According to mythology, during the times of Saturn, Simetos was the king of the island, who named it Simeia that is one of its names.
According to another myth, Symi was the daughter of Ialyssos and Dotida. Glaukos stole her and brought her on the island, where he constructed Argo, the ship of the Argonautic expedition. Glaukos was an excellent swimmer, diver, fisherman and shipbuilder and all of his talents were passed on to the people of the island.
We have learnt from Pausanias that Aegle was a Naiad nymph and gave birth to the three Charites, whose father was Apollo, in Symi.
According to another tradition Prometheus was once in Symi, where he created men from clay and taught them the art of longevity until Zeus found out and punished him by transforming him into a monkey- “Simeia” in ancient Greek.