Naxos

Naxos was first inhabited around 3000 B.C. A significant civilisation emerged on the island. Around 1000 B.C. Ionians from Mikra Asia settled to the island.

Thesseas, the mythic hero who had killed Minotaur in Crete, deserted his wife Ariadne, daughter of Kink Mino, to the island and she was consoled by God Dionesus.

During the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. Naxos prospered, established a great commercial centre and developed marble sculpture. In 490 B.C., Persians conquered the island and later Athenians liberated it.

During Byzantine period Naxos prospered and many churches and monasteries were built. In 648 Saracened plundered the island.

After the fall of 1204, venetian crusader Marco Sanudo conquered Naxos and he founded the powerful Duchy of the Aegean. He built there his palace.

In 1537 Barbarossa invaded the island and granted it to the sultan, who in 1566 granted Naxos to the Jewish Nazi.

During ottoman occupation the islanders became catholic to be saved from the cruelty of turkish tyranny. So in the revolution of 1821, they remained neutral.

Naxos has been part of the modern Greek state since 1830.