Paros - City of Greece

Paros is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, with which it is separated by a channel about 8 km wide. Today, Paros is one of the most popular European tourist hotspots. Its nearest neighbor is the Community of Antiparos, lying to its southwest. Paros also became known for its fine white marble which gave rise to the term Parian which is used for China and fine marbles worldwide. The island has also been called Venetian Paro.

The story that Paros was colonized by one Paros of Parrhasia, who brought with him a colony of Arcadians to the island is one of those etymological fictions which abound in Greek legend. Ancient names of the island are said to have been Plateia , Demetrias, Strongyli , Hyria, Hyleessa, Minoa and Cabarnis.

Paros also sided with shahanshah Xerxes I of Persia against Greece in the second Greco-Persian War , but after the battle of Artemisium the Parian contingent remained inactive at Kythnos watching the progress of events.[10] For their support of the Persians, the islanders were later punished by the Athenian war leader Themistocles, who exacted a heavy fine.

From the inscription of Adule we learn that the Cyclades, presumably including Paros, were subject to the Ptolemies, the Hellenistic dynasty that ruled Egypt . Paros then became part of the Roman Empire and later of its Greek-speaking successor state, the Byzantine Empire.