Antikythera or Anticythera ( ) is a Greek island lying on the edge of the Aegean Sea, between Crete and Peloponnese. In antiquity the island was known as (). Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Kythira island. Antikythera may also refer to the Kythira-Antikythira Strait, through which Mediterranean water enters the Sea of Crete. Its land area is , and it lies south-east of Kythira. It is the most distant part of the Attica region from its heart in the Athens metropolitan area. It is lozenge-shaped, NNW to SSE by ENE to WSW. It is notable for being the location of the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism and for the historical Antikythera wreck. Its main settlement and port is Potamós (pop. 34 inhabitants in the 2011 census). The only other settlements are Galanianá (pop. 15), and Charchalianá (pop. 19). Antikythera is periodically visited by the Ablemon Nautical Company ferry F/B Ionis on its route between Piraeus (Athens) and Kissamos-Kastelli on Crete. History The earliest known inhabitants (5th or 4th millennium BC) were likely seasonal hunters who traveled there to exploit the presence of migratory birds. The population of the island then changed frequently as it was settled and abandoned several times, including a period of significant influence by Cretan culture during the Bronze Age. In antiquity, the island of Antikythera was known as Aegilia or Aigilia (), Aegila or Aigila (), or Ogylos (). Between the 4th and 1st centuries BC, it was used as a base by a group of Cilician pirates until their destruction by Pompey the Great. Their fort can still be seen atop a cliff to the northeast of the island. The archaeology of the island has been thoroughly surveyed and the data made openly available for further study. Antikythera is one of the few islands in the Aegean which were never ruled by the Ottoman Empire, as the Ottomans did not consider the small island a worthwhile conquest. Nevertheless, it was noted on Ottoman maps as , a name that has persisted in modern Turkish. Antikythera, known as Cerigotto in Italian, was administered by the Venetians as part of the Ionian Islands, despite being several hundred kilometres away from the main Ionian archipelago. The Venetians held out in Antikythera until 1800 while the rest of the Ionian Islands had fallen to Napoleonic France in 1797. It became a