Brief introduction to the history of Skyros

According to a post-Homeric myth, Thetis hid her son Achilles in Skyros, to prevent him from going to fight in Troy. Dressed as a girl and with the name of Pyrrha (red or blond), he is hidden among the daughters of King Lycomedes.

This costume does not prevent him from having a son, Neoptolemus, with the princess. Odysseus comes to the island disguised as a peddler and of course all the girls show their interest in the fabrics, perfumes and jewelry. The only “girl” interested in weapons is, of course, Pyrrha, and Odysseus discovers Achilles and takes him with him to Troy.

On the contrary, according to another tradition, Achilles plundered the island of Skyros to punish Lycomedes for the murder of Theseus.

In 475 BC, Kimon defeated the Dolopians and occupied the entire island. From this date, it became a part of the alliance of Delos, which later became the de facto Athenian Empire. Cimon claimed to have found the remains of Theseus, and interred them in Athens. In 340 BC the Macedonians occupied the island and ruled it until 192 BC, when King Philip and the Romans placed it again under the hegemony of Athens.

During the Byzantine era, Skyros belonged to the Aegean theme. In 1204, Skyros, along with the rest of the Sporades, came under the possession of the Gizi brothers, specifically Jeremiah Gizis.

In 1538 it was occupied by Haireddin Barbarossa and became part of the Ottoman Empire. The island acquired privileges and had no Turkish garrison, but suffered from pirate raids, causing its inhabitants to take refuge in the Castle.

Of the travelers, only Tournefort visited the island, in 1702, who mentions that there is only one settlement on the island, built under a steep conical rock. It states that its population was 300 families.

The island participated in the Greek revolution of 1821, offering financial and naval aid, and later joined the newly formed Greek state.