Thásos Island Kavala Greece

…Parium on the Sea of Marmara and to Thasos, a large, wooded island of the northernmost Aegean Sea.

The island had been colonized at an early date by Phoenicians, attracted probably by its gold mines; they founded a temple to the god Melqart, whom the Greeks identified as "Tyrian Heracles", and whose cult was merged with Heracles in the course of the island's Hellenization.

The temple still existed in the time of Herodotus.

An eponymous Thasos, son of Phoenix (or of Agenor, as Pausanias reported) was said to have been the leader of the Phoenicians, and to have given his name to the island.

The innovative Greek poet Archilochus, born on the island of Paros around 680, flourishes during this era.

A mercenary soldier who travels extensively around the Aegean, Archilochus experiments with various metrical combinations as well as with the use of colloquial language in his sensual satiric verse.

He joins the Parian colony on Thasos and battles the indigenous Saians, a Thracian tribe, expressing himself in his poems as a cynical, hard-bitten soldier fighting for a country he doesn't love ("Thasos, thrice miserable city") on behalf of a people he scorns ("The woes [dregs] of all the Greeks have come together in Thasos"), yet he values his closest comrades and his stalwart, if unattractive commander.

The Greeks extend their power to the mainland, where they own gold mines even more valuable than those on the island.

From these sources the Thasians draw great wealth, their annual revenues amounting to two hundred or even three hundred talents.

Herodotus, who visited Thasos, says that the best mines on the island were those opened by the Phoenicians on the east side of the island facing Samothrace.

The Parians of the wealthy and fertile northern Aegean island of Thasos have exploited the island's gold mines and founded a school of sculpture.

Athens, which, like all ancient states, wishes to get their hands on as much precious metal for coinage as possible, covets the island's trading stations and mines along the mainland area just opposite it.

Thasos, faced with the naked economic aggression of Athens, had in 465 seceded from the Delian League.

After a siege of two years by the Athenians and a naval defeat at Cimon's hands, it is forced to demolish its walls, surrender its fleet, its mines, and its mainland possessions, and pay an indemnity and an annual contribution to the league.

Thasos revolts against Athens from 411 BCE.

Lysander seizes the wealthy island of Thásos in 403 BCE.

Thásos, which had again allied to Athens in 389 BCE, becomes a permanent member of the Second Athenian League.

…the island of Thasos, a dwarf among imperial powers.

Although Thasos seems to have been extending its mainland interests remarkably in the 360s, it is not Athens and can be dealt with.

Philip further provokes Rhodes at this point by capturing and razing Cius and Myrleia, Greek cities on the coast of the Sea of Marmara.

Philip then hands these cities over to his brother-in-law, the King of Bithynia, Prusias I, who rebuilds and renames the cities Prusa after himself and Apameia after his wife, respectively.

In return for these cities, Prusias promised that he will continue on expanding his kingdom at the expense of Pergamon (his latest war with Pergamon had ended in 205).

The seizure of these cities also enrages the Aetolians, as both are members of the Aetolian League.

The alliance between Aetolia and Macedon is held together only by the Aetolians' fear of Philip, and this incident worsens the already tenuous relationship.

Philip next attacks and conquered the cities of Lysimachia and Chalcedon, which are also members of the Aetolian League, forcing them to break off their alliance with Aetolia.

On the way home, Philip's fleet stops at the island of Thasos off the coast of Thrace.

Philip's general Metrodorus goes to the island's eponymous capital to meet emissaries from the city.

The envoys say they will surrender the city to the Macedonians on the conditions that they not receive a garrison, that they not have to pay tribute or contribute soldiers to the Macedonian army and that they continue to use their own laws.

Metrodorus replies that the king accepts the terms, and the Thasians open their gates to the Macedonians.

Once within the walls, however, Philip orders his soldiers to enslave all the citizens, who are then sold away, and to loot the city.

Michael II's successor Theophilos sends an embassy to Abd ar-Rahman II of Córdoba proposing a joint action against the Andalusian exiles, but beyond Abd ar-Rahman giving his assent to any imperial action against Crete, this comes to nothing.

The Battle of Thasos is fought on October 829 between the fleets of the Empire and the newly founded Emirate of Crete.

The Cretan Arabs score a major victory: Theophanes Continuatus records that almost the entire imperial fleet was lost.

This success opens up the Aegean to the Saracens' raids.

The Cyclades and other islands are pillaged, and Mount Athos is so devastated that it will be deserted for long time.

The Ottoman Turks take the Aegean island of Thasos from Genoa in 1455.