West Cyclades

Off the coast of Attica, Kea and Kythnos mark the western edge of the Cyclades. At Kephala on Kea, a Neolithic community farmed and fished, using obsidian brought from Melos for its tools. Centuries later the islands passed between Byzantine and Latin rulers. Kea fell to the Ottomans in 1537, while the fortified capital of neighboring Kythnos held out under its Venetian lord until an Ottoman siege in 1617.