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\ Crete
(1) / \Cyclades
(2) / \ Dodecanese
(3) / \ Peloponnese
(4) / \ Attica
(5) / \ Central
Greece (6) / \ Epirus
(7) / \ Ionian Islands
(8) / \ Thessaly
(9) / \ Evia
& the Sporades (10) / \ Macedonia
(11) / \ Thrace
(12) / \ NE
Aegean (13) /
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Grecian
Net © All rights reserved 2002
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The
name Cyclades means "encircling islands," and they
are so named because they form a rough circle around the sacred
island of Delos the legendary birthplace of Artemis and her
brother Apollo. Virtually all of the islands have some archaeological
interest. 
According
to the Greek historian Thucydides (fl. 450 BC), the Carians
were expelled from the islands by King Minos. The Greek historian
Herodotus says the Carians were subjects of Minos and that they
were expelled from the islands much later, by the Dorians and
the Ionians. The rich material culture of the Bronze Age is
much in evidence throughout the islands, and on many of the
islands are found remarkable and characteristic (mostly female)
figurines. The islands were colonized by Ionians in the 10th
and 9th centuries BC, were overrun by the Persians in 490 BC,
and over time were under of the rule of virtually every power
in the region, including the Crusaders, who in 1204 gave the
Cyclades to Venice. The islands were ransacked for antiquities
in the 17th century, an activity halted by the Greek Civil War.
They enjoyed relative stability for a century until the Russo-Turkish
wars, but they also suffered damages and occupation during World
Wars I and II.