Aegina (ancient world)

Aigina

A mountainous, volcanic Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, midway between Attica and the Peloponnese. This geographical position is the reason for its importance in Mediterranean commerce from the earliest periods. It was believed that the island, formerly known as Oenone, was colonized successively by Argives, Cretans and Thessalians (Myrmidons, after whom it took the name Myrmidonia); the last-named settlement seems to have been established about the thirteenth century BC, then abandoned a century or two later.

The island was supposedly conquered c 1100 BC by the Dorian Greeks under Deiphontes, a descendant of Heracles in the fifth generation. But then we are told that, after a period of abandonment, it received further immigrants, perhaps from Epidaurus; their settlement may be attributed to c 950–900. Aegina was a member of the Amphictyony of Calauria (Poros), a maritime council representing the principal cities on the Saronic and Argive Gulfs; and under the rule of a stable mercantile oligarchy, it became, in the seventh century, a Greek sea-power of the first order. Its silver coinage (from c 550), with the design of a turtle, circulated extremely widely; and the Aeginetans also developed the oldest system of weights and measures known to the classical world, and produced pottery and bronze ware which became well-known throughout the Mediterranean area. There was often rivalry between Aegina and Samos, notably at the trading port of Naucratis (Kom Gieif) in Egypt.

But, above all, it was Athens that resisted the commercial supremacy of the Aeginetans. Already in the early years of the sixth century its statesman Solon passed laws designed to restrict Aeginetan trading, which caused the island to ally itself in turn with Sparta and Thebes in the hope of checking the Athenians' rising power; and in 506 the long struggle against them began. In 490 the Aeginetans took no part in the Greek resistance to Darius I culminating in the battle of Marathon, and two years later they won a naval victory against Athens. (They also constructed a new port at about this time.) Indeed, the great Athenian fleet that defeated Xerxes I at Salamis in 480 had ostensibly been raised to deal with the Aeginetans, because of the sympathy they had shown toward the Persians. In the event, however, the Aeginetans did contribute a squadron to the Greek fleet that confronted Xerxes at Salamis, and their bravery in the battle won them `the first prize for valor.’ In the following year, too, they fought beside their Athenian rivals at Plataea. But Aegina's special glory was its inspiration of at least seven of the finest odes of Pindar, including the eighth Pythian.

Nevertheless, the Athenian statesman Pericles called the island the `eyesore of the Piraeus,’ and war broke out between the two states in 459. It ended with the capture of Aegina by the Athenians, followed by its compulsory enrollment in the Athenian confederation (Delian League) to which it was obliged to contribute thirty talents annually. But resentment remained strong, and the Aeginetans played a substantial part in persuading Sparta to enter the Peloponnesian War against Athens (431). As a result, the Athenians deported the island's entire population and apportioned the land among their own people, while Sparta gave a new home to the exiled inhabitants at Thyrea; though in 424 the Athenians captured that town too, and transferred the refugees to Athens. In 405, however, when the Peloponnesian War had finally gone in favor of the Spartans, they were allowed back to their island under a Spartan governor.

From 322 to 229 Aegina was under Macedonian control, and then belonged to the Achaean League until 211, when it was taken over by the Romans and attached to the Aetolian League (which enslaved its inhabitants), only to be sold, in the following year, to Attalus II of Pergamum—a transfer which introduced a new period of prosperity. After the Pergamene kingdom was annexed by Rome (133), Aegina went with it. During the 30s, Mark Antony assigned the island to the Athenians. In AD 267 the city suffered a destructive siege from German (Herulian) invaders.

Traces of Thessalian Bronze Age settlement have come to light on the slopes of Mount Elia. But the principal monument of the island is the temple of Aphaea (a pre-Greek goddess, assimilated to Athena), on the highest point of Cape Colonna, a pine-clad hill above the sea. The building, of which part survives today including a number of columns and fine pediment sculptures in varying styles (now to be seen in the Munich and Athens museums), dates from 520–478 BC (starting a decade after a fragmentary Temple of Apollo). In the late Roman period it was destroyed and replaced by a massive fortress. Remains of two earlier shrines on the site have also been discovered, and portions of all three altars can be seen. The sacred area also contains a theater and stadium. A further sanctuary, in the district of Mesagro, was built over a Mycenaean site in the seventh century.