Login
Login

Homer's Ithaca

{{See also|Ithaca (island)}}

{{Short description|Island home of Greek mythological hero Odysseus}}

{{Undue weight|date=March 2023}}

Image:Homeric Greece-en.svgic Greece. Modern Ithaca can be seen to the west (in turquoise)]]

File:Odysseus3.jpg on Ithaca (Theodoor van Thulden, 1600)]]

Ithaca ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|θ|ə|k|ə}}; {{langx|el|Ιθάκη}}, {{lang|el-latn|Ithakē}}) was, in Greek mythology, the island home of the hero Odysseus. The specific location of the island, as it was described in Homer's Odyssey, is a matter for debate. There have been various theories about its location. Modern Ithaca has traditionally been accepted to be Homer's island.

The central characters of the epic, such as Odysseus, Achilles, Agamemnon and Hector, are traditionally considered fictional figures from folklore, but aspects of the Homeric story may have some basis in actual historical events or people. This, and the extremely detailed geographic descriptions in the epic itself, have invited investigation of the possibility that Homer's heroes might have existed and that the location of the sites described therein might be found.

Heinrich Schliemann believed he tracked down several of the more famous traditions surrounding these heroes. Many locations around the Mediterranean were claimed to have been the heroes' "homes", such as the ruins at Mycenae and the little hill near the western Turkish town of Hissarlik. Schliemann's work and excavations proposed, to a very sceptical world, that Homer's Agamemnon had lived at Mycenae, and that "Troy" itself indeed had existed at Hisarlik. Much work has been done to identify other Homeric sites such as the palace of Nestor at Pylos. These attempts have been the subject of much scholarly research, archaeological work, and controversy.

Some of the first theories on the location of "Homer's 'Ithaca'" were formulated as early as the 2nd century BC. Each approach to identifying a location has been different, varying in degrees of scientific procedure, empirical investigation, informed hypothesis, wishful thinking, fervent belief, and sheer fantasy. Each investigator and each investigation merits interest, as an indicator both of the temper of the times in which a particular theory was developed, and of the perennial interest in Odysseus and the possible facts of his life. Some of the latest "Homer's 'Ithaca'" approaches resemble some of the earliest.

Leading precursors

Theorists, and excavations elsewhere, on the location of "Homer's 'Ithaca'"

