History

Skiathos Island has been inhabited since the prehistoric era, always with the exact same name. Moreover, the town of ‘Skiathos’ has always been an important ally to the Athenians. In 338 B.C, the island was dominated by the Macedonians, thus securing its safety against hostile invasions for many, many years.

Historically, the island makes its appearance again in 200-199 B.C, when the Macedonian king ‘Philip V’ was fighting a war against the Romans. The intense action of the Roman navy, along with all the unstoppable war operations that took place on the island, resulted in its complete ruin and devastation.

Furthermore, as regards the Byzantine period, the historical records provide us with a very limited amount of information. In 758 A.D, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the Byzantine fleet -which was anchored at Skiathos’ port- rushed to help and save the Greek town of ‘Thessaloniki’ from Bulgarian and Slavic intrusions.

Nevertheless, the island was, also, suffering from constant, pirate raids, which kept going not only during the short-term Venetian domination but, also, during the Turkish Rule. In 1207, the ‘Gizi’ brothers took over the island and built ‘Bourtzi’, a small, Venetian fortress (that separates, today, the old and the new port of Skiathos) so as to protect their capital city from pirates. Gizi brothers and their heirs ruled the Greek islands from 1204 up to 1276, when, eventually, the Byzantine navy chased them out of north Sporades. However, the ‘Bourtzi’ fortress proved insufficient against pirate invasions, thus forcing the island’s population to abandon their Byzantine capital and move towards the north part of the island to seek refuge. There, in the middle of the 14th century, they founded the ‘Castle’, a natural, impenetrable fortress that ensured their safety against all kinds of enemies.