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Samos
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History
 Several megatheriums and other rare species of the prehistoric era lived on this island. Bones that they were found decorate the showcases of the palaeontological museums in the USA and Europe. Some of these palaeontological findings are also exhibited at the Palaeontological Museum at Mytilinioi.
Traces of human race have been found at the Hill of Castro from the late Neolithic era (4th millennium BC). The first inhabitants belong to the Pelasgic tribes that introduce and spread the worship of Hera. According to mythology, the goddess Hera, bride of Zeus and mother of the gods, was born at the banks of the river Imvrass and was considered as the protector of Samos. Thus her sacred bird, the peacock often appeared on coins of Samos. The worship of Hera, brought to the island by its first inhabitants, the Pelasgians, continued during the entire ancient period. The first mythological king of Samos was Ageos, a hero of the Argonauts Expedition to Troy, who built the first wooden temple and placed in it the wooden statue of Hera.
 The recorded history of the island however, begins at the time of Polycrates, 6th century BC. Before that history is vague and obscure, folklore tales being the only existing reference. Under the rule of Polycrates Samos although small, knew great naval and commercial power. It played a truly significant role in culture, art, science and politics, not only for the region of Ionia, but also for the entire ancient Greece.
During this time, Samos was the birthplace of many eminent men and women in all spiritual domains, the leading one being Pythagoras, the greatest philosopher and mathematician through the centuries. Other distinguished Samians include:
The architect Roikos who constructed the temple of Hera on the island, the biggest of ancient Greece and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The architect Mandroclis who constructed the bridge of the Bosforo for the Persians
The astronomer Aristarchus, who put forward the idea of an heliocentric system several centuries before Copernicus,
The great painter Agatharchus who was the first to deal with sceneography and perspective,
Theodore, an eminent artist and architect,
Aesop, the famous myth-teller,
Damo, philosopher, daughter of Pythagoras,
Coleus, who was the first to travel to the Atlantic and many others .
 During the era of Polycrates, Samos became the centre of the Ionian civilization. Important monuments were constructed, during this period such as the Efpalinion
Tunnel, the temple of Hera, open-air theatres and palaces. Polycrates was the first to establish a library containing all significant texts produced by man up until then. He created a very powerful navy, his fleet used to be the leading one in the Aegean Sea being comprised by fast war-ships called Samenas. Polycrates was also the first who tried to unite all Greeks against the Persians. Following his assassination in 522 BC, many wars took place, which eventually lead to the devastation of the island by the Athenians in 439 BC.
 In 129 B.C. the Romans, who stripped the island of all its treasures and took them to Rome, conquered Samos. Later in the 4th Century A.C. Samos was part of the Byzantine Empire. At the beginning of the 15th Century, Samos was under the protection of the Genoese Juistiniani, whose base was on Chios. When the Turks threatened the Juistiniani after the seizure of Constantinople, it was increasingly difficult to protect Samos from the pirates. The solution was to invite the Samians to settle on Chios and many did… leading to wholesale depopulation of the island.
Samos remained almost deserted for nearly a century – the century of silence. Around the middle of the 16th Century the island had a new protector – Khilich Ali Pasha (a Frenchman and a former pirate, who after having been captured by the Turks, managed to become an admiral because of his abilities), who was keen to repopulate the island. He brought settlers from the island of Mytilini (Lesvos), from Pyrgos in the Peloponnese and from Vourla in Asia Manor. These people founded the villages of Mytilinoi, Pyrgos and Vourliotes. Newcomers from Kymi of Evia settled at Koumeika.
Following Khilich Ali’s death, the privileges began to gradually be abated and so a Turkish commander was established on the island, though the Samians were in a more advantageous position than the rest of the Greeks.
In the uprising of the 1821 Samos was one of many places rising in revolt against the Turks with Logothetis Lykourgos as their leader and acquired its freedom. Despite the many attempts by the Turkish fleet to re-conquer the island, they never did. After the Greek State was established in 1827, the Great Powers of the time (England, France and Russia) did not concede to include Samos as a part of Greece, even though the island was liberated.
The Samians would not accept this, so in 1834 they were granted a form of political independence, under the patronage of the Great Powers, with the obligation of paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire. This regime remained until 1912 when after the revolution of Themistoklis Sofoulis Samos was joined with Greece. During this period, Samos experienced a significant economic prosperity.
In the 2nd world War in 1941, the island was conquered by Italian troops. A resistance movement developed which lead to the temporary liberation of the island from September to November 1943 until the German occupation. After the civil war, which followed the liberation from the "powers of the axe", Samos begun, developing again.
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The Samian War Flag
during
The Revolution of 1821 |
The leader of the
Revolution
Lykourgos Logothetis |
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