Icosium

Icosium was first a Phoenician, then a Roman city and bishopric (now a Latin titular see), whose site is now occupied by the casbah area of the modern city of Algiers.

History

According to Greek myth, Icosium was founded by 20 companions of Hercules, the Greek name, Ικοσιον, being claimed to derive from εικοσι, the Greek word for twenty.

In fact, however, the settlement was occupied by Punic settlers from at least as early as the 3rd century BC. They called it Yksm, which is believed to have meant "owl's island", and which was eventually transcribed as Icosium in Latin. The original Punic name is reflected in the modern Arabic name for Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر‎, pronounced Al Jaza'ir), which means "the islands" .

Icosium remained a small trading post in the Phoenician and Carthaginian periods. In 146 BC, Icosium became part of the Roman Empire. The city was given Latin rights by Roman emperor Vespasian.

The bishops of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century. It remained part of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AD, when it was conquered by Vandals.

Icosium (genus)

Icosium tomentosum is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae, the only species in the genus Icosium.

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