PAROS
Greece.
One of the larger Ionian islands, W of Naxos, celebrated for its fine, white marble. It was an important center of Cycladic culture of the 3d and 2d millennia B.C. (Neolithic finds have been made on
the small desert island of Saliangos near Paros) and
continued to flourish until Late Mycenaean times. Reflecting this period are the myths about the subjection of the island by Minos (it was on Paros that he learned about the death of Androgeus) and by his sons, who
were expelled by Herakles when he captured the island.
In historical times lyric poetry flourished here with
Archilochos (7th c. B.C.), the poet and warrior, who is
the primary source for the myths and history of the
island. Paros took an energetic part in the fierce rivalry
of the long Lelantine war (8th-7th c. B.C.) and then in
the great wars caused by the spread of Greek trade and
colonization. Paros' alliance with Eretria and Miletos
explains the war with Naxos, which belonged to the rival
combination of Chalkis, Corinth, and Samos; it also explains the colonization of Thasos by Telesikles, the father of Archilochos. Thasos, with the Thracian possessions on the mainland (gold mines) was the source of
wealth and power, while Paros' chief natural resource
was marble, exported everywhere throughout antiquity.
At the peak of its sculptural importance, Parian marble
was used in all the major Greek temples and for the manufacture of marble furniture, even for the anthropomorphic sarcophagi of Sidon.
At the beginning of the 5th c. the strength of Paros
was demonstrated by the failure of Miltiades' expedition
against the island after the battle of Marathon, although
he had vowed that he would take it with ease and bring
back a wealth of gold (
Hdt. 6.133). Themistokles later
succeeded in part (
Hdt. 8.112). Paros was a member of
the Athenian Alliance after this, and as an ally during
the Peloponnesian war tried vainly to revolt from Athens
in 412-410. Governed either as a democracy or an
oligarchy consistent with the style of the ruling power in
the Aegean, Paros continued to exist as an important
state until the Late Roman period. It maintained connections in various directions and with the support of Dionysios the elder, tyrant of Syracuse, it colonized Pharos, an island off Dalmatia (mod. Hvar) in 385 B.C.,
an area with which it had apparently had contacts since
the prehistoric period, through its fleet. It achieved a cultural flowering in the Hellenistic period. From the 3d c.
restoration of the 6th c. B.C. Archilocheion, a heroon
which was probably a part of the Gymnasion, come important literary inscriptions: the Parian Chronicle and
an extensive Biography of Archilochos with lines from
his poetry (an epitome was added in the 1st c. B.C.).
The ancient city, of the same name as the island, is
now covered by Paroikia, the modern capital; it was much
larger, as can be seen by the preserved portion of the
wall, which was continually renewed but whose earliest
parts are archaic. The acropolis was on a low peak in
the middle of the hill overlooking the modern jetty. A
part of this hill including its W peak has fallen into the
sea, so only the E end of a large Ionic temple of Athena
on the summit has been preserved. This is distinguished
by the large gneiss foundation slabs of the opisthodomos
and cella, and a few marble courses over the foundations, on which rests the N wall of the church of Agios
Konstantinos. Its exact plan is uncertain. Numerous
architectural fragments from the buildings of the ancient
city, including many from the temple, are built into the
nearby Venetian fort; in particular there are parastades
(h. 6 m, w. 0.9 m) and a lintel (1. 5.9 m). The doors
were as big and as beautiful as those of the contemporary temple at Naxos, and the two may have been the
work of the same artisans. Among the marbles in the
kastro are also pieces of a Doric colonnade from a stoa
of the Late Hellenistic period. The round structure in the
kastro is half of a Hellenistic building (heroon?) which
was reconstructed in its original form as the apse of a
church with orthostates, courses, a Doric frieze, an internal meander and a geison, not in situ.
Remains of houses from the Cycladic town have been
found near the archaic temple. These are the most important building remains from this period, although
tombs have been found all over the island. Some remains
which have not been scientifically investigated have also
been found under the Basilica of Katapoliani (the only
such building which has been preserved in its entirety;
its present appearance dates from the time of Justinian).
A noteworthy mosaic depicting the Labors of Herakles
and numerous ancient carvings and inscriptions were
built into the Basilica or have been discovered in its
vicinity. Two archaic bas-reliefs from the frieze of the
Archilocheion have been found: the funerary feast (of
Archilochos) and a lion attacking a bull.
