The main settlement centre of the Geometric period (10th-8th centuries BC) on Tenos is located in the interior of the island, specifically in the mountainous area of Xombourgo. The choice of the location at a distance from the sea is considered to reflect the need for protection from piracy that dominated the Aegean in the centuries following the fall of the Mycenaean palaces (11th century BC).
Xombourgo has been the focus of systematic excavation research for many years, initially by the Archaeological Society of Athens and subsequently by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, under the direction of Prof. Nota Kourou. It remained the most important residential and ‘political’ centre on Tenos for centuries until approximately the middle of the 4th century BC, when it was abandoned. The archaeological excavation at the foot of the steep rocky hill with its medieval castle at the top, brought to light important remains of the Geometric period (10th-8th centuries BC). In particular, a strong fortification was revealed, which protected the settlement; it had the form of a Cyclopean wall made from large boulders. Outside the gate of the wall, a small open-air sanctuary with many phases, covering the entire Geometric period, was revealed. Pits with fires, offerings of solid or liquid goods (fruits, oil, wine, honey), broken vessels and remains of ritual meals, indicate the practice of funerary worship in honour of the ancestors. In the 8th century BC, the sanctuary was reorganized, creating enclosures that enclose the fires, an eschara and a stone-built platform for rituals. This is the period of the emergence of the institution of the ‘City-State’, when the sanctuary at Xombourgo acquires a communal character with the practice of chthonic worship in which all the members of the community participated.
The practice of outdoor worship at Xombourgo is also attested in the area where the ‘Thesmophorion’ was later founded (see below). The cult began shortly before the end of the 8th century BC, and was dedicated to the female deity of nature and reproduction. An open-air altar (‘eschara’), a stone-built platform and shallow pits were found in which large pithamphorai with relief decoration were set for the storage of the annual offering of the first fruits of the earth (aparkhes) to the deity.
During the Archaic period (7th-6th centuries BC), the settlement grew, beyond the fortification line. At the beginning of the 7th century BC, above the eastern part of the open-air Geometric sanctuary outside the gate of the wall, a small temple (‘holy oikos’) with an interior space was formed. This small temple was dedicated to the worship of chthonic deities, who were related to nature and the cultivation of the land. The building was probably adorned with a part of a relief clay frieze, depicting a chariot drawn by winged horses, in which two female figures ride.
The practice of worship in the area of the later ‘Thesmophorion’ continued in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, as evidenced by the pithamphorai that continued to be dedicated to the sanctuary. These large-sized vessels are ornamented with rich relief figurative representations, in some cases unique in the history of ancient Greek art (see below).
The Archaic settlement was fortified during the Persian Wars (early 5th century BC). At about the same period (late 6th-early 5th centuries BC) the role of the goddess of fertility and nature was taken over by the goddess Demeter, the protector of agriculture. The continuation of the tradition in religion is seen in the case of the ‘Thesmophorion’. On the site of the older open-air sanctuary stood a sacred temple-shaped building dedicated to the worship of Demeter (‘Thesmophorion’) during the Classical period (5th and 4th centuries BC). The surviving architectural remains, which are preserved outside the western gate of the wall of the early 5th century BC, do not all belong to the same era. The temple-shaped building consists of a small central room (cella) and a vestibule (pronaos) and has a floor paved with pebbles; it dates to the 5th century BC. During the 4th century BC, the temple acquired additional spaces (outbuildings) for the overnight stay of women, whose presence was necessary for the celebration of the ‘Thesmophoria’ festival in honour of the goddess Demeter.
Among the buildings that have been excavated at Xombourgo, of particular importance is ‘Building E’, which is located outside the walls that enclosed the Geometric settlement. Two building phases can be distinguished in the building – one Archaic and one Classical. The discovery of objects, such as an intact bronze judicial tablet, other inscribed metal objects and imported vases of excellent quality (Archaic Corinthian and Classical Attic), indicate that it was most likely a public building (‘Andreion’ or ‘Prytaneion’).
On the eastern side of Xombourgo, a little lower than the monastery of the Sacred Heart of Christ, in the spot known as ‘Vardalakos’ is the only cemetery of the ancient settlement known so far.
The main peak of use of the cemetery, which probably opened during the Archaic period, belongs to the 5th and 4th centuries BC. It includes simple tombs, which display a great typological variety (sarcophagi, enchytrismoi, cists, tile-graves), but also some enclosures for family burials. Of particular interest are the built masonry structures used for rituals in honour of the dead. In some cases, marble monuments, such as stelae and funerary shrines, were erected in the structures.
Xombourgo was the main residential and ‘political’ centre on Tenos from the 10th century BC until approximately the middle of the 4th century BC.
During the Byzantine period, the main settlement of the island was moved from the present-day Chora of Tenos to the foot of the hill ‘Xombourgo’, in the area of the present-day village of Xinara. On the hill of ‘Xombourgo’, which was then called ‘Kastro’, the first fortification on the rocky peak was placed at the time of the Arab raiding (second half of the 7th century) according to the scholar Dimitris Athanasoulis, and from the ceramics recovered in recent research that were studied by A. Yiangaki. The research and excavation work of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades in collaboration with the National Research Foundation, is carried out within the framework of a program entitled ‘Byzantine and Latin-occupied Tenos: Old and new archaeological data’. It focuses on the oldest part of the castle, the acropolis, which includes the rock of the summit and the northeastern rectangular plateau enclosed by a strong wall, reinforced in the middle with a five-sided pointed tower. According to the data presented in the ‘Report on the island and city of Tenos’ by Pompeo Ferrari, a nobleman from Piacenza, the Tower in question was known as the ‘Tower of Saint George’. The next medieval horizon that has a strong showing, at least in its ceramics, is that of the late 12th or early 13th centuries.
In 1207, when Tenos was conquered by the brothers Andreas and Jeremiah Ghisi, they constructed a fortress named the ‘Castle of Saint Helen’, after a church of the same name that had previously stood at its summit of the same name had existed before at its top. This period, which lasted about two centuries (1207-1390), was succeeded by Venetian rule (1390-1715), a period marked by raids, including a brief occupation (1538) by the corsair Hayreddin Barbarossa. On its reconquest by the Venetians, the fortress was strengthened and the city was composed of three main parts: a) the unwalled suburb (Borgo) with a few houses and at least two churches, b) the main city (habitado) which had, according to the sources, between 500-677 houses and several churches and c) the fortified castle on the upper part of the hill. The north-east to south-east side of the rock was naturally fortified, while the built-fortifications ran NW-SW, on the side of the slope where the city stood. The approximately 600 metres of the wall incorporated a tall tower, a semicircular bastion, the so-called ‘Mezzaluna’, the central bastion, a tall square tower (‘La Punta’) and the secondary gate.
After these three main chronological horizons of habitation, there are few traces so far for the 17th century, when it is reported that although less than 1000 inhabitants lived in Xombourgo in total, just a very few soldiers were stationed in the upper part of the castle.
After the final occupation of the island by the Turks in 1715, the Fortress of Xombourgo was completely slighted (walls and buildings destroyed), to avoid the risk of its reuse should a reconquest of the island happen.
