Icaria or Ikaria (), also known as Icarium or Ikarion (Ἰκάριον), was a
deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...
of
ancient Attica
The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths.
Conceptually, there is no cl ...
on the northeastern slopes of Mount Pentelikon. It holds pride of place due to its prominence in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
as the place where
Icarius In Greek mythology, there were two people named Icarius (; ''Ikários'').
* Icarius, a Spartan prince, son of Perieres.
* Icarius, an Athenian who received Dionysus.Apollodorus, 3.14.7
See also
*Icarus, whose wings failed in flight
Notes
Ref ...
, or Ikarios (Ικάριος) received the god
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
, who taught him the art of making wine. Nearby was
Mount Icarius
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
. In historical times, the most famous inhabitant of Ikarion was Thespis, credited with the creation of tragedy according to ancient Greek tradition. A festival of Dionysos which included tragic plays was held here every winter, the Rural Dionysia (Τα Κατ´ Αγρούς η Μικρά Διονυσία). During excavations by the American School of Classical Studies in 1888-89, many inscriptions and sculptures in Pentelic marble were found here which referred to the winners in the dramatic contests of the Rural Dionysia.
The site of Icaria is located near modern
Dionysos, Greece
Dionysos () is a northern suburb of the Athens agglomeration and a municipality in northeastern Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Agios Stefanos.
Geography
Dionysos is situated on the northeastern slopes of the forested ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
Populated places in ancient Attica
Former populated places in Greece
Demoi
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