Karpathos
An island in the S Aegean. According to Diodorus (5.54.4) it was a Minoan domain, later colonized by the Argives. We know the names of three cities from the Classical age: Karpathos, Arkaseia, and Brikous; and the locality of the Eteokarpathioi. The cities paid tribute to the Delio-Attic League, and at the end of the 5th c. B.C. came under Rhodian domination. Potidaion, the port of Karpathos, is identified with modern Pighadia on the SE coast, where tombs have been found containing Minoan (MM IIIB and LM IA) and Mycenaean (LH IIIA-B) ceramics. The site of Karpathos is uncertain; at Arkaseia, on the SW coast, the Cyclopean walls of the acropolis are visible, and at Brykous, on the NW coast, sections of the enclosing walls of the 4th-3d c. B.C.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. M. Dawkins, “Notes from Karpathos,” BSA 9 (1902-3) 176ff; L. Bürchner, RE X, 2 (1919) 2000-4; R. Hope Simpson & J. F. Lazenby, “Notes from the Dodecanese,” BSA 57 (1962) 154ffMPI; id., BSA 65 (1970) 68-69; G. Susini, “Supplemento epigrafico di Caso, Scarpanto ecc.,” ASAtene 41-42 (1963-64) 225ffMI; S. Benton & H. Waterhouse, “Excavations in Ithaca: Tris Langadas,” BSA 68 (1973) 1ffPI.
M. G. PICOZZI- Hdt. 3.45