Santorini, officially known as Thira or Thera, is a Greek island located in the southern Aegean Sea, approximately 200 km (120 mi) southeast of the mainland. It is the largest island in a small, circular group of islands formed by the Santorini caldera. Santorini is the southernmost island in the Cyclades group, covering an area of about 73 km (28 mi) and having a population of 15,480 according to the 2021 census. The Santorini municipality includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia, as well as the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi, Anydros, and Christiana. The total land area of the municipality is 90 km (35 mi). Santorini is part of the Thira regional unit.

Santorini is the most active volcanic area in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc. This volcanic arc is about 500 km (300 mi) long and 20 to 40 km (12 to 25 mi) wide. Volcanic activity in the region began around 3–4 million years ago, and volcanic activity on Thera started approximately 2 million years ago with the release of dacitic lavas from vents near Akrotiri. One of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history occurred on the island about 3,600 years ago, creating a large water-filled caldera surrounded by deep volcanic ash deposits.

Names

The name "Santorini" comes from "Saint Irene," named after an old church in the village of Perissa. Influenced by the Venetian people, the island was called Santorini since at least the middle of the 12th century. The first recorded mention of this name was made by the geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi around 1154.

In ancient times, the island was known as "Thēra." Before that, ancient writers called it "Kallístē," meaning "the most beautiful one," and, according to a modern tradition, "Strongýlē," meaning "the circular one." The name "Thēra" honored Theras, a leader of the Spartans who settled on the island and gave it its name. In the 19th century, the name "Thera" was officially used again for the island and its main city. However, the name "Santorini" remains widely used in everyday language.

History

The island was the location of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption, also called the Thera eruption, which happened about 3,600 years ago during the time when the Minoan civilization was strong. The eruption created a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of meters deep. Some scientists believe the eruption may have inspired the legend of the lost city of Atlantis. The eruption lasted for weeks and caused huge tsunami waves.

Volcanic activity in the region began around 3–4 million years ago, but volcanic activity on Thera started about 2 million years ago with the flow of a type of lava called dacite from vents near Akrotiri.

Starting in 1967, excavations at Akrotiri led by Spyridon Marinatos revealed that Thera (which was not known by this name at the time) became one of the most important Minoan sites outside Crete, the homeland of the Minoan culture. Only the southern part of a large town has been uncovered so far, but it shows multi-level buildings, streets, and squares with walls as tall as eight meters, all covered by hardened volcanic ash from the eruption. This site was not a palace or a place for storing goods, but it had well-built structures and colorful wall paintings, showing a complex and organized community. A loom workshop suggests that textiles were made for trade. This Bronze Age civilization existed between 3000 and 2000 BC, reaching its peak between 2000 and 1630 BC.

Many houses in Akrotiri were large, some with three floors. Streets, squares, and walls up to eight meters high show that this was a major town. Much of the town is preserved in layers of volcanic material. The houses had large ceramic jars for storage, mills, pottery, and intact stone staircases. Notable remains include wall paintings that have kept their original colors because they were covered by thick layers of volcanic ash. The artwork suggests that the people were skilled and had access to resources. Paintings include scenes of animals, people with fish, boats with dolphins, and women sitting under canopies. Some frescoes show people offering saffron to a seated woman, possibly a goddess. The themes of these paintings are different from the art of Classical Greece, which often showed Greek gods.

The town had an advanced drainage system. Pipes with running water and water closets found at Akrotiri are the oldest of their kind discovered. The pipes had two systems, showing that hot and cold water were used. The hot water likely came from geothermal heat near the volcano.

The well-preserved ruins of the ancient town are often compared to the ruins of Pompeii in Italy. In September 2005, the canopy covering the ruins collapsed, injuring people and killing one tourist. The site was closed until 2012 while a new canopy was built.

The oldest signs of human settlement on the island date back to the Late Neolithic period (4th millennium BC or earlier). Around 2000–1650 BC, Akrotiri became a major Bronze Age port. Objects found there came from Crete, Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, the Dodecanese, and the Greek mainland.

