Exploring an Ancient City on the Greek Island of Delos

This is the incredible Greek island of Delos. Hey there, Kallispera. Good afternoon. This is Mykonos town. Walking through the winding maze. On my way to... Catch a boat over to the island of Delos. Uninhabited island. Nobody lives there. But there are the ruins of an ancient city that I am very much looking forward to exploring and learning more about. Excuse me. The ferry leaves at 5 o'clock or I guess not really a ferry, probably a fairly small little boat. It is maybe 4.40 right now. I still need to buy the ticket. I asked them yesterday. They said there should be tickets still available. It doesn't go in the afternoon, just at 10 in the morning and 5 p.m. Oh my god. It is 25 euros round trip. Goes there at 5, comes back at 8 p.m. So it takes about 30 minutes each way and then you'll have a couple of hours to explore. Not quite sure what to expect as far as how it works getting around the island. You can also pay for a guided tour but I just wanted to do it on my own. So let's try not to get too lost in the maze. I've been to Mykonos several times before so I pretty much know where I'm going. Got to take a right up here and get to the old port where the boat leaves from. All right, let's do it. Delos. The lovely bay. It is a windy day. There is the line for the boat. Not a long line, so that's a good sign. I should probably take this hat off before I lose it. All right, here we go. So this is Delos. My 53rd Greek island uninhabited. It is an archaeological site. As you can see here, just tons and tons of ancient ruins. The history here is just phenomenal. As you saw there, Greek on that sign, no English. So far not seeing any informational signs. You can see a big building way up there. So I have like two and a half hours to just wander around here. I have a map but I don't know how necessary it will be. Seems like just go, walk. You can see everything and wow. More columns up there. So the general idea of the island. I have the page for Delos on my phone, the Wikipedia page. And so I will be giving more information as we explore around here. The general overview is that the island has been inhabited by humans, except not now, but previously, since around the 3rd millennium BC. And then at one point then, they designated it a sacred island for religious worship. And so it wasn't a living town in the same way as a regular town. They banned the burial of bodies here. There were bodies buried here and then they exhumed them, took them out of the ground and took them elsewhere. And then banned the burial of any further bodies. And also giving birth was banned here. So it has a very, very unique history and a lot of cats it seems. So we have more modern buildings up there. So I have no idea what those are, but maybe, you know, places for researchers to live, people who are excavating, etc. We do have some arrows, but I'm surprised by the complete lack of information. Let's just shoot for the magnificent looking building there. Go for the good stuff. Figure out how to get up there. So it looks like it's going to be basically a hiking adventure. Huh. Hiking adventure. Can we get to the top of that hill? It's sure looking like it. There seems to be, like, a path and a really steep slant going up there. So, all right, I think that that is the mission. Big wall there, it looks like. Let's shoot for that first. See if I can do it in the time that we have. And then, if I have time left over, come back and explore a bit more of this stuff around here. So, all right. So this path seems to be working out. I passed a couple of guys with, like, rolling suitcases who seemed to be researchers and asked one of them, is this going up there? And he said yes. So, looking good. Oh, wow, this is just unreal. Definitely looking like the most amazing site of ancient Greek ruins, Greek or Roman, that I've been to. Especially that thing. Whoa. So, of course, it would have been very informative to have gone on one of the tours. No way was I going to go on a tour of this place if I didn't have to, because, first of all, I don't want to be surrounded by a big group of, like, 20 or 30 people or whatever. I want to be able to just experience it like this, on my own, nobody else around me, and be able to walk where I want to walk when I want to walk there. Maybe the tour group isn't going up to the top of that. Those steps look so amazing. They're just, like, so severe. And then, also, one of the problems with filming a tour is that, you know, there's going to be a lot of talking, and then you end up with so much footage of talking it is such a nightmare to edit, trying to figure out what to keep, etc. So, yes, it would be nice to get all of the information from a tour, but I want more of the feeling, the experience of walking through these on my own, just kind of tripping out, and then I have the information on Wikipedia to add some context. So, at least we have some English here. Temple of Isis. So that's what this is. And we got a sign over here, it looks like. Any information on it? Okay. It's a map. Central part of the archaeological site. So look at all this. Greek there. English here. Sacred port. One. So, probably that is where we landed. Where is number one? 81, 80, 79, 68, 45, 46, 54. One. Commercial ports. Agora of the Competialists. Stoa of Philip V. Sacred Way. South Stoa. Agora of the Delians. Propolis. Workshops of the Andridae. Agora of the Italians. So you can see there is just so much