Written sources for Amorgos from the Byzantine period are few. In the early Christian period (4th-7th centuries), Amorgos belonged to the Province of the Islands (Provincia Insularum), according to the Synecdemus of Hierocles. In the minutes of the Synod of 536, Bishop Theodore signed as the bishop of the cities of Paros, Sifnos and Amoulgos.
Christianity seems to have spread here quite early, as is evident from the purification of pagan objects, the construction of a house of prayer in Paradeisia and the existence of basilicas. Our knowledge of the early Christian period, in addition to the literature and the churches, is supplemented by the excavations carried out in recent years in Katapola. In the imperial period, Amorgos and specifically Katapola were a place of exile for prominent Romans, which resulted in prosperity for the port-city. In Katapola, significant architectural remains of houses and baths dating from the imperial period up to the 8th century have come to light. On the lower terraces of the northern slope of the ancient city of Minoa, some above-ground tombs from the city’s cemetery dating from the early Byzantine period are still visible today.
Particularly important for the early Byzantine period (7th-9th centuries) is the coin-hoard found in Kastri (ancient Arkesini) in Kato Meria. The treasure consists of 60 gold coins (solidi) and dates to the reign of Constantine IV (668-687). Its concealment in a broken vase has been associated with an official of the Karavisian fleet that was formed to counter the Arab raids. The first residential core of the island’s Chora, organized around the Castle, has also been dated to this period. Likewise, the first residential core of Lagada in Aigiali was probably located around a rocky hill (Troutsoula), also during the same period. For the ecclesiastical situation of Amorgos, the Notitia episcopatuum is considered to be an important source: from this we learn that Amorgos was the seat of a bishopric from the 7th to the 9th centuries, and was subordinate to the metropolitan of Rhodes.
From the turbulent years of Iconoclasm (8th–9th centuries), Amorgos is known from a lead-bull dated 738/739. This lead-bull mentions the royal kommerkiarios of Amorgos, Melos, Andros, Ios and Anaphe, who was in charge of controlling the commercial activity of these islands. Administratively, the island falls under the theme of Kibyrreot, established in 732 by Leo III the Isaurian and which had its headquarters in Antalya in Asia Minor. On Amorgos, aniconographic layers have survived in two churches of Katapola.
In the Middle Byzantine period (9th–12th centuries), Amorgos is known mainly for the foundation in the years of Alexios I Komnenos of the Monastery of Chozoviotissa on the southern coast of the island. The foundation of the Monastery in 1088 is mentioned in later patriarchal sigilia dating back to the 16th century, as well as in the Brevion of the Monastery dating back to the 17th century, which copies an older codex of the 14th century. In the early 12th century, the pilgrim Saewulf visited Amorgos on his journey from Italy to the Holy Land, while in the middle of the same century, Amorgos is mentioned by the Arab geographer al-Idrisi as being particularly populated. Ecclesiastically, since 869 throughout the Byzantine period, the island of Amorgos has been the seat of a bishopric. In the mid-9th century, Amorgos was included in the Theme of the Aegean.
Amorgos seems to have been useful to the Serene Republic of Venice in its quest for the unopposed domination of the Aegean, due to its privileged geographical position and safe harbour. After the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204 and the conquest of the Aegean Sea in 1206/07, Amorgos, along with Naxos, Paros, Melos,, Siphnos and Seriphos, came under the control of the Duke of Naxos, Marcos Sanoudos. The fortification of the Castle of Chora with battlements dates back to this period. Around 1277-1280 until the end of the 13th century the island returned to Byzantine control, under John III Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea.
For the period of the lengthy presence of the Venetians (from 1296 to 1537), the information drawn from the archives of Venice and other written sources is abundant. During the early Latin period, the settlement of Chora expanded to the south and the Loza Square was created. Three important examples of secular architecture survive from this period: the tower of Gavras, which today houses the Archaeological Collection, a tannery, known as the Tholos, and a vaulted water cistern, known as the Kato Lakkos.
The traditional settlement of Chora on Amorgos, built at an altitude of 350 m, is located at a key point, almost in the centre of the island. The earliest core of the settlement dates to the Middle Byzantine period and is located on the rocky hill ‘Kastro’ and on the northern and eastern slopes of Kastro, the so-called ‘Voreina’. With the occupation of the island by the Venetians in 1206/07, the Kastro was fortified and the settlement expanded to its south. During this period, the internal paved square called ‘Loza’ and the central paved street that runs along the settlement, the so-called ‘Mesi’ (or ‘Platysteno’ or ‘Kandirimi’) were created. All the cobbled streets of the settlement start and end from this central road. In some places these are covered over by the upper floor of an adjacent house – termed in the local language ‘embrostiades’: this arrangement was probably created to protect the residents from the pirates who ravaged the island until the middle of the last century.
