PITHEKOUSSAI

Ischia was the first Greek colony in all of Europe.

Pliny the Elder claims that Pithekoussai was named for its numerous pithoi (large terracotta amphoras) which were more common there than in neighboring Iron Age sites.  

Others insist that the word was derived by the Greek pithekos meaning ape or monkey. 
Still others surmise that its name may come instead from the Greek word pithekizo which meant ‘to monkey around’ and may have been a term used derisively by mainlanders to refer to the speculative and profiteering Greeks.