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Paros, a large island (196 km.2) in the central *Cyclades, its fine white marble prized by sculptors and masons from Archaic times. A middle-neolithic settlement at Saliagos, an islet between Paros and Antiparos (ancient Oliarus), is among the earliest in the Cyclades. A late-bronze-age fortified acropolis at Koukounaries was destroyed in the 11th cent. bce. Resettled by *Ionians in the 10th cent. bce, the ancient city (mod. Paroikia) occupied the site of a mid- to late-bronze-age town. After resettlement Koukounaries was deserted c.700 bce; its temple of *Athena survived until Classical times. Parian prosperity and power are exemplified in the 7th cent. by the poetry of *Archilochus and the colonization of *Thasos, and in the 6th by marble temples, massive fortifications and its sculpture workshops. The ‘Melian’ style of Orientalizing pottery (cf. melos) is now attributed to Paros. A noteworthy 6th-cent. monument is the heroon of Archilochus, where later the Parian Chronicle (see marmor parium) and Life of Archilochus were inscribed.