Ischia ( ISK-ee-ə, Italian: [ˈiskja], Neapolitan: [ˈiʃkjə]) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Although inhabited since the Bronze Age, as a Greek emporium it was founded in the 8th or 9th century BCE, and known as Πιθηκοῦσαι, Pithekoūsai. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately 10 km (6 miles) east to west and 7 km (4 miles) north to south and has about 34 km (21 miles) of coastline and a surface area of 47 square kilometres (18.1 sq mi). It is almost entirely mountainous; the highest peak is Mount Epomeo, at 788 metres (2,585 feet). Ischia is also the name of the main municipality of the island. The other municipalities of the island are Barano d'Ischia, Casamicciola Terme, Forio, Lacco Ameno and Serrara Fontana. The island is very densely populated, with 61,727 residents as of 2026, corresponding to a population density of 1,326 inhabitants per squared kilometre.
Name
The Greeks called their colony on the island Pithekoussai (Πιθηκοῦσσαι), from which the Latin name Pithecusa was derived. The name has an uncertain etymology. According to Ovid and the Alexandrian historian Xenagoras, the name could derive from pithekos, monkey, and refer to the myth of the Cercopes, inhabitants of the Phlegraean islands transformed by Zeus into monkeys. More plausible is the interpretation of Pliny the Elder, who instead derives the name from the word πιθός (amphora), a theory supported by archaeological finds which testify to the Greek-Italic production of ceramics (and in particular of wine amphorae) on the island and in the Gulf of Naples. It has also been proposed that the name describes a characteristic of the island, rich in pine forests. "πιτυόεις" (rich in pines), "πίτυις" (pine cone), and "πίσσα, πίττα" (resin) appear as descriptive terms from which Pithekoussai could derive. The name, therefore, could mean "island of resin," which was an important substance used, among other things, to waterproof wine vessels. The name Aenaria, also used by the Latins, is linked to metallurgical workshops (from aenus, metal) located on the eastern coast, under the castle. The first evidence of the island's current toponym dates back to the year 812, in a letter from Pope Leo III in which he informs Emperor Charlemagne of devastations that occurred in the area, calling the island Iscla maior: "Ingressi sunt ipsi nefandissimi Mauri [...] in insulam, quae dicitur Iscla maiore, non longe a Neapolitana urbe." Some scholars connect the term to the Phoenician word, and therefore Semitic i-schra, meaning "black island." The Phoenician presence on the island is archaeologically documented from a very ancient era and, as reported by Moscati (an Italian historian), in the spread in Campania and southern Etruria, since the 8th century BC, of objects of Egyptian production or inspiration, "the Phoenician merchants settled in Ischia and then frequented the Tyrrhenian coasts" certainly played a part. On the other hand, the modern "Island of Ischia" could derive from the Latin "insula visca" – compare the Greek noun (ϝ)ἰξός, (w)ixós, (mistletoe) and the adjective (ϝ)ἰξώδης, (w)ixṓdēs, (viscous, sticky), which as usual have lost the initial digamma. In favor of this theory could be the fact that in the same area, at the foot of Vesuvius covered with pines, the popular name of Herculaneum was "Resìna," perhaps reminiscent of an ancient market for this product, similarly to the toponym "Pizzo" in Calabria, from where the best resin, the "pece brettia" obtained from the pines of the nearby Sila, came from. Virgil poetically referred to it as Inarime. This name may derive from the land of Ἀρίμη, which was referenced in the Iliad as the land where Typhon was buried. Martianus Capella followed Virgil in this allusive name, which was never in common circulation: the Romans called it Aenaria, the Greeks, Πιθηκοῦσαι, Pithekoūsai. (In)arime and Pithekousai both appear to derive from words for "monkey" (Etruscan arimos, Ancient Greek πίθηκος, píthēkos, "monkey"). However, Pliny derives the Greek name from the local clay deposits, not from píthēkos; he explains the Latin name Aenaria as connected to a landing by Aeneas. If the island actually was, like Gibraltar, home to a population of monkeys, they were already extinct by historical times as no record of them is mentioned in ancient sources.
History
Ancient times An acropolis site of the Monte Vico area was inhabited from the Bronze Age, as Mycenaean and Iron Age pottery findings attest. Euboean Greeks from Eretria and Chalcis arrived in the 8th century BC to establish an emporium for trade with the Etruscans of the mainland. This settlement was home to a mixed population of Greeks, Etruscans, and Phoenicians. Because of its fine harbor and the safety from raids afforded by the sea, the settlement of Pithecusae became successful through trade in iron and with mainland Italy; in 700 BC Pithecusae was home to 5,000–10,000 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 the most important testimonies to the early Greek alphabet, from which the Latin alphabet descended via the Etruscan alphabet. According to certain scholars the inscription also might 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.
From 1st century AD to 16th century
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