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Ikaria, also spelled Icaria (; ), is a Greece island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos.
Administratively, Ikaria forms a separate municipality within the Ikaria regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Agios Kirykos. The historic capitals of the island include Oenoe and Evdilos.
According to tradition, it derives its name from Icarus, the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology, who was believed to have fallen into the sea nearby and to have been buried on the island.Ovidius Naso Publius9780198144403 ISBN 9780198144403
Ikaria has a tradition of producing strong red wine. Many parts of the island, especially the ravines, are covered in shrubbery. Aside from domestic and domesticated species such as , there are a number of small wild animals to be found, such as , , , and green toads. Ikaria exhibits a typical Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa).
Coins of the city represented Artemis and a bull.Barclay V. Head, Historia numorum: a manual of Greek numismatics vol. 2, no. 602, with legend ΟΙ or ΟΙΝΑΙΩΝ, noted by Croon 1961:note 4. There was another, smaller temenos that was sacred to Artemis Tauropolos,for the aspect of Artemis that was associated with the Tauri, a people living near the Black Sea in the Crimea, see the article Brauron; that connection underlies the Iphigenia in Aulis of Euripides at Nas, on the northwest coast of the island.Two sites are distinguished in J. H. Croon, "Hot Springs and Healing: A Preliminary Answer" Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, 14.2 (1961:140–141).
The sea around Ikaria had a fearsome reputation among the Ancients. Homer likened its changeability to a crowd stirred by demagogy: "the gathering was stirred like the long sea-waves of the Ikarian main, which the East Wind or the South Wind has raised, rushing upon them from the clouds of father Zeus" (Iliad II, 145), and Horace, too, in the opening of his Odes associates "the African winds as they fight the Ikarian waves" with shattered ships (Odes I.i.15–6). The island itself had two associative descriptive epithets: ‘Dolichi' (elongated) and ‘Ichtheoussa' (rich in fish). The name may originally have come from the Phoenician word for fish, ‘ikor', rather than from associations with the mythical Icarus, whose fall was likely associated with the ancient deme of Icaria or Icarion in Attica.P. 44, Peter Green (2004). From Ikaria to the stars. Austin.
In the later Fabulae ("stories") of Hyginus the Greek versions of myth associated with Melanippe (otherwise Arne) and her sons Boeotus and Aeolus by Poseidon are amended to relate the story of Theano (otherwise Autolyte), wife of Metapontus, a king of Ikaria. Metapontus demanded that she bear him children, or leave the kingdom. She presented the exposed twin sons of Melanippe by Neptune to her husband, as if they were her own. Later Theano bore him two sons of her own and, wishing to leave the kingdom to her own children, sent them to kill Melanippe's while out hunting. In the fight that ensued, her two sons were killed, and she committed suicide upon hearing the news.Hyginus, Fabulae 186 Metapontus later married Melanippe and her two sons founded towns in Propontis called by their names — Boeotia and Aeolia.
The temple stood in good repair until the middle of the 19th century when the marble was pillaged, for their local church, by the Kato Raches villagers. In 1939, this church was excavated by the Greek archeologist Leon Politis. During the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, many of the artifacts that were unearthed by Politis disappeared. Local tales state that the Germans and Italians stole the artifacts. According to local legend, marble artefacts from the temple still lie under the sand of the Nas beach where the temple stood.
In The Anabasis of Alexander, the second-century Greek historian Arrian recorded Aristobulus as saying that Alexander the Great had ordered that Failaka Island in the Persian Gulf should be called Icarus, after Ikaria in the Aegean Sea.
