Delos Island

June 20, 2024

A remarkable ancient site on the tiny Greek island of Delos is "doomed to disappear" within decades due to rising sea levels and geological processes, an expert has said.

About Delos Island:

  • It is one of the most important sanctuaries of the ancient Greek and Roman world.
  • Location: It is a rocky island, part of the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, was first settled in the 3rd millennium B.C. But in the 1st millennium B.C
  • It is a UNESCO world heritage site.
    • It is found that increasing temperatures combined with high levels of humidity can significantly affect the chemical composition of certain materials used in cultural heritage monuments.

Key facts about Aegean Sea

  • It is located in the East Mediterranian Basin with the Greek peninsula to its west and Anatolia (consisting of the Asian side of Turkey) to its east.
  • The Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits connect the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea respectively. 
  • The vast majority of the Aegean Islands belong to Greece. The only sizable possessions of Turkey in the Aegean Sea are Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada), in the northeastern part of the Sea.
  • Climate
    • It experiences a Mediterranean climate, experienced in Western Turkey and Greece.
    • The climate is defined as Hot-summer Mediterranean, characterized by drier and hotter summers and wetter and milder winters. During summers, the region experiences lower temperatures than arid and semi-arid climates.
    • The climate of the northern portion of the Aegean Sea can be classified as cold semi-arid, characterized by cooler summers. The weather in the Aegean basin is mainly influenced by the Etesian wind.