MARMARA ISLAND
It is 47 nautical miles from West Istanbul Marina
Marmara Island is a largest Turkish island in the Sea of Marmara.
The first name of the island is Elafonisos, which means “Island of Deer” in Greek. In the end of VI century BC island is named “Prokonnesos”. Later in Byzantine this island will be called “Proikonnisos”. At the beginning of the 13th century, in Greek, the name of the island means marble and because of the presence of a marble quarry, the island start to call as a Marmara. The Marmara Island is famous for antique marble quarries, which is located around the town of Saraylar in the north of the island, it is seen that ancient antiquity has been removed as marble raw material from ancient times. For many centuries until 844 AD, as a colony of Prokennesos Miletos, the island gained immense popularity because of its marble. Marble Prokonnesos in the 4th century AD used for marble columns in the famous temple of Artemis in Ephesus and in the mausoleum of Hlikarnessosos. Marble Prokonnesos also plays an important role in satisfying the needs of the Roman emperor marble.
