CHIOS, an island on the west coast of Asia Minor (ancient Greek )(ios) about 3o m. long from north to south, and from 8 to 15 m. broad. The north end is mountainous with steep coasts; southwards there is open country, and great fertility. The capital, Castro, on the east coast, has a small safe harbour, and mediaeval fortifications. The climate is healthy ; oranges, olives and even palms grow freely ; the figs were famous in antiquity, but wine and gum mastic have always been the principal products. The latter, collected from a wild shrub, gives flavour and name to a popular Greek liqueur (masticha). Antimony, calamine and marble are worked ; there is a tanning industry, and considerable coasting trade.
There are few remains of ancient Chios (on the same site as the modern) ; traces of a theatre and a temple of Athena Poliu chus; and about 6 m. N. of the city the curious "School of Homer," a sanctuary of Cybele, with altar and figure of the god dess with two lions, in the native rock of a hill-top. On the west coast is a rich monastery with a church founded by Constantine IX. Monomachus (104 2-54) . In antiquity Chios was famous for its school of epic poets, the Homeridae, who claimed descent from Homer, and probably did much to popularize the Iliad and Odyssey in early Greece. To Glaucus of Chios was ascribed the invention of iron-welding, early in the seventh century B.C., and his masterpiece, the support of a large bowl, was shown at Delphi : for his place in ancient art and craftsmanship see J. G. Frazer Pausanias: note on x. 16. 1. (vol. v. pp. 313-4) . For the long sequence of Chian sculptors in marble see GREEK ART; and for the beautiful and instructive coinage, P. Gardner, History of Greek Coinage (index) and the British Museum Catalogue (s.v.). The early history of Chios is obscure. There were Greek legends of Leleges, Pelasgi from Thessaly, a Cretan foundation "in the days of Rhadamanthus" (13th century), and of eventual coloniza tion by Ionians from Attica four generations later. Early kings and tyrants are little more than names, but the long friendship with Miletus is significant and determined the hostility of Chios to its neighbours, Phocaea, Erythrae and Samos. The Chian colony at Maroneia on the coast of Thrace reinforced the wine trade of the mother city. Like Miletus, Chios in 546 submitted to Cyrus as eagerly as Phocaea resisted him. When Miletus revolted, Chian ships joined in offering desperate opposition at Lade (494) • Persian reprisals were severe, and temporarily successful, for Chian ships, under the tyrant Strattis, served in the Persian fleet at Salamis. But in 479 Chios joined the Delian League and long remained a firm ally of the Athenians, retaining political independence and a navy of its own. But in 413 the island re volted, and was not recaptured. After the Peloponnesian War it renewed the Athenian alliance, but in 357 again seceded. It was reputed one of the best-governed states in Greece, for although it was governed alternately by oligarchs and democrats neither party persecuted the other severely. Late in the 4th century, how ever, civil dissension left it a prey to Idrieus, the dynast of Caria (346), and to the Persian admiral Memnon (333)• During the Hellenistic age Chios retained its independence, supported the Romans in their Eastern wars, and was made a "free and allied state." Under Roman and Byzantine rule industry and commerce were undisturbed, its chief export at this time being the "Arvisian wine," of the north-west coast (Ariusia) . After temporary occu pations by the Seljuk Turks (1089-1092) and by the Venetians (1124-1125, 1172, 1204-1225), it was given in fief to the Genoese family of Zaccaria, and in 1346 passed definitely into the hands of a Genoese maona, or trading company, which was organized in 1362 under the name of "the Giustiniani," and alone exploited the mastic trade; but the Greeks were allowed to retain their rights of self-government and continued to exercise their industries. In 1415 the Genoese became a tributary to the Ottomans and, in spite of occasional secessions which brought severe punishment 1479), the rule of the Giustiniani was not abolished till 1566. But capture and reconquest from the Florentines and the Venetians (1694-1695), greatly reduced the number of the Latins and wrecked its prosperity. Worst of all were the massacres of 1822, which followed upon an attack by Greek insurgents against the will of the natives. Many survivors fled to Syra (q.v.) and founded its prosperous carrying trade. In 1881 a severe earth quake destroyed over 5,60o persons and more' than half the vil lages. But the island's natural resources made its recovery sure, and its efficient and peaceable inhabitants passed quietly from Turkish to Greek rule during the Balkan War of 1912.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Strabo xiv. pp.Bibliography.—Strabo xiv. pp.
632 f.; Athenaeus vi. 265-266; Herodotus i. 16o-165, vi. 15-31; Thucydides viii. 14-61; Corpus I nscr. A t ticarum, iv. (2) , pp. 9, to; H. Houssaye in Revue des deuxmoddes, xlvi. (1876) , pp. i. ff.; T.