The story that Paros of Parrhasia colonized the island with Arcadians is an etymological fiction of the type that abounds in Greek legend.

Ancient names of the island are said to have been Plateia (or Pactia), Demetrias, Strongyli (meaning round, due to the round shape of the island), Hyria, Hyleessa, Minoa and Cabarnis.

The island later receives from Athens a colony of Ionians under whom it attains a high degree of prosperity.

It sends out colonies to Thasos and Parium on the Hellespont.

In the former colony, which is planted in the 15th or 18th Olympiad, the poet Archilochus, a native of Paros, is said to have taken part.

As late as 385 BCE, the Parians, in conjunction with Dionysius of Syracuse, establish a colony on the Illyrian island of Pharos (Hvar).