Kythira Island History

The first temple of worship of Aphrodite was found on Kythira, which is why Homer and Hesiode referred to it as the holy island. According to travellers, some remains of the temple had survived until the 19th century. Heinrich Schliemann searched for them, but without any success.

It is supposed that the island was inhabited during the Minoan period (3000-1200 BC) as well as the Mycenaean period (1400-1100 BC).


Around the 10th –11th centuries, Kythira acquired some importance and became a part of Monemvasia.

Around that time the fortified Byzantine capital of Agios Dimitrios was built, containing many churches and a large amount of inhabitants.

In 1204, the Franks occupied Constantinople, as well as many islands. Markos Venieris occupied Kythira in 1207 and became the Marquis of Kythira.

On the 21st of May 1800, with the Treaty of Constantinople was founded the semi-independent Ionian State (which also included Kythira) under the supervision of the Sultan.

However, the gentry still kept its privileges. The bourgeoisie and the peasants rebelled and attacked the small fortress of Kastro, occupying it on the 22 of July 1800. This period is called the Period of Anarchy.

With the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807,



Nevertheless, the Minoans were using Kythira as a stop-over point for their travels to the West. For that reason, they created the settlement of ancient Skandia as well as the sanctuary of Agios Georgios on the top of one of the island’s mountains.

The earliest findings of local pottery are dated to the 3rd millennium BC.

Kythira was mainly under the control of Sparta but also frequently occupied by the Athenians, for it was located in a highly strategic area.

With the decline of Sparta and Athens, the island lost its importance, but continued to be inhabited, according to archaeological findings dating from the Hellenistic and Roman period.

During the Byzantine period, Kythira was the seat of a Bishop of the state. In the 7th century, the Byzantine emperor Constantinos gave the island to the Pope who, in his turn, gave it to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.


It is during the Venetian domination that the island was renamed “Tsirigo” and divided into three provinces: Milopotamos, Agios Dimitrios (today called Paliachora) and Kapsali.

Venetians understood the island’s key position and tried to fortify and inhabit it.

The enforced feudal system and the frequent piratical raids made the local people unhappy and provoked a big decrease of population.

In 1537, the capital of Agios Dimitrios was destroyed by the Algerian pirates of Haiderin Barbarossa.

The Venetians governed Kythira until 1797, with one small break during which the island was occupied by the Russians, in alliance with the Turks, an occupation that influenced both language and architecture.

In 1780, the island’s inhabitants rose against the Venetians’ oppression.

On the 28th of June 1797, Kythira went under French occupation, like the rest of the Ionian Islands, who established a democratic regime, giving hope for justice and freedom to the population.

But a year later they were attacked again by Russians, supported by the Turks, who chased the French away from the island.

Kythira went into French domination until 1809, when it came under English domination

In the 5th of November 1815, the Treaty of Paris established the “united States of the Ionian Islands”, validating the English occupation.

Kythira’s people helped the Greek Revolution against the Turkish Occupation.

Georgios Mormoris and Kosmas Panaretos were two of the best known revolutionary fighters from Kythira.

On the 21st of May 1864, the Ionian Islands were united to the rest of free Greece. The wave of emigration intensified in the beginning of the 20th century, when people were massively leaving for America and Australia.
During the First World War, Kythira took part in the political movement created by Venizelos, formed an autonomous administration and strengthened the Allied Forces.

The occupation of the Second World War by the Italians and the Germans increased the emigration, which became even stronger after the war.

Today, 60000 individuals leaving in Australia are of Kythirian origin and several thousand Kythirians established in Athens and the city of Piraeus, where they constitute active members of the modern society.