At the same time the Ikarians rarely built their houses in the form prevalent today. Each house was low, had a single room, a roof of stone slabs, and was distant from neighbouring ones. It had a single low door and the sea-facing side was protected with tall walls, while there was an opening on the roof (locally called the Anefantis). Because a chimney with smoke could betray the house's location, it was often sealed. Smoke was poured through the roof slabs without being visible, while simultaneously clearing the wooden roof supports of insects. Rooms featured the bare necessities, such as a grinding stone and a cauldron. Traditionally, people would sleep on the floor and hide their belongings in the walls. Men and women wore almost the same clothing: sewn woollen skirts for women, a type of fustanella for the men. Later on the vest came to be worn by men and women. This frugal way of living contributed to the famed Ikarian longevity and the absence of distinct social classes. Each house was self-sufficient, using the living space around it for the cultivation of the necessary things, women contributed in work and social life. Villages were slowly created by descendants of an original family which gradually spread. Despite the sparse population, societal integrity was large. There were the panigiria (traditional festivals featuring dances, music and consumption of local products), team labor and elder councils who would take the decisions. This unique way of life and architecture was preserved until the end of the 19th century, with many elements surviving until today.
The Ikarians lynched the first Turkish tax collector but managed to escape punishment. The oral story in regards to the event talks of an Ottoman Aga, who demanded two locals to carry him on their shoulders atop a seat. The carriers, unable to accept the forcefulness, threw him off a cliff in the Kako Katavasidi area. The Turkish authorities rounded up the population and demanded to know who the perpetrator was, but the answer they received according to legend was "all of us, milord". The Turks realistically determined that there was neither profit nor honour in punishing all.Georgirenes 1677:
The Ottoman Turks imposed a very loose administration, not sending any officials to Ikaria for several centuries, although in later years they would appoint groups of locals in each village of the island to act as Kodjabashis in order to collect taxes for the empire. The best account that we have of the island during the early years of the Ottoman rule is from the Archbishop J. Georgirenes, who in 1677 described the island as having almost 1,000 hardy, long-lived inhabitants, who were the poorest people in the Aegean. Joseph Georgirenes, A Description of the Present State of Samos, Nikaria, Patmos, and Mount Athos (London 1677) pp 54–70; Georgirenes is the source for the summary of traditional culture that follows.
Without a decent port —the local population destroyed the island's ports long ago to protect themselves from pirate raids— Ikaria depended for its very limited trade with the outside world upon small craft that were drawn up on the beaches. Ikarian boat-makers had a good reputation for building boats from the island's fir forests. Then they sold boats and lumber for coin and grain in nearby Chios. The inshore waters of the island, as told by Georgirenes, provided the best cockle shellfish in the archipelago. Over the centuries, Ikaria would also become renowned for its charcoal, which became known as Carbon Cariot ( Ikarian Charcoal).
Goats and sheep roamed virtually untended in the rocky landscape. Cheeses were made for consumption in every household. Ikaria in the 17th century was unusual in the archipelago in not producing any wine for export. The people kept barrels of the wine for their own drinking. They also continued to store it in the old-fashioned way prevalent since the Bronze Age, in terracotta Pithos containers sunk to their rims in earth, thus protecting their supplies from both tax collectors and pirates.
Apart from three small towns, none of which exceeded 100 houses,Georgirenes' Cachoria, Steli, famous for its nut trees, and Musara, with its church containing relics of Saint Theoctistes of Lesbos; the Byzantine ruins remained of a larger town than any existing village (Georgirnes 1677:58). and numerous village settlements, each house had a walled orchard and a garden plot. Unlike the closely built towns of Samos, the hardy inhabitants lived separately in fortified unfurnished farmsteads.
In 1827, during the Greek War of Independence, Ikaria broke away from the Ottoman Empire, but was not included in the narrow territory of the original independent Greece, and it was forced to accept Ottoman rule once more a few years later.
George N. Spanos (c. 1872–1912) of Evdilos, killed in a Turkish ambush on 17 July 1912, is honoured as the hero of the Ikarian Revolution. His bust, depicting him defiantly, with bandoliers on his body and rifle in hand, may be seen at the memorial established in his honour at the site of his death located in the Ikarian town of Chrysostomos. On 18 July 1912, the Free State of Ikaria (Ελευθέρα Πολιτεία Ικαρίας, Elefthéra Politía Ikarías) was declared. The neighboring islands of Fournoi Korseon were also liberated and became part of the Free State. Ioannis Malachias (Ιωάννης Μαλαχίας) was the first and only president of the Free State of Ikaria.
