Cyclades

The Cyclades are an archipelago in the Aegean Sea, southeast of the Greek mainland, and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups of Greece that make up the Aegean archipelago. The group includes about 220 islands, the major ones being Amorgos, Andros, Delos, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Syros, Tinos and Thira or Santorini, of which Naxos is the largest and Syros the most populated. The islands are the peaks of a submerged mountainous terrain, with the exception of two volcanic islands, Milos and Santorini, and the name refers to the islands forming a circle around the sacred island of Delos. The Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic marble sculptures.