Naxos trivia: 65 unknown facts about this Greek island!

Naxos is one of the biggest greek islands in the group of islands called Cyclades and a perfect summer destination!

So let’s find out some more trivia and facts about Naxos!

1. Naxos is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades
2. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture
3. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum
4. Which until modern time was one of the best abrasives available
5. The largest town and capital of the island is Chora or Naxos City
6. With 6,533 inhabitants
7. The main villages are Filoti, Apiranthos, Vivlos, Agios Arsenios, Koronos and Glynado
8. According to Greek mythology, the young Zeus was raised in a cave on Mt. Zas (“Zas” meaning “Zeus”)
9. Homer mentions “Dia”, literally the sacred island “of the Goddess”
10. One legend has it that in the Heroic Age before the Trojan War, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on this island
11. After she helped him kill the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth
12. 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
13. 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)
14. The Naxos portion of the Ariadne myth is also told in the Richard Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos
15. The giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes figure in at least two Naxos myths
16. In one, Artemis bought the abandonment of a siege they laid against the gods, by offering to live on Naxos as Otus’s lover
17. In another, the brothers had actually settled Naxos
18. Naxos is a popular tourist destination, with several ruins
19. It has a number of beaches
20. Such as those at Agia Anna, Agios Prokopios, Alikos, Kastraki, Mikri Vigla, Plaka, and Agios Georgios, most of them near Chora
21. As other cycladic islands, Naxos is considered a windy place perfect for windsurfing, as well as kitesurfing
22. There are seven sports clubs in the island that offer both of these sports and other water activities
23. Naxos is the most fertile island of the Cyclades
24. It has a good supply of water in a region where water is usually inadequate
25. Mount Zeus (1,004 metres or 3,294 feet) is the highest peak in the Cyclades
26. And tends to trap the clouds, permitting greater rainfall
27. This has made agriculture an important economic sector with various vegetable and fruit crops as well as cattle breeding
28. Making Naxos the most self-sufficient island in the Cyclades
29. Naxos is well known within Greece for its cheese, potatoes and Kitron, a local lemon-citrus spirit
30. Zas Cave, inhabited during the Neolithic era, contained objects of stone from Melos and copper objects including a dagger and gold sheet.
31. The presence of gold and other objects within the cave indicated to researchers the status of the inhabitant
32. Emery was exported during that time, to other islands
33. During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Naxos dominated commerce in the Cyclades
34. Naxos was the first Greek city-state to attempt to leave the Delian League circa 476 BC
35. Athens quickly squashed the notion and forcibly removed all military naval vessels from the island’s control
36. Athens then demanded all future payments from Naxos in the form of gold rather than military aid
37. Herodotus describes Naxos circa 500 BC as the most prosperous Greek island
38. In 502 BC, an 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
39. And then to the Persian War between Greece and Persia
40. Pope Martin I was detained on the island of Naxos for almost a year after he was arrested by Byzantine authorities in Rome
41. Due to his holding of a synod that condemned monotheletism
42. He was held on the island prior to being taken to Constantinople for trial
43. While detained on the island, he wrote to a certain Theodore living in Constantinople
44. Under the Byzantine Empire, Naxos was part of the thema of the Aegean Sea
45. Which was established in the mid-9th century
46. In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, the Venetian Marco Sanudo conquered the island
47. Then, there was a Latin Emperor under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople
48. And soon captured the rest of the islands of the Cyclades
49. Of all the islands, only on Naxos was there any opposition to Sanudo
50. A group of Genoese pirates had occupied the castle between the end of Byzantine rule and Sanudo’s arrival
51. To steel his band’s resolve, Sanudo burnt his galleys “and bade his companions to conquer or die”
52. The pirates surrendered the castle after a five weeks’ siege
53. Naxos became the seat of Sanudo’s realm
54. Which he ruled with the title of Duke of Naxia, or Duke of the Archipelago
55. Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566
56. Venetian rule continued in scattered islands of the Aegean until 1714
57. Under Venetian rule, the island was called by its Italian name, Nasso
58. The Ottoman administration remained essentially in the hands of the Venetians
59. The Porte’s concern was satisfied by the returns of taxes
60. Very few Turks ever settled on Naxos
61. And Turkish influence on the island is slight
62. Under Ottoman rule the island was known as Turkish: Nakşa
63. Ottoman sovereignty lasted until 1821
64. When the islands revolted
65. Naxos finally became a member of the Greek state in 1832.