Editing Delos (section)

===Roman era=== 
[[Strabo]] writes that in 166&nbsp;BC, the Romans converted Delos into a free port, which was partially motivated by seeking to damage the trade of [[Rhodes]], at the time the target of Roman hostility. In 167 or 166&nbsp;BC, after the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] victory in the [[Third Macedonian War]], the [[Roman Republic]] ceded Delos to the [[History of Athens|Athenians]], who expelled most of the original inhabitants.<ref>{{citation|last=Tang|first=Birgit|title=Delos, Carthage, Ampurias: the Housing of Three Mediterranean Trading Centres|year=2005|location=Rome|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider (Accademia di Danimarca)|isbn=8882653056|page=14|postscript=.}}</ref> Roman traders came to purchase tens of thousands of slaves captured by the [[Cilician pirates]] or captured in the wars following the disintegration of the [[Seleucid Empire]]. It became the center of the slave trade, with the largest [[slavery|slave market]] in the larger region being maintained here.

The [[Battle of Corinth (146 BCE)|Roman destruction of Corinth]] in 146&nbsp;BC allowed Delos to at least partially assume Corinth's role as the premier trading center of [[History of Greece|Greece]], but Delos' commercial prosperity, construction activity, and population waned significantly after the island was assaulted by the forces of [[Mithridates VI of Pontus|Mithridates&nbsp;VI]] of [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]] in 88 and 69&nbsp;BC, during the [[Mithridatic Wars]] with Rome.<ref>{{citation|last=Tang|first=Birgit|title=Delos, Carthage, Ampurias: the Housing of Three Mediterranean Trading Centres|year=2005|location=Rome|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider (Accademia di Danimarca)|isbn=8882653056|pages=14, 32|postscript=.}}</ref> Before the end of the first century BC, trade routes had changed; Delos was replaced by [[Puteoli]] as the chief focus of Italian trade with the east, and as a cult centre, too, it entered a sharp decline. 

Despite its decline, Delos maintained some population in the early Roman Imperial period. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (8,33,2), writing in the second century AD, states that Delos was uninhabited apart from a few custodians of the sanctuaries. Evidence has been found of Roman baths, coins, an aqueduct, residential and elite houses, multiple churches, basilicas, and a monastery all from the first to sixth centuries AD, which, however, does not suggest that the island was continuously inhabited in the period.<ref>{{Cite book|last=DODD, EMLYN K.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1139263254|title=ROMAN AND LATE ANTIQUE WINE PRODUCTION IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN : a comparative ... archaeological study at antiochia ad cragum.|date=2020|publisher=ARCHAEOPRESS|isbn=978-1-78969-403-1|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=1139263254}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Le Quéré |first=Enora |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/919408437|title=Les Cyclades sous l'Empire romain : histoire d'une renaissance|date=2015|publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes|others=Impr. Université Rennes 2)|isbn=978-2-7535-4045-3|location=Rennes|oclc=919408437}}</ref> The pottery found indicates that produce, such as wine and oil, continued to be imported from regional centres. Also, a number of wine presses were found amidst the ruins of the ancient city that date to this period, suggesting that the population at this time was engaged in considerable viticultural endeavour.<ref>{{Cite book|last=DODD, EMLYN K.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1139263254|title=ROMAN AND LATE ANTIQUE WINE PRODUCTION IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN : a comparative ... archaeological study at antiochia ad cragum.|date=2020|publisher=ARCHAEOPRESS|isbn=978-1-78969-403-1|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=1139263254}}</ref>

Delos was eventually abandoned around the eighth century AD.<ref>{{Cite book|last=DODD, EMLYN K.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1139263254|title=ROMAN AND LATE ANTIQUE WINE PRODUCTION IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN : a comparative ... archaeological study at antiochia ad cragum.|date=2020|publisher=ARCHAEOPRESS|isbn=978-1-78969-403-1|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=1139263254}}</ref>