Polyaigos, known in modern times as Polyvos or Nipolyvos, forms together with Melos and Kimolos an island complex at the southwestern tip of the Cyclades, at an important maritime crossroads of the Aegean. Waterless, with its shores sloping only at the west, it is today one of the largest uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, a ‘desert island’ since the time of the geographer Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD).
According to a now lost inscription dating from shortly after 338/7 BC, the people of Melos and Kimolos had a dispute over the ownership of the islet, which was awarded to the Kimolians, after a trial conducted by Argive judges. A similar dispute occurred in more recent times. The dispute arose because the use of the springs of Polyaigos, which has a rich subsoil and considerable cultivable areas, was essential for the survival needs of the neighbouring islands.
Although according to the literary sources, Polyaigos was uninhabited in antiquity, the surface finds so far recovered indicate that it was a place that saw human activities or seasonal settlements for centuries. On the western side of the islet, at the location of Pano Mersini, where two small bays form safe anchorages, a large concentration of obsidian, flint and pottery dating from prehistoric to Byzantine times was discovered.
