Is this the Other Delos? – The island of Despotiko

This extraordinary island, known as the “Other Delos,” was once home to an important sanctuary dedicated to the cult of Apollo, dating back to the late Archaic period (6th-early 5th century BC).

The sheer size and scale of the sanctuary complex, including a main temple, an adjacent stoa (a long, covered portico with rooms behind) for ceremonial dining, and a large courtyard has led the island’s chief excavator, archaeologist Yannos Kourayos, to believe it may have been even bigger than the sanctuary on nearby Delos.

Painstaking research by Kourayos and members of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades over the course of more than 20 years has revealed countless archaeological treasures related to the island’s role as a cult sanctuary, one of at least 22 similar island shrines in the Cyclades, but more recent excavations have unearthed tantalizing clues as to the island’s other role as an important naval base.

Although presently uninhabited, there are significant indications that in prehistoric and ancient times the island – due to its central position among the Cyclades and the large Despotiko Bay (between the island and Antiparos) providing safe anchorage played an important role in maritime communication routes.Currently, excavations are taking place in the northwest part of the island and so far the findings are of great importance. The excavations proved the existence of an important late Archaic sanctuary with abundant objects indicating links to mainland Greece, the Eastern Mediterranean and even to Northern Africa, as well as the continued use of this area in the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Frankish periods.

The islet was visited in early 1884 by the English explorer Theodore Bent who made a brief survey and located two ‘graveyards’ Mabel Bent records in her diary at the time that her husband discovered a temple there. 2015 excavations at the Archaic (6th C BC) sanctuary site on an Aegean Sea islet revealed new evidence about its size and organization. The sanctuary seems to have been devoted to Apollo. Archaeologists discovered an ornate façade of a structure measuring 35 meters by 15 meters, suggesting that the sanctuary was extended and rebuilt several times during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. A large, four-room building on the site’s west section featured a large stone altar in one of the rooms as well as pottery fragments bearing inscriptions with Apollo’s name. A long wall, stretching from what would have been the islet’s ancient port to the site of the sanctuary, was also revealed.Some of the artefacts from the excavations are exhibited in the archaeological museum in Parikia, the capital of the nearby island of Paros, along with other important antiquities from the region. Some glimpses of the early modern and modern history of Despotiko might be reconstructed from historic topographic maps and descriptions of travellers from that period..The island, under the name Prepesinthus, is also noted by ancient geographers Strabo and Pliny the Elder.

Destination: Greece