Chios History

The history of the island starting from the Bronze Age. After the Bronze Age settle there Ions from Central Greece (Thessaly).

In the 8th century. BC probably was born in Chios, Homer, the creator of the greatest epic texts of the world, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

In 495 BC Persians attack on the island and a few years later Chios involved with the fleet of the Athenian Alliance.

The Roman Emperor Tiberius provide significant help to the island to return after the destruction of the great earthquakes of the period.

In the Byzantine period, despite the favor of the Byzantine Empire, the island became part of the Venetians and then the Genoese, who kept it until 1566 incorporated in the Ottoman Empire.

In the years of Ottoman domination, the revolt against the Turks led to the slaughter of 25,000 residents and 47,000 abducted as slaves. The Massacre of Chios inspired the famous painter Delacroix, who painted the famous painting 'La massacre de Chios'. Today Chios is famous for its shipping and its contribution to international trade.

Landmarks of Chios:

• Nea Moni is a monastery with fine mosaics from Constantine IX's reign and a World Heritage Site.
• Chios Byzantine Museum Archaeological Museum of Chios The town of Vrontados is home to a unique Easter celebration, where competing teams of locals gather at the town's two (rival) churches to fire tens of thousands of homemade rockets at the other church's bell tower while the Easter service is going on inside the churches, in what has become known as rouketopolemos ("the Easter church war").
• There is reportedly a "small country church" on Chios that has a family memorial which lists 14 generations of a family, starting at the fifth century BC and going back to the tenth century BC, before there were any written records in Greece.