Thera

Thera, island, southernmost island of the Cyclades (Modern Greek: Kykládes) group, southeastern Greece, in the Aegean Sea, sometimes included in the Southern Sporades group. It constitutes a dímos (municipality) within the South Aegean (Nótio Aigaío) periféreia (region).

Geologically, Thera is the remaining eastern half of an exploded volcano. Its bow-shaped rim and the remnant isles of Thirasía and Aspronísi form an open lagoon that measures 37 miles (60 km) in circumference. In the centre of the lagoon are two active volcanic islets, Néa Kaméni (“New Burnt Island”) and Palaía Kaméni (“Old Burnt Island”). Thera proper consists largely of lava and pumice, the latter of which is the island’s main export. Red-wine grapes are also grown. The lagoon is rimmed by red-, white-, and black-striped volcanic cliffs rising to almost 1,000 feet (300 metres). The summit of Thera is the 1,857-foot (566-metre) limestone Mount Profítis Ilías in the southeast. The chief town, Thíra (locally called Firá), was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1956. Other settlements include Emboríon and Pírgos to the south and the port of Oía at the north entrance to the lagoon, which was destroyed by the 1956 earthquake.

Known as Calliste (“Most Beautiful”) in antiquity, Thera was occupied before 2000 bce. One of the largest volcanic eruptions known occurred on the island. This is thought to have occurred about 1500 bce, although, based on evidence obtained during the 1980s from a Greenland ice-core and from tree-ring and radiocarbon dating, some scholars believe that it occurred earlier, during the 1620s bce. Ash and pumice from the eruption have been found as far away as Egypt and Israel, and there has been speculation that the eruption was the source of the legend of Atlantis and of stories in the Old Testament book of Exodus.

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Islands and Archipelagos

During the Bronze Age the island of Crete, some 70 miles (110 km) south of Thera, was the centre of Minoan civilization. About 1450 bce most major settlements in central and southern Crete were destroyed by fire and abandoned. In 1939 the Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos suggested that the eruption on Thera had led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization; his theory was widely accepted. During the 1980s, however, archaeologists found evidence that Minoan culture continued to flourish for some time after the eruption. Archaeological evidence also indicated that the amounts of ash from the eruption that fell on Crete were not enough to cause significant damage to crops or buildings.

About the beginning of the 1st millennium bce, Dorian settlers from the mainland landed on Thera. About 630 the important Theran colony of Cyrene was settled on the north coast of Africa, in accord with a command of the Delphic oracle. From 308 to 145 the island, a member of the Cycladic League, was a Ptolemaic protectorate.

From that period date many of the ruins of the ancient city of Thera, unearthed (1895–1903) by a German archaeologist on the east coast. The earliest excavations by the French School at Athens (1869) uncovered a Middle Minoan, or Cycladic (c. 2000–c. 1570 bce), city beneath the pumice at the northern tip of Thirasía. Of even greater significance was the excavation begun by Marinatos during the 1960s south of Akrotíri village, which revealed a rich Minoan city buried under the volcanic debris just as it stood at the time of the eruption. The city (still being excavated) consisted of large, well-built, multi-story houses that contain some of the finest Minoan frescoes found in the Mediterranean. The discoveries show that strong links existed during the Bronze Age between Crete and Thera. Pop. (2001) 13,725; (2011) 15,550.