Oracla

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Oracla () was an Island mentioned by Pliny.

Variants

• Oracla (Pliny.vi.26)
• Kishon
• Kishon River

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Ora = Oracla (Pliny.vi.26)

Kishon River

The Kishon River (Hebrew: נחל הקישון, Nachal HaKishon; Arabic: نهر المقطع, Nahr el-Mokatta, or Mukutta', – the river of slaughter or dismemberment; alternative Arabic, الكيشون al-Qisun) is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Haifa.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Voyages to India.....They (The fleet of Alexander commanded by Oncsicritus sailed from India into the heart of Persia) next came to the Promontory of Carmania¹² from which the distance across to the opposite coast, where the Macæ, a nation of Arabia, dwell, is fifty miles; and then to three islands, of which that of Oracla¹³ is alone inhabited, being the only one supplied with fresh water; it is distant from the mainland twenty-five miles; quite in the Gulf, and facing Persia, there are four other islands. About these islands sea-serpents¹⁴ were seen swimming towards them, twenty cubits in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm.

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12 Called the Promontory of Harmozon by Strabo. Hardouin says that the modern name is Cape Jash, but recent writers suggest that it is represented by the modern Cape Bombaruk, nearly opposite Cape Mussendom.

13 Perhaps the modern Kishon, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf; or that may be one of the four islands next mentioned.

14 The story of Pontoppidan's Kraken or Korven, the serpent of the Norwegian Seas, is as old as Pliny, we find, and he derived his information from older works.