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Serifos
Σέριφος | |
|---|---|
 Airview | |
  Serifos Location within the region  | |
| Coordinates: 37°09′N 24°30′E / 37.150°N 24.500°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | South Aegean |
| Regional unit | Milos |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Konstantinos Revinthis[1] (since 2019) |
| Area | |
| • Municipality | 75.21 km2 (29.04 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 585 m (1,919 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2021)[2] | |
| • Municipality | 1,241 |
| • Density | 17/km2 (43/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 840 05 |
| Area code(s) | 22810 |
| Vehicle registration | EM |
| Website | www.serifos.gr |
Serifos (Greek: Σέριφος, Latin: Seriphus, also Seriphos; Seriphos: Eth. Seriphios: Serpho) is a Greek island municipality in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Sifnos. It is part of the Milos regional unit. The area is 75.207 square kilometres (29.038 sq mi)[3] and the population was 1,241 at the 2021 census. It is located about 170 kilometres (92 nautical miles) ESE of the Athenian port of Piraeus.
In Greek mythology, Serifos is where Danaë and her infant son Perseus washed ashore after her father Acrisius, in response to an oracle that his own grandson would kill him, set them adrift at sea in a wooden chest. When Perseus returned to Serifos with the head of the Gorgon Medusa, he turned Polydektes, the king of Serifos, and his retainers into stone as punishment for the king's attempt to marry his mother by force.
In antiquity, the island was proverbial for the alleged muteness of its frogs.[4] During the Roman imperial period, Serifos was a place of exile. After 1204 it became a minor dependency of the Venetian dukes of the Archipelago. In the late 19th century Serifos experienced a modest economic boom from the exploitation of the island's extensive iron ore deposits. The mines closed in the 1960s, and Serifos now depends on tourism and small-scale agriculture.
Among early ‘tourists’ were the British travellers Theodore and Mabel Bent, landing in December 1883. Bent opens his 1885 travelogue on the Cyclades with Serifos, although the couple visited Syros first.[5]
- ^ Municipality of Serifos, Municipal elections – October 2023, Ministry of Interior
- ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
- ^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece.
- ^ Aelian, De natura animalium 3.37
- ^ “We landed in a little harbour called 'Green' (πράσινο) from the rocks which surround it…” Theodore Bent, The Cyclades, or Life Among the Insular Greeks. London, 1885, p. 41.