According to tradition, the island was named after Kithnos, the leader of the Driopes, its first settlers. It was also called Driopis at that time. Driopes settled the island around the 12th-11th century BC. During classical times, they founded such a perfectly organised autonomous state that Aristotel mentioned it in his "About the Kithnians' State", which has not been preserved. Like the rest of the Cyclades, Kithnos joined the Athenian League and was subjugated by the Macedonians, Ptolemies and Romans, who used it as an exile. During Byzantine times, it belonged to the Theme of the Aegean. After the fall of Constantinople, it was conquered by Marco Sanudo and was ruled by Venetian families. In 1617, the Turks placed the island under the jurisdiction of the Sultan, ousting the last Venetian ruler, Angelo Gozadino. All through the Turkish domination, the island was scourged by pirate raids and epidemics alike. In 1823, plague decimated the island's inhabitants. "Kithniaka" is another bloody page of the island's history. In February of 1862, rebels from Siros who attempted to liberate the exiles clashed with the army at Agia Anna Bay. They were violently defeated and only after the Otto's dethronement, their bones were transferred to the 1st Cemetery of Athens.