Ioulis or Ioulida ( el, Ιουλίς, Ιουλίδα; grc, Ἰουλίς), locally called Chora or Hora ( el, Χώρα) like the main towns of most Greek islands, and sometimes known by the island name of Kea or Keos (or earlier Zea), is the capital of the island of Kea in the

Cyclades The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name ...

. It has a population of 633 inhabitants according to the 2011 Greek census.

Modern town

The Ioulida of today, while popular with both tourists and middle-class Athenians, is relatively unspoiled in that cars must be left at the entrance of the town, and "life is pretty much the way it has always been." As in Korissia, "the architectural style is not like the typical Cycladic. The heart of Chora is the square with the grand city hall."

Ancient town

The ancient city (also called Iulis) was celebrated as the birthplace of

Simonides Simonides of Ceos (; grc-gre, Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος; c. 556–468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteeme ...

Bacchylides Bacchylides (; grc-gre, Βακχυλίδης; – ) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted ...

Prodicus Prodicus of Ceos (; grc-gre, Πρόδικος ὁ Κεῖος, ''Pródikos ho Keios''; c. 465 BC – c. 395 BC) was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known ...

, Erasistratus, and Aristo; it was said to have been built by "Eupylos the son of Chryso the demi-goddess." It led a revolt against

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

in 364/3 BC; an Athenian decree has been preserved imposing a fine and punishing rebels, of which "ll. 27-42 contain 'the most formidably complex sentence so far to be found in classical Athenian decrees' ( KJ Dover, ''TPS'' 1981, 1-14 at 8-11)." A nineteenth-century description says:

Iulis was situated on a hill about 25 stadia from the sea, in the northern part of the island, on the same site as the modern Zea, which is now the only town in the island. There are several remains of Iulis: the most important is a colossal lion, about 20 feet in length, which lies a quarter of an hour east of the town.... The laws of Iulis were very celebrated in antiquity; and hence "Cean Laws" were used proverbially to indicate any excellent institutions... These laws related to the morals of the citizens and their mode of life. One of them quoted by Menander was particularly celebrated: ὀ μὴ δυνάμενος ζῆν καλῶς οὑ ζῇ κακῶς whoever cannot live well should (at least) not live badly"

Under Roman rule it enjoyed political supremacy as well has been the main population center of the island. A process of nucleation reduced the number of population centers: "By the 2nd century BC the ''poleis'' of Koressos and Poieessa were absorbed by their neighbours Ioulis and Karthaia, and in the Late Roman period Karthaia ceased to exist, leaving Ioulis (Chora) as the single ''polis'' of the island." In the thirteenth century it seems to have been still the only town on the island. Its ruins were visited by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1700 and identified by P. O. Brønsted in 1826.Nancy Thomson De Grummond, ''An Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology'' (Greenwood Press, 1996), p. 634.

References

{{coord, 37.64, 24.34, display=title Populated places in Kea-Kythnos Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands Cities in ancient Greece Kea (island)