Samothráki (Part 1)

Our map for exploring the island by car   

For our trip around the island on 15 May we had 3 main things we wanted to see on Samothráki: the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, the Vathres waterfalls and the Hóra.  Given how mountainous the island looked we hired a car rather than a scooter. It was a nice little Suziki which work very well for us and, when we picked it up, I even remembered to ask for a map of the island. Akis produced a tiny map of the island on a flyer for a boat trip, talked us through places we could visit and, importantly, where the one petrol station on the island was. With a couple of biro dots on the matchstick sized map, but no roads marked on it, we were all set to go.

Miniatures of the Winged Victory of Samothráki
 are on sale everywhere    

From the late Bronze Age (circa 7^th century BC) until the late 4^th century AD when Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire, the Sanctuary of the Great Gods was one of the major religious centres of the Aegean. Here in 1863 a 7^th century BC marble statue of Athena Nike was discovered by the French Diplomat Charles Champoiseau who immediately whisked it off to the Louvre in Paris. Refreshingly, in Samothráki it is the French and not the British who are the archaeological villains!

Milesian Dedication (Top L), Neorion (Top R), Stoa (L), Nike Monument (R) [stolen by the French!?]    

Initially distracted by the ruins of some early Hellenistic buildings, some dining rooms, a Neorion(?) and a Milesian dedication, we eventually came to the scene of the crime. In a square niche just beside the stoa we found the site where the Winged Victory of Samothráki once stood. There is a plaster copy of the Athena Nike statue in the site museum which we would have loved to see but sadly, probably because of the current economic climate, the impressive looking, EU funded museum is currently closed.

View of the Hieron from above the theatre   

From here we followed the path to the top of the curved theatre seating and got our first proper view of the reconstructed colonnaded façade of the Hieron.

Whichever way you looked at it the reconstructed façade was impressive and really gave a feel for just how grand the buildings would have been in their prime. According to  one of the information boards, the sanctuary attained its ‘greatest splendour’ in the 3^rd and 2^nd centuries BC.

Rotunda of Arsinoe II   

The Sacred Rock   

The next site was the Rotunda of Arsinoe II. This dates from 288-270BC but inside are the walls of an earlier Orthostate structure dating from the early 4^th century BC. Just below the rotunda sits The Sacred Rock. Why this particular rock rather than any of the other similar ones close by was particularly sacred we never found out.

Ancient road up to the acropolis and the stones of the Propylon of Ptolemy II   

The pathway then led us up past and ancient road to the acropolis where we saw the odd sarcophagi or two and the marble stones and columns of Propylon of Ptolemy II lying on the ground waiting to be reconstructed.

Theatrical Circle   

Old city walls just beyond the fence   

The acropolis also gave us a good vantage point to look down on the Theatrical Circle. At this point, following a suggested routing from one of the site maps we had seen at the beginning of our visit, we wanted to continue to follow the path up onto the hillside for a couple of kilometres. However, there is now a security fence in place and the gate was firmly locked.

Old city walls and defensive towers   

Sanctuary of the Great Gods site map   

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods is actually quite a compact site but it sat within a large defended city area. We wanted to walk up the hillside to see the old city walls, their defensive towers and the few remaining signs of the old city buildings. With the gate closed we had to go back through the sanctuary to get back to our car. However, we did get to see the city walls and defensive towers during our explorations, albeit from a distance.

The Herion   

The plus side of missing out on our walk and returning down through the sanctuary was that we got another look at the fabulous Herion.

Samothráki, Greece