Aegina (;-Aígina ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens.

The capital is the town of Aegina, situated at the northwestern end of the island.

The northern and western sides consist of stony but fertile plains, which are well cultivated and produce luxuriant crops of grain, with some cotton, vines, almonds, olives and figs, but the most characteristic crop of Aegina today ( 2000s ) is pistachio.

It is usually stated on the authority of Ephorus, that Pheidon of Argos established a mint in Aegina.

The history of Aegina, as it has come down to us, is almost exclusively a history of its relations with the neighbouring state of Athens, which began to compete with the thalassocracy of Aegina at the beginning of the sixth century.

# It is improbable that Athens would have sent twenty vessels to the aid of the Ionians in 499 BC if at the time she were at war with Aegina.

This inference is supported by the date of the building of the 200 triremes for the war against Aegina on the advice of Themistocles, which is given in the Constitution of Athens as 483-482 BC.

It is probable, therefore, that Herodotus is in error both in tracing back the beginning of hostilities to an alliance between Thebes and Aegina ( c. 507 BC ) and in putting the episode of Nicodromus before Marathon.

It may be noted, in confirmation of this view, that the naval supremacy of Aegina is assigned by the ancient writers on chronology to precisely this period, i. e. the years 490-480.

The change in Athenian foreign policy, which was consequent upon the ostracism of Cimon in 461, led to what is sometimes called the First Peloponnesian War, in which the brunt of the fighting fell upon Corinth and Aegina.

It is probable that the power of Aegina had steadily declined during the twenty years after Salamis, and that it had declined absolutely, as well as relatively, to that of Athens.

The constitutional history of Aegina is unusually simple.

A Jewish community is believed to have been established in Aegina " at the end of the second and during the third century AD " by Jews fleeing the Barbarian Invasions of the time in Greece.

This is corroborated by Benedict of Peterborough's graphic account of Greece, as it was in 1191, where he states that many of the islands were uninhabited from fear of pirates and that Aegina, along with Salamis and Makronesos, were their strongholds.

Thus it has been supposed that the difference between the numbers is accounted for a garrison of 12 ships left at Aegina.

* A sculpture of a Dying warrior is made in the left corner of the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaea in Aegina ( approximate date ).

Ode 13 of the Bacchylides is a Nemean ode performed to honor the athlete Pytheas of Aegina for winning the pancration event of the Nemean games.

Attalus I of Pergamum, who is with his fleet at Aegina, receives an embassy from Athens asking him to come to the city for consultations.

This appeal is backed by Megara ( which is being severely affected by Pericles ' economic sanctions ) and by Aegina ( which is being heavily taxed by Pericles and which has been refused home rule ).

The values of the units varied according to location and epoch ( e. g., in Aegina a pous was approximately, whereas in Athens ( Attica ) it was about ), but the relative proportions were generally the same throughout the Greek world.

In 458 BC, the Athenians blockaded the island of Aegina, and simultaneously defended Megara from the Corinthians by sending out an army composed of those too young or old for regular military service.

He was born on the island of Oenone or Oenopia, to which Aegina had been carried by Zeus to secure her from the anger of her parents, and whence this island was afterwards called Aegina.

These legends seem to be a mythical account of the colonization of Aegina, which seems to have been originally inhabited by Pelasgians, and afterwards received colonists from Phthiotis, the seat of the Myrmidons, and from Phlius on the Asopus.

In 1890 and 1893, Staes cleared out certain less rich tholos-tombs at Thoricus in Attica ; and other graves, either rock-cut " bee-hives " or chambers, were found at Spata and Aphidna in Attica, in Aegina and Salamis, at the Argive Heraeum and Nauplia in the Argolid, near Thebes and Delphi, and not far from the Thessalian Larissa.

Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born on and ruled the island.

Hydrofoil ferries from Piraeus take only forty minutes to reach Aegina ; the regular ferry takes about an hour, with ticket prices for adults within the 4-15 euro range.

There are regular bus services from Aegina town to destinations throughout the island such as Agia Marina.

The Athenians were preparing to make reprisals, in spite of the advice of the Delphic oracle that they should desist from attacking Aegina for thirty years, and content themselves meanwhile with dedicating a precinct to Aeacus, when their projects were interrupted by the Spartan intrigues for the restoration of Hippias.

During the next twenty years the Philo-Laconian policy of Cimon secured Aegina, as a member of the Spartan league, from attack.

Aegina obtained money for her defences by the unwilling sacrifice of her cherished relic, the head of St. George, which had been carried there from Livadia by the Catalans.

On 12 November, it was transported from Aegina, by Vettore Cappello, the famous Venetian commander.

The number of the Athenians at that time exceeded 6000, the Albanians from the villages of Attica excluded, whilst in 1674 the population of Aegina did not seem to exceed 3000 inhabitants, 2 / 3 of which were women.

Excavation of the earth of the altar yielded burnt stones, small animal ( cow and pig ) bones, tiny pottery fragments, iron knives, clay figures, coins from Aegina, a clay figure of a bird, and two small bronze tripods.

According to Herodotus, after the Persian navy began its maneuvers, Aristides arrived at the Allied camp from Aegina.

Instead, he pursues active naval warfare and reduces any danger from the island of Aegina by replacing its native population with Athenians.

Though there were no further kings in Aegina, the kings of Epirus claimed descent from Peleus in the historic period.

Most of the production in Greece comes from the island of Aegina and the region of Thessaly.

* The Athenian soldier and statesman, Aristides, as well as the former Athenian archon Xanthippus, return from banishment in Aegina to serve under Themistocles against the Persians.

Soon he was competing with Pindar for commissions from the leading families of Aegina and, in 476 BC, their rivalry seems to have reached the highest levels when Bacchylides composed an ode celebrating Hieron's first victory at the Olympian Games ( Ode 5 ).

However, perhaps tired of the Athenians pointing out their role at Salamis, and of their demands for the Allies to march north, the Allies awarded the prize for civic achievement to Aegina.

The extinct volcano includes the panorama of the southern half of the peninsula along with parts of the northeastern Peloponnese, western and southwestern Attica including Kakia Skala, parts of Aegina and the islands of Angistri, Kyra and a smaller one further north and the Saronic Gulf.