History at a glance

3000 - 2000 b.C.
Inhabited by Prehellenic groups or the Ageans. There was mining activity in the lead mines of Agios Sostis, Agios Silvestros, Vorini, Kapsalos, Xeros and Xilos. During this period Sifnos became known as a center of proyo-Cycladian culture. Prehistoric tombs can be found in Akrotiraki (Platis Gialos) and in Pounda (Vathi).

2000 - 1450 b.C.
Under the influence of the Minoan civilization. Known as Meropi during this period, it saw the founding of the town of Minoa, possibly located in the area known today as Hellenika.

1450 - 1100 b.C.
Evidence of Mycenean civilization influence in the citadels of Prophet Elias in Troulaki and in Saint Andreas and Saint Niketas in Kastro.

1130 - 1120 b.C.
Ionian settlement on the island under the governance of Alkinor from Athens. The town known as Kastro today was possibly founded during that period. First reference to the island's name as Sifnos.

800 - 500 b.C.
Rapid economic development due to mining; Sifnian currency in circulation for the first time, manufactured in local mint. Period when the original fortifications were established, and the agora, temples, watchtowers, and so-called "optical telegraphs" (for the defense of the precious metals mined) were first founded.

525 b.C.
The Sifnians deposited their legendary Treasure at Delphi and received distinction.

524 b.C.
Political exiles from the island of Samos attacked Sifnos and made off with 100 talants, a sum considerable enough at the time to cause, along with the alleged destruction of the mine at Agios Sostis, the collapse of the local economy.

500 - 400 b.C.
During this period of the Persian Wars, the Sifnians refused to surrender to the enemy and participated, instead, in the naval battle of Salamina 480 B.C.) with a fifty-oar ship.

477 and 377 b.C.
Sifnos joined the first and second Athenian Alliance. Period when the local poet Philoxenides lived.

388 b.C.
The island comes under the jurisdiction of the Macedonian Kingdom.

400 - 300 b.C.
The Sifnian doctor Diphilos, author of the treatise on diet appropriate for the healthy and the sick, becomes the personal doctor of the King Lysimachos of Thrace (360 - 281 B.C.). Also the period when the historian Malakas composed his chronicle about Sifnos.

146 b.C. - 324 a.C.
Colonized by the Romans. The only remnants of that Roman period are the marble tombs with figures in relief in Kastro, and a sacrificial altar that now is the altar in the church of the Holy Virgin's Dormition.

330 a.C. - 610 a.C.
In the early years of the Byzantine Empire, Sifnos belonged to the Byzantine Province of the islands that had Rhodes as its Capital.

610 a.C. - 1204 a.C.
In the middle Byzantine period, Sifnos belonged administratively to the Region of the Aegean Sea, which had Samos as its capital.

726 a.C. - 843 a.C.
Many of those persecuted and those on self-exile during the period of Iconoclasm found refuge in Sifnos, and contributed to the cultural growth of the island.

1207 - 1262
Under the governance of the Dukes of Archipelago, Markus and Angelus Sanouthos.

1279 - 1307
Once again part of the Byzantine Empire.

1307 - 1464
Occupied and ruled by the dynasty of Dakoronia.

1464 - 1537
Following the marriage of Marietta Dakoronia and Nikolaus Gozadinos, of the House of Kea and Thermion, Sifnos came under the rule of the Gozadinoses.

1537 - 1566
Barbarossa annexed Sifnos to the Ottoman Empire. During short periods, while still under Turkish control, the island was governed by the Gozadinoses.

1617 - 1821
During its period of Turkish occupation, Pasha Kapoudan, general of the Turkish Navy, governed Sifnos. Alongside the Greek Orthodox schools run by the parishes, there were a number of schools run by Catholics (those of Giakomo Dellaroca, Domenico Dellagrammatica (1625-1629), Francesco Michelouchi (1647-1649), Bartholomex Dapolla and Georgios Perris (1660-1664) whose main objective was to proselytize. The latter were attended as much by Catholic as by Orthodox students.

1642
Founding of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary, The Vrisian by the merchant and trustee of the island Vassilios Logothetis.

1646 - 1797
The island was endowed the Chair of the Archdiocese that administered the parishes of eleven islands from 1797 to 1852, Sifnos held the Archdiocese of Sifnomilos.

1650
The church of the Virgin Mary of Chrysopigi, protector of Sifnos, was built upon the foundations of an ancient temple. It is one of the 224 churches that operate today.

1687 - 1854
Peak period of cultural and educational developments on the island, marked by the foundation of the famous School of the holy Sepulcher, known as the Educational Institute of the Archipelago, in the entrance to Kastro, capital of Sifnos till 1836. More than fifty Sifnians became bishops with distinguished careers.

1770 - 1774
Under Russian rule.

1821
Filiki Eteria, the secret society of intellectual and political figures that played an instrumental role in instigating the Independence War against the Turks, included three sworn members from Sifnos: Nikolaos Gryparis, Dimitrios Lagos and Georgios Baos. In 1821 the School Principal Nikolaos Chrysogelos (1780-1858) raised the banner of the Revolution at the School of Sifnos; the leader of 150 Sifnian fighters, he arrived in the Peloponnese where he distinguished himself as one of the heroes of the Revolution. He served as Minister of Education in the government of Kapodistrias, and was the one of the early advocates and founders of public education in Greece.

1883
Kamares established as the island's official port.

1914
Sifnos single municipality since 1836 is now divided into two separate towns, those of Apollonia and Artemonas.

1941 - 1944
Under Italian occupation.

1999
The two towns now form the single municipality of Sifnos.