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Cycladic settlements of the Aegean Sea: a blending of local and foreign influences

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02665430802320961

1466-4518

Emmanuel V. Marmaras,

Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

Abstract Traditional urban dwelling patterns and architecture in the Cycladic islands are a result of long‐term cultural and historical processes. The vernacular built environment was created through the interaction of customary rules and formal laws concerning land ownership rights, the use of and access to property, and standards for new buildings. This paper explores the way in which Cycladic architecture developed. Crucial factors include the vulnerability of the islands due to their small size and natural harbours, sporadic invasions by pirates, and long‐term occupation by non‐indigenous governments. Resisting this, local populations continued with their own priorities through customary rules and habits related to land and buildings. Acknowledgement The author owes many thanks to Professor Deanna Trakas, Department of Social Anthropology, University of the Aegean, for constructive observations. Notes 1. F. Braudel, La Mediterranee a l'epoque de Phillipe II [transl., in Greek]. Athens: Cultural Foundation of National Bank of Greece, 1993, 1, 11. 2. The Cyclades is a complex of forty‐four islands and islets of a total area of 2 571 69 km2, scattered between Greece and Asia Minor in the north‐eastern part of the Mediterranean and only twenty‐four of them are inhabited (according to the most recent statistics of 2002). The bigger Cycladic islands are the following: Naxos (429 79 km2), Andros (380 04 km2), Paros (196 31 km2), Tinos (194 46 km2), Milos (160 15 km2), Kea (148 93 km2), Amorgos (126 35 km2), Ios (109 02 km2), Mykonos (105 18 km2), Syros (101 90 km2), Kythnos (100 19 km2), Santorini (81 32 km2), Seriphos (75 21 km2) and Siphnos (73 94 km2) – National Statistical Service of Greece. 3. J. Th. Bent, The Cyclades or Life Among the Insular Greeks. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1885, vii. 4. J. Travlos and A. Koukkou, Hermoupolis [in Greek] (Athens: Commercial Bank of Greece, 1980); E. Marmaras and I. Panagiotopoulou, The neo‐classicism in the architecture of Paros [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 15 (1995) 55–97. 5. Storia del Mondo Medievale, L' Impero Bizantino. Italy: Cambridge University Press, 1978, III, 654–5. 6. Marco Sanudo was nephew of Enrico Dandolo, doge of Venice (A. Kotsakis, The Venetians in Naxos, 1207–1566 [in Greek]. Naxos: Pelasgos, 2000, 15). Sanudo, besides Naxos, conquered the following Cycladic islands as well: Syros, Kythnos or Thermia, Sikinos, Paros, Antiparos, Siphnos, Milos, Kimolos, Ios and Pholegandros (V. Sfyroeras, The history of Naxos since 1207 [in Greek]. I Kathimerini – Epta Imeres (13 July 1997) 7; Peter Lock, The Franks in the Aegean Sea, 1204–1500 [transl., in Greek]. Athens: Enalios, 1998, 250). 7. Enrico Flanders succeeded his brother Baldwin to the throne of Constantinople, after the latter's death on 20 August 1206, as the Latin Emperor Enrico I (Storia del Mondo, 520–1; Enrico di Fiandra, Enciclopedia Europea. Italy: Garzanti, 1977, IV, 524; M. Sanudo, Enciclopedia Europea. Italy: Patris, 1980, X, 149. He served the Emperor until the latter died in 1216 in Thessaloniki (R. Sauger, History of the Ancient Dukes and Other Governors in the Aegean Sea [transl., in Greek]. Hermoupolis: Ellinika Grammata, 1878, 18); W. Miller, History of the Frank Occupation in Greece (1204–1566) [transl., in Greek]. Athens: publisher?, 1960, 641–2). 8. J. Th. Bent was the first who dealt with the defensive structure of the Cycladic settlements in 1885 (Bent, The Cyclades, 394). A. J. B. Wace and R. M. Dawkins, both English archaeologists, published a drawing of the castle of Antiparos island in 1914 (Wace and Dawkins, The town and houses of the Archipelago. Burlington Magazine XXVI, CXL I (1914) 99). The same drawing was published afterwards by P. Lavedan (Histoire de l'Urbanisme I, Antiquite‐Moyen Age. