Delos

Delos or Dilos, is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago [1]. Though only 3.43 km2 in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece [1]. Between 900 BC and 100 AD, Delos was a major cult centre, where the gods Dionysus and Leto, mother of the twin deities Apollo and Artemis, were revered [1]. In 167 or 166 BC, after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War, the Roman Republic ceded Delos to the Athenians [1]. The Roman destruction of Corinth in 146 BC allowed Delos to at least partially assume Corinth's role as the premier trading centre of Greece, but Delos' commercial prosperity, construction activity, and population waned significantly after the island was assaulted by the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus in 88 and 69 BC [1]. Before the end of the first century BC, trade routes had changed; Delos was replaced by Puteoli as the chief focus of Italian trade with the east, and as a cult centre it entered a sharp decline [1].