Skyros Σκύρος | |
|---|---|
 Chora | |
 | |
  Skyros | |
| Coordinates:38°52′21″N24°31′30″E / 38.87250°N 24.52500°E /38.87250; 24.52500 | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | Central Greece |
| Regional unit | Euboea |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 223.10 km2 (86.14 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 792 m (2,598 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Municipality | 3,052 |
| • Density | 13.68/km2 (35.43/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 340 07 |
| Area code | 22x0 |
| Vehicle registration | ΧΑ |
Skyros (Modern Greek:Σκύρος,pronounced[ˈsciros]), in some historical contextsLatinizedScyros (Ancient Greek:Σκῦρος,Attic Greek pronunciation:[skŷːros]), is an island inGreece. It is the southernmost inhabited island of theSporades, an archipelago in theAegean Sea. Around the2nd millennium BC, the island was known asThe Island of theMagnetes; later, it was consecutively known asPelasgia,Dolopia, and finally Skyros. At 209 km2 (81 sq mi), it is the largest island of the Sporades, and had a population of about 3,000 in 2021.
The municipality Skyros is part of the regional unit ofEuboea.[2] Apart from the island Skyros, the municipality consists of the small inhabited island ofSkyropoula and a few smaller uninhabited islands. The total area of the municipality is 223.10 km2 (86 sq mi).[3]
One account associates the nameSkyros withskyron orskiron, meaning "stone debris".[4] The island had a reputation for its decorative stone.[5]
According toGreek mythology,Theseus died on Skyros when the local king,Lycomedes, threw him from a cliff. The island is also famous in the myths as the place from whereAchilles set sail forTroy afterOdysseus discovered him in the court of Lycomedes.[6]Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, wasfrom Skyros (orScyros, as its name is sometimes transliterated), as told in Book Nineteen of theIliad (lines 326-327) and in the play bySophocles,Philoctetes (line 239). A small bay namedAchili on the east coast of the island is said to be the place from where Achilles left with the Greeks, or rather where Achilles landed during a squall that befell the Greek fleet following an abortive initial expedition landing astray inMysia.[7]
Inc. 475 BC, according toThucydides (1.98),Cimon defeated the Dolopians (the original inhabitants) and conquered the entire island. From that date, Athenian settlers colonized it and it became a part of theAthenian Empire. The island lay on the strategic trade route between Attica and the Black Sea (Athens depended on supplies of grain reaching it through theHellespont). Cimon claimed to have found the remains of Theseus, and returned them to Athens.
In 340 BC, theMacedonians took over the island and dominated it until 192 BC, when KingPhilip V of Macedon and theRoman Republican forces restored it to Athens.
After theFourth Crusade of 1202–1204, the island became part of the domain ofGeremia Ghisi. The Byzantines retook it in 1277. After theFall of Constantinople, Venetians again ruled the island until 1538, when it passed to the Ottoman Empire. It became part of the new Greek state in 1830.
In 1848, CaptainThomas Graves surveyed Skyros for the British Admiralty in thefrigateHMS Volage. He travelled around the island, and a record of his observations was published the following year.[8]
Rupert Brooke, the famous English poet, is buried on Skyros, having died on board a French hospital-ship moored off the island on 23 April 1915, duringWorld War I.[9] Present at Brooke's burial that same evening, werePatrick Shaw-Stewart andWilliam Denis Browne.[10] The tomb that visitors see today when they visit the grave, which is located in the Tris Boukes Bay, is one that was commissioned by Brooke’s mother and was placed after the 1st World War. On the tomb is an inscription of Brooke's famous poemThe Soldier.[11]
In 1941Pulitzer Prize-winning poetKarl Shapiro wrote theWorld War II poemScyros, which he set on the island Skyros "because it was a tribute to and irony upon Rupert Brooke."[12]
In 1963 the Archaeological Museum of Skyros was established, with the inauguration taking place 10 years later in 1973. The Faltaits Folklore Museum was founded in 1964[13] - one of the first local folklore museums to operate in Greece.[14]
In 1918, during thespanish flu, approximately one third of the island's population died in less than 30 days. Specifically, the influenza began on 27 October 1918, and of the 3,200 inhabitants on the island, almost 2,000 were infected and 1,000 died.[15]Konstantinos Faltaits [el] described the dire consequences of the pandemic in a rare chronicle published in 1919, titledἩ γρίππη στὴ Σκῦρο'The flu in Skyros'.[16]
The north of the island is covered by a forest, while the south, dominated by the highest mountain, calledKochila, (792 m), is bare and rocky. The island's capital is also called Skyros (or, locally,Chora). The main port, on the west coast, is Linaria. The island has acastle (thekastro) that dates from theVenetian occupation (13th to 15th centuries), a Byzantinemonastery (theMonastery of Saint George), the grave of English poetRupert Brooke in an olive grove by the road leading toTris Boukes harbour. There are many beaches on the coast. The island has its own breed ofSkyrian ponies.