here. Okay. Let's keep the eyes open for some written language. I'm guessing we'll find both Greek and Latin. But so far, I don't think that I've seen any written language on any of the stones here. There must be another temple here. And a sarcophagus. Herion. Whatever a herion is. And there the steps begin. Almost there, it looks like. So maybe I'll wait until I get down where it will be less windy to read some more information about Delos here. Okay, is this the top? Yes. Oh wow, so there's lots to explore, but it seems that basically all of the ancient ruins are there. Maybe a few other scattered sites around the island. So there's one end. There's the other end. Okay, where's some language? Was it part of the sacred aspect of the purpose of the island that for some reason they don't have any written words? Mykonos. We just came from there. Over there, there's the boat. They were rough seas at certain points. It was really, like, way over. Doesn't look too ancient there. I guess that is the highest point, yep. Look at that. That very well could be part of the ancient site. So it's probably safe to guess that this was one of the sites for sacred rituals. Talking to a camera here. Here you got a bunch of old blocks and... Oh, we got some language finally. Yeah, they turned the glass into fire. Well, this is the language on the stone, the ancient Greek. Yeah. Yeah, so this is definitely Greek language here. Where are you from? New York. Okay. California. Okay. How long in Greece? About a week. Okay. You? So far, three weeks and about one more week. Oh, nice. Yeah. What have you liked so far? Everything. I've been on the mainland. I rented a car. Yeah. Twice, actually. Once at Athens Airport and went to Avia Island, Andros Tinos, and then flew to Thessaloniki and then did a northern Greece road trip. Yeah, in the north. Yeah. And it was all really, really good. And then Athens and then just came out here and then Santorini tomorrow. Oh, nice. Yeah. Santorini's a bit packed. I went to Santorini before. It's a bit packed. Yeah, it shouldn't be so bad now because it's a little bit early in the season. Mykonos, I've been to Mykonos when it was, you know, more high season. It was a lot more crowded in the town than it is even now. So now's a good time. It's starting to warm up. How long have you been to Santorini for? Four days. Okay, nice. Yeah. Rent a car. Yeah, for sure. Rent a car. I can barely drive, so. Okay. There's no car rental for me. If I could rent a car, this would be a lot better. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I've been there before to Santorini. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of the best for sure. Were you there on this trip or? Yeah, on this trip. I was there and I came from there to here. I see. And I'm trying to figure out what to do from here. I want to see if I want to come back here tomorrow, see more Mykonos or go to Naxos. Naxos is good. Yeah. Definitely recommend it. Yeah. It's a little more authentic than Mykonos. Yeah. This is more party, party, party, right? Yeah. And just more jam-packed with tourists in general. Naxos has more of a authentic, you know, Greek islands population as far as locals. But it's also, you know, touristy too. But there's a lot to see. Yeah. Great beaches and then cool villages and stuff like that. Yeah. But I gotta figure out if I want to take the early boat there or spend the day here or go back to Athens. I'd love to try to drive to the Romani Peninsula. But I can't. I wanted to do that one as well. I've heard good things. There's so much to see in Greece. Yeah. There's a ton to see. Yeah. I guess this is kind of the end of the road up here. Yeah. It looks like it. Just a bunch of blocks. All right. Let's head back down the mountain. So I was about to start reading some more information about the site here. And then saw those rocks that seem to be kind of a tunnel. Let's get up there. There's also a rock wall. I hadn't seen that from the top because it just looks like a jumble of rocks. What the heck is that? So there is sort of a path here. Going right towards it. So that, obviously, man-made structure. But I suspect that what else I was seeing is as well. In which case, it looked very temple-like. Yeah, so this is a substantial path. All right. Here we go. Moment of truth. What the heck is this? Boom! Oh my god. Look at that. Easily missed that. Oh man. Steps going up. Look at this. Big sacred pillar or whatever. Oh my gosh. So maybe that was added later to keep it together. Whoa. This is unreal. Gotta be a temple. Altar. Oh man. I would love to know what was going on inside here for the past 3,000 or whatever years. Unreal. A couple of indentations with a little line. The same thing. Must be... Oh, and here as well. I would guess something, you know, dripping liquid. Was it for some sort of sacrifice? Or just a wild guess. But the fact that there are three of those all kind of the same idea. Circle. Line. Definitely looks quite intentional. Ooh. We have some language, but... Whoa. So it looks like we have Greek and... Is that English or Latin? Hmm. Because this part is looking more Latin-like. Sina something es grato. They're definitely Greek. Aion. A without the crossbar. So, that's not an A. Something else. But they're the Greek symbol that looks sort of like an E. So definitely Greek there. And what about this? Definitely Greek here, I think. But then here... Actually, maybe this is Latin. Ducine. Sinideos grato. And then that's two-faded. Wow. So