Jotabe

JOTABE (Ἰωτάβη), an island in the Erythraean Sea, not less than 1000 stadia from the city of AELANA inhabited by Jews who, formerly independent, accepted the yoke of the Empire during the reign of Justinian (Procop. B. P. 1.19). It is now called Tiran, or Djeziret Tyran of Burkhardt (Trav. p. 531), the island at the entrance of the Gulf of Akabah. (Comp. Journ. of Geog. Soc. vol. vi. pp. 54, 55.) The modern name recalls the Gens Tyrao f Pliny (Plin. Nat. 6.33), placed by him in the interior of the Arabian gulf. (Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. xiii. pp. 223--225, vol. xiv. pp. 19, 262.)