At the SW edge of the city, near Haghia Anna, are
some scanty remains of the Pythion and the Asklepieion,
and two high terraces. Only a trace of the supporting
wall is preserved of the first, but on the second, the terrace of the Asklepieion, there are two fountains. The
earlier one (4th c. B.C.) is smaller, surrounded with plain
slabs; the other made of marble. There is a rectangular
temenos in front, with colonnades, and an altar inside.
The remains of the Delion are more fully preserved.
This is on the flat top of a hill (ca. 150 m) now called
Kastro or Vigla, N of Paroikia, above the NW side of
the harbor. It consists of a marble peribolos nearly
square (26 x 24 m) with an entrance at the S. The
peribolos encloses in its NW corner a small Doric temple in antis (9.5 x 5.4 m), the foundations of which are preserved. It dates no earlier than the beginning of the 5th c. Behind the temple, the peribolos wall is interrupted by a projecting terrace with two steps on each
side. To the. left of the temple are rooms with benches
around a mosaic floor, perhaps a banqueting hall (hestiatorion). There are remains of an altar (and possibly another earlier one in front of the temple) under which were traces of an older building which contained finds of
the 8th-7th c. B.C. Approximately in the middle of the
peribolos is a rock outcropping surrounded by a circular
wall which has been theoretically identified as the archetypal altar founded by Herakles in honor of Apollo (Pind., frg. 140a, Snell). There are notable sculptures of the Severe period in the museum. The sanctuary was
dedicated to the Delian gods: Delian Apollo, Delian
Artemis, Zeus Kynthios, and Athena Kynthia.
To the NW of the Delion, about an hour's drive from
Paroikia, is a hill called Kounados with a chapel of
Profitis Elias at the summit, where, according to an inscription found there, Zeus Hypatos was worshiped. A
little to the W was a shrine of Aphrodite, a temple without a peribolos; S and lower down was a shrine of
Eilethyia, a narrow terrace with a spring and a cave
next to it carved out to receive offerings. The rock has
collapsed so that it is now almost unrecognizable. Nearer
the city, 1200 m beyond the Katapoliani, near the road
to Naousa, the “Three Churches” or “Crossroads” were shown by excavation to have been built over a three-aisled basilica (6th-7th c. A.D.) into which a number of
ancient marbles had been built: architectural fragments,
sculpture, inscriptions. Among these is an archaic Ionic
column capital with a later inscription (4th c. B.C.) mentioning Archilochos' tomb. It is not likely that all the
pieces came from one nearby building, and especially not
from the Archilocheion. Three orthostates from this building (including the two with the biographical inscriptions about Archilochos) were found in the E bank of the Elita river and other places in the city.
An hour's drive from Paroikia, near the old monastery
of Aghios Mamas, are important marble quarries (lychnites lithos, because quarried by lamplight). There is a continuous underground gallery with entrance and exit close to each other. On the rock at the entrance is a carving of the Nymphs dedicated by Odryses the son of Adamas.
Of the sparse and little-known antiquities from the rest
of the island, the most important is the cave of Aghios
Ioannis at Dris harbor at the SE end, where there was a
shrine of Artemis. Inscriptions and sculpture have been
found, including a large statue of a seated Artemis (of the Muses).
The museum contains some prehistoric sherds and
Cycladic idols. There are important archaic statues and reliefs, some pottery, inscriptions, and architectural fragments. There is an anthropomorphic sarcophagus as well as later ones, and fragments of funerary heroa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
O. Rubensohn s.v. Paros,
RE (1947);
AthMitt 25 (1900) 341ff; 26 (1901) 157ff; 27 (1902)
189ff; 42 (1917) 1ff;
ArchAnz (1923-24) 118ff, 278;
Ionic temple: G. Gruben & W. Koenigs, “Der ‘Hekatompedos’ von Naxos und der Burgtempel von Paros,”
ArchAnz (1970) 135ff; Delion: O. Rubensohn,
Das
Delion von Paros (1962) (cf.
Gnomon [1966] 202ff);
Three Churches: A. Orlandos,
Praktika (1960) 246f;
(1961) 184ff; Archilocheion: N. M. Kontoleon,
Νέαι Επιγραφαί περί τοῦ Ἀρχιλόχου,
ArchEph (1952) 32ff.
N. M. KONTOLEON
