2211: Mythical Explanations behind the Ionian Sea Jan 3, 2021

Ionia is an ancient region of Greek people, and some might assume that the Ionian Sea is connected to this in some way, but this is not necessarily true. The etymology for the name of the sea is actually unclear, especially since the region of Ionia was in modern day Turkey (Anatolia specifically) and other islands in the Aegean Sea, on the opposite side of Greek to the Ionian Sea. Even ancient historians and writers including Aeschylus were unsure about this, and gave mythical explanations including the idea that the mythical figure Io swam across it, or that the Ionians themselves had originally migrated from there, though this is unclear. Another mythical idea is that it is named for Ionius, whose father also has a mythical etymology associated with him (i.e. Adrias and the Adriatic Sea) but this is also not considered true.