The boat days
Fishing off the island, cooking the catch right there on the boat, jumping in to swim with the fish, then eating some more.
I · The name
A place you carry
in your name.
ΣαντορίνηSantorini
+
‑ιός“from”
=
ΣαντορινιόςSantorineos
In Greek, the ending ‑ιός turns a place into a person. A Santorineos is simply someone from Santorini, the volcanic island in the Aegean. Most surnames hide where they came from. This one says it out loud.
Before it was Santorini
One island, four names.
- Στρογγύλη
Strongyle
“The round one.” Before the great eruption, the island was a single round mass of land.
- Καλλίστη
Kallisti
“The most beautiful.” A name the ancient writers handed down, and still hard to argue with.
- Θήρα
Thera
The classical name, and still the official one today.
- Santa Irini
Santorini
Medieval sailors named it after Saint Irene. That name stuck, and it became ours.
II · The island
Born of fire,
finished by the sea.
0years since the Minoan eruption, one of the largest volcanic events in human history
0roughly, the height of the caldera cliffs where the villages sit
0islands in the ring: Thira, Thirasia, Aspronisi, Palea and Nea Kameni
When the volcano collapsed, the sea poured into the hole it left. What remains is a broken ring of cliffs around a flooded crater, with white villages balanced along the rim and blue domes looking west at the best sunset in the Aegean.
III · Roots
From the caldera
to the Midwest.
The end of the meal
Fruit or a little dessert on the house, every time. Nobody asks for it. It just shows up.
A real Greek salad
Tomato, cucumber, onion, olives, a slab of feta, good oil. No lettuce. This is not up for debate.
IV · Now
Timothy Spiros
Santorineos.
A Greek name with a Midwest address. Husband, dad, and a builder of things. By day I work in logistics. By night I make games and tools, mostly for the people I love.