Ikaros (Failaka Island)

Ikaros (Greek: Ἴκαρος) is the ancient name of the Failaka Island, in the Persian Gulf.[1]

On the island there was a temple of Artemis.[2][3][4] The wild animals on the island were dedicated to Artemis and no one should harm them.[2] Alexander the Great ordered the island to be called Icarus, after the Icarus island in the Aegean Sea.[2]

Strabo wrote that on the island there was a temple of Apollo and an oracle of Artemis.[5]

The island is also mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium[6] and Ptolemaeus.[7]

Remains of the settlement include a large Hellenistic fort and two Greek temples.[8] It may have been a trading post (emporion) of the kingdom of Characene.

References
  1. J. Hansamans, Charax and the Karkhen, Iranica Antiquitua 7 (1967) page 21-58
  2. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, §7.20
  3. Dionysius of Alexandria, Guide to the Inhabited World, §600
  4. Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, §11.9
  5. Strabo, Geography, §16.3.2
  6. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §I329.12
  7. Ptolemaeus, Geography, §6.7.47
  8. George Fadlo Hourani, John Carswell, Arab Seafaring: In the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times Princeton University Press,page 131
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.