  • Eratosthenes (276 BC – 194 BC).
  • Demetrius of Scepsis (near Troy) -- writing mid-2nd century BC (near Troy) -- source used by Strabo (below).
  • {{cite book |first=R. |last=Pfeiffer |year=1968 |title=History of Classical Scholarship: From the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |pages=249–51}}. See Bittlestone/Diggle/Underhill (below): James Diggle at p. 508.
  • Apollodorus of Athens (born c. 180 BC) -- writing mid-2nd century BC—source used by Strabo (below), and Apollodorus also relied upon Demetrius of Scepsis (above).
  • {{cite book |first= Felix | last= Jacoby | year= 1929 | title= Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker II B | publisher= Weidmann | location= Berlin }} 244, F 154-207.
  • {{cite book |first=R. |last=Pfeiffer |year=1968 |title=History of Classical Scholarship: From the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |pages=249–51}}. See Bittlestone/Diggle/Underhill (below): James Diggle at p. 508.
  • Strabo (63/4 BC – c. 24 AD).
  • {{cite book |first=P.V. |last=Jones |year=1917–1932 |title=Strabo: Geography |edition=Loeb Classical Library |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}
  • William Gell—writing in 1807—he believed Homer's "Ithaca" was on the Aetos isthmus of Ithaki island, facing east, in or near the bay of Vathy.
  • {{cite book |year=1807 |title=The Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca |url=https://archive.org/details/geographyantiqui00gell |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme |location=London}}
  • William M. Leake—writing in 1835—he thought "Ithaca" was on the northwestern coast of Ithaki island, near Polis Bay.
  • {{cite book |year=1830 |title=Travels in the Morea with a Map and Plans |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsinmoreaw05leakgoog |publisher=John Murray |location=London}}
  • {{cite book |year=835 |title=Travels in Northern Greece |publisher=John Murray |location=London}}
  • Théophile Cailleux—writing in 1878—located "Ithaca" in south-west Spain, in the delta of the Guadalete, near Cádiz.
  • {{Cite book |title=Pays atlantiques décrits par Homère, Ibérie, Gaule, Bretagne, Archipels, Amériques, Théorie nouvelle |trans-title=Atlantic lands described by Homer: the Iberian peninsula, Gaul, Britain, the Atlantic islands, the Americas. A new theory |publisher=Maisonneuve et cie |oclc=23413881 |place=Paris |year=1878 |language=fr}}
  • Samuel Butler developed a controversial theory that the Odyssey came from the pen of a young Sicilian woman, who presents herself in the poem as Nausicaa, and that the scenes of the poem reflected the coast of Sicily, especially the territory of Trapani and its nearby islands. He described the "evidence" for this theory in his The Authoress of the Odyssey (1897) and in the introduction and footnotes to his prose translation of the Odyssey (1900). Robert Graves elaborated on this hypothesis in his novel Homer's Daughter.
  • Wilhelm Dörpfeld (December 26, 1853 – April 25, 1940) -- having performed extensive excavations at various locations of Ithaca and Lefkada, he proposed that the palace of Odysseus was located west of Nidri at the south coast of Lefkada.
  • {{cite book |first=Wilhelm |last=Dörpfeld |year=1965 |title=Alt-Ithaka, ein Beitrag zur Homer-Frage. Studien und Ausgrabungen aus der insel Leukas-Ithaka. Unter Mitarbeit von Peter Goessler [u.a.] |language=de |trans-title=Ancient Ithaca, a contribution to the Homer question. Studies and excavations from the island of Leucas-Ithaka. With the collaboration of Peter Goessler [among others] |edition=Neudruck der Ausg. 1927. |publisher=Zeller |location=Osnabrück}}
  • G. Volterras—writing in 1903—he believed Paliki once may have had "Strabo's channel" at the isthmus which now separates Paliki and Kefalonia (see Bittlestone/Diggle/Underhill, below).
  • {{cite book |year=1903 |title=Kritiki Meleti peri Omerikis Ithakis |language=el |trans-title=A Critical Study of Homeric Ithaca |publisher= [self?] |location=Athens}}
  • A.E.H. Goekoop—writing in 1908—he believed "Ithaca" was in southwestern Kefalonia island, on the St. George hilltop near Mazarakata village, southeast of the city of Argostoli, with its harbor at Minies near the modern airport.
  • {{cite book |year=1908 |title=Ithaque La Grande |language=fr |trans-title=Ithaca the Great |url=https://archive.org/details/ithaquelagrande00goekgoog |publisher=Beck & Barth |location=Athens}}
  • Lord Rennell of Rodd—writing in 1927—believed "Ithaca" was on Ithaki island.
  • {{cite book |first=J.R. |last=Rennell |year=1927 |title=Homer's Ithaca: A Vindication of Tradition |publisher=Arnold |location=London}}
  • Walter Abel Heurtley and Sylvia Benton—believed "Ithaca" was on Ithaki island, and their excavations at the Polis Bay harbor turned up 8th- to 9th-century BC artifacts. Benton also carried out excavations in the so-called Polis Cave that she interpreted in the light of a alleged connection to Odysseus. However, later research has shown that the structures there show no particular peculiarities for the possible lifetime of the hero.Deoudi, Maria (2008). Ithake: Die Polis-Höhle, Odysseus und die Nymphen [Ithake: The Polis Cave, Odysseus and the Nymphs]. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, {{ISBN|978-9-601-21695-9}} (see also the [https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009.11.22/ review of this work] by Jorrit Kelder).
  • C.H. Goekoop—writing in 1990, grandson of A.E.H. Goekoop—he thought "Ithaca" was on Kefalonia, but in the northern Erissos region, near the town of Fiscardo.
  • {{cite book |year=1990 |title=Op zoek naar Ithaka |language=nl |trans-title=In search of Ithaka |publisher=Heureka |location=Weesp}}
  • {{cite book |year=2010 |title=Where on Earth is Ithaca? A Quest for the Homeland of Odysseus |publisher=Eburon |location=Delft |isbn=978-90-5972-344-3}}
  • E.S. Tsimaratos—published posthumously in 1998—he thought "Ithaca" was in central Kefalonia, but he agreed with Strabo about Paliki once having been cut off from Kefalonia.
  • {{cite book |year=1998 |title=Poia I Omeriki Ithaki? |language=el |trans-title=Which is Homeric Ithaca? |publisher=Etaireias Meletes Ellenikes Historias |location=Athens}}
  • J.V. Luce (1920-2011), writing in 1998, believed "Ithaca" was on Ithaki island.
  • {{cite book |year=1998 |title=Celebrating Homer's landscapes: Troy and Ithaca Revisited |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0-300-07411-5}}
  • Nicolas G. Livadas (Author), Constantine Bisticas (Editor, Translator)
  • {{cite book | year= 2000 | title= Odysseus' Ithaca: The Riddle Solved | publisher= Nicholas G. Livadas |location= Athens | isbn= 960-90803-1-6}}
  • Henriette Putman Cramer, Gerasimos Metaxas - the authors believe that the centre of Homeric Ithaca was in south-east Kefalonia where now the village of Poros in the Eleios-Pronnoi municipality is situated.
  • {{cite book |year=2000 |title=Omiriki Ithaki – ena atavtisto kentro sta nesia ton Kefallenon |publisher=Kaktos editions |location=Athens |isbn=960-382-408-9}}
