The Significant Importance of the Minoan Explosion on Santorini’s History:
Comprising approximately twenty-eght square miles, Santorini is the southernmost Cyclade Island, and has a giant, rectangularly-shaped, 1,300 foot deep caldera, surrounded on three sides by high cliffs standing about 980 feet tall, making it a safe harbor for ships.
Part of a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands, and also known as Ancient Thera, Santorini is what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion of historic porportions. Santorini is the most active volcano in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc and became volcanically active some four million years ago.
One of the world’s largest volcanic eruptions, the Minoan Explosion, occurred about 3,600 years ago, at the height of the Minoan Civilization. The volcanic rocks found on Santorini consist of olivine, a magnesium iron silicate, and homblende, a dark amphibole.
The Minoan Explosion of Santorini, then known as Thera, was a catastrophic volcanic eruption. Before the volcano exploded the walls of the cadera formed a ring of islands with the entrance laying between Thera and Aspronisi. The cataclysmic eruption centered on a small island north of Nea Kameni. The northern part of the caldera was refilled with volcanic ash and lava then collapsed again.
Since no bodies have ever been recovered from Akrotini, the main city on Ancient Thera at the time of the Minoan Explosion, dating to that eruption it is believed the population of the city had enough advanced warning to vacate the premises before the eruption occurred.
A tsunami was generated by the explosion that decimated the north coast of Crete, sixty-eight miles away, and impacted coastal areas such as Amnisos and Anafi. Current estimates establish the period from 1627BC to 1600BC as the time the Minoan Explosion happened. Significant climate changes in the Eastern Mediterranean region may have been another result of the Minoan Explosion.
The First Phase of the eruption was the plinian ejection of pumice and ash. Magma was also produced that reached the earth’s stratosphere. The Second Phase of the eruption allowed seawater to flood the crater causing violent steam explosions as water met the hot magma. Dense steam-and-ash-rich clouds spread over the island and adjacent ocean. Phase Three of the explosion created hot pyroclastic volcanic ash, pumice, and gas flows on the slopes of the volcano that spread over the entire island and ocean surface, and Phase Four of the eruption was the most violent of them all with pyroclastic flows over the adjoining islands and into the Aegean Sea.
Santorini remained unoccupied after the Minoan Explosion for the rest of the Greek Stone Age. In the 1200sBC the Phoenicians founded Kallista on Thera. In the 9th Century BC the Dorians founded the main Hellenic city on Mese Vouno, which is now known as Ancient Thera, and Ancient stone writings found at the Temple of Apollo show the Dorians practiced pederasty with their eromenos, the young boys they had love relationships with.
Ancient Thera colonized a number of cities in North Africa including Cyrene in Modern Day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest of the five Greek cities that were established in the region, and gave eastern Libya the Classical name of Cyrenaica, which it maintains today.
Thera did not join the Delian League with Athens in the 5th Century BC, and Thera sided with Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars. Athens captured Thera during these wars but lost it in the Battle of Aegospotami. The Roman and Byzantine Empires ruled Thera, and the Ottoman Turks settled the island in 1579. In the 13th Century the Venetians annexed Thera to the Duchy of Naxos and renamed it Santorini.
Akrotiri:
Akrotiri, the Minoan Civilization Bronze Age settlement located on Ancient Thera, was buried by the Minoan Explosion and is well preserved. Akrotiri is a famous excavation site for artifacts and frescas, and is wellknown for its pottery, furniture, advanced drainage systems, and three-storied buildings which have been displayed in the Museum of Prehistoric Thera.
Thera is the best known Minoan site located outside of Crete, and had a large textile weaving Trade between 3000BC and 2000BC. Pipes with running water, water closets, and flush toilets have been found in Akrotiri and are the oldest discovered. Saffron Gatherers, with their famous uses of crocus, were the most influential style of painters in Akrotiri. Akrotiri was also one of the Aegean Sea’s major Bronze Age ports with artifacts found from Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt.
Ancient Names of Santorini include Kallista, “The Most Beautiful One,” and Strongyle, “The Circular One”. Settlements found on Santorini include Fira, the capital city of Santorini, as well as Oia, Empario, Perissa, Imerovigli, and Pyrgos. Santorini is also composed of the island of Therasia, and the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Asperonisi, and Christiana.
Wines:
Tourism is the leading major industry on the island. Santorini has a small wine industry as well based on the Assyrtiko grapes crop. Atheri and Aidani are minor grapes Santorini wine is also made from. Vinsanto, a sweet, strong, dessert wine made from the very best grapes grown, with a long barrel aging of up to twenty-five years, is the premium wine produced on the island. Vinsanto’s dark amber-orange wine has worldwide acclaim for its citrus overtones layered with overtones of figs, nuts, honies, raisins, and teas.
Produce:
Santorini also has prized produce. The island’s cherry tomatoes are world renouned for being extremely sweet and flavorful. Santorini Fava is a puree made of hulled, sun-dried, and boiled legume lathyrus sativas considered the best in the world. White eggplants are very sweet on Santorini and have few seeds. Katsounis are unique local varieties of large cucumbers cultivated on the island, that left unpicked, turn yellow and become sweet.
Beaches:
Santorini was built on the remnants of a volcanic cone whose top was blown off. The beach sand colors on the island depend on which layer is exposed. Some beaches on Santorini are sandy, and others are made of pebbles from solidified lava, including the Red Beach, the Black Beach, and the White Beach. Water at the darker colored beaches on Santorini are significantly warmer because the lava acts as a heat absorber.
In 1707 an undersea volcano formed the current center of activity at Nea Kameni and eruptions on it still occur, the latest one being in 1950. In 1956 Santorini was struck by a massive earthquake. Steam and sulfur are given off by this volcano.
Architecture:
Santorini architecture is Cycladic with whitewashed, or limewashed, low-lying cubical houses of various volcanic ash colors. The unique characteristic of the island’s architecture is the use of hyposkapha extensions of the houses dug into the surrounding pumice. This makes these rooms prized for the high insulation provided by the air-filled pumice and for wine cellaring of the Kavana Wineries of Santorini.
Airport:
Santorini has one of the Cyclades few major airports, the Santorini (Thera) National Airport, that is located southest of the city of Thira. The airport can accommodate the world’s largest aircraft. Santorini National Airport is serviced by Olympic Airlines, Aegean Airlines, and Athens Airways. During the busiest tourist season of the Summer months several charter airlines also provide flight services to the island.
Sources:
This Article was compiled from several websites that provide much more information about Santorini vacations including:
