Archaeological Museum of Kolona Aegina

The ancient citadel of Aegina occupies the Kolona headland on the island's west coast, just north of the modern town. Its name comes from the single standing column of the Temple of Apollo at the summit, the only one of its original number still upright. The site was fortified from at least the sixth century BCE, though an Early Helladic settlement existed there from the mid-third millennium BCE, which is why guidebooks often call it a prehistoric settlement. In the classical period this was a crowded city, a major trading port, and the heart of one of the most powerful states in Greece before the Peloponnesian War. In 458 BCE the Athenians besieged and took Aegina, destroying much of the walls. Decline followed under Rome, but from around 400 CE the port revived as refugees from barbarian incursions, such as the Heruls and Goths, arrived from the Peloponnese. The fortifications were strengthened with Byzantine additions, visible today as semi-finished stone and mortar courses above the ancient boulders. Saracen raids from the seventh century pushed the population inland, and the citadel was permanently abandoned around the tenth century.