Semonides of Samos or of Amorgos? The archaeology of the Samians and the question of the archaic colonization of Amorgos reconsidered

Book synopsis: The present study aims at providing more than a straight forward summary regarding the ancient Cyclades. Its main purpose is to deal with geopolitical, economic, diplomatic, as well as cultural aspects of the interaction between the Archipelago and the different powers that dominated the Aegean area for a thousand years. For that reason, a total of twenty papers were included in this volume, based on both a historical and an archaeological approach. The authors of these studies have attempted to reconstruct the history of the ancient Cycladic societies under the Naxian, Parian, Samian, Athenian, Lagide, Rhodian, and finally Roman hegemonies. In particular, beyond examining the popular concept of domination, the present volume also intends to assess the history of the Archipelago from the 7th c. BC to the 3rd c. AD: under the conditions imposed by exogenous dominations, these islands witnessed the progressive birth of a new identity –the Cycladic one. Indeed, being both at the edge of their powerful neighbors’ spheres of influence and at the heart of the Aegean area, this circular ring of islands gradually evolved into the “Cyclades” in an ongoing relationship with these different hegemonies