The Minoan eruption is an important event for dating events in the second millennium BC in the Aegean because evidence of the eruption is found across the region. The eruption happened during the "Late Minoan IA" period on Crete and the "Late Cycladic I" period on nearby islands.

Archaeological evidence suggests the eruption occurred around 1500 BC. However, radiocarbon dating and tree ring data suggest the eruption happened between 1645–1600 BC and 1628 BC, respectively. These conflicting dates have led to questions about earlier dating methods.

In The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story, geologist Barbara J. Sivertsen suggests a possible link between the eruption and the plagues described in the Exodus story.

After the eruption, Santorini remained unoccupied during the rest of the Bronze Age, while the Greeks took control of Crete. At Knossos, Linear B texts from the 14th century BC mention an entity called "qe-ra-si-ja," which may refer to Thera. The name "Thera" may have evolved from an earlier name related to the island.

After the Bronze Age collapse, Phoenicians established a settlement on Thera. Herodotus wrote that they called the island Callista and lived there for eight generations. In the ninth century BC, the Dorians founded a city on Mesa Vouno, which they named after their leader, Theras. This city is now called Ancient Thera.

In his Argonautica, written in the third century BC, Apollonius Rhodius described a myth in which the Greek hero Euphemus received a piece of dirt from Triton, a sea god. After caring for the dirt, Euphemus dreamed it became a woman named Calliste, who told him to throw the dirt into the sea to create an island for his descendants. The island was later named Thera after Euphemus’ descendant, Theras.

The Dorians left stone inscriptions near the temple of Apollo, some of which describe relationships between men and their lovers. These inscriptions may have been part of rituals or celebrations. According to Herodotus, Thera sent colonists to northern Africa, including the city of Cyrene. During the Peloponnesian War, Thera supported Sparta against Athens. The Athenians briefly controlled the island but lost it after the Battle of Aegospotami. After Alexander the Great’s death, Thera became part of the Ptolemaic kingdom and served as a naval base during the Hellenistic period.

Like other Greek territories, Thera was later ruled by the Romans.

Geography

The Cyclades are part of a large rock formation called the Cycladic Massif. This formation was created during the Miocene period and was folded and changed into metamorphic rock during a mountain-building event called the Alpine orogeny, which happened about 60 million years ago. Thera is built on a small non-volcanic base that was once a non-volcanic island, measuring about 9 by 6 km (5.6 by 3.7 mi). The rocks beneath this base are mainly metamorphosed limestone and schist, which formed during the Alpine orogeny. These non-volcanic rocks can be seen at places like Mikros Profititis Ilias, Mesa Vouno, the Gavrillos ridge, Pyrgos, Monolithos, and the inner side of the caldera wall between Cape Plaka and Athinios.

The metamorphic grade of these rocks is called blueschist facies, which forms when tectonic forces push the African Plate under the Eurasian Plate. This subduction process happened between the Oligocene and Miocene periods, and the blueschist facies marks the southernmost part of the Cycladic blueschist belt.

Volcanic activity on Santorini is caused by the Hellenic subduction zone, located southwest of Crete. Here, the oceanic crust from the northern edge of the African Plate is pushed under Greece and the Aegean Sea, which has thin continental crust. This subduction creates the Hellenic arc, a chain of volcanic areas that includes Santorini and other volcanic sites like Methana, Milos, and Kos.

Santorini was formed through repeated cycles of shield volcano building followed by caldera collapse. The inner coast near the caldera has steep cliffs over 300 m (980 ft) high, showing layers of solidified lava stacked on top of each other. Towns are built on the top of these cliffs. The land slopes outward from the cliffs, and the outer beaches are flat and shallow. The color of beach sand depends on the exposed geological layers; beaches like the Red Beach, Black Beach, and White Beach have sand or pebbles made of solidified lava of different colors. Water at darker beaches is warmer because the lava absorbs heat.

