Yacht Victorious

In the 5th c. BC, los was a member of the Athenian Confederacy, in contrast with the neighbouring islands of Pholegandros, Santorini, Anaphi, Milos, and Kimolos, which were allies of the Spartans, and founded the Island League. There followed the wars against the Persians (battle of Marathon in 490 BC, battle of Salamis in 480 BC), the defeat of the Persians, and the Peloponnesian War (431 BC - 404 BC) -the conflict between Athens and Sparta, from which the latter emerged victorious.

Later, in 338 BC, Philip ll, king of Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great, defeated his adversaries at the battle of Chaironeia and united all the Greeks against the common foe, the Persians. los thus passed under the suzerainty of the Macedonians and, after the death of Alexander the Great, of his successors, the Ptolemies.

In the 1 st c. BC los was conquered by the Romans who reduced it to the status of place of exile and condemned it to obscurity. During the Byzantine period, too (4th c. AD onwards), which lasted for over 800 years, los enjoyed no better fortune. There were frequent raids by pirates, who used the famous harbour on the island as a refuge, and the inhabitants frequently had to withdraw into the hills, to the Kastro, in order to defend themselves.

A major change in the history of los was marked by the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Franks, and the appearance in the Cyclades of the Venetian Marco Sanudo. Sanudo captured Naxos and proceeded to take most of the Cycladic islands, including los, in 1207, founding the Duchy of Naxos, or Duchy of the Archipelago. A campaign by the Italian admiral Licario in alliance with the Byzantines successfully detached los and some other islands from the Venetians in 1269.

The change was short-lived, however, and in 1296, the Venetian Domenico Sciavi expelled the Byzantines and made himself master of los. From the Sciavi dynasty, the island later passed into the hands of the Crispi, who were Dukes of Naxos, ending with Marco Crispo I, who founded his own, independent dynasty. About 1400, Crispo repaired the Kastro on top of the hill overlooking Chora, in order to defend the inhabitants from pirate raids.

The last ruler of los before its capture by the Turks was the Venetian Aloysios Pizani, who married a daughter of the Crispi and received the island as his dowry.

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