Kythera, also spelled Kythira, Cythera, or Kithira, is a Greek island located opposite the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. According to Greek mythology, the goddess Aphrodite rose from the sea foam near Kythera, resulting in the island becoming a major pilgrimage destination during Ancient Greece. The island was first settled by the Minoans, and it was later colonized by the Phoenicians, who called its local dye "Tyrian purple". During the early 6th century BC, Spartan colonists conquered Kythera from Argos, but Athens occupied the island in 456 BC (during the First Peloponnesian War), from 426 to 410 BC (during the Peloponnesian War), and from 393 to 386 BC (during the Corinthian War). Kythera became independent in 195 BC after the Achaean League's victory over Sparta in the War against Nabis, but Kythera once again became a subject of Sparta under Roman rule. During the 4th century AD, Saint Elessa came to Kythera from Laconia to convert the island to Christianity, and, during the Byzantine era, the island was frequently attacked by raiding Slavs and Arab pirates. The island was abandoned in 700 AD, but it was resettled by Greeks after the Byzantine reconquest of Crete in 962. The Republic of Venice acquired Kythera following the Fourth Crusade, and the Italians called the island Cerigo. The Ottoman admiral Oruc Reis destroyed the Paliochora during the 16th century, forcing the monasteries to relocate inland. Following Napoleon's conquest of Venice in 1797, the island became one of the French-ruled Ionian Islands, which later fell under British rule before being granted to Greece in 1859. In 2011, Kythera had a population of 4,041 people.
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