Ancient Samos and the museum of mysterious artefacts

The island of Samos in Greece is an island about 1.5 km from the shores of Turkey, which has a long history dating back to 4,000 BC. The name ‘Samos’ is thought to have Phoenician origin and according to the ancient Greek geographer Strabo, the name means ‘altitude near the coast’, probably because of the high mountains on the island. Samos was a very important island in ancient times, and the historian Herodotus referred to it as the best city among both the Greeks and the ‘Barbarians’.

There are many myths in relation to the origins of the island. According to legend, sea nymphs or Nereids were the first inhabitants of the island. Nereids were deities that accompanied the god Poseidon and helped sailors to fight the storms and travel safely on the sea waters. One famous Nereid was the mother of Achilles, Thetis.