The Chronicle fragment
An inscription dating Greek events, some known from no other source.
Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Jean Housen โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Jean Housen โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Jean Housen โ CC BY-SA 4.0
**A small museum holding one of the strangest documents to survive from antiquity** โ behind the Ekatontapiliani church in Parikia. The object is the **Parian Chronicle**: an **inscribed marble slab** of the 3rd century BC setting out a **chronology of Greek history** โ events and dates from the mythical age down to its own time, including **dates for events known from no other source**. โ Most of it is not here: **the greater part has been in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford** since the 17th century, and **what Paros holds is a fragment**. The museum also has local **Parian marble sculpture**, mosaics, Cycladic and Archaic finds, and a piece of a **Nike frieze** attributed to the Parian sculptor **Skopas**. โ It is air-conditioned, small and tidy โ an hour covers it.
An inscription dating Greek events, some known from no other source.
Pieces in the island's famous marble by its own carvers.
A piece attributed to the Parian sculptor Skopas.
Parikia, 84400 Paros, Greece
**An ancient attempt to write a timeline of history โ and a very rare one.** โ **What it is**: a marble slab inscribed on **Paros around 264/263 BC**, setting out a **list of dated events** in Greek history, ordered by counting years back from the time of writing. It begins in the **mythical age** โ the reign of Cecrops at Athens, the flood, the Trojan War โ and continues to firmly historical events. โ **Why it matters**: it gives us **dates for cultural events** that are rarely dated elsewhere โ when a play was performed, when a poet lived, when something was invented. **Historians genuinely use it** to fix sequences. โ **Its limits**: its author **mixes myth with history** and treats the Trojan War as a dated event โ so it is **a document about how Greeks saw their own past**, not a reliable record of the early periods. โ **Its location**: the greater part has been in **Oxford** since the 17th century; the fragment here was found later.
**Yes as a half-hour to an hour's addition, not as a destination.** โ **The practical case**: the museum is **directly behind the church** โ so you will be two minutes from it anyway, the charge is **โฌ4**, and the visit is **an hour**. The cost is trivial. โ **What you gain**: **understanding the island**. Paros means two things historically โ **marble** and **its position as a maritime junction** โ and the museum shows both: local sculpture in the famous stone, and finds demonstrating the island's contact with the whole Aegean. โ **And it is air-conditioned** โ a real value in an August afternoon. โ **What not to expect**: a large collection or world-famous pieces. **And most of the Parian Chronicle you may have come for is in Oxford** โ know that before going in, so you are not searching for what is not there. โ **The ideal order**: **church, then museum, then Kastro** in one morning โ three stops minutes apart, covering the whole history of Parikia.
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