The island of Seriphos is located at the western end of the Cyclades between Kythnos and Sifnos. It has an area of approximately 75.207 sq.km, and a coastline of 83 km. It is generally mountainous, with many surface water sources and many secure and closed bays (mainly on the south coast) suitable for mooring ships, as well as small sandy beaches (Koutalas, Livadi, Psili Ammos). Seriphos includes the islet of Serifopoula, as well as the even smaller ones Glaronisi and Vous. It has a rich mineral-bearing subsoil, mainly in iron ores.
On the spot of today’s Chora (or Seriphos), at an altitude of 200 m, the ancient city of historical times was built. It has been continuously inhabited. Its port is Livadi.
Mythology
Seriphos is one of the few islands of the Cyclades that is associated with a more widely known mythological cycle, that of Perseus and Danae. According to this tale, the first settlers of Seriphos were Aeolians from Thessaly, the brothers Polydectes, who became king there, and Dictys, both sons of Magnetos, himself son of Aeolus. Dictys, when fishing on its shores, pulled out the chest in which the king of Argos, Acrisios, had imprisoned and banished his daughter Danae. (She had lain with Zeus and given birth to her son Perseus.) Acrisios feared the Delphic oracle that said his grandson would kill him to take power of Argos. Dictys reared the boy as his own. Perseus left Seriphos, only to return with the head of Medusa, which he showed to Polydectes, so turning him into stone – a divine punishment for his insulting Perseus’ mother Danae. Then Diktys became king and Perseus gave the head of Medusa to the goddess Athena, who placed it in the middle of her aegis.
According to the ancient testimonies, the first inhabitants of Seriphos were Aeolians from Thessaly, but later Ionian settlers from Athens arrived and it is known that the inhabitants of Seriphos worshipped Perseus in a sacred temenos.
During the Persian Wars, the Serifians participated on the side of the Greek forces and sent a penticontor to the naval battle of Salamis. They joined the First Athenian League at its foundation (478/7 BC), and paid a tax to the common treasury initially of two talents and later one. During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) it was included among the allies of the Athenians. Seriphos is mentioned as having participated in the Second Athenian League from 377 BC. The writers of the 5th century represent the inhabitants of Seriphos as living in economic poverty and considered it to be a very insignificant island. Some inscriptions have survived that inform us about the social and political life of the Serifians and their relations with the neighbouring islands and with Delos. Bronze coins were again minted during this period with representations from the Perseus cycle and the words Ser or Serifion (of the Serifians).
Thereafter, Seriphos follows the same fate as the rest of the Cyclades: being first subject to the Macedonian Kingdom and later to the Ptolemies of Egypt (306 BC), until its reconquest by the Macedonians (266 BC). After the Roman conquest, it initially belonged to the Province of Asia and in the late Roman imperial period it was included in the that of Greece-Achaia. During this period, an important resolution is mentioned that also informs us about an evil that wiped out its best and most prominent citizens and expresses the fear that the future will be worse than the past.
