OPHIO´DES(Ὀφιώδης, Strab. 16. p. 770; Diod. 3.39; Agatharch, ap. Hudson, Geog Graec. Min. p. 54), or Serpent-isle, was an island in the Red Sea, in Foul Bay, nearly opposite the mouth of the harbour of Berenice; lat 24° N. The topazes produced in this island were greatly prized both in the Arabian and Aegyptian markets; and it seems from Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.29. s. 34) to have been by some denominated Topaz-isle (Topazos). The cause of its more usual name is doubtful; but there has always been a tradition in the East that serpents and precious stones are found near one another. The island of Agathon, i. e. the good genius (Ἀγάθωνος νῆσος, Ptol. 4.5.77) was probably the same with Ophiodes, and answers to the present Zamargat. The isle of Karnaka, opposite the headland of Ras-el-Anf, is, indeed, by some geographers supposed to be the true Ophiodes Insula. (Castro, Hist. Gen. des Voyages, vol. 1. p. 205.)
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