The town is built on the ruins of the ancient city Kamara, which used to be the seaport of the city of Lato, near present-day Kritsa, as indicated on ancient inscriptions. According to mythology, goddesses Artemis and Athena would bathe in the town's lake. In 1958, professor of Archaeology N. Platon uncovered post-Minoan and Hellenistic tombs, and brought to light female figurines and a plethora of vessels dating from those periods. Under Venetian rule, the Genoans built the Mirabello fortress. The fortress was destroyed by the Venetians themselves, so as not to fall into the hands of the Turks again and be used as a base for their operations in the region. The locals participated in every fight for liberation from the Turks. In Mirabello bay, Agios Nikolaos, in 1827, Dimitrios Kotzias succeeded in breaking up the blockade by the Egyptian navy and destroyed its ships.