Ischia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the comune, see Ischia (comune). For the part of the human hip, see Ischium
 Views of Ischia from Procida |
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Tyrrhenian Sea |
| Area | 46.3 km² (18 sq. miles) |
| Highest point | Mount Epomeo (788 m) |
| Country | |
 Italy |
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| Region | Campania |
| Province | Naples |
| Largest city | Ischia (18,253) |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 60,335 (as of 2007) |
| Density | 1,295.8/sq mi (687/km²) people/km² |
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples. The roughly trapezoidal island lies c. 30 km from Naples and measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south with a 34 km coastline and a surface area of 46.3 km². It is almost entirely mountainous, with the highest peak being volcanic Mount Epomeo at 788 meters: the volcano was active in Classical times [1]. The island has a population of over 60,000 people.
Ischia Porto is the name of the main comune of the island. Other community areas include Barano d'Ischia, Casamicciola Terme, Forio, Lacco Ameno and Serrara Fontana.
The main industry is tourism, centering on thermal spas that cater mostly to European (especially German) and Asian tourists eager to enjoy the fruits of the island's natural volcanic activity, its thermal hot springs, and its volcanic mud. For many of the inhabitants on the Italian-speaking island, German and English are second languages. This is because of the large number of German- and English-speaking tourists who visit the island each year.
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[edit] Name
Virgil poetically referred to it as Inarime and still later as Arime[2] Martianus Capella followed Virgil in this allusive name, which was never in common circulation: the Romans called it Aenaria, the Greeks, Pithekoussai [3]. "Pliny rightly derives the Greek name from the local ceramic clay deposits, not from pithekos (ape); he explains the Latin name as connected with Aeneas' beach-head" (Princeton Encyclopedia) The current name appears for the first time in a letter from Pope Leo III to Charlemagne in 813 (iscla from insula) though there is an argument made for a Semitic origin in I-schra, "black island".
[edit] History
[edit] Ancient times
An acropolis site of the Monte Vico area was inhabited from the Bronze Age, as Mycenaean and Iron Age pottery finds attest. Euboean Greeks from Eretria and Chalkis arrived in the 8th century BC to establish an emporium for trade with the Etruscans of the mainland. This settlement was home not only to Greeks, but a mixed population of Greek, Etruscan and Phoenician inhabitants. Because of its fine harbor, the settlement of Pithecusae became successful through trade in iron and with mainland Italy; at its peak, Pithecusae was home to about 10,000 people.
The ceramic Euboean artifact inscribed with a reference to "Nestor's cup" was discovered in a grave on the island in 1953. Engraved upon the cup are a few lines written in the Greek alphabet. Dating from c. 730 BC, it is one of our most important testimonies to the early Greek alphabet, from which our own Latin alphabet descends via the Etruscan alphabet. The inscription also seems to be the oldest written reference to the Iliad."
In 474 BC, Hiero I of Syracuse came to the aid of the Cumaeans, who lived on the mainland opposite Ischia, against the Etruscans and defeated them on the sea. He occupied Ischia and the surrounding Parthenopean islands and left behind a garrison to build a fortress before the city of Ischia itself. This was still extant in the Middle Ages, but the original garrison fled before the eruptions of 470 BC and the island was taken over by Neapolitans. The Romans seized Ischia (and Naples) in 322 BC.
[edit] Christian era until the 16th century
In 6 AD, Augustus restored the island to Naples in exchange for Capri. Ischia suffered from the barbarian invasions, being taken first by the Heruli then by the Ostrogoths, being ultimately absorbed into the Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantines gave the island over to Naples in 588 and by 661 it was being administered by a Count liege to the Duke of Naples. The area was devastated by the Saracens in 813 and 847; in 1004 it was occupied by Henry II of Germany; the Norman Roger II of Sicily took it in 1130