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Modern Description: Aghios Efstratios has scarcely any springs and its terrain is rough, rocky and volcanic: but miraculously and unexpectedly, many of the slopes are well-wooded with oaks, and some of its beautifully folded ravines and inlets are of great intimacy. There is a tranquillity in them that can only be dreamed of on other islands.
The modern name of the island, which is abbreviated locally to ‘Aï Stratis' comes from St. Eustratius, a holy figure from Bythinia who took hermitic refuge from the persecutions of the Iconoclastic period in a cave on the island early in the 9th century. But the island's name in antiquity is uncertain: some ascribe the Homeric name ‘Chryse'(‘gold[en]') to the island; Pausanias may possibly be referring to it with the name ‘Hiera' (‘holy'); other scholars identify it as ancient Halonnesos. Much later, the island is mentioned by the 16th century Turkish admiral, Piri Reis, under the appellation ‘Boz Papas' – the first word a reference to its lack of cultivation, the second to its monastic ownership.
Evidence of a possible Mycenaean presence has been pointed to on the central east coast of the island, in the area of Aghios Alexios; but the main centre of habitation in historic times was just east of the present port on the hill of Aghios Minas. Surface finds from Hellenistic and Byzantine times have come to light at other points on the island. In 1021 Basil II, the ‘Bulgar-slayer', granted the island to the Monastery of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos, to be a training ground for its young monks. Their presence was always a prey to pirate attack, and Cristoforo Buondelmonti who stopped on the island in 1418 refers to the island as a place of pirates. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the settlement on the hillside north of the harbour was established. The limitations of water and fertility meant that the population was never large: in the mid-20th century it must have numbered a maximum of about 800 residents. But the island's use as a penal colony for political prisoners from 1928 right through to 1968, at times pushed the temporary population well over 3,000. Evidence of some of the improvised camps can still be seen. In 1968 the earthquake destroyed the town: both before and after this catastrophe, many of the islanders emigrated to Australia.
The town of Aghios Efstratios lies at the mouth of the principal western valley, which is formed by the confluence of two streams – the Tenediótis to the north, and the Paradísis to the south. The small hill directly to the east of the town which rises between the two watercourses was the site of the ancient settlement. Today the hill is crowned by the (rebuilt) chapel of Aghios Minas, which contains in its enclosure a simple monument to the political exiles who died on the island during their internment, the majority of whom perished in the particularly hard winter of 1941/42. Of the ancient town itself, there is little of antiquity to see above the surface beyond some vestigial stretches of ancient retaining-wall built in Lesbian-style masonry on the western slope. But there are sherds of Classical, Hellenistic and Roman pottery visible on the surface all around. Even a cursory search will reveal these – many of them pieces of black-glaze pottery, probably of Attic origin.
Since the late 16th century the main settlement has been situated on the south slope of the hill to the north of the harbour. The small cemetery church on its summit may be built on the side of a mediaeval lookout post. To its west along the ridge, are the remnants of a line of windmills, destroyed in the earthquake; some of the mill-wheels can still be seen on site, constructed from pieces of re-used – and possibly antique – masonry bound by iron rings into improvised wheels. At the western point of the ridge, directly above the harbour is the collapsed church of the Pente Martyres, which was a late-17th century foundation in origin. The debris of its collapsed roof has recently been cleared, revealing the original plan of the building which had a quadrant of monolithic columns of Proconnesian marble supporting the roof. Two of them are still visible – one bearing an eroded Byzantine inscription – plus a third, made from plastered cement, in imitation. One of the door-posts of ancient marble is still in place, and a single marble block before the threshold still bears the incised design of its circular decoration with some pieces of the inlaid mosaic embellishment still visible.
Wikidata ID: Q393937

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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