Makronisos (, lit. ''Long Island''), or Makronisi, is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, notorious as the site of a political prison from the 1920s to the 1970s. It is located close to the coast of

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

, facing the port of

Lavrio Lavrio, Lavrion or Laurium (; (later ); from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece. It is part of Athens metropolitan area and the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki ...

. The island has an elongated shape, north to south and east to west at its widest point, and its terrain is arid and rocky. It is the largest uninhabited Greek island. It is part of the Kea-Kythnos

regional unit The 74 regional units of Greece (, ; singular , ) are the country's third-level administrative units (counting decentralized administrations as first-level). They are subdivisions of the country's 13 regions, and are further divided into municip ...

and in the municipality of

Kea The kea ( ; ; ''Nestor notabilis'') is a species of large parrot in the Family (biology), family Strigopidae that is endemic to the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green, with br ...

History

In ancient times the island was called Helen (). It protected the ancient harbours of

Thorikos Thorikos or Thoricus () was a city, and later a ''deme'' in the southern portion of ancient Attica, one of the twelve original settlements that were united in the ''synoikismos'' attributed to Theseus to form Archaic Athens. It was later a ''deme ...

and

Sounion Cape Sounion (Modern Greek: Aκρωτήριο Σούνιο ''Akrotírio Soúnio'' ; ''Άkron Soúnion'', latinized ''Sunium''; Venetian: ''Capo Colonne'' "Cape of Columns") is the promontory at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula, ...

. It was also called Macris (Μάκρις), from its length.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

describes it as 60 stadia (9.4 km) in length; but its real length is seven geographical miles (12 km). It was uninhabited in antiquity, as it is at the present day; and it was probably only used then for the pasture of cattle. Both Strabo and Pausanias derive its name from

Helen of Troy Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...

, the wife of

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central ...

: the latter writer supposes that it was so called because Helen landed here after the capture of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

; but Strabo identifies it with the Homeric

Cranae Cranae or Kranai ( ) (also Marathonisi) is an island off the coast of Gytheio (ancient Gythium) connected to the land by a causeway built in 1898. Etymology Some believe that the etymology for the name Cranae (Kranai) comes from the legendary ...

, to which

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

fled with Helen, and supposes that its name was hence changed into Helena. There cannot, however, be any doubt that the Homeric Cranaë was opposite

Gythium Gytheio ( ) or Gythio, also the ancient Gythium or Gytheion (), is a town on the eastern shore of the Mani Peninsula, and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality ...

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

. The Kea Channel between Makronisos and neighbouring

was the site of the sinking, in 1916, of HMHS ''Britannic'', sister ship of the RMS ''Titanic''.After the

Burning of Smyrna The burning of Smyrna (, "Smyrna Catastrophe"; , "1922 İzmir Fire"; , ''Zmyuṙnio Mets Hrdeh'') destroyed much of the port city of Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey) in September 1922. Eyewitness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1 ...

in 1922 and the

population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments of Greece and Turkey. It involv ...

Greek refugees Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the more than one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide (1914-1923) and Greece's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish W ...

from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

were transferred to Makronisos, where a

quarantine station A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

(to minimize the spread of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

and

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

infection) was established. Between 1922 and 1923, 12,295 refugees, mostly women, children, and the elderly, passed through Makronisos.

Prison camp

Makronisos was used as a military prison island and

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

from the time of the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

until the restoration of democracy, following the collapse of the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...

in 1974. Torture methods were used among others. Because of its history, it is considered a monument of the civil war era; therefore the island and the original structures on it are protected from alteration. Among the prisoners of Makronisos were

Apostolos Santas Apostolos Santas (; 22 February 1922 – 30 April 2011), commonly known as Lakis, was a Greek veteran of the Resistance against the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, most notable for his participation, along with Manolis Glezos, in th ...

Nikos Koundouros Nikos Koundouros ( ; 15 December 1926 – 22 February 2017) was a Greek film director. Biography Koundouros was born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, in 1926. He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts. During the war he was a ...

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

, Leonidas Kyrkos and

Thanasis Vengos Thanasis Veggos (alternatively spelt Thanassis and/or Vengos; Greek language, Greek: Θανάσης Βέγγος, ''Thanássis Véngos''; 29 May 19273 May 2011) was a Greece, Greek actor and director born in Neo Faliro, Piraeus. He performed in a ...

Films

* ''Le Nouveau Parthénon'' (1975) by Kostas Chronopoulos and Giogos Chrysovitsianos. * '' Happy Day'' (1976) by

Pantelis Voulgaris Pantelis Voulgaris (; born 23 October 1940) is a Greek film director and screenwriter. His first feature film ''To proxenio tis Annas'' in 1972 won the first prize in Thessaloniki International Film Festival. His 1989 film ''The Striker with Num ...

. * ''Makronissos'' (2008), by Ilias Giannakakis and Evi Karabatsou. * '' Like Stone lions at the gateway into night'' (2012), by Olivier Zuchuat

References

* Hamilakis, Yannis, "The Other 'Parthenon': Antiquity and National Memory at Makronisos", '' Journal of Modern Greek Studies'' 20:2 (October 2002), pp. 307–338.

External links

*http://www.abettergreece.com/Makronissos_en.html {{Authority control History of Greece (1949–1974) Uninhabited islands of Greece Internment camps Landforms of Kea-Kythnos Prison islands of Greece Political repression in Greece Exiles of the Greek Civil War Greece stubs Anti-communism in Greece