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1926, 275) and by C. Pappas (L' Urbanisme et l'Architecture Populaire dans les Cyclades. Paris: Dunot, 1957, 21–33). W. Hoepfner and H. Schmidt published, in 1977, a treaty on the foundation of fortified settlements in Antiparos and Kimolos islands (Mittelalterliche Stadtegrundungen auf den Kykladeninseln Antiparos und Kimolos. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts Band 91, 1976 (Berlin 1977), 297–310, 323). The same year N. Moutsopoulos published new drawings and a text [in Greek] referring to the castle of Antiparos (Issues on Architectural Morphology. Thessaloniki: Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki, 1977, 39–43, 108–12). In 1978, M. Filippa‐Apostolou published her doctoral thesis on the castle of Antiparos (The Castle of Antiparos, A Contribution in the Study of the Fortified Medieval Settlement of the Aegean [in Greek] Athens: National Technical University of Athens, PhD Thesis, 1978. 9. B. J. Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, Les Cyclades Entre Colonisation Latine et occupation Ottomane c. 1500–1718. Leiden, Istanbul: Netherlands Historisch Archaelogisch Instituute te Istanbul, 1982, I, 16–17. 10. Ibid., 37–40; Storia del Mondo, 654–5. 11. E. Psarras, Philoti village during Frankish and Ottoman occupation [in Greek]. O Zas (1960) 4, 12–3; Sfyroeras, The history of Naxos, 7; Kotsakis, The Venetians, 50. 12. A. Miliarakis, Cycladika, Geography and History of the Cycladic Islands [in Greek]. Athens: Elliniki Anexartisia, 1874, 407–10; Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 24. 13. Pappas, L' Urbanisme, 18; Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 67–9. 14. Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 24. 15. A. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish Occupation. Hermoupolis, 1948, 1, 10–11; Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 73–8. 16. H. Koukkou, The Communal Institutions in the Cyclades during the Turkish Occupation [in Greek]. Athens, 1980, 114. 17. The engagement of the representatives of the Ottoman Empire, such as the harbour master (emin), the judge (kadi), or the regional governor (sancak‐bey), in the internal affairs of the islands was forbidden (ibid., 19–20). 18. A. Katsouros, The Turks of Naxos [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 9 (1971) 152–8; Koukkou, The Communal Institutions, 55; Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 107–8. 19. Kaputan Pasha used to anchor off Cape Drio of Paros island to collect the revenues (Bent, The Cyclades, vi; I. Kampanellis, Drio of Paros in the service of the squadron of the Turkish fleet [in Greek]. Pariana 84 (2002) 45–7. 20. Koukkou, The Communal, 55–6. Especially in the case of Naxos island, see Sfyroeras, The history of Naxos, 7–8. 21. Koukkou, The Communal, 17. 22. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish Occupation, 240–2; E. Kolodny, Hermoupolis – Syros, Genesis and evolution of a Greek insular town [transl., in Greek], Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 8 (1969) 253. 23. D. Varthalitis, Catholicism in Syros [in Greek]. I Kathimerini – Epta Imeres (20 June 1993) 12. 24. A. Tounta‐Fregadi, Syros under the State of Thessaloniki [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 13 (1990) 261. 25. In Milos there were 1500 Greek‐Orthodox, 20 Roman‐Catholics and no Turk settlers; in Mykonos, from the whole population of 3500 inhabitants, only about 100 were Roman‐Catholics; in Ios there were twelve Roman‐Catholic families; and in Kimolos, from the whole population of 100 inhabitants, only 12 were Roman‐Catholics (M. Foscolo, The small Catholic communities of the Cyclades during the beginning of the eighteenth century [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 10 (1974–6) 267–9, 285, 290, 295, 298). 26. A. Radford and G. Clark, Cyclades, studies of a building vernacular [in Greek], in O. Doumanis and Paul Oliver (eds), Shelter in Greece. Athens: Architecture in Greece Press, 1974, 64–9. 27. Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 16. 