figures did not indicate skin color, thus Blacks: but rather, was just a 'Style' and a function of the materials used in the manufacturing process. When it is pointed out that there are White painted figures on the pottery, they respond that the convention of those times was to paint females White. When it is pointed out that there are some vases with Black men and White men fighting, they respond that those are female warriors - usually Atalanta, Amazons, or some such. Exactly how these rather convenient identifications are made is unknown, as the figures mostly appear to be men. When it is pointed out that there are some vases with 'Bearded' White men: see Tydeus and Ismene vase below - they usually stop lying!

Lesbos Coins

Coins from the Island of Lesbos, circa 500 - 550 B.C.

Mytilene Coin

OTHERS

Our Lost History

In Turkey today, the poor native Black people - having lost their history - are now prey to their invaders - the Turks. Who are telling them that their presence in THEIR COUNTRY, now called 'Turkey' is the result of them being brought to Turkey as Slaves.

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Yes, we pity those poor unfortunate people for their ignorance - BUT ARE THE REST OF US SO DIFFERENT? How much do WE know?

'WE' have been told that Greek 'Black figure Pottery' is merely an artistic 'STYLE' and not a real depiction of the peoples skin color. And just like those poor ignorant Black Anatolians, we have believed it.

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Dionysus - was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 B.C. by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek. In some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner; and in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a god of epiphany, 'the god that comes', and his 'foreignness' as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults. He is a major, popular figure of Greek mythology and religion, and is included in some lists of the twelve Olympians. His festivals were the driving force behind the development of Greek theater.

The Persian Wars by Herodotus, Written circa 440 B.C.

Translated by George Rawlinson

Book 4 - MELPOMENE

Note: Minyans and Pelasgians were among the original Black people of Greece.

[4.143] Darius, having passed through Thrace, reached Sestos in the Chersonese, whence he crossed by the help of his fleet into Asia, leaving a Persian, named Megabazus, commander on the European side. This was the man on whom Darius once conferred special honour by a compliment which he paid him before all the Persians. was about to eat some pomegranates, and had opened the first, when his brother Artabanus asked him 'what he would like to have in as great plenty as the seeds of the pomegranate?' Darius answered - 'Had I as many men like Megabazus as there are seeds here, it would please me better than to be lord of Greece.' Such was the compliment wherewith Darius honoured the general to whom at this time he gave the command of the troops left in Europe, amounting in all to some eighty thousand men.

[4.144] This same Megabazus got himself an undying remembrance among the Hellespontians, by a certain speech which he made. It came to his knowledge, while he was staying at Byzantium, that the Chalcedonians made their settlement seventeen years earlier than the Byzantines. 'Then,' said he, 'the Chalcedonians must at that time have been labouring under blindness - otherwise, when so far more excellent a site was open to them, they would never have chosen one so greatly inferior.' Megabazus now, having been appointed to take the command upon the Hellespont, employed himself in the reduction of all those states which had not of their own accord joined the Medes.

[4.145] About this very time another great expedition was undertaken against Libya, on a pretext which I will relate when I have premised certain particulars. The descendants of the Argonauts in the third generation, driven out of Lemnos by the Pelasgi who carried off the Athenian women from Brauron, took ship and went to Lacedaemon, where, seating themselves on Mount Taygetum, they proceeded to kindle their fires. The Lacedaemonians, seeing this, sent a herald to inquire of them 'who they were, and from what region they had come'; whereupon they made answer, 'that they were Minyae, sons of the heroes by whom the ship Argo was manned; for these persons had stayed awhile in Lemnos, and had there become their progenitors.'

On hearing this account of their descent, the Lacedaemonians sent to them a second time, and asked 'what was their object in coming to Lacedaemon, and there kindling their fires?' They answered, 'that, driven from their own land by the Pelasgi, they had come, as was most reasonable, to their fathers; and their wish was to dwell with them in their country, partake their privileges, and obtain allotments of land. It seemed good to the Lacedaemonians to receive the Minyae among them on their own terms; to assign them lands, and enrol them in their tribes. What chiefly moved them to this was the consideration that the sons of Tyndarus had sailed on board the Argo. The Minyae, on their part, forthwith married Spartan wives, and gave the wives, whom they had married in Lemnos, to Spartan husbands.

