Syra
the most important, though not the largest of that group of islands in the Ægean Sea known as the Cyclades.
It is about 10 miles long by 5 broad, has an area of 32 square miles and is bare, rocky and not very fertile. Its prosperity is of quite modern growth. During the War of Independence Syra remained neutral, hence many fugitives of commercial enterprise flocked thither from Chios and other parts of Greece.
Pop. of island about 27,000. The capital Syra or Hermoupolis, is situated on a bay on the E. side of the island. Pop. about 20,000. It rises in terraces from the shore, is well built, and is the seat of government for the Cyclades, and the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. This port is the chief commercial entrepôt of the Ægean. Exports tobacco, emery stone, valona and sponges.