According to tradition Naxos took its name from the King of the Karians who were its first inhabitans, as mythology would have it, and were succeeded by the Cretans and lonians. Its early development, unlike the rest of the Cyclades, was not particularly involved with the sea owing to its being richly endowed with farmland.

Copper sword from the First Cycladic Period (2800 - 2300 B.C.)

In ancient records it bore other names, such as Tragia, Dia, Strogili, Dionyssas, Mikra Skilia and Herakila. But it was perhaps best known as the island where Theseus callously abandoned the sleeping Ariadne on his way home from Crete, where she had helped him to kill the Minotaur.

There are two choices of sequel to this story: one, that Ariadne later married the God Dionysos, who was native to the island, and the other, that she threw herself to her death from the cliffs of the Palatia in the throes of inconsolable grief for the loss of Theseus.

Clay decorated vase from the First Cycladic Period (first half of the 3rd millenium B.C.)

The capital of the island has always been in roughly the same place, although it was originally known as Kaliopolis.

From the seventh century b.c. onwards the island became known for the high quality of the sculptures produced in its marble workshops including such masterpieces as the famous Lions of Delos and the huge statues of youths generally known as Kouros.

In the sixth century b.c. Naxos reached the peak of its glory, under the leadership of the tyrant Lygdamis, whose eventual downfall, however, led to the abandoning of several ambitious building projects, such as the never completed Portara temple.

After the Persian war in the fifth century b.c. Naxos came unter Athenian rule and later passed to the Macedonian Empire in the fourth century b.c. Later the island was controlled by the Egyptian Ptolemies, and after them received its orders from Rhodes as part of the Roman empire.

Cristianity came to the island early, brought by the apostle John from Patmos in the first century a.c. while the Romans were still in power. Their successors, the Byzantines lost control of the island to the Venetians during the Fourth Crusade.

In 1204 Marco Sanudo took over Naxos and organised most of the archipelago into a Duchy of Naxos with himself, naturally, as the first Duke. He and his successors, although ruling with a heavy hand, continued in power until the Turkish take-over in 1566, when the infamous Barbarossa conquered ad plundered the island. Turkish rule was brirfly interrupted by the Russians in 1770-1774 and was finally enden by 1821 war of Independence in which Naxians played a notable part. In 1828 the island was finally united with the rest of Greece.

During this present century Naxos has supplied Greece with many worthy men and women in the fields of politics, literature and art, medicine science and sport, and has always provided stalwart allies in all Greece's struggles for independence, freedom and peace.