Alburkan — the fire-vent of Sicily

ألبركان أطمة صقلية

The island al-Burkan, Sicily's fire-vent: headless flame-bodies rise by night and fall into the sea as the light white stones used to erase writing; it holds Porphyry's tomb. Atma is a spring of fire rising from the earth 1.

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al-Andalus & Europe
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Overview

al-Mas'udi describes the island known as al-Burkan as "the Atma", that is, the spring of fire that gushes from the earth. 1

He reports that bodies of fire come out of it like the bodies of people without heads, rising into the air at night and then falling into the sea and floating on the water. These are the light white stones with which writing is erased from notebooks. In it is the grave of Porphyry, the author of the Isagoge. 1

Sources

  1. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi, p. 357-358
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Alburkan — the fire-vent of Sicily”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/place/alburkan/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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