Panchaia (alsoPanchaea/ˌpæŋˈkeɪə/Greek:Παγχαία) is anisland, first mentioned byancient Greek philosopherEuhemerus in the late 4th century BC. Euhemerus describes this place as home to autopian society made up of a number of different ethnic tribes having a collective economy and his trip there in his major workSacred History, only fragments of which survive.

Fragments preserved by followers such as the later Greek historianDiodorus Siculus and 4th century AD Christian writerEusebius of Caesarea describe Panchaia as arational island paradise located in theIndian Ocean. Euhemerus went there by traveling through theRed Sea and around theArabian Peninsula; in the island's temple of Zeus Triphylius he discovered a register of the births and deaths of the gods, proving they were merely historical figures. The island is also mentioned byLygdamus (Tib. 3.2.23), one of theTibullan elegists, as a rich place from which he will hope for gifts to his grave.^[1] Virgil called the Island "incense bearing, rich with sands" ("totaque turiferis Panchaia pinguis harenis"Georgics 2.139).

Possible locations includeSocotra andBahrain.

• Brown, Truesdell S. (1946). "Euhemerus and the Historians".Harvard Theological Review.39 (4):259–274.doi:10.1017/S0017816000023245.
• Pinheiro, Marilia P. Futre (2006)."Utopia and Utopias: a Study on a Literary Genre in Antiquity"(PDF).Authors, Authority and Interpreters in the Ancient Novel. Groningen: Barkhuis. pp. 147–171.ISBN 907792213X.
• Winiarczyk, Marek (2013). "The sources of the socio-economic description".The "Sacred History" of Euhemerus of Messene. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. p. 85.ISBN 978-3-11-027888-0.

• Places in Greek mythology
• Mythological islands
• Mythical utopias

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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text