Chios (Keeos; now Chio, Italianised Scio), one of the most beautiful and fertile islands in the Aegean Sea, belonging to Turkey, 7 miles off the coast of Asia Minor, at the entrance to the Gulf of Smyrna. It is 30 miles long from north to south, by 8 to 15 miles broad, with an area of 320 sq. m., and a pop. of 70,600, almost all Greeks. The larger northern part is more mountainous than the southern. The climate is delightful and salubrious. Earthquakes are, however, not rare, and one in 1881 caused the death of 3558 persons, and the destruction of property to the value of three to four millions sterling. The products are wine and figs, both noted in classical days, with mastic, silk, lemons, oranges, olives, antimony, and goats' skins. The capital, Chios, about the middle of the east coast, contains about 13,000 inhabitants. On the west coast is a rich monastery, Nea-Moni, founded in the 11th century. Chios, which is one of the seven birthplaces of Homer, was taken by the Genoese (1346), and by the Turks (1566). A number of the Chiotes having in 1821 joined the revolted Samians, a Turkish fleet and army in 1822 inflicted dreadful vengeance; 25,000 Chiotes fell by the sword, 47,000 were sold into slavery, and only some 5000 escaped. A second rising in 1827 was likewise unsuccessful.