Paros trivia: 77 amazing facts about this Greek island!

Paros is one of the greek islands that have million of tourists every year. And a perfect place for you to have a nice holiday!

So let’s dive into some more trivia and facts about this greek island!

1. Paros is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group
2. It lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about 8 kilometres (5 miles) wide
3. It lies approximately 150 km (93 miles) south-east of Piraeus
4. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets totaling 196.308 square kilometres (75.795 sq mi) of land
5. Its nearest neighbor is the municipality of Antiparos
6. Which lies to its southwest
7. In ancient Greece, the city-state of Paros was located on the island
8. Historically, Paros was known for its fine white marble
9. Which gave rise to the term “Parian” to describe marble or china of similar qualities
10. Today, abandoned marble quarries and mines can be found on the island
11. But Paros is primarily known as a popular tourist spot
12. The story that Paros of Parrhasia colonized the island with Arcadians
13. It is an etymological fiction of the type that abounds in Greek legends
14. Ancient names of the island are said to have been Plateia (or Pactia), Demetrias, Strongyle (meaning round, due to the round shape of the island), Hyria, Hyleessa, Minoa and Cabarnis
15. The island later received from Athens a colony of Ionians
16. Under whom it attained a high degree of prosperity
17. It sent out colonies to Thasos and Parium on the Hellespont
18. In the former colony, which was planted in the 15th or 18th Olympiad, the poet Archilochus, a native of Paros, is said to have taken part
19. As late as 385 BC the Parians, in conjunction with Dionysius of Syracuse, founded a colony on the Illyrian island of Pharos
20. Shortly before the Persian War, Paros seems to have been a dependency of Naxos
21. In the first Greco-Persian War (490 BC), Paros sided with the Persians and sent a trireme to Marathon to support them
22. In retaliation, the capital was besieged by an Athenian fleet under Miltiades, who demanded a fine of 100 talents
23. But the town offered a vigorous resistance, and the Athenians were obliged to sail away after a siege of 26 days, during which they had wasted the island
24. It was at a temple of Demeter Thesmophoros in Paros that Miltiades received the wound from which he died
25. By means of an inscription, Ross was able to identify the site of the temple
26. It lies, as Herodotus suggests, on a low hill beyond the boundary of the town
27. Paros also sided with shahanshah Xerxes I of Persia against Greece in the second Greco-Persian War (480–479 BC)
28. But, after the battle of Artemisium, the Parian contingent remained inactive at Kythnos as they watched the progression of events
29. For their support of the Persians, the islanders were later punished by the Athenian war leader Themistocles, who exacted a heavy fine
30. Under the Delian League, the Athenian-dominated naval confederacy (477–404 BC)
31. Paros paid the highest tribute of the island members: 30 talents annually
32. According to the estimate of Olympiodorus (429 BC)
33. This implies that Paros was one of the wealthiest islands in the Aegean
34. Little is known about the constitution of Paros
35. But inscriptions seem to show that it was modeled on the Athenian democracy, with a boule (senate) at the head of affairs
36. In 410 BC, Athenian general Theramenes discovered that Paros was governed by an oligarchy
37. He deposed the oligarchy and restored the democracy
38. Paros was included in the second Athenian confederacy (the Second Athenian League 378–355 BC)
39. In c. 357 BC, along with Chios, it severed its connection with Athens
40. From the inscription of Adule, it is understood that the Cyclades, which are presumed to include Paros, were subjected to the Ptolemies
41. The Hellenistic dynasty (305–30 BC) that ruled Egypt
42. Paros then became part of the Roman Empire
43. And later of the Byzantine Empire, its Greek-speaking successor state
44. In 1204, the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade seized Constantinople and overthrew the Byzantine Empire
45. Although a residual Byzantine state known as the Empire of Nicaea survived the Crusader onslaught and eventually recovered Constantinople (1261)
46. Many of the original Byzantine territories, including Paros, were lost permanently to the crusading powers
47. Paros became subject to the Duchy of the Archipelago
48. A fiefdom made up of various Aegean islands ruled by a Venetian duke as nominal vassal of a succession of crusader states
49. In practice, however, the duchy was always a client state of the Republic of Venice
50. In 1537, Paros was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and remained under the Ottoman Empire until the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829)
51. During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) in 1770–1775 Naoussa Bay was the home base for the Russian Archipelago Squadron of Count Alexey Orlov
52. Under the Treaty of Constantinople (1832), Paros became part of the newly independent Kingdom of Greece
53. The first time the Parians had been ruled by fellow Greeks for over six centuries
54. At this time, Paros became the home of a heroine of the nationalist movement, Manto Mavrogenous, who had both financed and fought in the war for independence
55. Her house, near Ekatontapiliani church, is today a historical monument
56. The capital, Parikia, situated on a bay on the north-west side of the island
57. It occupies the site of the ancient capital Paros
58. Parikía harbour is a major hub for Aegean islands ferries and catamarans
59. With several sailings each day for Piraeus, the port of Athens, Heraklion, the capital of Crete, and other islands such as Naxos, Ios, Mykonos, and Santorini
60. On the north side of the island is the bay of Naoussa (Naussa) or Agoussa
61. Which provides a safe and spacious harbour
62. Another good harbour is that of Drios on the south-east side
63. The three villages of Dragoulas, Mármara and Tsipidos, situated on an open plain on the eastern side of the island, and rich in remains of antiquity, probably occupy the site of an ancient town
64. They are known together as the “villages of Kephalos” after the steep and lofty hill of Kephalos
65. On this hilltop stands the monastery of Agios Antonios (St. Anthony)
66. Around it are the ruins of a medieval castle which belonged in the late Middle Ages to the Venetian noble family of the Venieri
67. They gallantly but vainly defended it against the Turkish admiral Barbarossa in 1537
68. Another settlement on the island Paros is Lefkes
69. Lefkes is an inland mountain village 10 km (6 mi) away from Parikia
70. In the late 19th century, Lefkes was the center of the municipality of Iria which belonged to the Province of Naxos until 1912
71. Parian marble, which is white and translucent, with a coarse grain and a very beautiful texture, was the chief source of wealth for the island
72. The celebrated marble quarries lie on the northern side of the mountain anciently known as Marathi
73. A little below a former convent of St Mina
74. The marble thus quarried by lamplight was given the name of Lychnites, Lychneus (from lychnos, a lamp), or Lygdos
75. Several of these tunnels are still to be seen
76. The major part of the remaining white marble is now state-owned
77. And, like its Pentelic counterpart, is only used for archaeological restorations