28. A. Polychroniadis and C. Chadjimichalis, Structure and elements of the physical environment in Naxos [in Greek], in Doumanis and Oliver, Shelter in Greece, 83–90. 29. Filippa‐Apostolou, The Castle of Antiparos, 90–2. 30. Ibid., 49–52. 31. Ibid., 101. 32. In Arabic this room was called sabat. See in: B. S. Hakim, Arabic‐Islamic Cities, Building and Planning Principles. London, New York, Sidney and Henley: KPI, 1986, 27–31. 33. E. Marmaras, Customary law and built environment in the Cyclades [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 12 (1995) 257–60. 34. According to the famous Greek poet, Pericles Giannopoulos, of the inter‐war period: ‘life in Greece is outdoor’. A similar use of the open urban space adjacent to the exterior wall of a building is also known in Islamic architecture and called fina (Hakim, Arabic‐Islamic Cities, 27–8). 35. This static support was similar to the one in Islamic architecture (ibid., 28). 36. A. Toussis, General principles of the Civil Law [in Greek]. Athens, 1978, 3–4. 37. The islanders also used to produce similar built environments when they settled out of the area of the Cyclades. An example is the settlement of Anafiotica (1860s), under the rock of the Acropolis of Athens. The name Anafiotica comes from the island of origin, Anafi (L. Leontidou, Cities of Silence [in Greek]. Athens: Cultural and Technological Foundation of Hellenic Bank on Industrial Development, 1989, 124–5, 218–19; L. Leontidou, The Mediterranean City in Transition, Social Change and Urban Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 65–6). 38. The Assises de Romanie is a collection of uses and customs of the feuds of Morea in Peloponnese, edited in the fourteenth century, perhaps under the instructions of the Court of the Angus of Naples (Storia del Mondo Medievale, 632–3, 636). The main manuscript is in the British Library in London (Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, 40). 39. A. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish occupation – The Justice and the Law [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 6 (1967) 122–4. 40. Ibid., 225. 41. Bent, The Cyclades, vi. 42. ibid. 43. P. Zepos, Property in Storeys [in Greek]. Athens: Fexis & Sons, 1931, 36–40. 44. A. Bournias, History of the Horizontal Property [in Greek]. Athens, 1982, 141. 45. Hakim, Arabic‐Islamic Cities, 12–22; B. S. Hakim, Islamic Architecture and Urbanism. Encyclopaedia of Architecture, Design, Engineering & Construction, 3. New York: I. Wiley & Sons, 1989, 90. 46. Hakim, Arabic‐Islamic Cities, 15. 47. Marmaras, Customary law, 249. 48. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish occupation – The Justice, 159; Koukkou, The Communal, 51. 49. Drakakis, ibid., 160. 50. D. Siatras, Purchases and Sellings of Real Estates During Turkish Occupation in Greece [in Greek]. Athens: Gnossi, 1992, 69. 51. Zepos, Property in Storeys, 10. 52. Siatras, Purchases and Sellings, 109. 53. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish occupation – The Justice, 162. 54. Ibid., 175, 177–80. 55. Ibid., 180–1. 56. Zepos, Property in Storeys, 9–14. 57. G. Petropoulos, Notary contracts in Mykonos during the years 1663–1779 [in Greek]. Athens, 1960, 11, 72–3, 157, 161. 58. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish occupation – The Justice, 168. 59. M. Danezis, Customary law in Santorini during eighteenth century [in Greek], in M. Danezis, Santorini 1939–1940, General Review of the Geological, Historical, Social, Economic, Tourism and Cultural Evolution of the Island. Athens, n.d., 198. 60. Drakakis, Syros under Turkish occupation – The Justice, 125, 218, 225. 61. Ibid., 125–6. 62. Ibid., 221. 63. Ibid., 194. 64. I. Della Rocca, The law of Naxos during the Turkish occupation times [in Greek]. Yearbook of the Society of the Cycladic Studies 7 (1968) 454; Danezis, Customary law, 198. 65. D. Gkinis, An Outline of the History of the Post‐Byzantine Law [in Greek]. Athens: Academy of Athens, 1966, 302. 66. Della Rocca, The law of Naxos, 454. 67. Ibid., 453–4; Danezis, Customary law, 198. 68. Danezis, ibid. 69. Marmaras, Customary law, 260.