There are records of a tribe called Dryopes, believed to be a pre-Hellenic tribe, moving to these islands; this was recorded by Herodotus and is said to have occurred in the 13th century BC. This tribe is believed to have given its name to one of the main villages, Dryopis or Dryopida.
The King Kythnos is said to have given this beautiful island its name, though this is more of a mythological belief than a historical one.
Numerous old settlements were discovered around the island, one of the more famous one being at the site of Vryokastro. This site is located above the bay of Episkopi, on the North West side of the island and is dated back to the 7th to the 5th centuries BC. |
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attacks, hence a lot of sites of the old settlements indicate extensive defense structures.
Most were surrounded by huge stone walls, or like the ‘Kastro”, a settlement located in the extreme north, surrounded by a sheer 500 feet deep cliff on three sides and a narrow track barricaded by huge stone walls on the fourth.
The village inside seems to have been plundered several times and rebuilt many times. During the Venetian era of Kythnos history, which began in 1207, this island came under the control of Frankish lord Marco Sanudo and remained under Venetian rule for nearly 400 years. The island was known as Thermia in those times and the capital was Kastro. It was famous for its hot mineral springs which were located on the north-eastern coast of the island, near the village of Loutra.
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the door for her, letting in the Turkish army hiding nearby. This tale still remains alive in popular island ballads. After the Turks took over Kythnos, it remained a religiously free but poor and backward island. However, this did not stop Kythnos from being one of the first islands to revolt against the Turks.
Under their first Greek King Othon, Kythnos became a place for exile for political prisoners.
During the Second World War, population of Kythnos dwindled again and the lack of a deep water moor hampered the prospects of attracting tourists.
Kythnos today is a prosperous, thriving island, which is becoming very popular with tourists. Ever since the construction of a new mole in 1974, Kythnos became much more accessible and thus more popular with tourists. |
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