Ikaria
On the N side of Mt. Pendeli, in a valley between it and the peak Stamatovouni farther N, lies the village of Dionyso, just E of which are the remains of the public center of the deme of Ikaria (or Ikarion), the reputed home of both drama and Thespis (Ath. 2.40 and Suidas, s.v. Θέσπις), the identification made certain by the discovery of several deme decrees.
The excavated area is small, and most of the remains are tenuous. But one can make out an open area, the agora, with public buildings—one a pythion—and monuments grouped about. To the S of the agora is a small theater, its rectangular orchestra limited on one side by five stone prohedriai and bases for stelai, and on the other by a terrace. These austere arrangements may belong to the 4th c. B.C., or possibly earlier because an inscription of the 5th c. B.C. (IG 12186-87) attests the existence at that time in Ikaria of organized festivals. Further associations with Dionysos can be seen, not only in the name of the village, but in two archaic marble sculptures—a mask and a seated figure of the god, both from the excavated area.
BIBLIOGRAPHYC. D. Buck, “Discoveries in the Attic Deme of Ikaria in 1888,” AJA 4 (1888) 421-26; 5 (1889) 9-33, 154-81, 304-19, 461-77; W. Wrede, “Der Maskengott,” AM 43 (1928) 67-70; O.A.W. Dilke, “Details and Chronology of Greek Theatre Caveas,” BSA 45 (1950) 30-31.
C.W.J. ELIOTThe island is one of the Anatolian Sporades group, W of Samos. According to legend the name of the island derives from the fall of Ikaros, son of Daidalos, who plunged to earth there after his fatal flight. According to Pausanias (9.11.5) his tomb was on the island. Archaeological remains are extensive near the modern village of Kalpos, and have been identified with ancient Oinoe; fragments of inscriptions and funerary reliefs have been reused in the walls. Remains of walls have been discovered on the hill of Ag. Irini, and the remnants of a Byzantine church lie over the foundation of an ancient basilica. Perhaps the ancient city was on the sea, as a necropolis of the 5th and 4th c. B.C. extends S from the coast. At Raches a Greek necropolis of the same date has been discovered. At Nas, on the W coast, there was perhaps a small port. Walls there date from the Classical period, and foundations of two small buildings and one larger one have been discovered. The material found includes fragments of Greek-Oriental ceramics which indicate that the area was frequented from the 7th to 5th c. B.C. Marble pieces, statuettes, and inscriptions on ceramic fragments indicate that they belong to the Sanctuary of Artemis Tauropolos, recorded in the sources.
In the ancient center of Thermai there are remains of bath buildings. Kataphygion, the ancient acropolis, occupied the summit of a mountain, not precisely located, which was called Kastro and which dominated the coast and the sea. Near the modern village of Kataphygion a necropolis has been excavated, containing tombs dating from the beginning of the 5th c. on.
BIBLIOGRAPHYE. Bürcher, RE 9 (1916) c. 973 s.v. n.2; id., ArchAnz 53 (1938) 581; (1939) 284; (1942) 191; G. Becatti & L. Banti, Enciclopedia Italiana, Appendice (1938-48) s.v. Grecia; G. B. Montanan, EAA 4 (1961) s.v. Icaria (G. B. Montanari).
G. BERMOND MONTANARI- Paus. 9.11.5
- body of Icarus washed ashore on: Apollod. 2.6.3
- Dionysus at: Apollod. 3.5.2