[4.146] However, before much time had elapsed, the Minyae began to wax wanton, demanded to share the throne, and committed other impieties: whereupon the Lacedaemonians passed on them sentence of death, and, seizing them, cast them into prison. Now the Lacedaemonians never put criminals to death in the daytime, but always at night. When the Minyae, accordingly, were about to suffer, their wives, who were not only citizens, but daughters of the chief men among the Spartans, entreated to be allowed to enter the prison, and have some talk with their lords; and the Spartans, not expecting any fraud from such a quarter, granted their request. The women entered the prison. gave their own clothes to their husbands, and received theirs in exchange: after which the Minyae, dressed in their wives' garments, and thus passing for women, went forth. Having effected their escape in this manner, they seated themselves once more upon Taygetum their own land.

[4.147] It happened that at this very time Theras, son of Autesion (whose father Tisamenus was the son of Thersander, and grandson of Polynices), was about to lead out a colony from Lacedaemon This Theras, by birth a Cadmeian, was uncle on the mother's side to the two sons of Aristodemus, Procles and Eurysthenes, and, during their infancy, administered in their right the royal power. When his nephews, however, on attaining to man's estate, took the government, Theras, who could not bear to be under the authority of others after he had wielded authority so long himself, resolved to leave Sparta and cross the sea to join his kindred. There were in the island now called Thera, but at that time Calliste, certain descendants of Membliarus, the son of Poeciles, a Phoenician. (For Cadmus, the son of Agenor, when he was sailing in search of Europe, made a landing on this island; and, either because the country pleased him, or because he had a purpose in so doing, left there a number of Phoenicians, and with them his own kinsman Membliarus. Calliste had been inhabited by this race for eight generations of men, before the arrival of Theras from Lacedaemon.)

[4.148] Theras now, having with him a certain number of men from each of the tribes, was setting forth on his expedition hitherward. Far from intending to drive out the former inhabitants, he regarded them as his near kin, and meant to settle among them. It happened that just at this time the Minyae, having escaped from their prison, had taken up their station upon Mount Taygetum; and the Lacedaemonians, wishing to destroy them, were considering what was best to be done, when Theras begged their lives, undertaking to remove them from the territory. His prayer being granted, he took ship, and sailed, with three triaconters, to join the descendants of Membliarus. He was not, however, accompanied by all the Minyae, but only by some few of them. The greater number fled to the land of the Paroreats and Caucons, whom they drove out, themselves occupying the region in six bodies, by which were afterwards built the towns of Lepreum, Macistus, Phryxae, Pyrgus, Epium, and Nudium; whereof the greater part were in my day demolished by the Eleans.

[4.149] The island was called Thera after the name of its founder. This same Theras had a son, who refused to cross the sea with him; Theras therefore left him behind, 'a sheep,' as he said, 'among wolves.' From this speech his son came to be called Oeolycus, a name which afterwards grew to be the only one by which he was known. This Oeolycus was the father of Aegeus, from whom sprang the Aegidae, a great tribe in Sparta. The men of this tribe lost at one time all their children, whereupon they were bidden by an oracle to build a temple to the furies of Laius and Oedipus; they complied, and the mortality ceased. The same thing happened in Thera to the descendants of these men.

[4.150] Thus far the history is delivered without variation both by the Theraeans and the Lacedaemonians; but from this point we have only the Theraean narrative. Grinus (they say), the son of Aesanius, a descendant of Theras, and king of the island of Thera, went to Delphi to offer a hecatomb on behalf of his native city. He was accompanied by a large number of the citizens, and among the rest by Battus, the son of Polymnestus, who belonged to the Minyan family of the Euphemidae. On Grinus consulting the oracle about sundry matters, the Pythoness gave him for answer, 'that he should found a city in Libya.' Grinus replied to this: 'I, O king! am too far advanced in years, and too inactive, for such a work. Bid one of these youngsters undertake it.' As he spoke, he pointed towards Battus; and thus the matter rested for that time. When the embassy returned to Thera, small account was taken of the oracle by the Theraeans, as they were quite ignorant where Libya was, and were not so venturesome as to send out a colony in the dark.

