Kea Κέα | |
|---|---|
 Kea Island | |
 | |
  Kea | |
| Coordinates:37°37′23″N24°20′12″E / 37.62306°N 24.33667°E /37.62306; 24.33667 | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | South Aegean |
| Regional unit | Kea-Kythnos |
| Seat | Ioulis |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Eirini Velissaropoulou[1] (since 2019) |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 148.9 km2 (57.5 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 562 m (1,844 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2021)[2] | |
• Municipality | 2,346 |
| • Density | 15.76/km2 (40.81/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 840 02 |
| Area code | 22880 |
| Vehicle registration | ΕΜ |
| Website | kea |
Kea (Greek:Κέα), also known asTzia (Greek:Τζιά) and inantiquityKeos (Greek:Κέως,Latin:Ceos), is aGreekisland in theCycladesarchipelago in theAegean Sea. Kea is part of theKea-Kythnos regional unit.
It is theisland of the Cyclades complex that is closest toAttica (about 1 hour by ferry fromLavrio) and is also 20 km (12 mi) fromCape Sounio as well as 60 km (37 mi) SE ofAthens. Its climate isarid, and its terrain is hilly. Kea is 19 km (12 mi) long from north to south and 9 km (6 mi) wide from west to east. The area is 128.9 km2 (49.8 sq mi) with the highest point being 560 m (1,837 ft)above sea level. The municipality, which includes the islandMakronisos, has an area of 148.926 km2 (57.501 sq mi).[3]
Its capital,Ioulis, is inland at a high altitude (like most ancient Cycladic settlements, for fear ofpirates) and is considered quite picturesque. Other major villages of Kea are the port of Korissia and the fishing village ofVourkari. After suffering depopulation for many decades, Kea has been recently rediscovered byAthenians as a convenient destination for weekend andyachting trips. The population in 2019 was 2,568.[4]
Kephala, Kea was a Late/Final Neolithic settlement on Kea. It is located on a rocky promontory in the northern part of Kea. The Final Neolithic of the Cyclades is fully represented here. It is the only significant open settlement of this period. This means a settlement with free-standing structures that is not protected by a wall.
Some sites in Attica, such as Athens andThorikos, and inAegina, seem to be related to Kephala. The Final Neolithic Period in southern Greece is known asAttica-Kephala culture.
Kephala has been recently dated to about 4600-4500 BC, but the Attica-Kephala culture may have continued later, even in the 4th millennium BC, such as up to 3500 BC.[5]
The Neolithic community of Kephala may have consisted of 45-80 people. They farmed cereals and kept sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. But fishing was also important.[6]
Pottery was covered with a red slip and decorated by burnishing.[7] Their tools were also manufactured ofobsidian that came from the island ofMelos. They also made marble vases.
On the slope of the promontory, a little lower than the settlement, acist grave cemetery was found. The walls of the graves were made of small flat stones, and each had several burials. Children were commonly buried in pottery jars (pithoi). The cemetery may have been in use for about 150 years.
Evidence for metalworking was found, one of the earliest occurrences in the Aegean. Fragments of claycrucibles and small copper artifacts were discovered. The copper that was used at Kephala may have come from the mines inLavrion in eastern Attica.[8]
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Kea is the location of aBronze Age settlement at the site now calledAyia Irini, which reached its height in the LateMinoan and EarlyMycenaean eras (1600–1400 BC).
In theArchaic period, the island was divided between four city-states (poleis):Ioulis,Karthaia,Poieessa andKoressos.
During the classical period, Kea (Ceos) was the home ofSimonides and of his nephewBacchylides, both ancient Greeklyricpoets, of the SophistProdicus, and of the physicianErasistratus. The inhabitants were known for offering sacrifices to the Dog Star,Sirius, and toZeus to bring cooling breezes while awaiting the reappearance of Sirius in summer; if the star rose clear, it would portend good fortune; if it was misty or faint, then it foretold (or emanated) pestilence. Coins retrieved from the island from the 3rd century BC feature dogs or stars with emanating rays, highlighting Sirius' importance.[9]
The island is known for an ancient stone-carved lion, known as the Lion of Ioulis (or Liontas), which was carved some time before 600 BC. According to legend, the island of Kea was once home to a population of water nymphs whose beauty, along with their lovely island, made the gods jealous, who sent a lion to lay waste to the island. In any case, the mainland of Greece was home to a significant population of lions throughout the classical period.
Also in the classical period the island was famous for its mines of a redochre known as 'Kean miltos';Theophrastus refers to it in hisOn Stones.[10] In early 1884, the British explorersTheodore andMabel Bent visited the island in search of remnants of these mines.[11]
During theByzantine period, many churches were built, and the prosperity of the island rose. It wasByzantine until, in 1204, it was captured by theVenetians in the wake of theFourth Crusade. The Archbishop of Athens,Michael Choniates, came here in exile after his city fell to the Crusaders in 1205. The Byzantines recaptured it underLicario in 1278. In around 1302, during theByzantine–Venetian War, it again fell to the Venetians, who built a castle on the ancient acropolis of Ioulis.
