Samos (Turk. Susam Adassi), an island in the Aegean Sea, lying close to the coast of Asia Minor, about 45 miles SSW. of Smyrna. Its length is 30 miles, its mean breadth about 8, and its area 180 sq. m. A range of mountains, which may be regarded as a continuation of Mount Mycale on the mainland, runs through the island, whence its name—'Samos' being an old word for 'a height.' The highest peak, Mount Kerki (anc. Cercetous), reaches 4725 feet. Between its eastern extremity and the mainland is the narrow channel of Mycale (called by the Turks the Little Boghaz), scarcely a mile wide, where in 479 B.C. the Persians were totally defeated by the Greeks under the Spartan Leotychides. Between Samos and Nicaria (anc. Icaria) on the west is the Great Boghaz, from 3 to 8 miles broad, the passage traversed by vessels sailing from the Dardanelles to Syria and Egypt. Samos is well watered and very fertile. Its principal product is wine, which, though little esteemed in ancient times, is now largely exported to France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Besides wine, the exports embrace olive-oil, carob beans, raisins, and hides, and in 1897 were in value £166,928. The imports, principally manufactured goods, corn and flour, tobacco, spirits, groceries, hides, were (1897) £173,178. The chief industry is tanning. The capital of the island is Vathy (pop. 6000), on the north coast. Previous to 1832 the capital was Chora, near the south coast. The site of the ancient city of Samos is occupied by Tigani. This ancient city was renowned for three architectural works of great magnitude, an aqueduct cut through the heart of a mountain nearly one mile long, a gigantic mole to protect the harbour, and a large temple to Hera, a rival to that of Diana of the Ephesians. All that now stands of this last is a solitary pillar; the mole exists below the level of the water, and is being built up again by the people of Tigani; the aqueduct was rediscovered in 1882. The island was in Greek times celebrated for its red glossy pottery, which was imitated by the Romans in their so-called Samian ware (see POTTERY, Vol. VIII. p. 365). Pop. of island (1898) 51,745, all Greeks.
Anciently Samos was one of the most famous isles of the Ægean. At a very remote period it was a powerful member of the Ionic Confederacy, and (according to Thucydides) its inhabitants were the first, after the Corinthians, who turned their attention to naval affairs; Colæus the Samian was the first Greek who sailed through the Pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic. The Samians founded numerous colonies in Thrace, Cilicia, Crete, Italy, and Sicily. But the celebrity of the island reached its acme under Polycrates (q.v., 532–522 B.C.), in whose time it was mistress of the archipelago. Subsequently it passed under the power of the Persians, became free again after the battle of Mycale, stood by Athens during the Peloponnesian war, and after several vicissitudes became a portion of the Roman province of Asia (84 B.C.). Being a Byzantine possession, it was conquered by the Turks. When the war of independence broke out in 1821 no Greeks were more ardent and devoted patriots than the Samians; and deep was their disappointment when, at the close of the struggle, European policy assigned them to their former masters. They are, however, governed (since 1833) by a Greek, who bears the title of Prince of Samos, and by a native council, and pay tribute to the Porte.
See Guérin, Patmos et Samos (Paris, 1856), and Tozer, Islands of the Ægean (1890).