HISTORY OF SOCOTRA
Socotra has a very rich and unique history. According to the legend of the island, Aristotle advised Alexander the Great to send a colony of Greeks from the philosopher’s home town to Socotra in the 4th century BC. The goal of the expedition was to take advantage of the abundance of aloe and other plants that grew freely on the island.
Indians had occupied the island before the Greeks arrived and had named it Dvipa Sukhadra – Sanskrit for the Island of Bliss. When the Greeks landed on Socotra, they dismantled the Indian colony and started their own reign of the island. The island’s newest inhabitants adapted the old Sanskrit name to Greek language as Dioscorida. From this Sanskrit appellation as well ,the island’s modern name ,Socotra, was derived.
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There are several other theories accounting for the origin of Socotra’s name. On commonly put forward hypothesis is that the name reflected the business of the island- in addition the island was known for exporting the sap of the dragoon’s tree, incense and herbs .According to the Arabian geographer Yaqut Al-Hamawi, Socotra known locally as Souk means market, Qatira means Drop, combined the two words till formed, Socotra.
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Greek colony formation on Socotra
Greeks may have influenced the indigenous and Indian populations on the island with their history of democracy. By the 1st century BC, Socotra had developed a reputation as a shining utopia. At that time Diodorus of Sicily described Socotra as a thriving democracy and religious society whose warlike people elected its president annually and rode about the island on chariots. Perhaps this is what Aristotle had in mind when picking out the families to form a colony on the island.
In Books VII and VIII of his politics, Aristotle discusses the condition of the ideal or perfect state. He envisions a type of electorate – with a populated by a class of warriors. Maybe the island of Socotra provided the perfect arena for experimentation in democracy. In any event, Diodorus provides an interesting description of the island that is a bit absurd at that time. His account must be treated cautiously- he had never visited the island and he was copying largely from previous geographers who had not visited it either. Diodorus describes Socotra (using its Egyptian name of Panchaea) as an island on which is built a massive temple dedicated to Saturn containing large statues of the gods, and he notes that Abd al-Kuri was a holy island in which the inhabitants refused to bury their dead.
Futher, Diodorus notes that Socotra is rich in frankincense and myrrh, filled with an abundant and great variety of wildlife – although his account includes a large number of elephants. Elephants were not the only unlikely creature claimed to make their home on Socotra. The perilous of the Erythraean sea notes the presence of crocodiles, large lizards, and white tortoises. More imaginative, the stories of Sindbad note the presence of Roc, a large mythological bird often described as being large enough to carry an elephant. Perhaps that’s where all of Diodorus animals went!
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