1070 B.C.- 330 B.C.
In historical period, Kydonia still had its core in Kastelli and gradually spread south and west of the hill. In 524 B.C. was a landmark date for the city when the Samians abandoned their homeland because of the tyrant Polycrates, settled in Chania. They founded the classical Kydonia. Five years later, however, since the Cretans allied with the Aeginetians, the Samians where defeated in war and the city was recaptured.
At that time, the city extended until Rodopou in the west, Akrotiri in the east and the foothills of the White Mountains and Aptera in the south. In 429 BC Kydonia was ravaged by the Athenians after inducement of their neighboring city Polichni and in 343 B.C. the Phocis besieged the city with no success. An important figure of the Classical period descended from Kydonia was the sculptor Kresilas, a contemporary of Phidias, who made the statue of Pericles.
During the 4th and 3rd B.C. century relations between Kydonia and Athens were good. The next year was at war with Falasarna, Aptera, Polirinia and Elyros and in 219 B.C. was align with the Aetolian League.
In the first B.C. century Kydonia resisted the Romans attack, but finally in 69 B.C. the city was occupied and ransacked by Quintus Caecilius Metellus. In 30 B.C. it was declared by August independent city and kept the right to have its own currency and since then has experienced a remarkable heyday. There were built luxurious private, public buildings and a theater. By 330 A.C Kydonia will form the greatest city in the region and for this reason will be designated seat of the homonymous early Christian Bishopric.
The first known fortification of Kastelli dates back from the Hellenistic period. Since then, the city evolves with successive reconstructions in the same fortified enclosure until Roman Empire. The findings of the Hellenistic and Roman period are particularly impressive. In Chania there have been identified sculptures, ceramic incinerators, road sections and many stately buildings with impressive mosaics. Among these, it is worth mentioning the large family hand craved tomb from the cemetery of the Hellenistic Kydonia and the mosaic of the 3rd A.C century, depicting Neptune releasing the Bride Amymoni, daughter of King Danaos of Argos, from the hands of a Satyr.
The Roman theater of Kydonia was destroyed in 1583, when the Venetians wanted to use the building material in the fortification of the fortress, but it was survived and, nowadays, the other Roman Theater of ancient Aptera is in process of restoration.
