Sivriada

Sivriada, meaning "Sharp Island" in Turkish (Greek: Ὀξεία, Oxeia, meaning "Sharp"); also known unofficially with the alternative folk name Hayırsızada, meaning "Useless/Unfortunate Island"; is one of the Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul.

The island, which has an area of 0.05 km², is officially a neighbourhood in the Adalar (Islands) district of Istanbul Province, Turkey.

Sivriada was often used by the Byzantine clerics as a distant place for peaceful worship, and by the Byzantine emperors as a convenient prison to detain prominent people whom they deemed troublesome. The first famous person to be imprisoned in the island by the order of emperor Nikephoros I was Plato of Sakkoudion, the uncle of renowned cleric Theodoros Stoudites, for supporting his nephew in his conflict with the emperor. Other famous people who stayed in the island for religious and political reasons were Gebon, Basil Skleros, Nikephoritzes (the chief minister of Michael VII Doukas), Patriarch John of Constantinople and Patriarch Michael II of Constantinople. The graves of those who died on the island during the Byzantine period can still be seen today.