Syros has been settled for first time during the 3rd millennium BC. Syros has known a period of prosperity in Hellenistic and Roman era as it is proved by the coins that were found in excavations that took place mainly at the 19th century. In the 13th century, Syros devolves to the Venetians, who found the settlement of Ano Syra, on one of the two hills of current Ermoupoli. Since then, Ano Syra was distinguished as one of the Roman Catholic settlements of Greece. During the Greek Revolution Syros gave asylum to the refugees from other parts of Greece who settled on the foothills of Ano Syra, near the harbour, where they founded the city of Ermoupoli.