St. John's Island, Egypt

The St. John's Island ( Zabargad, Zebirget ) in the Red Sea near Berenike was already known in ancient times. The Arabic name is derived from the word for Peridot. It belongs to Egypt.

Identification

Murray wants to equate the island with the "Island of Agathon " ( Agathon Insula ) of Ptolemy. The coordinates are: 23 ° 36'N, 36 ° 12'O

Antiquity

Pliny (HN VI, 29 (34, 169) knows an island called Topazos who gave the gemstone its name. According to Juba it is 300 stadia (35 nautical miles) are from the mainland and its often hidden by fog. Your name loud troglodyte on Topaxin and means " search" (ibid., 38, 8). He also mentions an island called Cytis / Citi as the source of topaz. It was discovered by wayward course troglodytic sailors. however, this island was in the Bab al - Mandab. Pliny describes an island in the Red Sea as a source of green topaz, probably here is a confusion with the peridot of Zagarbad ago.

In the Periplus Maris Erythraei (40-70 AD) is an island across from Berenike mentioned as a source of Peridotum ( olivine ), which was in the India trade of importance.

Strabo (XVI, 4, 6 ) mentions in the bay across from Berenike and Ras Benas a Snake Island ( Ophiodes ). It was so called because many snakes lived, but these were sold by the king, because they had killed sailors, and because of the topazes that are found on this island. The same story is found in Diodorus Siculus (III, 39), so well called the Hellenistic ruler as a distributor of the snakes, the " kings in Alexandria". Since the island was never connected to the mainland, but consists of ridged plutonic rock, the lack of snakes is quite credible.

Wainwright believes that even the ancient Egyptian Tale of the shipwrecked sailor on Zabargad relates.

Peridot

The precious olivine embedded on Zabargad in peridotites that emerged in great depth, but then quickly came to the surface.

Peridot is since the 18th Dynasty evidenced by discoveries in Egypt. The Peridot mines were exhausted, according to Arab authors in the mid-13th century, and they were still broke in 1829. The Khedive wrote about their exploitation a French consortium that they jacking in greater depth.

Other raw materials

Realgar, a yellow dye for arsenic - based ( sandaraca ) comes, according to Pliny (35, 39) also of Topazos.

The uninhabited island is also important as a bird breeding ground and was declared a part of the Gebel Elba - National Park. However, it suffers more and - above and below water - through tourism.