The legendary ancestor of the Aeginetans was Aiakos, son of Zeus and Egina and father
of Peleus and Telamon, who was celebrated for his wise and just rule and became
judge in the Underworld together with Minos and Rhadamanthys.The earliest traces of
Pelasgian settlement on the island date from the 3rd millennium BCE. In the 2nd
millennium Aegina was already an important trading-station, dealing in pottery and
ointments, as finds of Helladic, Cycladic and Minoan material have shown. It is first
recorded in history as a colony of the Dorian city of Epidavros, and together with
Epidavros was ruled in the 7th c. BCE by Phaidon of Argos. After shaking off the control
of the its mother city in the 6th c BCE. Aegina enjoyed a period of some prosperity,
which soon brought it into competition with Corinth. The Aeginetans had trading posts in
Umbria, on the Black Sea and in Egypt, and their ship owners were the wealthiest in
the Ancient World. Aeginetan coins bearing the effigy of a tortoise are the oldest known,
and by 656 BCE already had a wide circulation, and Aeginetan weights and measures
remained current into Roman times. At the beginning of the Persian Wars this
seafaring State was at the height of its power. After the Battle of Salamis, in which
30 vessels of Aegina took part, an Aeginetan ship was awarded the prize for the
highest valour. But Aegina was also led by its commercial interests to offer
Darius' envoys earth and water in token of submission, whereupon, on the motion
of Athens, it was called to account by Sparta. This was the occasion of further conflicts
with Athens, which saw the strong neighbouring island as an obstacle to the expansion
of its sea-power. After naval victories at Angistri and off Aegina itself the
Athenians - though simultaneously fighting with Megara and in Egypt - forced Aegina
to submit after a nine-month-long siege, and in 456 BCE the city was compelled
to pull down its walls, surrender its warships and pay tribute to Athens. At the
beginning of the Peloponnesian War (431 BCE) the Aeginetans were expelled from
their island and the land distributed to citizens of Attica. After the final defeat of Athens
in 404 BCE many of them returned, but the island's great days were over. Athens
rapidly recovered and after a series of military campaigns regained control of Aegina,
which thereafter shared the fortunes of the Athenian State. From 12 January to
3 October 1828 Aegina was capital of Greece. The chief place on the island, Aegina
(pop. 5000), lies on gently rising ground on a wide bay at the north end of the west
coast. It occupies the site of the ancient city, Egina, which was larger than the present
town. From the harbour, sheltered by a breakwater, there are fine views of the smaller
islands of Metopi and Angistri to the south-west and Moni to the south and of the hills
round Epidavros. The Archaeological Museum contains material from the temples of
Aphaia and Aphrodite, together with pottery and other grave-goods ranging in date
from the 3rd millennium BCE to Roman times. On the hill of Kolona, to the north of
the town, is an 8 m high Doric column. According to Pausanias this belonged to the
temple of Aphrodite by the harbour (460 BCE): in fact the temple was dedicated to
Apollo. Under the temple were found remains of Mycenaean and pre-Mycenaean
settlement (3rd millennium BCE). To the west were two smaller temples, probably
dedicated to Artemis and Dionysos. A sphinx (circa 460 BCE) which was discovered
here in 1904 is now in the Archaeological Museum. Below the temple, to the south,
was the ancient commercial harbour, now silted up. When the sea is calm the old
quays can still be seen under water. The modern harbour, on the site of the ancient
naval harbour, is still protected by the ancient moles which have been maintained
in good condition. On the north mole, the longer of the two, is and early 19th c. chapel
dedicated to St Nicholas.....