The Santorini area includes a group of islands formed by volcanoes, such as Thera, Thirasia, Aspronisi, Palea, and Nea Kameni.

Santorini has erupted many times, with eruptions varying in explosiveness. At least twelve large explosive eruptions have occurred, four of which created calderas. The most famous eruption is the Minoan eruption, described below. Volcanic materials range from basalt to rhyolite, with rhyolite associated with the most explosive eruptions.

The earliest eruptions, many of which happened underwater, occurred on the Akrotiri Peninsula between 650,000 and 550,000 years ago. These eruptions are chemically different from later volcanic activity, as they contain amphiboles.

Over the past 360,000 years, two major volcanic cycles have occurred, each ending with two caldera-forming eruptions. These cycles end when magma changes into rhyolite, leading to the most explosive eruptions. Between caldera-forming eruptions, smaller eruptions and lava flows build up volcanic cones, which may block magma flow. This allows magma to collect and evolve into more silicic compositions. When this happens, a large eruption destroys the cone. The Kameni islands in the center of the lagoon are a recent example of a cone formed by this process, with much of it hidden underwater.

During the Bronze Age, Santorini was the site of the Minoan eruption, one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. The eruption occurred near the current island of Nea Kameni in the caldera. The caldera itself was formed hundreds of thousands of years ago when the center of a circular island collapsed after magma was emptied during an eruption. Since then, the caldera has been filled multiple times by ignimbrite, most recently 21,000 years ago. The northern part of the caldera was refilled by the volcano before the Minoan eruption but collapsed again during the eruption. Before the Minoan eruption, the caldera formed a nearly continuous ring with only one entrance between Aspronisi and Thera. The eruption destroyed parts of the ring, creating two new channels.

On Santorini, a thick layer of white volcanic ash (tephra) from the Minoan eruption covers the ground, forming three distinct bands that show different stages of the eruption. In 2006, scientists discovered that the Minoan eruption released 61 km³ (15 cubic miles) of magma and rock into the atmosphere, much more than earlier estimates of 39 km³ (9.4 cubic miles). Only the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption, the 181 AD Taupo eruption, and possibly the 946 AD Baekdu Mountain eruption have released more material into the atmosphere in the past 5,000 years.

The Minoan eruption has been linked to ancient stories like Atlantis and the Exodus, though these stories are not supported by archaeological evidence. They remain popular in pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology.

After the Minoan eruption, volcanic activity has focused on the Kameni islands in the center of the lagoon. These islands formed after the Minoan eruption, with the first one emerging from the sea in 197 BC. Nine eruptions have been recorded since then, with the last ending in 1950.

In 1707, an underwater volcano broke the surface, forming the current center of activity at Nea Kameni. Eruptions centered here continued, with three recorded in the 20th century, the last in 1950. In 1956, Santorini was hit by a strong earthquake. Though the volcano is

Climate

According to the National Observatory of Athens, Santorini has a hot, dry climate with some features similar to the Mediterranean region. This climate is classified as "BSh" with characteristics of the "Csa" type, which includes dry summers and wetter winters. The island receives about 270 mm (11 inches) of rainfall each year on average, and the average yearly temperature is about 19 °C (66 °F).

Economy

Santorini's main industry is tourism, especially during the summer months. Agriculture also plays a role in the island's economy, and it supports a wine industry. Before 1960, when tourism began to grow slowly, Santorini's economy relied on farming and trade.

In the middle of the 19th century, Santorini had strong business activity with foreign countries, especially Russia, where it sent all of its wine production. Because of its special environment and weather, particularly its volcanic ash soil, Santorini produces unique crops like the Santorini cherry tomato. Growing grapes for wine, called viticulture, has a long history dating back to ancient times. However, the rise in tourism led to a slow decline in grape farming. Viticulture remains the most important part of Santorini's agriculture.