  • Gilles Le Noan — writing in 1989-2005 — suggested Paliki as the location of "Ithaca", but discounted the geology supporting "Strabo's channel".
  • {{cite book |year=2005 |title=A la recherche d'Ithaque, la ferme d'Eumée, le palais d'Ulysse |language=fr |trans-title=In search of Ithaca, the farm of Eumeus, the palace of Odysseus |publisher=Editions Tremen |location=Quincy-sous-Senart, France}}
  • {{cite book |year=2005 |title=The Ithaca of the sunset |publisher=Editions Tremen |location=Quincy-sous-Senart, France |isbn=2-913559-44-1}}
  • {{cite book |year=2005 |script-title=el:Η καλόδυση Ιθάκη |title=I kalódysi Itháki |language=el |trans-title=The beautiful Ithaca |publisher=Editions Tremen |location=Quincy-sous-Senart, France }}
  • Christos Tzakos — writing 1999-2005 — believed "Ithaca" was on Ithaki island.
  • {{cite journal |title=Concerning Homeric Ithaki: Asteris |journal=Odusseia |year=1999 |issue=95}}
  • {{cite journal |title=kefa-ll-ines Kefa-ll-inia Kefa-ll-onia |journal=Odusseia |year=2000 |issue=70–2}}
  • {{cite book |year=2002 |title=Ekthesi Synoptiki peri Omerikis Ithakis (A Brief Essay on Homeric Ithaca) |edition=Angelos Eleutheros |publisher=Athens}}
  • {{cite book |year=2005 |title=Ithaca and Homer (The Truth), translated by Geoffrey Cox |location=Athens |isbn=960-7103-38-6 |last1=Tzakos |first1=Christos I.}}
  • Robert Bittlestone, James Diggle & John Underhill — first working in 2003 — believe Paliki is the location of "Ithaca", and also believe in "Strabo's Channel" separated it from Cephalonia, see Odysseus Unbound.{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Peter |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2006/11/30/finding-ithaca/ |title=Finding Ithaca |journal=New York Review of Books |date=2006-11-30 |access-date=2020-03-26 |language=en |issn=0028-7504}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/May-2018/Ithaca-the-story-continues |title=The Geological Society of London - Ithaca the story continues |last1=Underhill |first1=John |last2=Styles |first2=Peter |date=2018-05-01 |website=www.geolsoc.org.uk |access-date=2020-03-27 |last3=Pavlopoulos |first3=Kosmas |last4=Apostolopoulos |first4=George}}{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/odysseys-end-the-search-for-ancient-ithaca-112739669/ |title=Odyssey's End?: The Search for Ancient Ithaca |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |date=April 2006 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |access-date=2020-03-27}} This theory has not been generally accepted on grounds of geology,{{cite journal |first=Kalliopi |last=Gaki-Papanastassiou |others=and others |title=Geomorphological study and paleogeographic evolution of NW Kefalonia Island, Greece, concerning the hypothesis of a possible location of the Homeric Ithaca |journal=Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability |publisher=Geological Society of America |volume=Special Paper 476 |date=2011 |pages=78–79}} archaeology,Christina Souyoudzoglou-Haywood, “Archaeology and the search for Homeric Ithaca: the case of Mycenaean Kephalonia,” Acta Archaeologica, vol. 89, no. 1 (December, 2018), pp. 145-158. philology,George Huxley, Review of Odysseus Unbound in Hermathena, no. 182 (Summer 2007), pp. 165-169Barbara Graziosi, Review of Odysseus Unbound in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 128 (November, 2008), pp. 178-180. or historical and Homeric analysis.Jonathan Brown, In search of Homeric Ithaca (Canberra: Parrot Press, 2020), pp. 321-333. “What is clearly missing,” wrote Dr Christine Haywood reviewing Odysseus Unbound, “is a good knowledge of the complexities of Homeric language, and the support of archaeology.”{{cite journal |journal=Classics Ireland |volume=14 |date=2007 |page=90}}
  • {{cite book |year=2005 |title=Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer's Ithaca |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-85357-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/odysseusunbounds00bitt}} [http://www.odysseus-unbound.org/ Odysseus Unbound website]
  • Athenagoras Eleutheriuo argued that Paxos was Homeric Ithaca
  • {{cite book |year=2005 |script-title=el:Η νησος των παξων ειναι η ομηρικη Ιθακη |title=I nisos ton paxon einai i omiriki Ithaki |language=el |trans-title=The Island of Paxos is Homeric Ithaca) |publisher=Eleusis |location=Athenai |isbn=978-9603-9103-0-5}}
  • Dimitris I. Paizis-Danias published ten maps of Cephallenian theories and argued that Homer's Ithaca was on Ithaki
  • {{cite book |year=2006 |title=Homer's Ithaca on Cephallenia? Facts and fancies in the history of an idea |publisher=Ithacan Friends of Homer Association |location=Athens[?] |isbn=9-789608-823129}}
  • Felice Vinci suggests that many Homeric places can be identified in the geographic landscape of the Baltic.
  • {{cite book |year=2006 |title=The Baltic Origins of Homer's Epic Tales | publisher= Inner Traditions |location=Rochester, Vermont |isbn=1-59477-052-2}}
  • Manolis Koutlis - placed Ithaca on Faial in the Azores.
  • {{cite book |year=2018 | title=In the Shadow - The Greek Colonies of North America and the Atlantic 1500 BC - 1500 AD |publisher=Solva-tech LTD. |location=Limassol |isbn=978-9925-7439-5-7}}
  • Professor Thanasis J. Papadopoulos - located Ithaca on Ithaki after a team from the University of Ioannina led by himself and his wife, fellow archaeologist Professor Litsa Kontorli-Papadopoulou, excavated the School of Homer archaeological site in northern Ithaca. They concluded it was actually a Mycenaean citadel in line with a Bronze Age civilisation around the supposed time of Odysseus, or of a figure which may have inspired the Homeric poems. The site is now referred to as the Palace of Odysseus and was presented by the authors to the University in 2016.
  • {{cite book |year=2022 |title= The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer|publisher= Jane Cochrane |location=London |isbn= 1916292380}}
  • Jane Cochrane - located Ithaca on Ithaki after analysing the context provided in the poem against the geography and archaeology of the island with the assistance of classics professor George L Huxley.
  • {{cite book |year=2019 |title= Odysseus' Island|publisher= Jane Cochrane |location=London |isbn= 978-1916292314}}
  • Jonathan Brown - located Ithaca on Ithaki after travelling to Cephalonia, Lefkada, Corfu, Sicily, Spain, Denmark, and the Azores to examine other theories and published his meta-analysis on geographic, historical and archaeological evidence.
  • {{cite book |year=2020 |title=In search of Homeric Ithaca |publisher=Parrot Press |location=Canberra |isbn=978-0-6480925-2-0}} [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2841151431/view/ National Library of Australia, Trove]
  • Makis Metaxis, former Mayor of Cephalonia - located Ithaca on Cephalonia at the site of a Myceanean tholos.
  • {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/show/odysseus-returns/ |title=Odysseus Returns |date=August 28, 2024 |last=Ward |first=Seth |last2=Younger |first2=James |type=Television production}}

