Journey in history

In 776 BC, Tinos was under the dominance of Eretria, which was strong at the time. Athens controlled the island of Tinos in 650 BC and in 505 BC went under the dominance of the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras. During the Persian wars itsurrendered to the Persians. But on the eve of the naval battle of Salamis, a Tinian trireme the leader of which was Panetios Sosimeneos, defected and revealed to the Greeks the plans of the Persian fleet. Therefore, after the end of the wars, the name of Tinos was written on the tripod dedicated by the Greeks to Delphi. The island participated in the battle of Chaeronea in 479 BC. In 478 BC it participated in the Delian League and paid a tax which was initially of three talents, that a little later rose to 10. Tinian infantrymen participated in the second campaign of the Athenians to Sicily (413 BC). After the battle of Chaeronea, the island came under the dominance of the Macedonians in 314 BC and it became a member of the Commonof the Islanders.

In the 3rd century BC, the Tinians renovated the temple of Poseidon and Amphitrite, ruins of which are preserved in Kionia. Near the temple, which Strabo calls “worthy of sight”, there were restaurants in which many pilgrims from neighbouring islands gathered to celebrate the Poseidonia. The temple of Poseidon was a sacred asylum and it had been granted privileges, according to the historian Tacitus, by the Emperor Tiberius. There were statues of Poseidon and Amphitrite, 9m high, attributed to the Athenian sculptor Teilesia.

During the 2nd century BC, Tinos was designated by the Rhodians, who were allies of the king of Pergamon, Attalos, as the seat of the Common of the Islanders and it lived years of prosperity. During the Roman period administratively it belonged to the Province of Asia (129 BC). In the 1st century BC it was part of the conflicts between the Romans and King of Pontus Mithridates. At the same time the inhabitants also suffered from pirate raids.

Saracen and Arab pirates in 653 AD looted the island, while pirate raids continued in the following centuries. In Byzantine times it belonged to the province of the islands, the capital of which was Rhodes. Later on it became part on the Theme of Greece. The Capture of Constantinople in 1204 by Frankish Crusaders followed the foundation in 1207 of the Duchy of the Aegean. Tinos was ceded by the Doge of Venice to the brothers Andrew and Jeremiah Gizi. In 1259 came to the eldest son of Andrew, Bartholomew I Gizi. Roger de Loria, head of the pirate fleet of Catalans with 30 galleys, sacked in 1292 the coasts of Tinos and the other islands. The family of Gizi held the island until the death of the last descendant, George III, who in his own will left the island to Venice, which governed through surrogates (Rectors). Despite conceding privileges to residents for their participation in local government, the economic situation kept becoming worse and many residents were forced to emigrate. In 1537, Tinos was severely tested by the invasion of Hayreddin Barbarossa and the Tinians asked to come again under the banner of the winged lion of Venice –it was actually the only island that remained under the dominance of Venice even after the conquest of Crete in 1669. During the Rule of Franks, the capital was the fortified castle of Xompourgo on a pointed rock measuring 553m in height. After the conquest of the island by the Ottomans and the Treaty of Passarovic in 1718 which ended the Turkish- Venetian war, the inhabitants moved to the current seaside capital, built on the ruins of the ancient city.

In 1715 the Kapudan Pasha Canum Hoxha, head of a fleet of 45 warships and transports, disembarked in Tinos over 2500 men. Despite the efforts of the Venetian provveditore, Bernard Valvi, to organize resistance along with residents, he was quickly forced to make a treaty and surrender. According to a Venetian historian of the time, 200 families were forced by the Turks to migrate to the coast of Africa. At the time of its conquest the island had 15.000 residents, most of whom were Roman Catholics. In those years, the island actually bore the nickname “the island of the Pope” and it was the seat of the Latin Bishop of Tinos and Mykonos.

The Sultan Mehmet III ceded it as a fief to Ulema (legal expert) Veli Zande Efendi who was head of the mint. The island remained until 1805 under this status and then it was given back to the Seitan Feizoulach who was Defterdar (official) economic rents of the sultan. During this period, Tinos enjoyed tax and self-administration privileges. The administration was in the hands of a kind of senate of 5 members and the island paid an annual tribute to the Turks of 33.000 piastres.

In the Russian -Turkish War of 1768-1776 Tinos was occupied by the Russian fleet, while among the crews of Lambros Katsonis the participation Tinian seamen is mentioned. During the 18th century the handicraft of socks and silk manufacturing was developed. According to the testimony of a traveller, in 1790 the export of silk from Tinos reached 12.000 kilos and the migration of residents to Smyrna is connected to the export trade of socks to the city of Asia Minor. The flag of the Revolution of 1821 was raised on the Tower of Tinos on the 20th April. The Tinians took part in the battle of Styra in Euboea and also in the siege of Tripolis and Nafplion. In the modern history of Tinos the miraculous discovery of the icon of the Annunciation on the 30th January 1823 dominates. Following the construction of the church of the Virgin, with the financial contribution and the labour of the residents (1823-1831), it has emerged as one of the most important Orthodox shrines nationwide.

On the day of Dekapentavgoustos 1940 (15th of August, the Dormition of the Virgin) in the harbour of the island the warship “Elli”was torpedoed by an Italian submarine causing nationwide emotion and indignation. In October, Italy formally declared war on Greece.