210 88 30 606  ·  syllogoskasion@gmail.com

Association of Kasians in Greece

Founded 1928

Donations →

History of Kasos

From antiquity and the Holocaust of 1824 to the naval tradition and the union with Greece.

Etymology

The name “Kasos”

The origin of the name "Kassos" remains a matter of debate, with the most prevalent version being a Phoenician root ("κασ-"), meaning sea foam — a name that directly refers to the strait between Kasos and Karpathos, one of the most stormy passages in the Greek seas. The same interpretation, from a Canaanite word meaning "foam", has been proposed by scholars Samuel Bochart (1674) and Victor Bérard (1902).

The island also bears other names in ancient literature: Stephanus Byzantius mentions it as Amphi and Astrabi, Strabo also calls it Astrabi, while Pliny the Elder uses the terms Achni and Kasos. Interestingly, during the years of Turkish rule, the island was also known to the Ottomans as Çoban Adası, meaning "Shepherds' Island" — a name reflecting Kasos' long herding tradition.

Minoan era – Antiquity

Prehistoric times and Antiquity

The first settlements on Kasos date back to the Minoan and Mycenaean periods, with evidence of habitation as early as prehistoric times at sites such as Chelatros and Poli. On the hill of Poli, which served as the ancient acropolis and capital of the island, ceramic finds have been found covering an impressively long period of time, from the Neolithic to the Roman era, indicating almost continuous habitation of the area for thousands of years.

During historical times, Kasos developed as a small but active naval power in the region, with close trade and communication relations with Rhodes and Crete. Cult centers, such as the caves of Ellinokamara and Sellai, operated continuously from the Mycenaean to the Hellenistic era, while archaeological finds from all over the island—pottery, coins, inscribed tablets—document Kasos' participation in the wider networks of the ancient Aegean.

The acropolis in Poli

The ancient acropolis

The ancient acropolis of Kasos is located on the hill of Poli, in the northern part of the island, in a naturally fortified position. Poli is mentioned in ancient literature —including by the geographer Strabo— with a name shared with the island itself, indicating the central role this location played in the ancient life of Kasos.

Archaeological investigations on the hill have identified ceramic finds covering an impressively long period of time, from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages to the Early Christian era, evidence of almost continuous habitation of the area for thousands of years. The acropolis also yielded inscribed Hellenistic disc-shaped stone slabs, which are currently on display at the Archaeological Collection of Kasos in Fry, along with other architectural members and finds from the same site.

4th – 16th century

Byzantine times and Frankish rule

During the Byzantine period, Kasos continued to be inhabited in the place of Polis, while the religious life of the island developed around churches such as that of the Theotokos, with the six consecutive chapels known today as the "Six Churches". After the collapse of Byzantine rule in the region, the island passed, like neighboring Karpathos, into the hands of Venice.

The Venetians maintained control of the two islands until 1537, when the Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa conquered them for the Ottoman Empire. Little material evidence survives from the Venetian rule: the Venetian castle itself has not survived, its ruins are located near the Six Churches, while in 1912 the researcher Frederick William Haslak discovered on Kasos a large hoard of coins originating from Smyrna, which had been transferred to the island around 1370 — known today as the "Kassos Treasure".

1537 – 1821

Ottoman period

After the conquest of 1537, Kasos came under Ottoman rule, while retaining a significant degree of autonomy in its internal administration — a status common to many small Aegean islands at the time. During this period, the island gradually developed its maritime and commercial activity, with Kassian shipowners accumulating considerable wealth through trade with ports such as Alexandria.

On the eve of the Greek Revolution, Kasos had a population of approximately 7,000 inhabitants and a fleet of approximately 100 armed ships — a force disproportionately large for the size of the island, which would prove decisive, but also fatal, when Kasos decided to take an active part in the Struggle of 1821.

1824

The Holocaust of Kasos

Kasos' participation in the Greek Revolution of 1821—with its fleet systematically attacking Ottoman ships and hosting hundreds of Cretan fighters—brought the island to the attention of the Egyptian commander Hussein, who, in May 1824, sent a force of about 25 warships, 40 transports, and 4,000 soldiers under Ismail Gibraltar. Despite an initial three-day resistance, the island's defenses collapsed, according to local tradition, due to treachery that led the attackers through an unguarded passage in the Antiperato region.

