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Modern Description: IKARIA: From any approach by sea, the island of Ikaría presents a forbidding wall of high mountains, steep slopes and rocky shores which—unprotected by any neighbouring land or island—bear the force of the winds from both north and south. Homer knew well the awful turbulence of the Ikarian Sea, to which he likened the mutability of mood in a crowd stirred by demagogy (Iliad II, 145): Horace, too, echoes its fearsome reputation at the very opening of his Odes (I.i.15–6). Once ashore, however, the island itself has a benign humanity: every village is an assemblage of fertile gardens, and its people seem bound by a deep sense of community. Tourism does not disturb here: it exists, but is a small element in a lively economy based primarily on cultivation. The Greeks, and the Ikarians themselves, joke about the island living in its own backwater of time; but the truth is that this very fact has served Ikaría well and made it a more congenial and unaffected island to visit than many. The island has the remains of three ancient settlements, one of which, Drakanon, has a position and ruins which are superb and unforgettable. At the very opposite end of the island, the ancient port and sanctuary of Artemis Tauropolos at Nas is smaller and more intimate, but no less evocative. At the third, Oenoe, which was probably the island's largest settlement in Antiquity, a number of interesting buildings from Late Classical and Byzantine times have survived.
That an island with such plentiful fresh water has been inhabited since early prehistoric times is no surprise. West of Aghios Kirykos, in the area of Glaredo, evidence of extensive Neolithic settlement has been found; and on the slopes to the west of the airport, at a locality known as Propezoúlopi, a number of megaliths and menhirs are still to be seen in situ. From early in its history, it appears the island has had several names: ‘Dolichi' (elongated) and ‘Ichtheoussa' (rich in fish)—both accurate epithets. In fact the modern name ‘Ikaría' is more likely to come from the Phoenician word for fish, ‘ikor', than from the mythical Icarus; the name may then have subsequently suggested itself by assonance as the location for the Icarus legends.
The identity of Icarus in myth is typically variable and shows the superimposition of several stories. Ikaría is frequently cited in ancient literature, but nearly always—other than for the fable of Icarus—for the wildness of its seas, or for its famous Pramnian wine. Strabo's description is of an island with a virtually harbourless coast (Geog. XIV.1.19), and an interior mostly uninhabited except for a seasonal exploitation of its pasturage by the inhabitants of Samos (Geog, X.5.13). Two small Classical cities, Oenoe and Therma, were sufficiently established, however, to need to pay tribute separately to the Delian League. Therma's importance seems to have been superseded by the Hellenistic foundation of Drakanon, at the island's strategic eastern tip. Both Therma and Oenoe (whose importance must have been increased by the presence of the Sanctuary of Artemis Tauropolos in its territory) appear to have been further developed in Roman times, and Oenoe became the seat of the Byzantine governor.
The remains of the late 4th–5th century AD church of the Archangel at Miliopó show that Christianity was well established on the island relatively early. Under Byzantium, the island—now named ‘Nikaria', and frequently used as a place of exile for unwelcome courtiers—was linked (as often before in Antiquity) to the destiny of Samos and Chios, passing together with them under the Genoese rule of the Zaccaria, and subsequently Arangio, families in the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1481 Ikaría was taken by the Knights of Rhodes as their most northerly possession, but fell to the Turks less than 40 years later in 1522. Throughout these uncertain centuries, in which the island was little protected and vulnerable to the predations of pirates, the inhabitants learned literally to disappear from sight into the invisible fastnesses of the mountains of the interior and to manage their own affairs for long periods which became known as the ‘aphaineia'—the ‘disappearances'.
They perfected a kind of semi-asubterranean architecture, incorporating huge granite boulders in situ as the walls or roofs of dwellings, so as to be practically invisible from the sea. In this period, the remote valley of Langada in the southwest of the island became home of an unorthodox and autonomous administration. Although participating in the Independence Revolution of 1821, Ikaría did not go on to become part of the Greek State, and after 1835 fell back under Turkish rule. Finally, in 1912, in an almost bloodless revolution, the inhabitants evicted their Turkish overlords and with characteristic flair established an independent state of Ikaría, with its own constitution, flag (a white cross, centred in a blue background), postage stamps and anthem. Less than four months later it joined the free Greek State.
In the 20th century the island's population was depleted by wholesale emigration to the New World. During the Civil War of 1946–49, and later under the Colonels' Junta, Ikaría became once again a place of exile for political dissidents, who at times even outnumbered the inhabitants of the island. Mikis Theodorakis, the composer and musician, was exiled here in 1947.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icaria
Wikidata ID: Q209576
Trismegistos Geo: 34101
Manto: 9605358

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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