Ikaria has an area of 267 square kilometres, and is located 144 nautical miles from the port of Piraeus. Its name is connected to the myth of Ikaros, the first man to fly, wearing a pair of wings made out of wax, and who drowned in the sea around the island, which was named after him. It has also been known as: Makris or Dolichi (because of its shape), Ichthioessa and Anemoessa, while its residents refer to it as Nikaria. Ikaria’s climate is considered generally mild, and its landscape is composed of diverse features, with dramatic natural relief, as it consists of both areas of thick vegetation, and bare, steep cliff sides. Its terrain is mostly alpine, and the island is covered, in the most part, by the Atheras mountain range (mount Drakanon or Pramnos), whose highest peak measures 1,037 metres (in the east). On the western part of the island, the highest peak reaches 957 metres. Its subsoil consists mostly of granite, slate and marble. Because of this terrain, cultivable land is limited, and found mainly on the north side of the island, in the plains of Kambos and Faros. Ever since antiquity, and in order to cope with the island’s difficult morphological conditions, the residents of Ikaria have used terrace cultivation techniques (stone terraces), for soil and water conservation.