PAROS > HISTORY

Paros was inhabited for the first time during the neoclassical period about 4000 BC. From 3000 BC the island begins its development and in 2000 BC it is connected with Minoan Crete. Due to this it was named Minois or Minoa and became the centre of the Cycladic culture of the time.

Then, in 1100 BC a group of Arcadians, with Paros as its leader, installs itself on the island and the island is named after him. During the 8th century BC it was inhabited by the Iones and gained economically and artistically. This progress, along with small intervals of recession, continued up to the Hellenic years. A large part of its growth was owed to the reserves of famed marble, from which many famous sculptures of antiquity and important temples were made.

After the end of the Persian Wars, Paros became a member of the Athenian Alliance, while during the Peloponnese War it remained neutral. From 378 BC it became a member of the second Athenian Alliance and from then on followed the fate of the other Cyclades. It acceded to the Macedonians, to Ptolemeous and finally to the Romans.

During the Byzantine Years, it fell into obscurity, plagued by pirate raids. In the 13th century it passed to the Venetians under the administrative control of the Duchy of Naxos. In 1537 it was looted by Barbarossa and suffered the largest destruction in its history. Consequently, the weakened Paros fell into the hands of the Turks in 1560 and this led to its complete decline. In the revolution of 1821 Paros took an active part led by Manto Mavrogenou.

Throughout its history Paros was a participant in the development of the arts and literature producing eminent sculptors, painters, poets and philosophers. One of the most renowned poets of antiquity was Arhilohos. The famed Paros marble, was known in antiquity as Parios stone, the material used by sculptors of antiquity for their unique sculptures, such as Hermes of Praxiteli, Milos Venus, the statue of the goddess Athina in Aegina, pediments of temples, headstones, the horseman in the Citadel of Athens, the statue in the Ramnounda, the epitaph column in Amorgos and many others.