Cyclades Cyclades The Cyclades (; ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands "around" (κυκλάς) the sacred island of Delos. The largest island of the Cyclades is Naxos. The significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic, flat idols carved out of the islands' pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age Minoan civilization arose in Crete to the south. (These figures
History of the Cyclades Greek city, on the continent and on the islands, was maintained, indeed developed, during the first centuries of the Roman Empire. According to certain historians, the Cyclades were included in the Roman province of Asia around 133-129 BC; others place them in the province of Achaea; at least, they were not divided between these two provinces. Definitive proof does not place the Cyclades in the province of Asia until the time of Vespasian and Domitian. In 88 BC, Mithridates VI of Pontus, after expelling the Romans from Asia Minor, took an interest in the Aegean. His general Archelaus took Delos