What Is Naxos Known For?

Naxos holds a marble doorway standing alone against the sky at its harbor entrance, and that single gate ties directly into one of Greek mythology's most enduring love stories.

Naxos is known first for the Portara, the surviving gate of a Temple of Apollo built in the 6th century BC under the tyrant Lygdamis, standing on the small islet of Palatia at the harbor's edge. According to myth, this same site is where Dionysus, the god of wine, found Ariadne after Theseus abandoned her on the island following her help escaping the Cretan labyrinth. Dionysus fell for her, and the two married, with mythology crediting them with three children, including Oinopion, whose name translates roughly to Wine Drinker.

The island is equally known for its connection to Zeus, since Greek mythology holds that the god was raised in a cave on the island's highest peak, hiding from his father Cronus, who feared being overthrown by his own children. That mountain still carries the name Zas, or Zeus, and at just over a thousand meters, it ranks as the tallest point anywhere in the Cyclades.

As the largest island in the group, covering around 430 square kilometers, Naxos is also known for its emery, a corundum-rich rock mined here for centuries and historically valued as one of the most effective abrasives available before synthetic alternatives replaced it.

The Venetian Kastro overlooking Chora adds another layer still, built after Marco Sanudo established the Duchy of the Aegean around 1205, and the fortress remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in the Cyclades, connecting Naxos's mythology, geology, and medieval history to neighboring Paros, Amorgos, and Mykonos.