Arcadia

Arcadia (Greek Αρκαδια) is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus that was named after Arcas and home, for a time, to Pan. According to Virgil, it was a land of pastoral simplicity.

The name has been used for any idyllic location or paradise; unlike utopia, it does not carry the connotation of a humanly designed civilization.

See also Golden Age, millennialism, Et in Arcadia Ego[?].

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A region of Nova Scotia was known for some time as Acadia; its discoverer, Giovanni da Verrazano, was so impressed by the natural beauty of the region that he named it 'Archadia', after the Greek Arcadia.

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Tom Stoppard has used the name as the title of a play (see Arcadia (play)). A 1980s pop band was also known as Arcadia.