Žiežmariai were mentioned for the first time in the 14th century in the Teutonic Die Littauischen Wegeberichte.

[1] During the 16th century Žiežmariai started to grow intensively due to their proximity to the road Vilnius-Kaunas.

In the 18th century it was devastated by the Swedish army during the Great Northern War, plague epidemic started.

In 1812, Žiežmariai was devastated by Napoleon's army during the French invasion of Russia.

In 1941, hundreds of Jews from the city and from nearby villages of Kaisiadorys and Žasliai were murdered in mass executions perpetrated by an einsatzgruppen of Germans and local collaborators.