According to mythology, Kadmos, the king of Poenix, while looking for his sister Europe (Zeus had abducted her while he was transformed into a bull), made a stop at Kallisti, currently known as "Sandorini", and left Mevliaros there, the island's first inhabitant. Herodotus claims that the island's first inhabitants were Dorians. The first inhabitant, Theras, named the island after himself ("thera" is the ancient name of Sandorini). During the Persian Wars, Sandorini was submitted to the Persians. After the end of the wars, the island took the side of Sparta, while it was then submitted to Athens. Like all the Cycladean islands, Sandorini was occupied by the Macedonians, the Ptolemese of Egypt and the Romans. During the Byzantine Era, the island was a member of the Scheme of the Aegean Sea, while in 1207, it was conquered by the Venetians, who influenced the island culturally and converted many locals to Catholicism. Sandorini was also raided by the pirates. After the last raid by the pirate Barbarossa, in 1537, the island was conquered by the Turks, who ruled it until 1821, when Sandorini was liberated, along with the rest of the Cycladean islands.