The unique marble from Thasos

The site of Alyki is to be found at the southern end of the island of Thasos and obviously, its marble quarries are better known as Thasos marble.

Originally, Thasos was settled by the Phoenicians who exploited the island’s rich gold mines. Yet by the 7^th century BC the Greeks from Paros coveted the gold and also were interested in the white marble that was largely available. This soft snow-white material was exported throughout antiquity and has been found in places like the nearby island of Samothrace, in Pergamon, Sardes, and Ephesos in Asia Minor, in southern Greece, and in Ostia in Italy. The Romans of the 1^st century BC developed a particular fondness for this pure white marble that lasted until the 3^rd century AD. The precious material has been retrieved as far away as Germania as it was shipped over the Black Sea to the mouth of the Danube where it was transferred on flat-bottom vessels that sailed upstream all the way to the Rhine.

In Alyki, the marble was roughly quarried and the semi-finished columns, bases, capitals, or blocks for statues and the like were loaded onto the ships anchored in the nearby harbor. It served for the construction of temples, early Christian churches, and important official buildings.

Floor tiles of Alyki marble were held in high esteem from the fifth century onward and are still highly appreciated today because they possess the unique quality to reflect the sun. Recently the Grand Mosque of Mecca has been repaved with these heat-resistant slabs of 100 x 40 x 5 cm. This floor maintains the same temperature by day and by night meaning that the pilgrims can move bare-footed without being bothered by the heat.

Even today, Thasos yields three types of marble: Extra White, Snow White, and Pure White as it is remarkably pure in color with no dark veins or shades. It is famous for its translucent quality and is praised worldwide, being exported to countries like Syria, Egypt, and even Iran.

Whoever sets out to visit these quarries will automatically pass through a number of shrines dating back to the 7^th-5^th century BC dedicated to the twins Castor and Pollux and to Apollo who were worshiped by sailors anchoring in the idyllic harbor. The stones from these buildings were largely reused by the early Christians who built two basilicas on top of the ancient temples. There also is a fragmented pillar with a Greek inscription and a large Roman sarcophagus left in situ. Two more quarries from the Roman and Proto-Byzantine era can be spotted close to the waterfront.