Tap-holes or Tap-hole (in Greek old Χίος Khíos , in Greek modern Η Χίος I Chíos , n.fém.), Greek island of the Aegean Sea, near of the Turkey.

With the island of Psara, it forms the names Tap-holes, of which the capital, also called Chios or Chora ( the city), account: 21261 inhabitants (2000). The main incomes of the island are drawn from the Tourisme, especially cultural: it counts many Greek vestiges like the temple of Apollon in Phana, as well as Byzantine monuments, like the Monastère of Néa Moni. The South also produces Mastic, drawn from the resin of the Lentisque.

History

Antiquity with the Middle Ages

• Chios is famous to be the birthplace of Homère. This tradition takes its source in worms 172 of the one of the Homeric Hymnes, the anthem with Apollon délien where the poet known as of itself: “ τυφλὸς ἀνήρ, οἰκεῖ δὲ Χίῳ ἔνι παιπαλοέσσῃ (it is a blind man, which resides at Chios the rocky one). ” In fact, Chios shelters then the “brotherhood of the Homérides”, a group of Rhapsode S which claim to go down spiritually from the Poet. Among the other famous natives of the island, one can quote Ion the tragedy, the sophist historian Théopompe, the sophist Théocrite, the geometrician Hippocrates or Métrodore.

• Chios also forms part of the confederation Ionie. At the time of the conquest of Cyrus Ier in -546, it is protected by its insular statute.

• It joint then in the other Greek cities at the time of the great revolt of -499 at the origin of the medic Wars, and sends 100 Trière S for the battle of Milet.
• Subjected by the Persian in -494, it enters the Ligue of Délos at the end of the medic Guerres.
• In -424, seven years after the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, Athens, suspectant a defection of Tap-holes, forces the citizens to cut down their walls.
• In -412, Chios was then among the first Ionian cities with making defection indeed. Athens sends a quota which devastates the island and puts the seat in front of the city. In spite of a revolt of the slaves, Chios does not fall. Athens, threatened in addition in the Aegean Sea and in Minor Asia, raises the seat then.
• It returned later and again had to punish a defection of Tap-holes, at the time of the social Wars (-357).

• Thereafter, we have only scattered facts:

• Chios is taken in -201 by Philippe V of Macedonia.
• It is used as a basis of supply for the Romains in their war against the king Séleucide Antiochos III.
• It is the allied one of Mithridate Bridge against Rhodos.
• It falls then under Roman domination.
• It is one of the areas whose Roman policy Verrès plundered the statues.

• the island falls into the bosom from Byzance after the fall of the Roman Empire. The island is then impacted by the power struggles of its powerful neighbors.

• In 1304, after frequent Turkish incursions, Byzance entrusts this stronghold to a line of lords of the family génoane Zaccharia.
• In 1329, the Byzantine emperor Andronic III Paleologist takes again the island under its bosom.
• In 1346, Chios becomes possession of the Republic of Genoa which had to yield it to the Turks in 1566.

• In 1456, on November 25th, Jacques Cœur dies on the island of disease whereas it orders a fleet of the pope Calixte III left to fight the Turks.

The Massacre of Tap-holes

See also: Massacre of Tap-holes

In 1822, at the beginning of the War of Greek independence, Greek insurrectionists came to push the inhabitants of Tap-holes to revolt against the Othoman occupation. The island moreover had accommodated many refugees from Asia Mineure. The Turkish reprisals were very hard. 100.000 of the 120.000 people present on the island were massacrées.
These events moved the unit by Europe, inspiring with Eugene Delacroix his table Scènes of the massacres of Scio , being able to be seen with the Museum of Louvre, and Victor Hugo the Child of Tap-holes . These massacres played a big role in the development of the Philhellénisme in Western Europe.

Places not to miss

• the monastery Néa Moni :

This monastery, located at ten kilometers of the town of Tap-holes in the middle of the mountains which dominate the latter, was founded between 1042 and 1055 by the emperor Constantin Monomaque following the discovery of a icon representing the Virgin. It is a small jewel of Byzantine Christianity. This monastery, registered voter with the inheritance of UNESCO in 1990, shelters a series of single medieval mosaics in the world.

• museum pH. Argenti or Museum Koraïs. (Philip Argenti, historian in which the family is originating in Tap-holes, published Libro d' Oro , Oxford UP (1955) (2 vol.) on the genealogy and the noble families of Tap-holes. It gathered a collection illustrating the history of the island. The museum shelters paintings, costumes, tools, popular objets d'art,… One finds there also the copy of the fabric of Delacroix Scènes of the massacres of Scio ).

• In Pyrghi , village of the Mastichochoria area where one can find:

- The church of the Saints Apostles ( Aghii Apostoli )
- A turn in ruins which had been the core of the defensive system, gave its name to this village.

• In Mesta , village of the Mastichochoria area where one can find:

- The church Megas Taxiarchi founded at the 19th century is one of the largest churches of Greece.
- The Byzantine church of Taxiarques (Palios Taxiarchis) was founded in XIVe century. It shelters a very beautiful icon out of wooden of the XVIIIe century.

Small infos

• the area of Mastichochoria, whose two villages Pyrghi and Mesta are marked medieval, owes its name with the Mastic. Cement is an extract of a shrub of the family of the pistachio trees.

External bonds

• Greek Chios island chiefs of voyage of Tap-holes in line {in}

• Names Tap-holes
• Portail of Tap-holes

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