Aegina

Island in the Saronic group of Greece. Located 16 mi (26 km) southwest of Piraeus, it has an area of 32 sq mi (83 sq km). Its chief town and port, Aegina, lies over the ancient town of the same name. Inhabited since c. 3000 BC, it became a maritime power after the 7th century BC; its period of glory, reflected in Pindar's poetry, was in the 5th century BC. Its economic rivalry with Athens led to frequent warfare, and in 431 BC the Athenians deported all its population. It came under Roman rule in 133 BC. It was briefly the capital of independent Greece (1826–28).

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