TILOS GUIDA VIAGGIO

TILOS > STORIA

STORIA

Tilos has been inhabited ever since the Neolithic Period (8000-7000 b.C.). The excavations in the island provide evidence of Minoan and Mycenaean presence. In the course of time, several Greek tribes dwelled here, including Dorians and Pelasgians. Herodotus mentions the people of Tilos and Lindos who settled in Sicily and founded the Greek colony of Gelantas.

During medieval times, Tilos was called Episkopi. In 1373 a.C. it was conquered by Knights Hospitallers who restored the Castle in Megalo Horio.

The island passed to the rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1552. It then passed along with the rest of the Dodecanese to Italian rule and was finally annexed to the Greek state in 1948.

As far as it name is concerned, it is believed to have preserved the same name it has had ever since antiquity. According to mythology, Tilos was named after the younger son of Telhinida Alia and Helios (sun), who had visited the island to collect herbs for his sick wife and later built a temple in which he was the priest himself. Actually, apart from the myth’s charm, truth is that the descent of the name of Tilos is lost in the misty depths of the unknown, pre-Greek language.

The ancient also called the island Agathousa and it was famous for its perfume.