In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus wrote that at the time of the fiftieth Olympics, celebrated in 580-576 BC, a group of Greeks left from Rhodes and Cnidus and under the command of Pentathlus of Cnidus, sailed for Sicily.
In the 5th century BC, Thucydides wrote that the islands of Aeolus were inhabited by Liparesi, settlers of Cnidus: “…they live on a rather small island, called Lipara; the others, Didime and Strongyle and Iera, are cultivated by settlers who left from this larger island…”.
Due to its naturally protected position, the fortress of the Castle of Lipari was chosen as the Acropolis, i.e. as the seat of the most important buildings, while the town occupied the slopes that gradually extended into the flat area below the Castle. The city was protected by high fortifications, beyond which, according to Greek custom, the necropolis extended. The Greeks of Lipara established a system of community life in the Aeolian Islands: one group was assigned the cultivation of land, another, thanks to the establishment of a naval fleet, the defence of the islands, especially from Etruscan pirate raids.