Skyros has a hot-summerMediterranean climate (Csa) with mild to cool, rainy winters and pleasantly warm, dry summers.
| Climate data for Skyros airport (1955-2010)HNMS | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 12.3 (54.1) | 12.7 (54.9) | 14.1 (57.4) | 17.7 (63.9) | 22 (72) | 26.3 (79.3) | 27.9 (82.2) | 27.6 (81.7) | 24.7 (76.5) | 20.8 (69.4) | 17.2 (63.0) | 13.9 (57.0) | 19.8 (67.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 9.9 (49.8) | 10.1 (50.2) | 11.6 (52.9) | 15.0 (59.0) | 19.3 (66.7) | 23.8 (74.8) | 25.6 (78.1) | 25.3 (77.5) | 22.2 (72.0) | 18.3 (64.9) | 14.6 (58.3) | 11.6 (52.9) | 17.3 (63.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 7.4 (45.3) | 7.4 (45.3) | 8.7 (47.7) | 11.4 (52.5) | 15.0 (59.0) | 19.3 (66.7) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.7 (71.1) | 18.8 (65.8) | 15.5 (59.9) | 12.0 (53.6) | 9.1 (48.4) | 14.0 (57.2) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 70.6 (2.78) | 55.3 (2.18) | 49.9 (1.96) | 24.3 (0.96) | 15.4 (0.61) | 6.5 (0.26) | 5.9 (0.23) | 8.4 (0.33) | 19.4 (0.76) | 36.7 (1.44) | 54.6 (2.15) | 81.1 (3.19) | 428.1 (16.85) |
| Average precipitation days | 12.9 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 7.6 | 5.2 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 7.0 | 9.1 | 13.0 | 84.6 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 76.2 | 74.2 | 73.7 | 71.5 | 70.0 | 66.0 | 66.2 | 68.0 | 70.8 | 74.5 | 76.6 | 77.0 | 72.1 |
| Source: HNMS (1955–2010 averages)[17] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1981 | 2,757 |
| 1991 | 2,901[18] |
| 2001 | 2,602[19] |
| 2011 | 2,994 |
| 2021 | 3,052 |
Skyros is home to theSkyros Island National Airport, a one-runway airport.
Skyros Shipping Company operates the ferry service to Skyros. During holiday season the ferry runs twice daily fromKymi to Linaria on Skyros. During the winter months the service operates daily.[20] The ship has the name "Achilleas SKYROS SHIPPING CO." (Greek: Αχιλλέας ΣΚΥΡΟΣ ΝΑΥΤΙΚΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΙΑ).
.JPG)
"Skiron" or "Skyron" means "stone debris".
The breccias of the Greek island of Skyros were largely used since Roman times for their beauty and low price.
Administrative division of theCentral Greece Region | ||
|---|---|---|
| Regional unit ofBoeotia |  | |
| Regional unit ofEuboea | ||
| Regional unit ofEvrytania | ||
| Regional unit ofPhocis | ||
| Regional unit ofPhthiotis | ||
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| Adriatic Sea |
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| Ionian Islands and dependencies |
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| Mainland Greece |
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| Aegean Islands |
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| Other |
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| Related articles | ||