that very well could be from the Greco-Roman era. Later. After the earliest history of the Greek era, and then, of course, the Romans conquered, and the two cultures fused, you know, merged together to a great extent. Unless it's something more recent there, but... Unbelievable. So the island of Delos, near Mykonos, close to the center of the Kykladis Archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are among the most extensive in the Mediterranean. Ongoing work takes place under the direction of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kykladis, and many of the artifacts found are on display at the Archaeological Museum of Delos and the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Delos had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. From its sacred harbor, the horizon shows the three conical mounds that have identified landscapes sacred to a goddess, presumably Athena, in other sites. One retaining its pre-Greek name, Mount Synthes, is crowned with a sanctuary of Zeus. So perhaps that was the Mount Synthes. House of the Dolphins. Okay, we have some mosaics. Oh, wow, look at that one in the middle. Can we get a closer view of it? A little bit. Yes, oh, yeah. Dolphins, oh my god. Two on each corner. Oh, man. What a civilization constructing something like this 2,000, 2,500, 3,000 years ago. And so what is this? It looks more recent, but maybe this was reconstructed from stones lying around. Yes, must be, because it has a sign. And so, Maison des Mosques. So that's French now. Kind of random sign. Okay, yeah, we have columns. Okay, oh, looks like we probably have more mosaics here. Yes, not super intricate, but still phenomenal. Made with different colored stones so that it doesn't fade. Same as I've seen in many other Greek sites. And this one, more artistic. Oh, wow. Okay, we have humans and animals. And must be more over here. A little bit kind of mysterious why that isn't, you know, washed away. It's not like it would take any time. I guess they just can't kind of keep up with everything. Looks like there might have been some recent damage to the wall falling down on that. Maybe earthquake or winter storms. This one also really covered over with dust. Investigations of ancient stone huts found on the island indicate that it has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium B.C., so more than 4,000 years ago. Who sighted these identifies the original inhabitants as piratical carrions who were eventually expelled by King Minos of Crete. By the writing of the Odyssey, so the Odyssey and the Iliad by Homer, the island was already famous as the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis. Although some confusion seems to exist of Artemis' birthplace being either Delos or the island of Ortigia. Between 900 B.C. and 100 A.D., Delos was a major cult center where the gods Dionysus and Leto, mother of the twin deities Apollo and Artemis, were revered. Eventually acquiring pan-Hellenic religious significance, Delos was initially a religious pilgrimage for the Ionians. Wow, deep pit there. And that is not natural. You have a solid wall there that looks almost like cement with rocks behind it. And then here, rocks. So likely a water tank, I would guess. After the Persian Wars, the island became the natural meeting ground for the Delian League. Founded in 478 B.C., the congresses being held in the temple, a separate quarter was reserved for foreigners and the sanctuaries of foreign deities. The League's common treasury was kept here as well until 454 B.C. when Pericles removed it to Athens. During the Hellenistic period, a well-established Phoenician colony on the island had extensive trade relations. The island had no productive capacity for food, fiber, or timber, which were all imported. Limited water was exploited with an extensive cistern and aqueduct system. Looks like that's what we just saw. Wells and sanitary drains. Various regions operated agore, markets. That says hotelery. Does that mean hotel? So the Roman period. Strabo states that in 166 B.C., the Romans converted Delos into a free port, which was partially motivated by seeking to damage the trade of roads at the time the target of Roman hostility. In 167 or 166 B.C., after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War, the Roman Republic ceded the island of Delos to the Athenians, who expelled most of the original inhabitants. Roman traders came to purchase tens of thousands of slaves captured by the Cilician pirates or captured in the wars following the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire. It became the center of the slave trade, with the largest slave market in the larger region being maintained here. The Roman destruction of Corinth in 146 B.C. So Corinth on the mainland of Greece, the Corinth Canal, allowed Delos to at least partially assume Corinth's role as the premier trading center of Greece. But Delos' commercial prosperity, construction, activity, and population waned significantly after the island was assaulted by... Oh, okay, we got people here. Oh, the theater. After the island was assaulted by the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus in 88 and 69 B.C. during the Mithridatic Wars with Rome before the end of the 1st century B.C., trade routes had changed. Delos was replaced by Puteoli, the chief focus of Italian trade with the east, and as a cold center, it entered a sharp decline. Despite its decline, Delos maintained some population in the early Roman