For five months, it remained an independent country, with its own government, armed forces, national flag, coat of arms, postage stamps, and national anthem. These five months were difficult for the island's economy. There were food shortages and they were at risk of becoming part of the Italian Dodecanese. On 4 November 1912, after a delay due to the Balkan Wars, Ikaria officially became part of the Kingdom of Greece. The Ottoman Empire recognized Greece's annexation of Ikaria and the other Aegean islands in the Treaty of London (1913).
In his analysis, Rebels and Radicals: Icaria 1600–2000, historian Anthony J. Papalas (East Carolina University) examines modern Ikaria in the light of such 20th-century questions as poverty, Greek Americans, the nature of the Axis occupation, the rise of Communism, the Greek Civil War, and the rightwing reaction to radical postwar movements.
An Ikarian diaspora is found throughout Greece, specifically on Thimena and Fournoi Korseon, as well as in Athens, where a large community is found. The people of Ikarian diaspora can be found throughout the world, mainly in Australia, the United States, Canada, Egypt and the United Kingdom.Stylianos I. Simakis, ΕΚΑΤΟ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΙΚΑΡΙΑΚΗΣ ΕΞΩΤΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΥΣΗΣ, 1892-1991 ''One-Hundred, Dekalogos, Athens, 2015.
Ikarian Greeks are closely related to other Aegean island Greeks, such as Greeks from Samos, Chios, Fournoi Korseon, and Patmos, as well as Greeks from Anatolia.
Agios Kirykos
Evdilos
Raches
Archeological Museum of Agios Kirykos Housed in the former lycee of Agios Kirykos, which was built by immigrant Ikarians living in America, the recently renovated neoclassical building dating to 1925 is the home of Ikaria's Archeological Museum . This listed building will house all of Ikaria's most relevant finds and highlight the history and culture of the island in the facilities of a modern museum and research/conservation center.
Complete with multimedia displays and films dedicated to the Myth of Ikaros and the ancient citadel of Drakano, the museum presents Ikaria's archeological findings and relates to the visitor an understanding of the cultural, commercial and social development of the settlements of ancient Ikaria throughout the course of the island's history.
Folk & Historical Museum Of Agios Kirykos Located in Agios Kirykos, The Folk & History Museum of Agios Kirykos in Ikaria was launched in July 2010, and is the result of the long efforts by Professor Themistocles Katsaros. Its mission is to preserve and promote Ikarian folklore, traditions and customs through its display of over 1,500 objects that reflect the history and heritage of Ikaria and its inhabitants. The museum exhibits items of cultural importance from the island, including dresses, textiles, household articles, pottery, agriculture and trade tools & instruments, photos, documents and many other objects.
Of particular interest amongst the items displayed in the museum is the flag of the Free State of Ikaria (1912). Some of the exhibits have been organised thematically and chronologically, so that objects and images give visitors an idea of social and economic life in Ikaria from the 18th century to the 1970s, when traditional life still continued in the region.
Folklore Museum Of Vrakades The Folklore Museum of Vrakades is located in the scenic village of Vrakades, 650 meters above sea level on the north-western side of the island. The village was founded in the 17th century and contains old stone houses and captains' villas of architectural note. The museum houses an interesting collection of items related to the history and people of the region. Of particular interest are documents and memorabilia from the Free State of Ikaria.
Other exhibits include various clay and wooden objects used by housewives, beekeepers, and farmers, ecclesiastical relics from Profit Elias in Vrakades and the convent of Evagelistrias Mavrianou, books by Ikarian writers, Ikarian records and documents over 500 years old. Of note is the cutter, "lanari" in Greek, used for the processing of wool and goat hairs from which the modest local clothing was made, the "lisgos", a simple tool used for making ropes, an old digging tool, and many other tools belonging to the first inhabitants of the island.
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