History of Naxos
According to mythology, Zeus, king of gods, grew up in Naxos, hidden away from the ferocity of his father, Cronus, by his mother; Naxos is also the place where Dionysus, god of wine and feast, and son of Zeus, was born and grown by some nymphs.
Dionysus loved so much Naxos that he made it a fertile land, full of vineyards, producing a wine of excellent taste and fine quality.
Naxos is also where, according to another myth, Theseus, after killing the Minotaur of Crete, took Ariadne, the daughter of the Cretan King, Minos, who helped him find his way in the labyrinth were the Minotaur was kept, and stopped in Naxos on his way back to Athens.
There, he left Ariadne (or Ariadne left him, depending of the version of the legend) for whom Dionysus felt madly in love with.
The god took the young girl to Mount Drios and, from there union, Oinopion (Wine Drinker), Staphylos (Grape) and Evanthi (Lovely Flower) were born.
Historically, Naxos was the most important centre of civilization of all the Cyclades during the ancient period, 4000-1000 BC.
Thracians were the first inhabitants of the island and stayed on the island for two centuries, until the Carean took control of Naxos Greece; it is believed that the island owns its name to their leader called Naxos.
Then, Naxos Island was dominated by the Ionians who helped the development and growth of the island’s civilization, which became very wealthy during the 7th century BC, because the inhabitants of the island started the sea trading.
Prelude to the Persian war, was the Naxos revolt a catalist that encourged other cities, as far as Cyprus, to join the strugle against the Persians. Naxos was helping the Athenians who took it under control after their victory.
Then the Peloponnesian War came, during which the Athenians lost against the Spartans who took the domination of the island.
Then, Naxos felt under a succession of authorities which were the Macedonian Empire, the Ptolemy of Egypt, the Rhodians and, in 41 BC, the Roman Empire.
Christianity appeared on the is
The Venetians started to conquer the are of Cyclades and managed to win them over the Romans who lost completely territorial control in this area...land during the first century AD.
In 1207, Marco Sanudo took the Cyclades and established a duchy, called the Duchy of the Aegean in which Naxos was the headquarters and the new ruler was installed creating the begining of a long line of Dukes in Naxos.
The first reaction of the inhabitants of Naxos was negative against the Venetian ruler but they were obliged to admit their defeat.
It was during those years that Marco Sanudo divided the island into 56 provinces, distributed among the various Venetian nobles, and built the beautiful and powerful castle on the top of Naxos Town. The Jesuit Commercial School was also founded inside the castle.
The power of Marco Sanudo last until 1564, when the Turks took the entire Greece.
During the Turkish Ottoman rule, Naxos had a privileged place for the Venetian negotiate to keep their authority and their monarchic administration and the Turks never established on the island and, the only thing there were demanding was to receive their taxes in time.
The island of Naxos became part of the liberated New Greek State in 1831.
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