imperial period, writing in the 2nd century A.D., Pausanias states that Delos was uninhabited apart from a few custodians of these sanctuaries. So it looks like that was the tour group, and the guide was giving a speech here, or a talk. So look at this here. Kind of like the Roman Colosseum, the tunnels, rooms underneath. What were they for? Maybe for perhaps gladiatorial combat or actors to get dressed or something? And so we have some information about the theater here. Delos Theater. Initially, the stage building of Delos Theater was wooden construction, and the spectators were seating on the slope of the low hill. Construction of the stone theater began around 296 B.C.E., so a really old one. The theater was completed around 240 B.C.E., and was totally abandoned after the destruction of 88 B.C.E. When construction began on the theater, there were no houses in the surrounding district. Gradually, the houses began to climb up from the sea until they were just a few meters away from the colon and the scheme. Some of the mosaics around, I guess. The House with the Trident. The House of the Trident is a lavish dwelling with a Rhodian peristyle. In this type of peristyle, the colonnade in front of the main rooms is higher, allowing these rooms to be higher, too, and to receive more light. And so this is the House of the Trident. Just an absolutely incredible sight here, and one of those places that really just evokes the past and the civilization that they, you know, they built. What they created here, absolutely phenomenal, the kind of spirituality they had, the gods, the sacredness of building just these magnificent temples, and the care and effort and everything put into creating all of these stone blocks and structures that have certainly stood the test of time. Let's take another look over here. Looks like one more kind of taller column structure back in there. So an exedre, whatever that is, looks kind of like somewhere for people to sit and discuss, maybe. This place just goes on and on. So many ancient ruins. But still, pretty consistently, very little written word. OK, we have a sign here. The Oikos and the Colossus of the Naxians, built in the early 6th BC century Outside the northwest corner of the building is the huge marble base that supported the towering Colossus of the Naxians, a statue of Apollo, approximately 9 meters in height, dating to the early 6th century BC. The god was depicted in the Koros type, nude frontally with long hair, sturdy shoulders, and the left foot placed slightly in front of the right. In his hands he held either a bow and arrows or the three graces. So I guess like that. And here we have some writing. Looks like Greek. Not Latin. So this is where all the signs are, in this area. Temple of the Delians, or Great Temple. Founded by the treasury of the Delian League, began in about 476 BC, interrupted in 454 BC when the treasury was transferred to Athens. Work began again during the period of independence after 314 BC. Wow, so it took well over a century, but was never completed, and the columns were never finished. Oh, inside the temple was the cult statue of the god and many centuries worth of precious offerings which transformed it into a kind of museum of the sanctuary's history. So, the god Apollo. The Poros Temple. The oldest temple of Apollo. The Poros Temple, or Poronos Oikos, was built of porous stone during either the period of the Athenian tyrant Peisistratus, or that of his sons, in the late 6th century BC. And we have some symbols. Looks like a bull's head. Columns, maybe representing entrance to a building. Not sure what that is. A wheel-like symbol. One of the local residents here. Not the guy up there. Maybe he's a resident, but... One of many cats. Napping. They look like... They could be siblings, all the same color. Except this one. Oh! I'm glad that I continued walking this way. We have strange-looking beasts. The Lions of the Naxians. The statues of the lions were dedicated by the Naxians. Hello! Are you one of the lions? You look very ferocious. About the end of the 7th century BC, or according to other scholars in the late 6th century BC, within the context of a grandiose building program, which was to demonstrate the supremacy of Naxos, so Naxos is a nearby island, to all Hellenic pilgrims. During the Hellenistic era, when the island's sanctity gave way to an intensely commercial and cosmopolitan atmosphere, it is very likely that the statues were moved farther south so that the new inhabitants could build their ostentatiously luxurious houses. The terrace was probably destroyed early in the 1st century BC since parts of the lions were used as construction material on the wall built in 67 BC by the Roman Gaius Triarius to protect whatever had survived the attack of Athenodorus' pirates. Getting close to time, yeah? Okay, that's perfect. Three to four minutes, just enough time to take a quick look here. The lions. And just get a quick shot of the pillars there. Okay, that is it for Delos. Just incredible. Now, boat ride back to Mykonos, meeting up with Anna for dinner, and then tomorrow, Santorini. Oh, it's huge. Yes, I made it to the top of the hill, at least. Saw the amphitheater, all the best stuff, I think. Is this your first time in Greece? No, 11th time. I keep coming back. Ah, so you love Greece. Yes, exactly. I was in Philippi a few days ago, Philippoi near Kavala. Yes, Philippoi. And Vergina. Very nice, have a nice time. Thank you very much, you too. Take care, bye bye.