Aigina in 218 B.C.

Aigina — Spring 218 BC · The Old Sea-Power of the Saronic Gulf.

The island of the Saronic Gulf that was once, generations ago, one of the foremost naval and trading powers of Greece. Its silver "turtle" coins — stamped with a sea-tortoise — were the first true coinage of European Greece and long served as a standard currency of the Aegean trade; its merchants and seamen ranged everywhere. The island is crowned by the splendid temple of Aphaia, the local goddess, on its pine-clad height. Aigina’s greatness was broken long ago by its rival Athens, which in the end expelled the Aeginetans from their homes; by 218 BC it is a lesser place, but its temple, its harbours and the memory of its sea-power endure.

There was a time when Aigina was a great power of the sea. Lying in the throat of the Saronic Gulf, within sight of Athens and the Peloponnese alike, it grew rich by trade when most of Greece still bartered, and struck the first true silver coinage of the European Greeks — the famous "turtles," stamped with a sea-tortoise, that became a standard money of the Aegean. Aeginetan merchants and seamen carried that coin and their goods across the whole sea. But the island’s very nearness to Athens made it Athens’ rival, and in the end Athens broke it utterly, expelling the Aeginetans from their homes. By 218 BC Aigina is a diminished island, no longer a power; yet its great temple of Aphaia still crowns the pine-clad height, its harbours still serve the gulf, and the memory of its old greatness has not died.