Samos

The island of Samos, one of the most pleasant of all the Greek islands, played an important role in both Greek and Roman history. The significance of Samos was due to its strategic location and its fame from three sources: the Great Temple to Hera, one of the most renowned in the ancient world; the Tunnel of Eupalinus, one of the great engineering feats of antiquity; and two of its most famous citizens, the moralist Aesop and the mathematician Pythagoras, of Pythagorean theorem fame. Samos is located only 1 mile from the shore of western Turkey. It received its name, according to Herodotus, because of its mountainous terrain. Samos means “high land” and seems to have been derived either from the Phoenician word sama or from the Ionian word samo, both of which have the same meaning. (Another island to the north has a similar name, Samothrace, which means the samos of nearby Thrace.) This relatively small island, 14 miles wide and 27 miles long, shows evidence of occupation at least as early as the 4th millennium B.C.E. Later, abundant evidence attests to further occupation in the Early Bronze Age by the Mycenaeans. Likewise, the Ionians established colonies on the island during the early Iron Age and it subsequently became a great naval power. Sometime during the 8th century B.C.E., Samos obtained land on the opposite coast of Asia Minor, which led to ongoing conflict with neighboring Priene. The most famous, and infamous, ruler of Samos was Polycrates, the tyrant who ruled from approximately 550 B.C.E. until 522 B.C.E., when he was lured to Asia Minor and subsequently crucified by the Persians. During his reign, according to Strabo, the naval fleet of Samos became the first to rule the Aegean Sea since the days of the Minoan civilization. Polycrates established a cultured court, encouraged fine arts, and invited the famous hydraulics engineer Eupalinus of Megara to construct the great water tunnel that became known as the Tunnel of Eupalinus. Other public works projects included the construction of great walls around the city.