The island's wine industry is small and focuses on the native Assyrtiko grape, along with other white varieties like Athiri and Aidani, and red varieties such as Mavrotragano and Mandilaria. The vines are very old and resistant to a disease called phylloxera, which local winemakers attribute to the well-drained volcanic soil. These vines did not need to be replaced during a major phylloxera outbreak in the late 19th century. To adapt to their environment, the vines are planted far apart, as their main source of water is dew. They are often trained into low, round baskets to protect the grapes from wind.

A famous wine from Santorini is Vinsanto, also called "holy wine" in Italian. It is a sweet, dark, amber-colored dessert wine made from sun-dried Assyrtiko, Athiri, and Aidani grapes. It is aged in barrels for up to 20 to 25 years. Vinsanto has strong smells of citrus and minerals, along with notes of nuts, raisins, figs, honey, and tea.

White wines from Santorini are very dry and have strong citrus smells and mineral and salt aromas from the volcanic soil. Some white wines also have a slight frankincense smell from aging in barrels, similar to Vinsanto. Being a winegrower in Santorini is difficult because the hot, dry climate makes the soil low in productivity. The amount of wine produced per hectare is only 10 to 20% of what is common in France or California. The island's wines are regulated and protected by "Vinsanto" and "Santorini" OPAP designations of origin.

A brewery called the Santorini Brewing Company started operating in Santorini in 2011, located in the island's wine region.

Governance

The current municipality of Thera (officially known as "Thira," in Greek: Δήμος Θήρας) includes all towns and villages on the islands of Santorini and Therasia. It was created in 2011 during a local government reform by combining the former municipalities of Oia and Thera.

Oia is now called a community (in Greek: Κοινότητα) within the municipality of Thera. This community includes two local areas (in Greek: τοπικό διαμέρισμα): Therasia and Oia.

The municipality of Thera also includes 12 additional local areas on Santorini: Akrotiri, Emporio, Episkopis Gonia, Exo Gonia, Imerovigli, Karterados, Megalohori, Mesaria, Pyrgos Kallistis, Thera (the main office of the municipality), Vothon, and Vourvoulos.

Attractions

The traditional buildings in Santorini are similar to those in other Cyclades islands. These homes are low and cube-shaped, made from local stone and painted white or with colors from volcanic ash. Over time, these colors have become more common than white on house walls, following the style of architecture that existed before the major earthquake in 1956. A special feature of Santorini’s homes is the use of hypóskapha, which are rooms built by digging sideways or downward into the island’s pumice rock. These rooms stay cool in summer and warm in winter because the air-filled pumice acts as insulation. They are also used to store goods, especially wine, in the Kánava wineries of Santorini.

In 1956, a powerful earthquake destroyed many buildings on the island, and many others needed repairs. The underground homes near the caldera’s edge, where the ground was unstable, had to be abandoned. At that time, much of Santorini’s population moved to Piraeus and Athens.

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, pirates attacked the Cyclades islands. They stole crops, captured people, and sold them as slaves. The small bays of Santorini were used as hiding places by pirates. To protect themselves, the islanders built their homes on high, hard-to-reach ground, and placed them close together. The walls of these homes had no windows or doors on the outside, forming a protective barrier around villages. Additional fortifications were also built across the island to keep people safe.

Infrastructure

Electricity for Santorini and Therasia mainly comes from the Thira Autonomous Power Station in Monolithos, Santorini. This station is owned by the Public Power Corporation (PPC) and uses generators powered by diesel engines and gas turbines. Together, the two islands have a total electricity generation capacity of 75.09 MW from thermal sources and 0.25 MW from renewable sources. A project costing €124 million is underway to connect the islands to the mainland through a submarine cable by 2023 as part of the Cyclades Interconnection Project.

A fire at the Monolithos power station on August 13, 2018, caused a complete blackout across both islands. Electricity was restored to all but 10% of consumers within four days. Ships delivered two power generators to help restore electricity.

Electricity is managed by the Hellenic Electricity Distribution System Operator (HEDNO S.A. or DEDDIE S.A.), a company owned entirely by PPC. A cable connects the electrical systems of Santorini and Therasia.

