The oldest known residency of Kos goes back to the Bronze age (2300 -2000BC) and was traced to the hill Seragion(today’s old town) where part of a settlement and fortress were found. During the Minoan domination in the Aegean, people settled and populated widely in Kos. Because of the Minoan settlement Kos gained a crucial position in the network of commercial routes to the East. The prosperity and blossoming of the settlement is illustrated in the “New Catalogue” of the Iliada (676-680)

In historic times, around the tenth century BC, the Dorians settled on the island and according to Herodotos, they came from Argolida. In ancient times Kos took part in the Doric sixth city, together with the three cities of Rhodes (Lindos, Ialyssos and Camiros) Knido and Alikarnassou which had as their religious centre the

The first mention of the early Christian period in Kos is connected to the visit of the disciple Paul which is mentioned in the book of Paul. This was recorded in the minutes of the first Ecumenical Synod of Nice in 325 and was signed by the bishop of Kos Melifron.