Syros in 218 B.C.

Syros — Spring 218 BC · The Homeric “Syrie”.

A central Cycladic island west of Mykonos — named, the Greeks say, in the old poetry as "Syrie," the home of the noble swineherd Eumaeus before he was carried off into slavery: a good land, well-peopled, rich in herds and flocks, in wine and wheat, where men do not die of sickness but pass gently away when Apollo and Artemis come with their painless arrows. In this age of the islands’ freedom it keeps its own affairs — two small towns among its fields and pastures — while the fleets of Egypt, Macedon and Rhodes watch the sea-roads of the Cyclades around it.

Syros lies in the heart of the Cyclades, west of Mykonos, a fertile and well-watered island that the old poets sang of as "Syrie" — the home, in the tale of Odysseus, of the faithful swineherd Eumaeus, who was stolen away from it into slavery as a child. They told of it as a happy land of good pasture and good corn, rich in herds and flocks, in wine and wheat, where no wasting sickness fell upon the people, but the old died gently when Apollo and Artemis loosed their painless arrows. In this age the island governs itself, two small communities among its farms and grazing, while the war-fleets of the great kingdoms cross the seas of the Cyclades about it.