The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history : the Minoan eruption ( sometimes called the Thera eruption ) , which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization . The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep . It may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete , to the south , through a gigantic tsunami . Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis
Minoan eruption
Minoan eruption
Santorini