By 800 B.C. the Aegean was an area of common tongue and of common culture.

Since writing was practiced in the Aegean before the end of the century, we may hope that the details of tradition will now be occasionally useful.

The sea was traditionally known as Archipelago ( in Greek, Αρχιπέλαγος, meaning " chief sea "), but in English this word's meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally, to any island group.

The word archipelago was originally applied specifically to the Aegean Sea and its islands.

The Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoeses, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire.

In Italian, possibly following a tradition of antiquity, the Arcipelago ( from medieval Greek * ἀρχιπέλαγος ) was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands ( since the sea is remarkable for its large number of islands ).

He was born into the aristocratic, warrior class that dominated Mytilene, the strongest city-state on the island of Lesbos and, by the end of the seventh century BC, the most influential of all the North Aegean Greek cities, with a strong navy and colonies securing its trade-routes in the Hellespont.

* Aegea, queen of the Amazons who was thought by some to have been the eponym of the Aegean Sea.

It was built on a raised plateau overlooking the east bank of the river Strymon where it emerged from Lake Cercinitis, about 3 m. from the Aegean Sea.

During the first invasion, Thrace, Macedon and the Aegean Islands were added to the Persian Empire, and Eretria was duly destroyed.

Commerce was practiced to some extent in very early times, as is proved by the distribution of Melian obsidian over all the Aegean area.

When this discovery was followed up in 1870, on the neighbouring Santorin ( Thera ), by representatives of the French School at Athens, much pottery of a class now known immediately to precede the typical late Aegean ware, and many stone and metal objects, were found.

The American explorations of the Argive Heraeum, concluded in 1895, also failed to prove that site to have been important in the prehistoric time, though, as was to be expected from its neighbourhood to Mycenae itself, there were traces of occupation in the later Aegean periods.

The " goat-man " who gave his name to the Aegean Sea was, next to Poseidon, the father of Theseus, the founder of Athenian institutions and one of the kings of Athens.

Henceforth, this sea was known as the Aegean Sea.

8th century BC ), which included, besides Aegina, Athens, the Minyan ( Boeotian ) Orchomenus, Troezen, Hermione, Nauplia and Prasiae, and was probably an organization of city-states that were still Mycenaean, for the purpose of suppressing piracy in the Aegean that arose as a result of the decay of the naval supremacy of the Mycenaean princes.

However, it was recovered on 27 August 1922, a key moment in the great Turkish counter-attack in the Aegean region.

The author of the work identifies himself in the text as " John " and says that he was on Patmos, an island in the Aegean, when he " heard a great voice " instructing him to write the book.

The traditional theory holds that John the Apostle — considered to have written the Gospel and the epistles of John — was exiled on Patmos in the Aegean archipelago during the reign of Domitian, and there wrote Revelation.

The revolt was used as an opportunity by Darius to extend the empire's border to the islands of the eastern Aegean and the Propontis, which had not been part of the Persian dominions before.

The condition of the Ottoman railways of the time was primitive, so most reinforcement would have to come by sea through the Aegean Sea.

Greece was the only Balkan country with a navy powerful enough to deny use of the Aegean to the Ottoman Empire, thus a treaty between Greece and Bulgaria became necessary ; it was signed in May 1912.

Their non-Greek language is confirmed on the site by inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabary which alone in the Aegean world survived the Bronze Age collapse and continued to be used down to the 4th century BC.

During the Acropolis excavations in Athens, which terminated in 1888, many potsherds of the Mycenaean style were found ; but Olympia had yielded either none, or such as had not been recognized before being thrown away, and the temple site at Delphi produced nothing distinctively Aegean ( in dating ).

A map of Cyprus in the later Bronze Age ( such as is given by J. L. Myres and M. O. Richter in Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum ) shows more than 25 settlements in and about the Mesaorea district alone, of which one, that at Enkomi, near the site of Salamis, has yielded the richest Aegean treasure in precious metal found outside Mycenae.

* Chryse Island in the Aegean, reputed site of an ancient temple still visible on the sea floor.

Philippi was established by the king of Macedon, Philip II, on the site of the Thasian colony of Krinides or Crenides (, " Fountains "), near the head of the Aegean Sea at the foot of Mt.

The Minoan eruption provides a fixed point for the chronology of the second millennium BC in the Aegean, because evidence of the eruption occurs throughout the region and the site itself contains material culture from outside.

Until recently it was assumed that Sardis was only settled in the period after the Anatolian and Aegean Dark Age, but American excavations have shown the place was settled in the Bronze Age and was a site of a significant population.

The ruins of the oldest human settlement in the Aegean Islands found so far have been unearthed in archaeological excavations on Lemnos by a team of Greek, Italian and American archaeologists at the Ouriakos site on the Louri coast of Fyssini in Moudros municipality.

During the Acropolis excavations in Athens, which terminated in 1888, many potsherds of the Mycenaean style were found ; but Olympia had yielded either none, or such as had not been recognized before being thrown away, and the temple site at Delphi produced nothing distinctively Aegean.

The American explorations of the Argive Heraeum, concluded in 1895, also failed to prove that site to have been important in the prehistoric time, though, as was to be expected from its neighbourhood to Mycenae itself, there were traces of occupation in the later Aegean periods.

A map of Cyprus in the later Bronze Age ( such as is given by J. L. Myres and M. O. Richter in Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum ) shows more than twenty-five settlements in and about the Mesaorea district alone, of which one, that at Enkomi, near the site of Salamis, has yielded the richest Aegean treasure in precious metal found outside Mycenae.

* The Works of Philo-searchable text from University of the Aegean ( site currently offline )

The Ancient Greek city of Amphipolis was founded near the river's entrance to the Aegean, at the site previously known as Ennea Odoi ( Nine roads ).

The site was fortified and has evidence of early purple dye and olive oil production, as well as contacts with the civilizations of the Aegean.

Modern geological techniques such as core drilling have identified the site of the vanished sacred Lake Lerna, which was a freshwater lagoon, separated by barrier dunes from the Aegean.

She is best known as the first director of an archaeological excavation to discover and excavate a Minoan settlement and palace site on the Aegean island of Crete.

The site is a popular day-excursion for tourists from Athens, with sunset over the Aegean Sea, as viewed from the ruins, a sought-after spectacle.

The cup is of note due to its Aegean style metalwork of the period and resembles similar finds from the Greek site of Mycenae, suggesting cultural and trading links with the Eastern Mediterranean.

It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the Republic of Macedonia.

The unoccupied archaeological site lies approximately 6. 5 km from the Aegean Sea and equidistant from the Dardanelles.

* Dartmouth classics department site for early Aegean archaeology: " Lefkandi I " and Tiryns Cultures