Amorgos
AMORGOS (Ἀμοργός: Eth. Ἀμοργῖνος, also Ἀμόργιος, Ἀμοργίιης: Amorgo), an island of the Sporades in the Aegean sea, SE. of Naxos. It is rarely mentioned in history, and is chiefly celebrated as the birthplace of the iambic poet Simonides. (Strab. p. 487.) There was in Amorgos a manufactory of a peculiar kind of linen garments, which bore the name of the island, and which were dyed red. (Steph. B. s. v.; Eustath. ad Dionys. 526; Pollux, 7.16.) In dyeing them use appears to have been made of a kind of lichen, which is still found in the island, and of which Tournefort has given an account. The soil of Amorgos is fertile. It produces at present corn, oil, wine, figs, tobacco, and cotton, all of good quality. Hence it was considered under the Roman empire one of the most favourable places for banishment. (Tac. Ann. 4.30.) We learn from Scylax (p. 22) that Amorgos contained three towns, the names of which, according to Stephanus (s. v. Ἀμοργός), were Minoa (Μίνωα, Μινυΐα, Ptol. 5.2.33), the birthplace of Simonides, Arcesine (Ἀρκεσίνη), and Aegiale (Ἀιγιάλη, Βεγιαλίς, Ptol.). Remains of all these cities have been discovered, and a minute description of them is given by Ross, who spent several days upon the island. They are all situated on the western side of the island opposite Naxos, Aegiale at the N., and Arcesine at the S., while Minoa lies more in the centre, at the head of a large and convenient harbour, now called Ta Katapola, because it is κατὰ τὴν πόλιν. It appears, from the inscriptions found in the island, that it possessed other demes besides the above-mentioned towns. It is probable that Melania (Μελανία), which Stephanus in another passage (s. v. Ἀρκεσίνη) mentions as one of the three towns of Amorgos in place of Aegiale, may have been one of these demes. We learn from several inscriptions that Milesians were settled in Minoa and Aegiale, and that they formed in the latter town a separate community. (Böckh, Corp. Inscr. vol. ii. No. 2264; Ross, Inscr. Gr. Lined. vol. ii. No. 112, 120--122.) The island contains at present 3,500 inhabitants. (Tournefort, Voyage, &c. vol. 2. p. 182, seq.; Fiedler, Reise, &c. vol. 2. p. 325, seq.; and more especially Ross, Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln, vol. 1. p. 173, seq., vol. 2. p. 39, seq.)
Island SE of Naxos with three areas of habitation, centering on Aigiale (modern Vigla), Minoa (Katapola), and Arkesine (Kastri). Many Early Bronze Age burials and rich grave goods have been known since the 19th c., and recently neighboring islets, Ano Kouphonesi, Donousa, Herakleia, Keros, and Schoinoussa have yielded extensive finds. Donousa also had a fortified Geometric settlement.
The Greek inhabitants may have come from Samos and perhaps Naxos. The Amorgians participated collectively in the Athenian Empire from 437 B.C. on, and in the Second Athenian Confederacy (Athens garrisoned Arkesine ca. 357); they issued coins (cf. Lambros) and certified amphoras, and their cloth was especially fine. The Battle of Amorgos ended the Lamian War in 322. Amorgos belonged at various times to the Island League, and was later attached to the Roman province of Asia, though the island enjoyed autonomy which was reaffirmed by Antoninus Pius. It was a place of exile under the Julio-Claudian emperors. Each of the three cities had an independent constitution and magistrates at least from the 4th c. on, and in the late 3d c. B.C. a Samian settlement existed at Minoa and a Milesian settlement at Aigiale. The Naxian settlement at Arkesine is not certainly attested until Imperial times.
Extensive remains have been recorded: architectural, sculptural, ceramic, and epigraphic, from prehistoric to late Roman times, and finds continue. So-called Hellenic towers and Roman tombs appear especially in the center and E of the island, while at Arkesine, in the W, Greek walls surround an acropolis. Remains of temples are cited from Minoa and. Aigiale, but no systematic descriptions have been published. Some finds, are in the Katapola museum, others in Syros or Athens.
BIBLIOGRAPHYSIG 193; Tac. Ann. 4.13,30; Plut., Dem. 11.3; Poll. 7.74; St. B & Souda S.V.; schol. Dionys. Per. 525; P. Lambros, “Sur un Symbole . . . ,” BCH 1 (1877) 216-19, cf. ArchEph (1870) 352-58; T. Bent, Aegean Greece (1885) 469-501; G. Deschamps, “Fouilles dans l'île d'Amorgos,” BCH 12 (1888) 324-27; cf. 13 (1889) 40-47; C. Tsountas, “Kykladika,” ArchEph (1898) 137-212I; BSA 12 (1905-6) 157I(Hellenic towers); J. Delamarre, IG 12, 7 (with bibl.); W. Ruppel, “Zur Verfassung und Verwaltung der amorginischen Städte,” KIio 21 (1927) 313-39; L. Robert, “Les Asklepieis de l'Archipel,” REG 46 (1933) 423-42, esp. 437; J. Vanseveren, “Inscriptions d'Amorgos et de Chios,” RevPhil 11 (1937) 313-47I; P. Zapheiropoulou, AAA 4 (1971) 210-16PI; id., Deltion 24 (1969) Chronika 390-93P; C. Renfrew, The Emergence of Civilization (1972) 520-23, 534-35, cf. 509. For reports of finds: JHS 71 (1951) 251; ibid. 82 (1962) Arch. Rep. 22; AthMitt 76 (1961) 115-20, cf. n. 1; Praktika 1960 (=1966) 268-72.
M. B. WALLACE