Gyaros

Gyaros, also locally known as Gioura, is an arid and unpopulated Greek island in the northern Cyclades near the islands of Andros and Tinos, with an area of 23 square kilometres. It is a part of the municipality of Ano Syros, which lies primarily on the island of Syros. This and other small islands of the Aegean Sea served as places of exile for important persons in the early Roman empire. The extremity of its desolation was proverbial among Roman authors, such as Tacitus and Juvenal. It was a place of exile for leftist political dissidents in Greece from 1948 until 1974. At least 22,000 people were exiled or imprisoned on the island during that time. It is an island of great ecological importance as it hosts the largest population of monk seal in the Mediterranean. ()