Island
Insula Cyprusa
Kisch · Kîš · Qais
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An island sacred to Hermes and to Aphrodite, whom the Babylonians worshipped as Ishtar, probably lies behind Insula Cyprusa in the Persian Gulf, today the island of Kish off the coast of Iran. A list of places compiled in Ravenna names it Ciprusa and sets beside it a second island, Cataga. Scholars hold that both are one and the same, the Kataie that Alexander's admiral Nearchus described as holy to these two gods. Part of the name has faded, older copies read it in full, and it might also be read Coprusa.