city state · Greece and the Aegean

Melos

900 BCE – 416 BCE (approx.) · capital Melos

Dorian island of the Cyclades whose refusal to join Athens ended in the massacre of 416 BCE described in Thucydides's Melian Dialogue.

Origins

Melos was famous from the Neolithic for its obsidian and had an important Bronze Age town at Phylakopi. In the early Iron Age it was settled by Dorians who claimed Spartan descent. The city grew on the bay of Klima, on the north side of the island's great natural harbour.

Rule and society

Melos was a small oligarchic state that sent ships to Salamis in 480 BCE but, like Dorian Thera, stayed outside the Delian League. Athens attacked it in 426 BCE and besieged it in 416 BCE. Thucydides's Melian Dialogue presents the debate over power and justice before the siege.

Decline and legacy

After the city surrendered in 416 BCE, Athens killed the men, enslaved the women and children and settled 500 colonists. Lysander restored surviving Melians in 405 BCE. The later town produced the Aphrodite of Milos, the Venus de Milo.

Connections (1)

  • Melos was conquered by Athens416 BCE

More states of Greece and the Aegean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Melos. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melos
MLA
“Melos.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melos. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Melos.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melos.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Melos’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/melos (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