This and other small islands of the Aegean Sea served as places of exile for important persons in the early Roman Empire.[2] The pseudo-Aristotelian work On Marvellous Things Heard (25) recounts the tale that on Gyaros the mice eat iron.[9] The Roman poet Juvenal, a near-contemporary of Tacitus, mentions this island twice in his Satires: first as a place of exile for particularly vile criminals (1.73), and second as a symbol of claustrophobic imprisonment (10.170).Under emperor Nero, the philosopher Musonius Rufus was found guilty for his participation in the Pisonian conspiracy and was banished to Gyara.The island is currently off-limits to the general public except during commemorative events and approaching or fishing in close proximity is forbidden by the Hellenic Coast Guard.