250px, Map of the Aegean Sea. Icarian Sea is shown at its right. The Icarian Sea (, ''Ikario Pelagos'') is a subdivision of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

that lies between the

Cyclades The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...

and

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. It is described as the part of the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

to the south of

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

, to the east of the Eastern

and west of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. It contains the islands of

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

, Cos,

Patmos Patmos (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where, according to Christian belief, John of Patmos received the vision found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. ...

Leros Leros (), also called Lero (from the Italian language), is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by a nine-hour ferry ride or by a 45-min ...

Fournoi Korseon Fournoi Korseon (), more commonly simplified as Fournoi (), anciently known as Corsiae or Korsiai (), Corseae or Korseai (Κορσεαί), Corsia or Korsia (Κορσία), and Corassiae (Κορασσίαι), form a complex or archipelago of sm ...

and

Icaria Ikaria, also spelled Icaria (; ), is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. Administratively, Ikaria forms a separate municipality within the Ikaria regional unit, which is part of the North Ae ...

. It is the place, in the myth, into which

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

made his fatal fall from the sky when he flew too close to the sun during his flight from

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

with his father

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

. It is either directly from this legend that it gets its name, or from the island of

. According to legend, it was

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

the sun god who named the sea 'Icarian' after the fallen hero.

Classical references

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

makes a reference to ''Icarian waves'' in Liber I, Carmen I, line 15 ("Ad Maecenatem"); the first stanza of his Ode 4.2 also alludes to the Icarian Sea.Horace'
Ode 4.2

Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari,
Iulle, ceratis ope Daedalea
nititur pennis vitreo daturus
nomina ponto.
hoever is eager to rival Pindar, Iullus, is flying with wings waxed with Daedalus' aid, about to give his name to a glassy sea.">Pindar.html" ;"title="hoever is eager to rival Pindar">hoever is eager to rival Pindar, Iullus, is flying with wings waxed with Daedalus' aid, about to give his name to a glassy sea./ref> *Strabo states that it connects with the Carpathian Sea on the south, and on the West with the Sea of Crete, Cretan Sea. *The second epic simile of the Iliad (II.144-146) of Homer relates the Greek force to great waves on the Icarian sea. *Herodotus mentions Icarian Sea in The Histories VI:95 in reference to Persian troop movements.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 37, 30, N, 26, 20, E, scale:1200000_source:GNS, display=title Marginal seas of the Mediterranean Aegean Sea Seas of Greece Landforms of Samos Landforms of the North Aegean Landforms of Kos (regional unit) Landforms of the South Aegean Landforms of Kalymnos (regional unit) Landforms of Ikaria (regional unit)