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Modern Description: TILOS in the last decade it has distinguished itself from all the other Greek islands by concertedly espousing the causes of wild-life and environmental conservation. It has done this through the creation of an officially recognised and protected ‘park'. Not just a part of the island has been dedicated to this cause, but the whole island and its dozen or so dependent reefs and islets. Small and migratory bird varieties and populations have surged to new heights; the raptors they attract have returned to Tilos; this in turn has enriched other aspects of the island's fauna and flora; and even the waters around the island appear to be responding, as if in empathy.
Wildlife of a very different sort also marked the history of the island when, in 1971, the fossilised remains of a species of dwarf elephant, not much bigger than a large dog, from the Upper Pleistocene Age were discovered on Tilos, forcing a re-assessment of some of the assumptions of Mediterranean palaeontology. These were the last elephants to live in Europe. The cave where they were found also revealed evidence of other mammals of 100,000 years earlier, and of a human presence in the cave from the 4th millennium BC onwards. It remains one of Europe's most important palaeontological sites.
Human history on Tilos has also left its share of historical interest: the ancient remains on and around the acropolis above Megalo Chorio, and their overlay of mediaeval fortifications which constituted the principal link in a chain of seven fortresses on Tilos that protected the island and its sea routes; a number of churches with mid- to late- Byzantine wall-paintings; the beautiful monastery of Aghios Panteleimon; and the elegiac appeal of the abandoned village of Mikro Chorio.
Tilos's unique pre-human history is discussed below in relation to the animal finds in the Charkadio Cave; the cave has also yielded evidence of a Late Neolithic human presence, as well as Early Bronze Age artefacts. In the 7th century BC Tilos was significant enough to participate together with Lindos, which was then a major naval power, in the seeding of the colony of Gela on Sicily. Herodotus mentions (VII.153) that Telines of Telos was the ancestor of Gelon. Although the island paid tribute as a member of the Athenian League in the 5th century BC, it appears from historical testimony and inscriptions that Telos was an independent, democratic state all through the 5th and 4th centuries BC, even issuing its own bronze coinage latterly. The island is sometimes referred to as Agathousa (the ‘beneficent'), and Pliny mentions it as a source of perfume (possibly made from the oil of marjoram, which grows profusely on the island). The lyric poetess Erinna may have lived on Tilos in the 4th century BC; most of her work is now lost, but her reputation in Antiquity was high and she was often compared with Sappho. Her best known work was a poem of 300 hexameters entitled The Distaff. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Telos lost its independence and was annexed to the Rhodian State, becoming like Chalki and Aliminia, a part of the deme of Kameiros.
In 1204 the island was taken over by the Venetians and in 1309 by the Knights of St. John who leased it to Borello Assanti of Ischia in 1366. Its mediaeval name was Piskopia or Episkopi (‘look-out' or ‘surveying point'). The Knights had the island fortified by a series of seven castles and fortresses. Its vital importance in the chain of communication between Cos and Rhodes attracted an unsuccessful siege by Mehmet II in 1479. The Grand Master, Pierre d'Aubusson, was so impressed by the bravery of the islanders that he rewarded them with a gift of grain. Tilos passed, with Rhodes, to the Turks in January 1523. The Turks held the island until it came under Italian control in 1912; no significant buildings remain from either period of occupation. The Bay of Livadia saw an unsuccessful Allied attempt to wrest the island from German occupation, and the loss of life of two allied Greek soldiers, on Ochi day (October 28th) 1944. In 1948 the island was incorporated into the Greek State together with the other Dodecanese Islands.
The island's capital, Megálo Chorió is now a small and tranquil village, partially occupying the site of the ancient settlement of Telos, at the foot of the castellated peak of the ancient acropolis. The Mediaeval Kastro and acropolis are reached by a steep, forty minute climb to the summit of the hill above the village. A path leads up from the upper right-hand (southeast) corner of Megálo Chorió, beside a large water cistern: there are several ruined and abandoned vaulted chapels in this area – the one directly below the cistern has vestiges of wall paintings. The path traverses the hillside diagonally from right to left, passing a number of ancient, rock-cut cisterns (to right), and some stretches of substantial, Early Classical retaining walls (to left). As it begins to zig-zag near the summit, it passes through an area dense with ruined mediaeval houses, chapels and cisterns, before a final stretch of steps, which are cut into the living rock, leads up to the gateway. Above and to the left, the large, cleanly finished blocks of ancient stone which have been re-used in the mediaeval walls are clearly visible: behind and all along the northeast side is an imposing stretch of the ancient fortification wall of the acropolis.
The core of the *monumental gateway incorporates the entrance to the ancient acropolis, little modified by the mediaeval builders, and with its original, 5th century BC threshold- and lintel- blocks intact. At elbow level on the left on entering is an ancient block bearing a faintly but precisely incised, eight-pointed star. In Antiquity the summit was crowned by a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus and to Athena Polias, joint protectors of the city; the flight of marble stairs, to the left on entering, would have led up to their sanctuary, and the slots cut into the right-hand side of the steps, may have been to hold votive stelai. Many pieces from the pagan temple(s) have been incorporated into the walls and roof-vaults of the now ruined, early mediaeval Church of the Archangel Michael in the centre of the enclosed area: in the niche on the left side of the dilapidated narthex, one such block bears a Classical dedicatory inscription. In the vaulted interior are the vestiges of 14th and 15th century wall-paintings: the figure of a shrouded Lazarus on the south wall, part of a damaged Pantocrator in the apse, and, just below, an unusual scene of a naked youth (Jesus) standing as if beneath a canopied ciborium. To the left is the figure of St. Peter (Bishop) of Alexandria, to whom the young Jesus is actively in dialogue – retorting, in fact, that it is the heresy of Arius that has robbed him of his clothing.
Most of the construction around has collapsed, except for the northeast bastion (beyond a large cistern), where the mediaeval structure is built around a well-preserved core of the ancient tower. Throughout its history the occupants of this site could profit from two harbours below – Aghios Antonios to the north, and the Bay of Eristos to the south: the birds-eye view of both of these, and of the whole fertile and inhabited, central area of the island made it an invaluable position to command. The Knights of St. John strengthened and fortified the site well enough to survive an eight-day siege by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1479. The castle, in times of peace, was an indispensable link in the Knights' signalling chain between Rhodes and Cos.
As you descend, the remarkable density of habitation clustered below the summit can be better appreciated, with the cisterns for valuable water supply easily distinguishable. Even more visible on the plain far below is their modern equivalent – a huge, artificial reservoir for storing water for agricultural purposes.
The Ancient Cemetery area: The cemeteries of ancient Telos were in the plain below and to the south of the village of Megálo Chorió; evidence of them is to be found all around. On leaving the lower part of the village towards Eristos, you pass a decommissioned military post (painted blue and white) beside a church on a bend in the road. In the church's pebbled forecourt are many pieces of ancient tombs – some incorporated into the courtyard's retaining wall. Through the gate on the opposite side is a well-preserved mill, on the right beneath a tree; from its design it would appear that it doubled both for grinding grain and for pressing olives. Beyond, lies the village's current cemetery: both the ossuary and the funerary chapel of Aghios Konstantinos in the northeast corner are made with many marble pieces from the ancient cemetery, and vestiges of mosaic floor suggest that there was also an Early Christian presence here. Many other ancient altars, columns and fragments adorn the south-facing wall of the cemetery, and are strewn amongst the modern tombs.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilos
Wikidata ID: Q898718
Trismegistos Geo: 3637

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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