Andros is the northernmost of the Cyclades islands and the second largest, after Naxos. Its location is important for navigation as it is located between Euboea and the rest of the Cyclades and again between Attica and the islands of the eastern Aegean. The physical form of the island is determined by four mountain ranges running almost parallel to each other in a northeast-southwest direction. Abundant waters flow between them and fertile valleys are formed that are cultivated on terraces. The countryside is broken up by a system of stone-built roads, the so-called ‘narrows’, defined by dry-stone walls with the characteristic slate slabs set vertically. Paved or not, the paths connect the picturesque villages and together with the dry-stone walls that mark out the properties, they fashion the characteristic landscape of the island. Countless churches, cells, huts, threshing floors, wine presses, sometimes whitewashed and sometimes the colour of the native stone, either stand out or are absorbed into the landscape: all gaze out upon the vast blue of the nearby Cyclades.
Andros has been inhabited, based on archaeological data known so far, since the Neolithic era. The settlement of Strofilas covers a large area – with fortifications, a sanctuary and large apsidal buildings; it is known mainly for its numerous rock art and dates from the Final Neolithic period (4500-3200 BC). Other prehistoric sites are Plaka, Vryokastro and Mikrogiali. The names of Lassia, Hydrousa, Epagris and Nonagria are attested to in historical times for Andros. Later, important settlements developed in Zagora, Ypsili and Palaiopolis, which last was the city-state of the island from the Classical to the Early Byzantine years and has yielded numerous buildings and finds.
Andros, with its Ionian inhabitants, took part in colonization, founding the colonies of Akanthos, Sani, Stagira and Argilos in Chalkidiki. In the Persian Wars, it sided with the Persians, as did many other islands of the Cyclades. From 478 BC it was first a member of the Delian League, then passed into the sphere of influence of the Spartans, before participating in the Second Athenian League. In the Hellenistic years, it followed the fate of most of the Cycladic islands, passing at different times into the control of the Macedonians, the Koine of the Islands, the Ptolemies and the Attalids. In 199 BC, the Romans dominated the island, as they gradually regulated matters in the Eastern Mediterranean. Andros was a place of exile in the imperial years, like many other islands. After the reign of Diocletian it belonged to the ‘Province of the Islands’ under the administration of Asia; thereafter it follows the course the islands all trod in the Byzantine and Modern eras.
Byzantine Andros
There is little historical evidence for Andros in the Byzantine years. From the end of the 4th century, Andros was a bishopric, under the Metropolis of Rhodes, though from the 10th century it came under that of the Metropolis of Athens. At the beginning of the 6th century, according to the Synecdemos of Hierocleos, it belonged to the Province of the Islands with its headquarters in Rhodes.
The heyday of Andros during the Early Byzantine period is attested by the four basilicas in Palaiopolis, the church of Agios Ioannis Theologos in Korthi, the church of Agioi Sarandas on Mount Kouvara and the four-towered fortress in Gavrios.
The island experienced a particular prosperity during the 11th and 12th centuries, a fact due to the production of the famous silk fabrics, which were exported to Western countries. This prosperity is also reflected in the churches built now, as well as in the sculptural decoration they feature. These are the churches of the Taxiarchis of Messaria, the Taxiarchis of Melida, the Taxiarchis of Ypsilos, the Panagia of Messathouri and Agios Nikolaos in Korthi. These structures, with their particularly careful construction and the high quality of their painted and sculptural decoration, represent the so-called Hellenic school of mid-Byzantine church building.
Andros also has three important examples of defensive architecture from the Frankish period, built in the same timeframe at locations on the island: the Kato Kastro on the rocky island of Chora, the Makrotantalos Castle, an isolated fort north of Gavrios opposite Evia – both coastal castles date to the early years of Venetian rule (13th century), and the mountain-set Epano Kastro on its large hill above the mountain village of Kochylou (towards the southeastern tip of Andros and above the bay of Korthi, in the wider region of (Epano) Korthi).
Andros also has several monasteries, of which are worth mentioning the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos in Sora, of Panachrantos on Mount Katafygi, of Agia or Zoodochos Pigi in the location of Kapsorachi and of Agia Marina in Apoikia.
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