Delos

Introduction

Delos is a sacred, glorious ancient Greek sacred-island ruin in the Aegean—in Greek myth the birthplace of the sun god, once the religious and commercial center of the Aegean, now a grand archaeological site, hailed as the museum island of the Aegean. Delos sits in the Aegean near Mykonos, quickly reachable by boat from Mykonos. This small island held an extremely sacred and important place in the ancient Greek world—by Greek myth it is the birthplace of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis, thus regarded as one of the most sacred islands of the Aegean, an important religious sanctuary and pilgrimage center of ancient Greece; meanwhile, by its central Aegean position, it was also a very prosperous commercial port and center in antiquity. After glorious ages, Delos is now a grand, important archaeological site (uninhabited, the whole island is ruins), listed as a World Heritage Site. Stepping onto this sacred island is like entering an open-air ancient museum: the island is scattered with many ancient Greek remains—the temple complex of Apollo, the famous Terrace of the Lions (a row of archaic marble lion statues guarding the Sacred Lake, solemn and majestic), the ancient theater, the stadium, and the once-prosperous marketplace and houses (some retaining fine mosaic floors), grand in scale and rich in remains, vividly showing the glory of ancient Greek civilization. Climbing the island's highest point overlooks the whole ruin island and the surrounding Aegean. Visiting Mykonos, taking a boat to the sacred Delos and recalling the glory of ancient Greek civilization is a historically rich sight.

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