[4.151] Seven years passed from the utterance of the oracle, and not a drop of rain fell in Thera: all the trees in the island, except one, were killed with the drought. The Theraeans upon this sent to Delphi, and were reminded reproachfully that they had never colonised Libya. So, as there was no help for it, they sent messengers to Crete, to inquire whether any of the Cretans, or of the strangers sojourning among them, had ever travelled as far as Libya: and these messengers of theirs, in their wanderings about the island, among other places visited Itanus, where they fell in with a man, whose name was Corobius, a dealer in purple. In answer to their inquiries, he told them that contrary winds had once carried him to Libya, where he had gone ashore on a certain island which was named Platea. So they hired this man's services, and took him back with them to Thera. A few persons then sailed from Thera to reconnoitre. Guided by Corobius to the island of Platea, they left him there with provisions for a certain number of months, and returned home with all speed to give their countrymen an account of the island.

[4.152] During their absence, which was prolonged beyond the time that had been agreed upon, Corobius provisions failed him. He was relieved, however, after a while by a Samian vessel, under the command of a man named Colaeus, which, on its way to Egypt, was forced to put in at Platea. The crew, informed by Corobius of all the circumstances, left him sufficient food for a year. They themselves quitted the island; and, anxious to reach Egypt, made sail in that direction, but were carried out of their course by a gale of wind from the east. The storm not abating, they were driven past the Pillars of Hercules, and at last, by some special guiding providence, reached Tartessus.

This trading town was in those days a virgin port, unfrequented by the merchants. The Samians, in consequence, made by the return voyage a profit greater than any Greeks before their day, excepting Sostratus, son of Laodamas, an Eginetan, with whom no one else can compare. From the tenth part of their gains, amounting to six talents, the Samians made a brazen vessel, in shape like an Argive wine-bowl, adorned with the heads of griffins standing out in high relief. This bowl, supported by three kneeling colossal figures in bronze, of the height of seven cubits, was placed as an offering in the temple of Juno at Samos. The aid given to Corobius was the original cause of that close friendship which afterwards united the Cyrenaeans and Theraeans with the Samians.

[4.153] The Theraeans who had left Corobius at Platea, when they reached Thera, told their countrymen that they had colonised an island on the coast of Libya. They of Thera, upon this, resolved that men should be sent to join the colony from each of their seven districts, and that the brothers in every family should draw lots to determine who were to go. Battus was chosen to be king and leader of the colony. So these men departed for Platea on board of two penteconters.

[4.154] Such is the account which the Theraeans give. In the sequel of the history their accounts tally with those of the people of Cyrene; but in what they relate of Battus these two nations differ most widely. The following is the Cyrenaic story. There was once a king named Etearchus, who ruled over Axus, a city in Crete, and had a daughter named Phronima. This girl's mother having died, Etearchus married a second wife; who no sooner took up her abode in his house than she proved a true step-mother to poor Phronima, always vexing her, and contriving against her every sort of mischief. At last she taxed her with light conduct; and Etearchus, persuaded by his wife that the charge was true, bethought himself of a most barbarous mode of punishment.

There was a certain Theraean, named Themison, a merchant, living at Axus. This man Etearchus invited to be his friend and guest, and then induced him to swear that he would do him any service he might require. No sooner had he given the promise, than the king fetched Phronima, and, delivering her into his hands, told him to carry her away and throw her into the sea. Hereupon Themison, full of indignation at the fraud whereby his oath had been procured, dissolved forthwith the friendship, and, taking the girl with him, sailed away from Crete. Having reached the open main, to acquit himself of the obligation under which he was laid by his oath to Etearchus, he fastened ropes about the damsel, and, letting her down into the sea, drew her up again, and so made sail for Thera.

