Nd isotopic composition has been determined for 16 igneous rocks, representing the wide geochemical, spatial and temporal range of post-collisional, late Cenozoic magmas in the Aegean area. Nd isotopes are used to further interpret previously published Pb and Sr isotope data. The overall pattern of late Cenozoic volcanism resulted from rapid extension, with thermal effects causing melting of hydrated, enriched, subcontinental lithosphere to produce widespread K-rich magmas. Slab break-off and intrusion of hot asthenosphere caused partial melting of rift-related continental margin basalts at the detachment point to generate adakitic magmas. Further outboard, mafic magma from enriched lithospheric mantle melted thickened lower crust to produce the granitoid plutons of the Cyclades. Nd isotopic variation in these varied rock types correlates with pre-Cenozoic palaeo-geography. Proterozoic subduction-related enrichment in Th and U, together with other large-ion lithophile elements, produced distinctive Pb isotope composition. This was later modified where Mesozoic subduction of terrigenous sediment was important, whereas subduction of oceanic carbonate sediments produced enrichment in radiogenic Sr and low Ce/Sr ratios. Late Cenozoic magmas sourced in eastern Pelagonian zone sub-continental lithospheric mantle have Nd model ages of about 1.0 Ga, and generally high 87Sr/86Sr and high 207Pb/204Pb (∼ 15.68) and 208Pb/204Pb (∼ 39.0) for low 206Pb/204Pb (∼ 18.6), but rocks to the west have more radiogenic Pb and higher Ce/Sr as a result of greater subduction of terrigenous sediment from the northern Pindos ocean. Magmas sourced from sub-continental lithosphere beneath the Apulian continental block were strongly influenced by subduction of oceanic crust and sediments north of the passive margin of north Africa. Subduction of Nile-derived terrigenous sediment in the east resulted in Nd model ages of 0.7 to 0.8 Ga and radiogenic Pb isotopes. Greater subduction of oceanic carbonate in the west resulted in magmas with higher 87Sr/86Sr and lower Ce/Sr. The strongly negative εNd for adakites in the central Aegean rules out a source from subducted oceanic basalt, and the adakite magma was probably derived from melting of hydrated Triassic sub-alkaline basalt of continental origin. Where trachytic rocks are succeeded by nepheline-normative basalts (e.g. Samos), Nd isotope data imply that early partial melting of the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle involved hydrous amphibole and phlogopite, but once these minerals were consumed, younger magmas were produced by partial melting dominated by olivine and orthopyroxene.