Many believe that they owe their name to a hearing difficulty of the inhabitants, in fact this is not the case at all. Their name has been attributed to the huge caves, which the corsairs saw from afar, thinking that the islands are hollow. This is how Koufionisia was born, which evolved into Koufonisia.
Koufonisia has been continuously inhabited since prehistoric times. Excavations carried out in the area of ​​Epano Mylos brought to light important finds (burials and others) of the early phases of the Cycladic Civilization. Perhaps the most important of these, a pan-shaped vase, with a nine-pointed star engraved on it, is kept today in the Museum of Naxos. A second excavation of the east coast revealed findings from Hellenistic and Roman times.
Neighboring Keros also, which is worth visiting from what the research shows, was an important center of the Cycladic Civilization (3000-2000 BC). During the centuries that followed, Koufonisia submitted to the common fate of almost all the islands of the Cyclades, a bone of contention for variously named pirates. They changed hands many times between Turks and Latin noble families. The people of Koufonissi, sometimes out of necessity and sometimes by choice, often colluded with Maniates or other pirates, who used the ferry between Pano and Kato Koufonisi as a safe haven.
In the 17th century, during the period of the great conflicts between the two naval superpowers of the time, Venice and Turkey, the people of Koufonisi found themselves stranded with the specter of famine. They inevitably ate every kind of bulb that grew on their barren island, before settling on the humble lupine, which they used for fodder. A bitter couplet from that time is saved by Manolis Glezos: "it's enough, poor Lumbouna, if you're a boy because the burnt bulb was neither, nor was it visible." Koufonisia was liberated along with the rest of the Cyclades with the revolution of 1821.
KEROS
The rocky and sandy island 1.5 nautical miles SE of Koufonissio, in which today lives only a hermit shepherd, was one of the most important centers of the Cycladic Civilization (3000-2000 BC). Excavations on its western side have revealed valuable archaeological findings, including more than 100 marble idols. Two of them, the harpist and the flutist, are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Athens, while the unique 1.40 m tall figurine of the Great Mother is also imposing.
According to one version, Keros is identified with Asteria, the island where, according to mythology, the ancient Gods Apollo and Artemis were born - and not in Delos as is generally believed. Proponents of the theory look to Homer, the Orphic and other ancient sources and sound convincing, some also argue that the unique Cycladic idols used as a starting point of inspiration and model the reclining female figure traced on the ridge of the island.

Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou