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Thassos has been continuously inhabited since the Stone Age. Its ancient city was founded by Parians in 710 BC who where led there by a message from the Delphic oracle. The oracle told them to "Find a city in the Isle of Mists". The commander of the Parian fleet was Telesikles father of the poet Archilochos. From Thassos the Parians established settlements in Thrace where they mined for gold in Mt Pangaeum. Gold was also mined on Thassos itself. With this highly desirable commodity the islanders were able to develop a lucrative export trade, based on ore, white marble, timber, oil and wine, as well as silver and gold. As a result Thassos built a powerful navy and culture also flourished.

That period (7th C. - 5th C BC) the inhabitants ruled part of the Macedonian coast including Kavala and Thessalonica. Famous ancient Thassiots include the painters Polygnotus, Aglafon, Aristofon and the sculptors Polyklitos and Sosikles. The merchants of Thassos traded with Asia Minor, Egypt and Italy.After the battle of Plataea, Thassos, became an ally of Athens, but when Athens attempted to curtail Thassos' trade with Egypt and Asia Minor, war broke out between the two. The islanders were defeated and forced into becoming part of the Delian League; the heavy tax this imposed crippled its economy. Decline set in and continued through Macedonian and Roman times. The Romans reactivated the production of wine and marble. In the 15th C. AD Thassos was occupied for a period by the Genoese who set up a trading post under the Gatteluzzi, the Lord of Lesbos and Samothrace. Heavy taxes were imposed by the Turks, many inhabitants left the island and during the 18th century the population dropped from 8000 to 2500.

Thassos revived in the 19th century when Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt became governor of Kavala and Thassos. Ali allowed the islanders to govern themselves and exempted them from paying taxes. The revival was, however, short lived. The Egyptian governors who superseded Ali Pasha usurped the island's natural resources and imposed heavy taxes. In 1912, along with the other islands of the group, Thassos was united with Greece. In recent years Thassos has once again struck "gold". This time it's "black gold", in the form of off-shore oil which has been found in the sea around the island.

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