The Kato Lakkos, a water-cistern supported on arches and with a vaulted roof (15th century), the Tholos, and the Sala tou Gavras (16th century), which houses the Archaeological Collection of Amorgos, date back to the last two centuries of Venetian rule.
During the years of Turkish rule (1537-1824), Amorgos, and especially the Chora, experienced periods of economic prosperity and an ‘ecclesiastical renaissance’. This is attested by the epigraphically documented renovations both in the Monastery of Chozoviotissa and its metochia, as well as in many churches in Chora. The renovation of the churches was facilitated by the real estate, the ‘possessions’ of the Monastery inside and outside Amorgos, which made it possible to purchase religious freedom from the Turkish Pashas.
Of the thirty churches in Chora, most preserve renovation inscriptions on their ornate marble door-surrounds. Such are seen in the former parish (and two-altared) church of All Saints (renovated in 1640), the single-aisled church of the Holy Apostles (renovated in 1689 and 1762), the single-aisled vaulted church of Saint John the Theologian at the foot of the Castle in Voreina (renovated in 1744), the Metochi (until 1619) of the homonymous Monastery of Patmos, the church of Saint Theodosia near Apano Loza (renovated in 1767), and the two-aisled domed church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, the current Metropolis, in Kato Loza (renovated in 1689).
The churches in the countryside of Chora are of interest: the single-aisled vaulted church of Agia Anna in the southeast of Chora, right on the southern coast of the island, the single-aisled vaulted church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in the area of the Monastery of Chozoviotissa which preserves signed frescoes, the single-aisled vaulted church of Agios Ioannis Prodromos which preserves at its east the remains of an earlier apse and at the south ruins of an older wall with traces of painted decoration, the single-aisled vaulted church of Agios Artemios in the southwest of Chora with a founding inscription and frescoes dating back to the early 18th century and finally, the single-aisled vaulted church of Agios Athanasios with frescoes dated by an inscription to 1701.
To the east of Chora, in an extremely inaccessible area above the steep southern coast-line of Amorgos, lies the island’s most famous monument – the Holy Stavropegic/Patriarchal Monastery of Panagia Chozoviotissa. The foundation of the Monastery – according to later sigils and a hexapeterygon (ritual fan) of 1682 – dates to the years of Alexios I Komnenos in the 11th century, while it has been stated that the katholikon of the monastery belongs to the period of the Iconoclasm. The name Chozoviotissa, a corruption of the name Chozivitissa or Kozivitissa as written on the inscriptions of the icons, is related to the location Choziva or Chozovo in Palestine, where there had been monasteries since the early Christian period. The similarity in form and location of the Monastery with that of Saint George of Chozevitos in the Wadi Qilt is noteworthy. In addition to Chozoviotissa, the Monastery is also known by the names Nea Moni and Moni ton Skala, as mentioned in the Brevion of the monastery. The architecture of the monastery is impressive. The eight-story building has a length of 40 m but in width is never more than 5 m. On the exterior, buttresses (scarps) have been added in modern times. The visitor enters the monastery through an arched door that opens to the east and dates to the period of Venetian rule. The building is surrounded by a corridor and stairs with arches, some built with limestone from Melos. The floors and wooden beams are made of the local wild cypress (pheida).
The monastery is made up of its katholikon (a single-aisled vaulted church), cells, refectory, kitchens, ovens, storehouses (the so-called sodistika), orion (the grain storehouse), auxiliary areas for kneading bread and storing wood (kladario), wine presses, cellars for wine and oil, lime pits and water cisterns.
The monastery’s Sacristy houses relics of particular value, such as portable icons, illustrated manuscripts, ecclesiastical embroideries and vessels. Some have been exhibited since 2007 in the heirloom exhibition hosted at the Monastery.
Among the icons, the oldest are the despotic icons of Christ Pantocrator and of Panagia Glykofiloussa, also known as Mavrommata, of the Kardiotissa type, which have been dated to the second half of the 14th to the beginning of the 15th centuries, and the icon of Panagia Chozoviotissa with a silver cover which dates to the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 17th centuries. Particularly interesting is the image that represents in the upper part Deisis with the Virgin Mary, Saint George Varsamitis and Saint Paraskevi, whilst in the lower part a trechantiri ship with monks and crew is tossed about in a stormy sea. The icon dates to after 1619 and is currently exhibited in the temporary exhibition ‘The Archipelago in Flames’ at the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos.
