Delos

Delos, near Mykonos in the Cyclades, is one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. Sacred as the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, it was so revered that dying and giving birth on the island were forbidden. Inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC, Delos became a major religious centre under Ionian Greeks around the 10th century BC and later a thriving cosmopolitan port peaking in the 2nd-1st centuries BC. Excavations by the French School of Athens since 1872 have revealed the Sanctuary of Apollo, the Terrace of the Lions, an ancient theatre, and remarkably preserved mosaics.