East Cyclades

East Cyclades lies in the Aegean Sea, the elongated embayment between the Balkans and Anatolia. The sea covers roughly 214,000 square kilometres and reaches a maximum depth of 2,639 metres west of Karpathos. Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos, and Rhodes mark its southern rim; mainland Greece lies west and Anatolia east. The Cyclades rise within these waters, with Delos and Naxos among their islands. Channels between the many islands make sea travel easier than crossing much of the nearby mainland.

The Aegean has hot, dry summers and milder, wetter winters, tempered by water and the dominant Etesian winds. Its circulation runs counterclockwise: dense Mediterranean water moves north along Turkey's west coast, while fresher Black Sea outflow passes through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmara and connects through the Bosporus to the Black Sea. These passages place the eastern Cyclades on a route between Mediterranean and Black Sea worlds.

Islands connected the Aegean's coasts culturally. Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece relied on Mediterranean trade, and by the archaic period Athens and Corinth were major maritime powers. After the Fourth Crusade, Venice's Duchy of the Archipelago included all the Cyclades except Mykonos and Tinos. The Aegean later passed largely under Ottoman control, while Crete remained Venetian until 1669. Volcanic rock, marble, iron, fertile island valleys, bays, and protected harbours gave scattered communities distinct products and landing places.