HISTORIC ISLANDS AND SHORES OF THE 



^GEAN SEA 



By Ernest Lloyd Harris 



EVER since the clays when Aris- 

 togoras of Miletus endeavored to 

 arouse Athens and Sparta to join 

 forces with the Ionian Union in order 

 to resist what he conceived to be the in- 

 evitable onslaught of the hordes of Per- 

 sia, history has been repeating itself on 

 the islands and in the countries bordering 

 the .ZEgean Sea. 



Upon this dividing line between Orient 

 and Occident a struggle for supremacy 

 has been going on for 2,500 years. We 

 find Persian pitted against Greek, Roman 

 against Pontian, Byzantine against Mos- 

 lem, Crusader against Saracen, and Turk 

 against Mogul. The battles of the recent 

 Balkan war upon the plains of Thrace 

 and the trench warfare of the present 



war on the Gallipoli Peninsula have been 

 as stupendous, as bitter, and as cruel as 

 any that ever were waged since the days 

 when the troops of Mardonius first 

 crossed the Hellespont. 



Not only has Asia Minor and the is- 

 lands facing its shores been the stage 

 upon which have been enacted some of 

 the most gigantic events in human his- 

 tory, but it is at the present time one of 

 the most interesting and picturesque re- 

 gions in the world. It has often been 

 termed the quintessence of the East. For 

 nowhere else will you find, thrown to- 

 gether in close association, so many 

 things of the East — the camel caravan ; 

 the groves of cypress, olive, plane, and 

 valonia trees ; the mosque and towering 



li -^%=ip£f 





Photo by Ernest L. Harris 



THE "violet," upon which the author made his cruise among the islands 



OE THE .EGEAX ARCHIPELAGO 

 The vessel was sufficiently large to carry three passengers, three seamen, and a cook 



231 