The central bus station is in Fira, the island’s capital, where buses run frequently to most places on the island and to popular tourist spots.

Santorini is connected by ferry to Piraeus daily throughout the year, with up to five direct crossings during summer. It is also linked to other Cyclades islands.

Santorini has a major airport located about 6 km (4 miles) southeast of Thera. The main runway is 2,125 meters (6,972 feet) long and can handle aircraft such as Boeing 737, Airbus A320, and others. Airlines like Olympic Air, Aegean Airlines, and Ryanair operate flights. Buses, taxis, and hotel services provide transportation to and from the airport.

Buses connect Fira to most parts of the island.

Santorini has two ports: Athinios (Ferry Port) and Skala (Old Port). Cruise ships dock near Skala, and passengers are transported to shore by boat. From Skala, visitors can reach Fira by cable car, walking, or riding donkeys and mules. The use of donkeys for tourism has drawn criticism from animal rights groups due to concerns about their treatment. Tour boats also leave Skala for destinations like Nea Kameni.

Santorini lies in a rain shadow between the mountains of Crete and the Peloponnese, leading to limited surface water. The island’s small size, lack of rivers, volcanic soil, and high summer temperatures made water scarce. Islanders collected rainwater from rooftops and courtyards in underground cisterns. In the 20th century, water was imported from other parts of Greece. Dry farming of crops like grapes and olives, which require little water, became common due to the scarcity of surface water.

After the 1956 earthquake, many cisterns were no longer used. As tourism grew, the old rainwater collection methods could not meet demand, so desalination plants were built to provide non-potable water. Many historic cisterns have since fallen into disrepair.

The first desalination plant was built in Oia in 1992, funded by businessman Aristeidis Alafouzos. By 2003, the plant had three units, two of which were donated by Alafouzos. As of 2020, the plant has six units with a daily capacity of 2,800 cubic meters (99,000 cubic feet).

Other desalination plants are located in Aghia Paraskevi (5,000 cubic meters per day), Fira (1,200 cubic meters per day), Akrotiri (650 cubic meters per day), Exo Gialos (2,000 cubic meters per day), and Therasia (350 cubic meters per day). Small water production units also operate in Kamari, Emporio, Messaria, and Thirasia.

Water supply and sewage systems on Santorini and Therasia are managed by DEYA Thiras, a local company formed in 2011 by merging two earlier water and sewage companies. DEYA Thiras oversees planning, construction, and maintenance of desalination plants, pumping wells, irrigation, drainage, and wastewater treatment. The Loulas and Evangelos Nomikos Foundation has supported projects to improve water and sewage systems on the islands.

In popular culture

The movie Summer Lovers (1982) was filmed here.

The island was a filming location in the 2005 movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its follow-up movie.

Santorini inspired French singer Nolwenn Leroy for her song "Mystère," which was released on her 2005 album Histoires Naturelles ("Aux criques de Santorin").

Australian singer Donny Benét recorded a song called "Santorini," which was released on his 2018 album The Don.

The Santorini Film Festival is held every year at the open-air cinema, Cinema Kamari, on the island of Santorini.

American rapper Rick Ross has a song titled "Santorini Greece," and the 2017 music video for this song was filmed on the island.

Santorini appears in the 2014 video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare during the mission "Manhunt." In this mission, the player follows a target and chases them through the streets.

The 2018 video game Assassin's Creed Odyssey includes an extra called Fate of Atlantis, where a gateway to the mythical lost city of Atlantis is located in a temple beneath the island of Thera.

The board game Santorini, inspired by the island’s cliffside villages, was published in 2004 by Gordon Hamilton.

The K-Pop group ARTMS had an official photoshoot in Santorini for their 2024 Season’s greetings.

In the film The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story, geologist Barbara J. Sivertsen tries to show a connection between the eruption of Santorini (around 1600 BC) and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the Bible.