|
The rule of Samos was passed over to Alexander the Great and
his family successors and later on it was the turn of the Romans
to conquer her. During the roman period Samos became the summer
residence of the emperors, and it was here that Anthony and Cleopatra
spent their honeymoon.
Samos became a provincial administrative capital during the
middle of the sixteenth century; it was on Samos that the first
Greek political parties were formed which played an important
role in the Greek war of Independence. Samos alone, among all
the Aegean islands held fast to the banner of liberty to the very
end of the war, even though it could not be included in the newly
established nation. Nevertheless it carried on the struggle for
independence until finally a semiautonomous hegemony was declared,
providing for its own legislature and administration, its own
educational system and its own police force. During this period
the position of Prince-Administrator was appointed from Constantinople.
Finally in 1912, under the brilliant leadership of Themistocles
Sophoulis, Samos once again revolted against the Turkish occupation
and was at last reunited with Greece.
|