The collection of manuscripts kept in the monastery is also rich. Among them are patriarchal sigils dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries, parchment codices dating from the 10th to the 15th centuries and paper ones from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Among them stand out the Logoi of Saint Basil the Great, an Evangelistari of the 11th century, an Evangelistari of the 13th century and a musical codex of the late 13th century. Finally, the ecclesiastical embroideries kept in the monastery and dating from the 18th and 19th centuries are exceptional, as are the liturgical utensils, such as crosses and holy water basins, reliquaries, etc.
Two churches in the Katapola area date back to the 8th and 9th centuries of the Iconoclastic period. The church of Agioi Anargyri is built at the western end of the harbour. It belongs to the type of two-altared churches that are widespread in Amorgos. The southern aisle of the church is dedicated to Saints Anargyri, Kosmas and Damianos, while the northern aisle was recently dedicated to Saint Nektarios. The church consists of two rectangular aisles with vaulted roofs which communicate with each other by low arched openings resting on built pillars. To the east, the church ends in two semicircular apses. The northern wall of this aisle is supported by reinforcing buttresses, while beneath it there are traces of a water flow, which is considered by the elders to be a holy water source. Within the framework of the 3rd Community Support Programme, restoration work was carried out on the church along with the conservation of its frescoes. Excavation inside the church revealed two successive floors in the northern aisle, which, after being conserved, are today visible under a plexiglass floor.
In the painted decoration of the monument, preserved mainly in the south aisle, two layers can be distinguished, the oldest of which is non-pictorial and the later one is probably dated to the beginning of the 14th century.
The church of the Annunciation is located in Xylokeratidi, to the northeast of the bay of Katapola. The church, rectangular in shape, consists of the holy sanctuary to the east, which is covered with a semi-cylindrical transverse arch, and the main body, which is covered with an elliptical dome with a high drum. During conservation work, fragments of frescoes from the non-pictorial period were discovered under the later layer.
The church of the Cross at Stavros and the church of Agios Ioannis the Theologian on Mount Kroukelos probably date to the Middle Byzantine period. The first is located in the area of Stavros in the southwest of Chora. It is a three-aisled vaulted basilica with a semi-ruined, roofless narthex to the west and a semicircular apse to the east. To the south of the church, the single-aisled vaulted nave of Saint Nikitas was attached. To the east, a semi-cylindrical apse opens out. Of the fresco decoration of the churches, only that in the church of Saint Nikitas, namely a small representation of the honoured Saint, has survived.
The church of Saint John the Theologian is located on Mount Kroukelos at the northeastern tip of the island. It belongs to the type of three-aisled vaulted basilica with a dome in the holy sanctuary. At the base of the apse of the sanctuary there is a semicircular synthronos (a row of seats). In the construction of the church, reused building material of limestone and architectural members from both the ancient and early Christian periods were employed. In later phases, the arches, the western facade of the church, the two buttresses supporting the southern wall, the wine-press and its substructure were constructed. To the east of the church are two vaulted water cisterns. North of the northern aisle there was built an elongated chapel with an apse to the east. To the west and south of the church are visible ruins of cells and two large ovens. Of the fresco decoration of the church, very few representations have survived. During the Frankish/Latin period (13th-16th centuries), new churches were built and older ones were frescoed.
The church of Agios Nikolaos, a metochi of the Monastery of Chozoviotissa, is located on the northern outskirts of the village of Kamari in Kato Meria. It consists of three single-aisled buildings from whose eastern side three semi-cylindrical apses protrude. A domed building has been added to the northern aisle, of approximately the same length as the aisle, but without a semi-cylindrical apse, while three cells have been added to the south. Two aisles of the church communicate with each other through two wide arches supported by pillars, while contact with the third, later aisle is through a low door on its southern wall. In the apse there is a row of seats approached by three-steps. The northern aisle was a funerary chapel, as bones have survived to this day in a small vase placed in a niche in the northern wall. Within the framework of the 3rd Community Support Program, restoration work was carried out on the church and the frescoes dating back to the 14th century were conserved.