[4.155] At Thera, Polymnestus, one of the chief citizens of the place, took Phronima to be his concubine. The fruit of this union was a son, who stammered and had a lisp in his speech. According to the Cyrenaeans and Theraeans the name given to the boy was Battus: in my opinion, however, he was called at the first something else, and only got the name of Battus after his arrival in Libya, assuming it either in consequence of the words addressed to him by the Delphian oracle, or on account of the office which he held. For, in the Libyan tongue, the word 'Battus' means 'a king.' And this, I think, was the reason the Pythoness addressed him as she did: she he was to be a king in Libya, and so she used the Libyan word in speaking to him. For after he had grown to man's estate, he made a journey to Delphi, to consult the oracle about his voice; when, upon his putting his question, the Pythoness thus replied to him:-

Battus, thou camest to ask of thy voice; but Phoebus Apollo
Bids thee establish a city in Libya, abounding in fleeces;

which was as if she had said in her own tongue, 'King, thou camest to ask of thy voice.' Then he replied, 'Mighty lord, I did indeed come hither to consult thee about my voice, but thou speakest to me of quite other matters, bidding me colonise Libya - an impossible thing! what power have I? what followers?' Thus he spake, but he did not persuade the Pythoness to give him any other response; so, when he found that she persisted in her former answer, he left her speaking, and set out on his return to Thera.

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[4.156] After a while, everything began to go wrong both with Battus and with the rest of the Theraeans, whereupon these last, ignorant of the cause of their sufferings, sent to Delphi to inquire for what reason they were afflicted. The Pythoness in reply told them 'that if they and Battus would make a settlement at Cyrene in Libya, things would go better with them.' Upon this the Theraeans sent out Battus with two penteconters, and with these he proceeded to Libya, but within a little time, not knowing what else to do, the men returned and arrived off Thera. The Theraeans, when they saw the vessels approaching, received them with showers of missiles, would not allow them to come near the shore, and ordered the men to sail back from whence they came. Thus compelled to return, they settled on an island near the Libyan coast, which (as I have already said) was called Platea. In size it is reported to have been about equal to the city of Cyrene, as it now stands.

[4.157] In this place they continued two years, but at the end of that time, as their ill luck still followed them, they left the island to the care of one of their number, and went in a body to Delphi, where they made complaint at the shrine to the effect that, notwithstanding they had colonised Libya, they prospered as poorly as before. Hereon the Pythoness made them the following answer:-

Knowest thou better than I, fair Libya abounding in fleeces?
Better the stranger than he who has trod it? Oh! Clever Theraeans!

Battus and his friends, when they heard this, sailed back to Platea: it was plain the god would not hold them acquitted of the colony till they were absolutely in Libya. So, taking with them the man whom they had left upon the island, they made a settlement on the mainland directly opposite Platea, fixing themselves at a place called Aziris, which is closed in on both sides by the most beautiful hills, and on one side is washed by a river.

[4.158] Here they remained six years, at the end of which time the Libyans induced them to move, promising that they would lead them to a better situation. So the Greeks left Aziris and were conducted by the Libyans towards the west, their journey being so arranged, by the calculation of their guides, that they passed in the night the most beautiful district of that whole country, which is the region called Irasa. The Libyans brought them to a spring, which goes by the name of Apollo's fountain, and told them - 'Here, Grecians, is the proper place for you to settle; for here the sky leaks.'

[4.159] During the lifetime of Battus, the founder of the colony, who reigned forty years, and during that of his son Arcesilaus, who reigned sixteen, the Cyrenaeans continued at the same level, neither more nor fewer in number than they were at the first. But in the reign of the third king, Battus, surnamed the Happy, the advice of the Pythoness brought Greeks from every quarter into Libya, to join the settlement. The Cyrenaeans had offered to all comers a share in their lands; and the oracle had spoken as follows:-

He that is backward to share in the pleasant Libyan acres,
Sooner or later, I warn him, will feel regret at his folly.

Thus a great multitude were collected together to Cyrene, and the Libyans of the neighbourhood found themselves stripped of large portions of their lands. So they, and their king Adicran, being robbed and insulted by the Cyrenaeans, sent messengers to Egypt, and put themselves under the rule of Apries, the Egyptian monarch; who, upon this, levied a vast army of Egyptians, and sent them against Cyrene. The inhabitants of that place left their walls and marched out in force to the district of Irasa, where, near the spring called Theste, they engaged the Egyptian host, and defeated it. The Egyptians, who had never before made trial of the prowess of the Greeks, and so thought but meanly of them, were routed with such slaughter that but a very few of them ever got back home. For this reason, the subjects of Apries, who laid the blame of the defeat on him, revolted from his authority.

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Thera

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Thera/Santorini are islands that are the remnants of a volcanic caldera located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (68 mi) to the south, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami.

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