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

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

island in the southwestern

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, between the island of

Milos Milos or Melos (; , ; ) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. It is the southwestern-most island of the Cyclades group. The ''Venus de Milo'' (now in the Louvre), the ''Poseidon of Melos'' (now in the ...

and the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

region. 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 C ...

, 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. Th ...

. 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. Located at the crossing of the

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) 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 Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

–

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

and

Cape Maleas Cape Maleas (also ''Cape Malea''; , colloquially Καβομαλιάς, ''Cavomaliás''), anciently Malea () and Maleae or Maleai (Μαλέαι), is a peninsula and cape in the southeast of the Peloponnese in Greece. To distinguish it from the ca ...

–

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

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 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 Venetian word "falconera" (cf. Italian "falconiera"), meaning "place of falcons". This is also the meaning of the alternate Greek name, Gerakoulia. During the Greek Revolution, 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 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

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 ( , 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 France and around the ...

''.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