Albanians also settled on the island, thereafter assimilating into the Greek population.[12][13] Kea was taken from the Venetians by theOttoman Turks in 1537. Along with the rest of the Cyclades, Kea joined Greece following theGreek War of Independence in 1821.
HMHSBritannic, the third ship of theWhite Star Line'sOlympic-class ocean liners and sister ship of theRMSOlympic and theRMSTitanic, sank off Kea Island in November 21, 1916 in theKea Channel after hitting a mine, with the loss of thirty lives. She is the largest ship sunk inWorld War I.
The earliest indication of it as a Greek bishopric is in a list by theSicilian monkNeilos Doxapatres of the second half of the 12th century, and this may have been a later interpolation, since the list of the Greek bishops of Kea begins only at the end of the 16th century.[14][15][16]
In 1330, as part of the VenetianDuchy of Naxos, it became, under the name Ceo, the see of aLatin Churchbishopric of Ceo in the Cyclades, which in 1600 was renamed bishopric ofDiocese of Thermia (island Knythos), but suppressed in 1650, after the Ottoman conquest. It is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[17]
The French travelerJean de Thévenot reported 700 houses in the main town of Kea, now Ioulida, in 1656 (his compatriot the botanistJoseph Pitton de Tournefort guessed 2500 in 1700). The Greek historian Ioannis Psyllas estimated a population of more than 7000 on the island in 1821, a number that dropped sharply due to a plague outbreak that killed 1600 to 2000 Keans in 1823.[18]
Official Greek census data shows a population of around 4000 in the 19th century, decreasing gradually until 1981, and then beginning to rebound under the influence of tourism.
| Year | Island population |
|---|---|
| 1835 | 3,202 |
| 1853 | 4,162 |
| 1856 | 4,297 |
| 1861 | 3,498 |
| 1870 | 3,789 |
| 1879 | 4,311 |
| 1889 | 3,863 |
| 1896 | 4,975 |
| 1907 | 3,817 |
| 1920 | 3,575 |
| 1940 | 3,764 |
| 1951 | 3,108 |
| 1961 | 2,361 |
| 1971 | 1,666 |
| 1981 | 1,648 |
| 1991 | 1,797 |
| 2001 | 2,417 |
| 2011 | 2,455 |
| 2021 | 2,335 |
Kea has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate.
| Climate data for Kea island (192m) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 11.7 (53.1) | 13 (55) | 15.3 (59.5) | 17.1 (62.8) | 23.1 (73.6) | 27.6 (81.7) | 28.6 (83.5) | 28.8 (83.8) | 26.2 (79.2) | 23.2 (73.8) | 18.7 (65.7) | 15.3 (59.5) | 20.7 (69.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) | 9.2 (48.6) | 10.4 (50.7) | 12.5 (54.5) | 16.8 (62.2) | 21.6 (70.9) | 23.6 (74.5) | 24.1 (75.4) | 21.8 (71.2) | 19 (66) | 15.4 (59.7) | 12.1 (53.8) | 16.2 (61.2) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 107 (4.2) | 58 (2.3) | 62.4 (2.46) | 56.7 (2.23) | 3.6 (0.14) | 4.2 (0.17) | 0.6 (0.02) | 0 (0) | 17.8 (0.70) | 38.3 (1.51) | 44.3 (1.74) | 142.3 (5.60) | 535.2 (21.07) |
| Source:http://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/kea/ (2019 – 2020 averages) | |||||||||||||
The island is a destination for exploring nature andscuba diving, with excellent visibility, rich marine life, and wall, cavern, and wreck diving. The water temperature ranges from 20 to 26 °C.
The highlight for recreational divers is the wreck of the paddle-wheeler steamshipPatris which sank in 1868 and lies at a depth of 28 metres (92 ft). She was a passenger steamer 66 m long, in service in the Aegean Sea, owned by the Hellenic Steamship Co., based onSyros island, at that time the capital of Greece.[citation needed] She hit the reef off Koundouros Bay at Makriopounda, Kea island on 24 February 1868 with about 120 passengers aboard. No casualties were reported owing to the proximity of land.[19]
The wreck ofHMHSBritannic, located 1.5 nautical miles offshore, is at a depth of about 122 m (400 ft). The French shipSSBurdigala is a recently discovered wreck, 800 m (2,625 ft) from the island's harbour, at 53 m depth. Sunk 14 November 1916, she was a 180 m-long (590 ft) ocean liner built inGermany by Ferdinand Schichau Werft.[20]
Kea is the scene of much ofMary Renault's novel,The Praise Singer.
| Regional unit ofAndros |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Regional unit ofKalymnos | ||
| Regional unit ofKarpathos-Kasos | ||
| Regional unit ofKea-Kythnos | ||
| Regional unit ofKos | ||
| Regional unit ofMilos | ||
| Regional unit ofMykonos | ||
| Regional unit ofNaxos | ||
| Regional unit ofParos | ||
| Regional unit ofRhodes | ||
| Regional unit ofSyros | ||
| Regional unit ofThira | ||
| Regional unit ofTinos | ||
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