The Island of Capri. The island’s name is the subject of any number of conflicting theories; the most consistent is that it is derived from capreae (a Roman-Italic word meaning island of goats). It has been inhabited since prehistory – first by Neolithic tribes, later by the Greeks of Cumae and Neapolis (Naples). Virgil associated the place with the Teleboans, a legendary race of Greek pirates. For centuries it was more a strategic outpost than a settled community. It was not until 29 BC that Capri was touched by mainstream history, when Octavian – soon to become the Emperor Augustus – first landed on the island. So charmed was he by its beauty that he persuaded the Greeks of Neapolis to take back the already Romanised and much larger island of Ischia and give him Capri instead, for use as a private estate. Though he never lived here, Augustus set about building villas and water cisterns, and seems to have taken an active interest in the island’s culture and traditions.
