Homer's Ithaca
The location of Homer's Ithaca", i.e. Ithaca as featured in Homer's Odyssey, is a matter for debate.
The central characters of the epic such as Odysseus, Achilles, Agamemnon and Hector are generally believed to be fictional characters. Yet there are many claims that some Homeric hero long ago had inhabited a particular contemporary region or village. 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 Hissarlik. 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.
Theories on the location of "Homer's 'Ithaca'" were formulated as early as the 2nd century BCE to as recently as AD 2003. 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-2d c. BC (near Troy) -- source used by Strabo (below).
- Apollodorus of Athens (born ca. 180 BC) -- writing mid-2d c. BC -- source used by Strabo (below), and Apollodorus also relied upon Demetrius of Scepsis (above).
- Jacoby, Felix (1929). Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker II B. Berlin: Weidmann.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) 244, F 154-207. - Pfeiffer, Rudolf (1968). History of Classical Scholarship: From the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) pp. 249-51. See Bittlestone/Diggle/Underhill (below): James Diggle at p. 508.
- Jacoby, Felix (1929). Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker II B. Berlin: Weidmann.
- 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.
- William M. Leake -- writing in 1835 -- he thought "Ithaca" was on the northwestern coast of Ithaki island, near Polis Bay.
- Wilhelm Dörpfeld (December 26, 1853 – April 25, 1940) -- he thought "Ithaca" was on Lefkas.
- 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).
- 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.
- W.A. Heurtley and Sylvia Benton -- believed "Ithaca" was on Ithaki island, and their excavations at the Polis Bay harbor turned up 8th-9th c. BC artifacts.
- 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.
- 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.
- Gilles le Noan -- writing in 2001, 2003, 2004 -- he suggested Paliki as the location of "Ithaca", but discounted the geology supporting "Strabo's channel".
- Christos Tzakos -- writing 1999 - 2002 -- he believed "Ithaca" was on Ithaki island.
- "Concerning Homeric Ithaki: Asteris". Odusseia (95): –. 1999.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - "kefa-ll-ines Kefa-ll-inia Kefa-ll-onia". Odusseia (70–2): –. 2000.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - Ekthesi Synoptiki peri Omerikis Ithakis (A Brief Essay on Homeric Ithaca) (Angelos Eleutheros ed.). Athens. 2002.
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- "Concerning Homeric Ithaki: Asteris". Odusseia (95): –. 1999.
- Robert Bittlestone, James Diggle & John Underhill -- first working in 2003 -- they believe Paliki is the location of "Ithaca", see Odysseus Unbound.
- Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-521-85357-5.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) Odysseus Unbound website
- Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-521-85357-5.
Other ideas
Theories about the location of Odyssean wanderings have included[1]:
- (caveat: links here tend to go inactive periodically, and then they pop up again... every attempt will be made to keep them current, but if they're temporarily dead the entry still is retained, to show the immense variety of locations which have been proposed)
References
- Bittlestone, Diggle & Underhill (2005), cited above, Chapter 9 generally.
- several of the floruit dates above are taken from Wikipedia articles about the writers.
- ^ Bittlestone, Diggle & Underhill (2005), cited above, page 39, note 2.
See also
