Editing Naxos (section)

== History ==
=== Mythic Naxos ===
[[File:GR-Naxos-MtZas 2 View East 1.jpg|thumb|200px|Landscape of the island]]
[[File:Portara Naxos 26.jpg|thumb|200px|Entrance of [[Temple of Apollo (Naxos)|Apollo Temple]] (''Portara'')]]

According to [[Greek mythology]], the young [[Zeus]] was raised in a [[Cave of Zas (Naxos)|cave on Mt. Zas]] ("''Zas''" meaning "''Zeus''"). [[Homer]] mentions "[[Dia (island)|Dia]]"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". [[Károly Kerényi]] explains:

{{quote|This name, Dia, which means 'heavenly' or 'divine', was applied to several small craggy islands in our [Aegean] sea, all of them lying close to larger islands, such as [[Crete]] or Naxos. The name "Dia" was even transferred to the island of Naxos itself, since it was more widely supposed than any other to have been the nuptial isle of [[Dionysus]].<ref>{{cite book| first= Karl |last=Kerenyi |author-link= Karl Kerenyi| year=1951 | title=The Gods of the Greeks | url= https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/page/n303 271]–272}}</ref>}}

One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the [[Trojan War]], [[Theseus]] abandoned [[Ariadne]] on this island after she helped him kill the [[Minotaur]] and escape from the [[Labyrinth]]. [[Dionysus]] (god of wine, festivities, and the primal energy of life) who was the protector of the island, met Ariadne and fell in love with her. But eventually Ariadne, unable to bear her separation from Theseus, either killed herself (according to the Athenians), or ascended to heaven (as the older versions had it). The Naxos portion of the Ariadne myth is also told in the [[Richard Strauss]] opera ''[[Ariadne auf Naxos]]''.

The [[Aloadae|giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes]] figure in at least two Naxos myths: in one, [[Artemis]] bought the abandonment of a siege they laid against the gods, by offering to live on Naxos as Otus's lover; in another, the brothers had actually settled Naxos.

It is also said that the sea god [[Poseidon]] was passing by Naxos whilst driving his chariot on the sea surface and is where he first laid eyes on his future wife, the [[nereid]] [[Amphitrite]] as she was dancing there.
[[File:Case 09 Neolithic finds from Zas cave, AM Naxos, 176842.jpg|thumb|left|Neolithic finds from the Zas cave: jewelry, pottery, tools; archaeological museum of Naxos]]

=== Middle Paleolithic era ===
Stelida quarry, south-west of [[Naxos City|Chora]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stelida.org/english|title=Introducing Stelida|website=stelida.org|access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref> contains [[Mousterian]] tools dating back to the [[Middle Paleolithic]] era, which indicates that [[Neanderthal]] activity on the island spanned almost 200,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Carter|first1=Tristan|last2= Contreras|first2=Daniel A.|last3=Holcomb|first3=Justin|last4=Mihailović|first4=Danica D.|last5=Karkanas|first5=Panagiotis|last6=Guérin|first6=Guillaume|last7=Taffin|first7=Ninon|last8=Athanasoulis|first8=Dimitris|last9=Lahaye|first9=Christelle|title=Earliest occupation of the Central Aegean (Naxos), Greece: Implications for hominin and Homo sapiens' behavior and dispersals|journal=Science Advances|date=16 October 2019|volume=5|issue=10|pages=eaax0997|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aax0997|pmid=31663021|pmc=6795523|bibcode=2019SciA....5..997C}}</ref> The extinct dwarf elephant species ''[[Dwarf elephant#Cyclades|Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi]]'' lived on Naxos at some point during the [[Late Pleistocene]].<ref name="VanderGeer2014">{{cite journal |last1=Van der Geer |first1=A. A. E. |last2=Lyras |first2=G. A. |last3=Van den Hoek Ostende |first3=L. W. |last4=De Vos |first4=J. |last5=Drinia |first5=H. |year=2014 |title=A dwarf elephant and a rock mouse on Naxos (Cyclades, Greece) with a revision of the palaeozoogeography of the Cycladic Islands (Greece) during the Pleistocene |url=http://repository.edulll.gr/3263 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=404 |pages=133–144 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.04.003 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10795/3263}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Athanassiou |first1=Athanassios |last2=van der Geer |first2=Alexandra A.E. |last3=Lyras |first3=George A. |date=August 2019 |title=Pleistocene insular Proboscidea of the Eastern Mediterranean: A review and update |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379119300848 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=218 |pages=306–321 |bibcode=2019QSRv..218..306A |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.028 |s2cid=199107354|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Cycladic civilisation ===
Zas Cave, inhabited during the [[Neolithic]] era, contained objects of stone from [[Milos|Melos]] and copper objects including a dagger and gold sheet. The presence of gold and other objects within the cave indicated to researchers the status of the inhabitant.<ref>P Halstead – [https://books.google.com/books?id=tgdthHDYY5UC&dq=neolithic+rocks&pg=PA155 Neolithic Society in Greece] Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999 Retrieved 4 July 2012 {{ISBN|1850758247}}</ref>

[[Emery (mineral)|Emery]] was exported to other islands during that time.<ref>M Patton – [https://books.google.com/books?id=HTAc-DV_D1AC&dq=neolithic+rocks+prehistoric+Naxos&pg=PA143 Islands In Time: Island Sociogeography and Mediterranean Prehistory] Psychology Press, 23 July 1996 Retrieved 4 July 2012 {{ISBN|0415126592}}</ref>

=== Classical era and Greco-Persian Wars ===
[[File:Tempel der Demeter (Gyroulas) 18.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Temple of Sangri|Temple of Demeter]]]]

During the [[8th century BC|8th]] and [[7th century BC|7th]] centuries BC, Naxos dominated commerce in the Cyclades. 

[[Herodotus]] describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous Greek island.<ref>[[Herodotus]], 5.28,5.31</ref>

In 499 BC, an [[Siege of Naxos (499 BC)|unsuccessful attack on Naxos by Persian forces]] led several prominent men in the Greek cities of Ionia to rebel against the Persian Empire in the [[Ionian Revolt]], and then to the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Persian War]] between Greece and Persia.

Naxos was the first Greek [[Polis|city-state]] to attempt to leave the [[Delian League]] circa 469 BC; Athens quickly quashed the notion and forcibly removed all military naval vessels from the island's control. Athens then demanded all future payments from Naxos in the form of gold rather than military aid.

=== Byzantine era ===
{{Main|Aegean Sea (theme)}}
[[File:Moni Fotodotis Naxos 10-15 c AD 13M577.jpg|thumb|200px|Fotodotis monastery]]

In [[Late Antiquity]], the island was part of the province of the [[Islands (Roman province)|Islands]].<ref name="ODB">{{ODB|title=Naxos|last=Gregory|first=Timothy E.|pages=1444–1445}}</ref>

[[Pope Martin I]] was detained on the island of Naxos for almost a year after he was arrested by Byzantine authorities in Rome due to his holding of a synod that condemned [[monotheletism]]. He was held on the island prior to being taken to Constantinople for trial. While detained on the island, he wrote to a certain Theodore living in Constantinople.<ref>Andrew Ekonomou. Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes. Lexington books, 2007</ref> 

Under the [[Byzantine Empire]], Naxos was part of the [[theme (Byzantine district)|thema]] of [[Aegean Sea (theme)|the Aegean Sea]], which was established in the mid-9th century.

In Byzantine times, the island's capital was on the southern fortress of Apalyres.<ref name="EI2">{{EI2 | last = Savvides | first = A. | title = Naḳs̲h̲e | volume = 7 | pages = 939–941 | url = https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5782}}</ref> During this time, it suffered from [[Saracen]] raids, particular during the existence of the [[Emirate of Crete]] (824–961), to which the island occasionally paid tribute. Traces of Muslim artistic influence are visible in frescoes from the 10th century.<ref name="EI2"/> Nevertheless, as in Antiquity, Naxos was celebrated for its agriculture and animal husbandry; the 12th-century geographer [[al-Idrisi]] records extensive cattle raising on the island.<ref name="EI2"/>

In the late 12th century, it may have been the capital of a short-lived thema of the "[[Dodecanese#Name|Dodekanesos]]".<ref name="ODB"/>

=== Duchy of Naxos ===
{{further|Duchy of the Archipelago}}
[[File:ShepherdByzempire1265.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|The Duchy of Naxos and other Frankish states, carved from the [[Byzantine Empire]], as they were in 1265.<ref>William R. Shepherd, ''Historical Atlas'', 1911</ref>]]
[[File:Tower of Sanudo, front view.JPG|thumb|200px|Sanudo tower, part of the Duchal Palace]]
[[File:GR-naxos-pirgos-belonia.jpg|thumb|200px|Belonia tower]]

In the aftermath of the [[Fourth Crusade]], with a [[Latin Empire]] under the influence of the Venetians established at [[Constantinople]], the [[Venice|Venetian]] [[Marco I Sanudo|Marco Sanudo]] conquered Naxos and most of the other Cyclades in 1205–1207.<ref name="ODB"/> Of all the islands, only on Naxos was there any opposition to Sanudo: a group of [[Genoa|Genoese]] pirates had occupied the castle between the end of Byzantine rule and Sanudo's arrival. To steel his band's resolve, Sanudo burnt his galleys "and bade his companions to conquer or die". The pirates surrendered the castle after a five weeks' siege.<ref>{{Latins in the Levant|page=43}}</ref>

Naxos became the seat of Sanudo's realm, known as the "Duchy of Naxos" or "Duchy of the Archipelago".<ref name="ODB"/> Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566; Venetian rule continued in scattered islands of the Aegean until 1714. Under Venetian rule, the island was called by its Italian name, ''Nasso''.

The Sanudi introduced Western feudal law to the island, based on the ''[[Assizes of Romania]]''. However, the native Greek population continued to use [[Byzantine law]] for civil matters at least until the late 16th century.<ref name="ODB"/>

In the 13th century, following the capture of [[Antalya]] and [[Alanya]] on the southern Anatolian coast by the [[Seljuk Turks]], refugees from these areas settled in Naxos.<ref name="EI2"/> In the 14th century, the island was once more exposed to raids, this time from the [[Anatolian beyliks|Anatolian Turkish beyliks]], chiefly the [[Aydınids]]. In turn, the Sanudi assisted the Genoese in capturing [[Chios]] in 1304 and the [[Knights Hospitaller]] in their [[Hospitaller conquest of Rhodes|conquest]] of [[Rhodes]] in 1309, in order to stop these islands being used as Turkish pirate base. Nevertheless, raids against Naxos are recorded in 1324 and 1326, and in 1341, [[Umur of Aydın]] carried off 6,000 people from the island and imposed a payment of tribute. Two years later, however, the [[Smyrniote crusade]] captured his main port, [[Smyrna]].<ref name="EI2"/> 

[[File:I Naxos Nixia - Buondelmonti Cristoforo - 1420.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Fifteenth century map of Naxos by [[Cristoforo Buondelmonti]]]]
The relief was temporary, however, as Turkish raids recommenced later in the century. The island was so depopulated that [[Cristoforo Buondelmonti]] in {{circa|1420}} claimed that there were not enough men to wed the Naxiot women.<ref name="EI2"/> The rising [[Ottoman Empire]] first attacked the island in 1416, but the Sultans recognized Venetian overlordship over the Duchy in successive treaties, in exchange for an annual tribute.<ref name="EI2"/>

=== Ottoman era (1566–1821) ===
The [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians; the Porte's concern was satisfied by the returns of taxes. Very few Turks ever settled on Naxos, and Turkish influence on the island was insignificant. Under Ottoman rule the island was known in [[Ottoman Turkish|Turkish]] as {{transliteration|ota|Nakşa}}. Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821, when the islands revolted; Naxos finally became part of the Greek state in 1832.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}