&GINA, a Greek island about 15 miles southwest of Athens, in the Gulf of lEgina (old Sinus Saronicus) ; area, 32 square miles; pop. about 7,000. It is the triangular top of a partly submerged rocky hill, with deep gorges and ravines, and the eastern half rocky and unproductive; but the western is a well cultivated plain which, under the warm air and sea, produce the best Greek almonds, with olives and other fruits, wine and some grain. The non-agricultural inhabitants do a consid erable commerce and navigation from the one port, the capital, iEgina (pop. about 5,000), at the northwest, on the site of the old Greek town, of which considerable remains are left, the ruins of solidly-built walls and harbor moles still attesting its ancient size and im portance. According to the legend, the island was named after the nymph 2Egina, brought thither by Zeus. Historically, its first inhab itants were Achzans and were expelled by a Dorian colony from Epidaurus, under whom it was one of the foremost commercial cities of Greece, full of hardy, energetic people, born seamen, who covered themselves with glory at Salamis. They were later forced to become a
tributary part of the Athenian empire, and in 431 'Lc. were expelled altogether. Lysander afterward restored them, but the city's old im portance was gone. On a hill in the northeast are the remains of a splendid temple of Zeus Panhellenius (or, as others maintain, of Athena), many of the columns of which are still standing. Here are found early in the 19th century a number of marble statues which once adorned the east and west fronts of the temple; they were purchased by the King of Bavaria in 1812, the deficient parts restored by Thorwaldsen, and are now among the chief ornaments of the Glyptothek at Munich.