Waiting to go to Santorini after getting off the Cruise Ship Tender. - Santorini Greece - ECTV

Santorini (Greek: Σαντορίνη, romanized: Santoríni, pronounced [sa(n)doˈrini]), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα, romanized: Thíra, pronounced [ˈθira]) and Classical Greek Thera (/ˈθɪərə/), is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from its mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km2 (28 sq mi) and a 2021 census population of 15,480. The municipality of Santorini includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia, as well as the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi and Christiana. The total land area is 90.623 km2 (34.990 sq mi).[3] Santorini is part of the Thira regional unit.[4]
The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization.[5] The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep.
It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The volcanic arc is approximately 500 km (300 mi) long and 20 to 40 km (12 to 25 mi) wide. The region first became volcanically active around 3-4 million years ago,[citation needed] though volcanism on Thera began around 2 million years ago with the extrusion of dacitic lavas from vents around Akrotiri.
Names
Santorini was named by the Latin Empire in the thirteenth century, and is a reference to Saint Irene, from the name of the old church in the village of Perissa - the name Santorini is a contraction of the name Santa Irini.[6][5] Before then, it was known as Kallístē (Καλλίστη, "the most beautiful one"), Strongýlē (Στρογγύλη, "the circular one"),[7] or Thēra. The ancient name Thera, for Theras, the leader of the Spartans who colonized and gave his name to the island,[8] was revived in the nineteenth century as the official name of the island and its main city, but the colloquial Santorini is still in popular use.
History
Minoan Akrotiri
Springtime landscape in a Fresco from the Bronze Age, Akrotiri
The "saffron-gatherers"
Excavations starting in 1967 at the Akrotiri site under Spyridon Marinatos have made Thera the best-known Minoan site outside Crete, homeland of the culture. The island was not known as Thera at this time. Only the southern tip of a large town has been uncovered, yet it has revealed complexes of multi-level buildings, streets, and squares with remains of walls standing as high as eight metres, all entombed in the solidified ash of the famous eruption of Thera. The site was not a palace-complex as found in Crete nor was it a conglomeration of merchant warehousing. Its excellent masonry and fine wall-paintings reveal a complex community. A loom-workshop suggests organized textile weaving for export. This Bronze Age civilization thrived between 3000 and 2000 BC, reaching its peak in the period between 2000 and 1630 BC.[9]
Many of the houses in Akrotiri are major structures, some of them three storeys high. Its streets, squares, and walls were preserved in the layers of ejecta, sometimes as tall as eight metres, indicating this was a major town. In many houses stone staircases are still intact, and they contain huge ceramic storage jars (pithoi), mills, and pottery. Noted archaeological remains found in Akrotiri are wall paintings or frescoes that have kept their original colour well, as they were preserved under many metres of volcanic ash. Judging from the fine artwork, its citizens were sophisticated and relatively wealthy people. Among more complete frescoes found in one house are two antelopes painted with a confident calligraphic line, a man holding fish strung by their gills, a flotilla of pleasure boats that are accompanied by leaping dolphins, and a scene of women sitting in the shade of light canopies. Fragmentary wall-paintings found at one site are Minoan frescoes that depict "Saffron-gatherers" offering crocus-stamens to a seated woman, perhaps a goddess important to the Akrotiri culture. The themes of the Akrotiri frescoes show no relationship to the typical content of the Classical Greek décor of 510 BC to 323 BC that depict the Greek pantheon deities.
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