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.
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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 island during the first century
AD. |
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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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