Νήσος Failaka ( Ίκαρος ) στο Κουβέιτ

Definition: Failaka is the name of an island, and the large settlement and sanctuary of the south Arabian civilization in what is now Kuwait, during the 1st century AD. Failaka was an island trading stop on the sea route between Mesopotamia and other civilizations on the Arabian Gulf, occupied from about 3000 BC-400 AD. T. Geoffrey Bibby excavated at Failaka in the 1960s while he was seeking the ancient legendary civilization of Dilmun, considered now modern day Bahrain. Dilmun was a powerful trading point between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia during the second millinnium BC, and is thought to have been the place mentioned as the Garden of Eden in the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic.


Greek Excavations on Kuwait's Failaka Isle Reveal Hellenistic Period Findings

Athens.- Archaeological excavations on Failaka Island, located 20 km off the coast of Kuwait City in the extreme western end of the Persian Gulf, have brought to light a series of significant Hellenistic period findings, beginning roughly during the period immediately following the death of Alexander the Great.

Remains of a fort, temple, shrine, and ancient Greek inscriptions have been unearthed, with the discoveries presented during a press conference at the culture ministry in Athens on Tuesday by Greek archaeologists working at the site in cooperation with the Kuwaiti government.
The head of the six-week-old mission, Angeliki Kottaridis, said Greek colonists in the region arrived with Alexander the Great, with their presence on the isle evident for at least two centuries. According to ancient sources, Alexander the Great himself had named the island Icarus, while his Seleucid successors continued to consider the island a strategic asset due to its position at the mouth of today's Shatt al-Arab, formed by the confluence of the Euphates adn Tigis Rivers in southern Mesopotamia.
The island was later named Failaka after the fort built on the island, with one possibility being that it was derived from the Greek word "filakio" for outpost.
The temple and the entire eastern section of the Hellenistic fort were discovered following earlier excavations by Danish, American and French archaeologists. The Greek mission proceeded with the systematic excavation of the western section of the complex, discovering a part of the western wall, a workshop processing stone offerings and a chamber that was part of a Hellenistic era building.
Greek archaeologists also helped in the preservation work done on the noted stele of Icarus ,bearing a large Greek inscription, on display at the Museum of Kuwait, which itself suffered serious damage during the Iraqi invasion.
The archaeological mission was the result of an agreement signed last summer between the Greek culture ministry and the responsible Kuwaiti agency. Interest to renew the bilateral cooperation agreement has been positively met by the Greek ministry.




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Ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον άρθρο έχει δημοσιευθεί στο τεύχος της ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑΣ ΙΚΑΡΙΑΚΩΝ ΜΕΛΕΤΩΝ , Αστική Εταιρεία μη κερδοσκοπικού χαρακτήρα , 9ος - 12ος 2008 , αριθμός φύλλου 6 , Έτος 3ο "Failaka , Νήσος Ίκαρος στον Αραβικό Κόλπο"
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Αρχαίο Ιερό του Πανιωνίου στην Αρχαία Ιωνία

Panionium



-The Panionium (Ancient Greek Πανιώνιον, Paniōnion) was an Ionian sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon Helikonios and the meeting place of the Ionian League. It was on the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Smyrna—now İzmir, in Turkey. Herodotus defines it as follows:
The Panionion is a sacred ground in Mykale, facing north; it was set apart for Poseidon of Helicon by the joint will of the Ionians. Mykale is a western promontory of the mainland opposite Samos; the Ionians used to assemble there from their cities and keep the festival to which they gave the name of Panionia.
The sanctuary was under the control of the Ionian city of Priene, one of the twelve cities comprising the Ionian League.Priene was about 15 kilometres (9 mi) away, on the opposite side of Mt. Mycale. The Prienians managed the sanctuary and presided at the sacrifices and sacred rites.

The Panionium was the site of the Ionian religious festival and games (panegyris) called the Panionia. Under Persian rule, activities at the Panionium were curtailed. Writing at the end of the 5th century BC, Thucydides says that the Ionians were then celebrating their festival at Ephesus.Diodorus writes that the Ionians were forced to move the Panionia from the Panionium to Ephesus, because of war in the surrounding area.Under Alexander the Great the games and festival were again held at the Panionium, and continued to be so under Roman rule, without however, regaining their previous importance.
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Location
The approximate location of the Panionium is given by several ancient writers. For example, Herodotus says it is on "Mycale facing north", and Strabo says it is "after the Samian strait, near Mt. Mycale, as one sails to Ephesus…lying three stadia above the sea". However the exact location of the site was lost.
A potential clue to the Panionium's location was the discovery of an inscription in the area in 1673. Theodor Wiegand discovered a site at the end of the 19th century, and it was excavated in 1958 by Kleiner, Hommel and Müller-Wiener. It is located 17 km south of Kuşadası, near Güzelçamlı, on the north slope of Mt. Mycale, on the top of a low hill called Otomatik Tepe (i. e. 'machine-gun-hill'), overlooking the sea.
Wiegand's site has been for many years identified as the Panionion. It was enclosed by a temenos wall, of which one to three courses can still be seen, with an entrance from the west. In the central area can be seen evidence of a 17.5 m by 4.25 m rectangular stone, presumed to be the altar of Poseidon, dated from the end of the 6th century BC. At the foot of the hill, 50 m southwest of the altar, is a small theatre or odeum. It is 32 m in diameter, a little bit more than semicircular, with 11 rows of seats, cut into solid rock, and is presumed to be the council chamber for the meetings of the Ionian League. It dates from the 4th century BC, when the Ionian League and the Panionia were revived. Between the sanctuary and the council chamber is a large cave, although what if any cult function it may have had is unknown. Ancient sources mention sacrifices,7 but no temple, and none has been found.
However, in 2004, the German archaeologist Hans Lohmann, surveying the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, discovered another archaeological site high in the mountains, a settlement and an archaic temple (about mid 6th century BC) of the Ionic order. In the summer of 2005, the temple was excavated in cooperation with the Museum of Aydın. Lohmann assumes that this site, overlooking most of the Ionian region, has to be identified as the Panionion, if only because it agrees better with the written sources.
References
• Diodorus Siculus; Diodorus Siculus, C. H. Oldfather (translator). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Books XV.20–XVI.65 ISBN 0-674-99428-0
• Herodotus, Histories, A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; ISBN 0-674-99133-8
• Keller, Donald R, Perseus Site Catalog: "Panionium", Ed. Gregory R. Crane, Perseus Digital Library Project. Tufts University.
• Kleiner, Hommel, Müller-Wiener, Panionion und Melie (1967) Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, supp. 23.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece, (Loeb Classical Library) translated by W. H. S. Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918); Vol 2, Books III–V, ISBN 0-674-99207-5; Vol 3, Books VI–VIII.21, ISBN 0-674-99300-4.
• Stillwell, Richard, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites: "Panionion" (Editors: Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald and Marian Holland McAllister) (1976) ISBN 0-691-03542-3
• Strabo, Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924) Vol. 4, Books 8–9 ISBN 0-674-99216-4 and Vol. 6, Books 13–14 ISBN 0-674-99246-6
• Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910.
• University of Bochum, Press release of the 20. Oct. 2004
• Holland, Tom "Persian Fire", (2005) pp 157-171, Abacus Publications, Great Britain
Coordinates: 37°42′14″N 27°19′48″E / 37.703924°N 27.329993°E