Falkonera ( el, Φαλκονέρα) or Gerakoulia (Γερακούλια), anciently known as Hierakia (Ἱεράκια), is a small uninhabited

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

island in the southwestern

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

, between the island of

Milos Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus d ...

and the Peloponnese. Although outside the

Saronic Gulf The Saronic Gulf (Greek: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Co ...

, it is generally included among the

Saronic Islands The Saronic Islands or Argo-Saronic Islands is an archipelago in Greece, named after the Saronic Gulf in which they are located, just off the Greek mainland. The main inhabited islands of this group are Salamis, Aegina, Agistri, and Poros. The ...

. The islet marks the summit of a horst tending WNW-ESE, which separates the Myrtoon basin to the north from the Cretan basin to the south. The island is administered as part of the Islands regional unit, part of the municipality of

Spetses Spetses ( el, Σπέτσες, grc, Πιτυούσσα "Pityussa", Arvanitika: Πετσε̱) is an upscale affluent island in Attica, Greece. It is included as one of the Saronic Islands. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis ...

. Located at the crossing of the

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

and

Cape Maleas Cape Maleas (also ''Cape Malea''; el, Ακρωτήριον Μαλέας, colloquially Καβομαλιάς, ''Cavomaliás''), anciently Malea ( grc, Μαλέα) and Maleae or Maleai (Μαλέαι), is a peninsula and cape in the southeast of the ...

- Izmir shipping lanes, it is considered a significant navigational hazard due to the strong surrounding currents. At the island's eastern cape, named ''Panaghia ton revmaton'' (Παναγιά των Ρευμάτων), meaning "

Panagia Panagia ( el, Παναγία, fem. of , + , the ''All-Holy'', or the ''Most Holy''; pronounced ) (also transliterated Panaghia or Panajia), in Medieval and Modern Greek, is one of the titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern ...

of the currents", there is a lighthouse that was destroyed by the Germans in 1941 and rebuilt after World War II. The highest point of the island is 183 meters above sea level. The name "Falkonera" derives from the Italian "Falconeria", meaning "place of falcons". This is also the meaning of the alternate Greek name, Gerakoulia. During the

Greek Revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted b ...

, the island was served as a unification point for Andreas Miaoulis's and Dimitrios Sachtouris's squadrons before the campaign of

. In the early hours of 8 December 1966, the ferry '' SS Heraklion'', en route from

to Piraeus, sank off the coast of Falkonera, resulting in 217 lives lost, with 47 survivors found on Falkonera. Known as the "Falkonera Shipwreck", it is considered one of the worst maritime accidents in Greek history. Falkonera is part of the Natura 2000 network with code GR3000011, together with the nearby uninhabited islands of Velopoula and Ananes. The isolated island has two zones of vegetation, a salt-tolerant shore zone and a zone beyond the reach of salt spray of the type called ''phrygana'' in Greece, and more generally ''

garrigue Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( el, φρύγανα , n. pl.), is a type of low scrubland ecoregion and plant community in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. It is found on limestone soils in southern ...

''.Biological character of Falkonera and associated islands.
/ref> It is one of the few Aegean islands that supports a population of the Milos wall lizard, ''Podarcis milensis''.

References

{{The Saronic Saronic Islands Uninhabited islands of Greece