Sources differ slightly on the number of victims: the English Wikipedia reports around 500 dead and over 2,000 captives sold into slavery, while other sources, including the official account of the Municipality, speak of around 1,000 dead islanders. Regardless of the exact number, the event remains one of the greatest tragedies of the Aegean Revolution, and is commemorated to this day with the Holocaust Memorial and the Heroes' Monument in Fry, as well as the Antiperatos Monument.

1824 – 1912

Post-revolutionary period

The disaster of 1824 left Kasos deserted, with the few survivors initially seeking refuge on neighboring islands, mainly Karpathos. The island's recovery and reconstruction gradually began around 1840, with the returning Kassians turning once again to shipping and shipbuilding — activities that would define the island's economy for decades.

A new significant blow was dealt to the shipping industry of Kassia with the prevalence of steamships over sailing ships towards the end of the 19th century, a development that undermined the basis of the Kassia merchant fleet. In 1866, a new large wave of Kassia migration to Egypt was recorded, seeking there the income that the sea no longer offered to the same extent on the island.

Shipping and shipbuilding

Kasian shipping

Shipping has been the backbone of Kasos' economy and identity for centuries. The island acquired a significant merchant fleet even before the Revolution of 1821, thanks to the trade of its shipowners with Alexandria, while after the disaster of 1824 and the return of the survivors around 1840, the island devoted itself once again to shipbuilding, making Kasos one of the most important shipbuilding centers of the eastern Mediterranean for much of the 19th century.

The transition from sailing ships to steamships, towards the end of the 19th century, dealt a major blow to this tradition, as the Kassian fleets failed to adapt to the same extent as other maritime centers. The island's own maritime identity, however, remains strong to this day — reflected in the captains' houses of Fry and Agia Marina, in the Heroes' Monument with its anchors and cannons, and in the Kassian Maritime Museum, which houses instruments, documents and objects from all eras of Kassian shipping.

Port Said

The community in Egypt

The transition from sailing ships to steamships left thousands of Cassian seamen without a means of livelihood, prompting many to emigrate to neighboring Egypt. The opportunity arose around 1859, when Ferdinand de Lesseps sought workers for the opening of the Suez Canal. Cassian ships stationed in Alexandria rushed to offer their services, and when, after the abolition of compulsory labor in 1856, workers were requested from abroad, of the approximately 7,000 Europeans who responded, 5,000 were Cassians — a proportion that shows the size of this migratory movement in relation to the total population of the island.

The Kassians settled mainly in the area that became the present-day city of Port Said, forming there the first Kassian colony in Egypt, so large in number that the local militia was considered a purely Kassian affair. The working conditions were extremely harsh—extreme climate, diseases such as the cholera of 1865, injuries—and nostalgia for the lost island was captured in the popular poetry of the time. Despite the difficulties, the Kassians' contribution was officially recognized: of the seven medals of industriousness awarded by Lesseps himself, four were given to Kassian workers, while upon the completion of the project in 1869, the Kassians requested—without result—that the new city be given a Greek name instead of "Port Said". The community remained vibrant for decades, with significant cultural activity — in 1928, for example, it published the first volume of the work "Dodecanese Lyra" in Port Said — until the gradual withdrawal of Greeks from Egypt in the mid-20th century.

1912 – 1948

Italian rule and liberation

In 1912, in the context of the Italo-Turkish War, Italian troops occupied the Dodecanese, including Kasos, under the guise of a temporary measure. However, this «temporary» status lasted for decades: Kasos remained under Italian occupation until 1944, a period during which —as in all the Dodecanese— a policy of Italianization was implemented, with restrictions on the Greek language and education, an element that strengthened rather than weakened the Greek national spirit of the inhabitants.

Liberation came at the end of World War II, while the official incorporation of the Dodecanese into the Greek state—along with Kasos—took place on March 7, 1948, under Law 518/48, with the islands being considered annexed retroactively from October 28, 1947. It was precisely during the first period after the incorporation, under the first Governor-General of the Dodecanese, Nikolaos Mavris—a Kassian by origin—that the Municipal Library and the Historical Archive of the island were established in Kasos.

Sources

The information on this page is based on the following sources: