Editing Syros (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Syros emoupolis agios nikolaos innen 240707.jpg|thumb|Inside the Cathedral of [[Saint Nicholas]] in [[Ermoupolis]], patron saint of Syros.]]
[[File:Church of the Resurrection in Ermoupolis, Syros (front view).jpg|thumb|''Anastaseos'' church in Vrodado.]]

At the end of ancient times, [[barbarian]] raids and [[piracy]], which affected the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] for many centuries, led Syros to decline. The island, along with the other Cyclades, was devastated several times during the Middle Ages by raiders from different directions including [[Sicily|Sicilians]], [[Arabs]], [[Turkish people|Turks]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]].

In the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] years Syros constituted part of the [[Theme of the Aegean Sea]], along with the rest of the Cycladic islands. After the overthrow of Byzantium in the [[Fourth Crusade]] by the Venetians and Franks in 1204, the island was definitively conquered by the Venetians under the leadership of [[Marco I Sanudo|Marco Sanudo]]. As part of the [[Duchy of the Archipelago]], Syros would remain under Venetian rule until 1566 although after 1540 this was only maintained by payment of tribute to the Ottoman Sultan.<ref>William Miller, Latins in the Levant p636</ref>

It was at this time that [[Ano Syros]] was founded. During the [[Latinokratia|Latin period]], the majority of the local community were [[Roman Catholic]]s, but maintained the [[Greek language]]. During the reign of almost three and a half centuries of the Duchy of the Archipelago, Syros had a singular [[feudalism|feudal]] regime.