The town is present throughout the history of Crete. According to the myths, Cyrbas was one of the first settlers. The town was initially called Cyrbas, from the name of its founder. Later it was called Kamiros, Pytna, Ierapytna and eventually Ierapetra. The town rules a very large area of southeast Crete which includes the once powerful cities of Pressos, Priansos, Malla and Oleros which once blocked her expansion. Ierapetra resisted the Roman invaders harder than any other Cretan city, however it was destroyed by the conquerors in 66 BC. In the Byzantine period Ierapetra sustained her significance but was destroyed by the Saracens in 828 AD who rebuilt it partially mainly to use it as a center of piracy operations.