See also

References

  • Bittlestone, Diggle & Underhill (2005), cited above, Chapter 9 generally.
  • Several of the floruit dates above are taken from Wikipedia articles about the writers.

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Brown, Jonathan. In search of Homeric Ithaca, Canberra, Parrot Press, 2020.
  • Le Noan, Gilles. À la recherche d'Ithaque: essai sur la localisation de la patrie d'Ulysse, Quincy-sous-Sénart, Éd. Tremen, 2001. {{in lang|fr}}

External links

  • [http://www.friendsofhomer.gr www.friendsofhomer.gr]
  • [http://www.odysseus-unbound.org Odysseus Unbound website]; [https://web.archive.org/web/20060616090412/http://odysseus-unbound.org/forum.html Odysseus Unbound discussion forum]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060304022428/http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/literature/world_literature/homer.html Collection of Homer-related links]
  • {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060220090030/http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/homer/odyssey.html Homer's Odyssey resources on the Web, by Jorn Barger]}}
  • [http://wakeofodysseus.com/ Wake of Odysseus, on localization by Jonathan Burgess]
  • [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ The Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University]
  • [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html Perseus at Tufts, Greek & Roman materials]
  • [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?lookup=homer*&collection=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman&group=typecat Perseus at Tufts, a search on "homer*", which currently reaches 77 results, including "homeric": Art objects (1), Images (8), Reference articles (6), Text sections (19), Source citations (30), Texts (13)]

{{Odyssey navbox}}

Category:Geography of the Odyssey

*

*

Category:Locations in Greek mythology

Category:History of the Ionian Islands

Category:Homeric scholarship