The church of Agios Ioannis Chrysostomos is located in the extremely inaccessible area of Kapsala northeast of Chora. It is a single-nave, vaulted church of small dimensions with a semicircular apse to the east. A two-story building has been built in contact with the northern wall of the church, while to the northwest there is a hermitage and to the southwest a threshing floor and a small olive press. The floor of the Sacred Altar is raised and covered with square clay slabs with curved ‘fingers’, while the floor of the main church is covered with stone slabs and a few clay ones. In the narthex, which was formed later at the west end of the church by the construction of an interior transverse wall, there is an underground cistern, under the floor of the church. The arch of the church was covered with clay tiles in a later repair phase.
From the fresco decoration of the church dating to the 17th century, there have survived frontal depictions of saints, episodes from the life of Saint John Chrysostom and scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Since 2020, restoration work has been carried out on the church, the surrounding area and its frescoes conserved.
The church of Saint George of Varsamitis, Palaios is located to the southwest of Chora. It is a single-nave vaulted church. The roof of the building consists of slate slabs of various sizes. Two buttresses on the south wall of the church and the niche in the east date back to a later phase. From the wall decoration, busts of male figures, probably prophets in medallions, have survived.
Amorgos during the Early Christian and Early Byzantine periods.
Although the sources for the Early Christian and Early Byzantine periods are scarce, the island of Amorgos, as can be seen from the abundance of monuments that have been excavated and identified, seems to have experienced a particular prosperity, as did most of the islands of the Cyclades. In the south of the island, in the Kato Meria area, four churches have been identified.
The Early Christian prayer house excavated in the cove of Paradeisia is of interest. It is a single-room building of small dimensions and rectangular plan, built with ancient building material. The floor is covered with marble slabs, some of which bear inscriptions. Its reconstruction dates back to the reign of Emperor Constantius II (360-361) based on a coin found under the floor.
In the bay of Kato Kampos, the remains of a large early Christian basilica are visible in the sea. Building materials and architectural elements of the basilica have been used for the construction of the two neighbouring churches of Panagia and Agios Ioannis the Theologian.
The church of Panagia tou Politi is located northeast of the settlement of Kolofana. It is a single-aisled, flat-roofed building of small dimensions, which is built over the south aisle of a three-aisled basilica of the early Christian period. From the basilica are preserved in situ architectural elements (marble balustrade elements and pillars of the iconostasis) and parts of the walls, as well as the three semicircular apses to the east.
The church of the Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) is located northwest of the village (Arkesini) near the Hellenistic tower of the same name. The church took its current form after repairs and the reduction of its size. Initially, it belonged to the type of three-aisled domed basilica. In a later phase, probably due to the collapse of the north and south aisles, the church was restricted to the central aisle and was roofed with an arch that rested on walls that blocked off the north and south arcades. The construction of the church in the 7th century, perhaps even the 8th century, must probably be connected with the use of the adjacent Hellenistic tower that continued until the 8th century.
In the settlement of Katapola, the port of ancient Minoa, is a fairly vigorous and extensive settlement, dating from the Roman to the early Byzantine period; it is being excavated on private land. Here the Church of Panagia Katapoliani is located. It is a single-nave vaulted church with a semicircular apse to the east, built in the north aisle of a three-aisled early Christian basilica. Many architectural elements (balustrades, columns, capitals, decorations and lintels) are scattered throughout the area or built into the church.
To the west of the settlement of Katapola, at the location of Kat’Akrotiri, is the single-aisled vaulted church of Panagitsa. It is built on a basilica of the early Christian times, as evidenced by the apse, part of which is visible to the east of the modern church, and by the numerous building and architectural members that have been built into it.
In the northern bay of Agioi Saranta, at the location of Lefkes to the south of Katapola, is the church of Agioi Saranta. It is a twin vaulted church that has been built on the foundations of an apse of an early Christian basilica.
To the east of Katapola is the single-aisled vaulted church of the Taxiarchis or Asomaton. It is a small church built on the ruins of an apse of an early Christian basilica. Architectural elements from the early Christian period have been built into the walls of the church.
At the location of Voreina, north of the settlement of Vroutsi in Kato Meria, remains of an early Christian basilica have been discovered, as evidenced by the in situ unfluted columns.
The single-aisled vaulted church of Panagia in Ormos Aigiali is built on the apse of an older church in the same location. Early Christian building elements, some with relief decoration, are built into the church of Panagitsa, as well as into other churches in the wider area.
Bibliography M.Ch. Georgalli, The Morphology of Traditional Dwellings within an Insular Context: Amorgos, Greece, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, 2 (1991).
M.Ch. Georgalli, From Rural Shelter to Chora’s Town Dwellings: Morphological Evolution of Traditional Buildings and Settlements on Amorgos, Los Angeles 1996 (unpublished doctoral dissertation).
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