Noah's legacy
Ararat in season was the world, they tell us; archives had to stem from there. No east of Eden then, no real escape, no promised land beyond them: only sea and their one mountain. So perhaps it was that islands gained the pure identity that still they represent: to each his own to love this side idolatry, protect against outside incursion, and exult that God from whom all blessings flow has given all islanders an olive branch of heaven.