This is an extract from a small book of mine titled: “A brief and realistic approach to the wanderings of Odysseus”, which was published in 2023 in Greek: https://www.politeianet.gr/books/9786185693046-metaxas-georgios-risos-mia-suntomi-kai-realistiki-proseggisi-stis-periplaniseis-tou-odussea-337605
A fundamental knowledge of Odyssey is necessary.
(Book numbers are always referring to Odyssey rhapsodies, except when Iliad is specifically mentioned).
Homeric texts taken from: http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/odyssey5html.html
And while there are already quite a few books that claim Lefkas as being Homer’s Ithaca, here will be presented in brief some highlights in support of that theory.
The first scientist who pointed directly to Lefkas as Homer’s Ithaca, was the German architect and archaeologist (and right hand of H. Schliemann) W. Doerpfeld, in the beginning of the 20th ce.
In spite of being able quite convincingly to match many landmarks of Lefkas with Homer’s narrative, he was nevertheless unable to produce solid evidence to prove his point. It is true however, that no significant findings are to be expected from Odysseus palace, since it was a rather simple one, built from stone and wood and definitely looking like a humble residence for a king. It should be noted, that the most prominent external features of Odysseus’ dwelling were the many buildings, an outer strong wall and the double gateway (book 17, 266-268), but even the great hall’s floor was of plain earth (book 21, 120-121, book 21, 455-456), and that was where Telemachus dug in to wedge the axes for the archery trial.
Thus, there is no wonder that Odysseus and Telemachus were greatly impressed by the rich palaces of king Alcinous of Phaeacians (book 7, 84-85) and of Menelaus in Sparta (book 4, 72-73) correspondingly, while Odysseus wealth was based mainly on the vast herds he possessed both in Ithaca and the mainland.
Anyway, one of Doerpfeld’s most important findings in Lefkas, were the ruins of a temple of Apollo, next to the present day lighthouse at the tip of Lefkatas peninsula, the only trace of Apollo worship found in Ionian islands from Bronze Age, while a 100 oxen sacrifice (hecatombe) in honor of Apollo is mentioned in Odyssey (book 20, 275-276). In classical antiquity, there was an autumn festivity (Pyanepsia) for Apollo (mid October- mid November).
Of course, no real evidence about Odysseus presence have either been found on contemporary Ithaca, and in addition, the rough landscape of that island is neither compatible with a powerful king with authority on the nearby islands, nor with the Homeric narrative.
On the map, the islands that claim the honor of being Homer’s Ithaca are shown, with the least likely candidate the present day Ithaca. The small "named" islands are crucial in determining the original Ithaca, as it was probably on one of these (Atokos, in the opinion of the writer) that the suitors laid a trap to eliminate Telemachus on his return trip from Pylos. (Source: Google Earth)
Accordingly, Lefkas remains the prime candidate for Homer’s Ithaca, and there are quite a few clues to support that claim, like the frequently posed question to strangers “whether they came in Ithaca by the sea, since it doesn’t seem that they came on foot” (example, book 16, 57-59). Although some suggest that that was a kind of a joke, that question is only posed in Ithaca and not in any other of the islands Odysseus had visited before. And anyway, jokes are not at all common in Odyssey.
Another indication is when the leader of the suitors’ relatives, who were pursuing Odysseus and his companions after the slain of the suitors, expresses his fears that Odysseus could easily escape to mainland (book 24, 430-437), even though he had no ship available:
But as it was also suggested in the case of the island of Circe (not included in this extract), a narrow bridge of land between an island and the mainland (actually a peninsula) does not deprive the denomination of “island” from that place. It is indeed very strange for that matter, that Homer never names Ithaca as an island, save for just one case (book 13, 95), but curiously this detail was omitted in the English translation!
Another argument is that in the original text (but not in the translation) the adjective "αμφίαλος" is used for Ithaca (book 1, 401), meaning a place that has a sea on both sides, an adjective that has no meaning for an island, but it has for a peninsula! Actually in Attica, close to Piraeus, there is a place called "Αμφιάλη", and it is a peninsula.
It should also be noted that in Odyssey, when goddess Athena is moving from Olympus to Ithaca (book 1, 102), and from Ithaca to Sparta (book 13, 430-440) she does not cross a sea, while when she moves from the land of Phaeacians to Athens (book 7, 78-79) and similarly when Hermes moves from Olympus to the island of Calypso (book 5, 55-56) it is clearly indicated that they do cross a sea. Even in Iliad (Iliad book 14, 225-230), when Hera starts from Olympus toward the island of Lemnos, Homer specifies when she’s flying over land and when she’s flying over sea.
But there is a problem with that theory. That “saddle” between Paliki and the main island of Kefalonia is rather hilly and rocky and doesn’t justify a geological change of such a big scale in such a limited time frame. In fact, it was the sea level that has risen by about 2.0-2.5m during that period, although Bittlestone maintains that the land has risen much more because of local tectonic activity.
Anyway, Strabo’s narrative cannot be taken at face value, as he had not personal experience of these islands, and he was based on accounts of other people instead.
The proponents of Kefalonia as Homer’s Ithaca, make a particular mention of the lines (book 9, 25):
“… Ithaca itself,
low in the sea, furthest from the mainland*,
lies to the west**… ”
*a more accurate translation could be: … furthest in the sea
**in the original text: “darkness”
Nevertheless, we should take into account that in antiquity, the notion of the north –south direction (as seen in a map) was skewed to a rather northwest – southeast direction, so Lefkas could be easily considered as the most western of the Ionian islands, with the exception of Corfu, which was however not part of the group of the islands close to Ithaca.
Accordingly, Lefkas remains the prime candidate for Homer’s Ithaca, and there are quite a few clues to support that claim, like the frequently posed question to strangers “whether they came in Ithaca by the sea, since it doesn’t seem that they came on foot” (example, book 16, 57-59). Although some suggest that that was a kind of a joke, that question is only posed in Ithaca and not in any other of the islands Odysseus had visited before. And anyway, jokes are not at all common in Odyssey.
Another indication is when the leader of the suitors’ relatives, who were pursuing Odysseus and his companions after the slain of the suitors, expresses his fears that Odysseus could easily escape to mainland (book 24, 430-437), even though he had no ship available:
“… So come,
before he can hurry off to Pylos
or holy Elis, where Epeians rule,
………………………
… So we should act,
in case those men have a head start on us
and get across the sea. ”
In the original Greek text, in the expression “get across the sea” in the above lines, the word «περαιωθέντες» is used, having the meaning of “carried by a ferry”.
Another indication is in book 20, 184-187, suggesting the presence of a ferry that carried cattle in Ithaca from the mainland across the sea, where the land was more suitable for grazing cattle, through a narrow stretch of sea not far away from Nydri where the dwelling of Odysseus is supposed to be. That way, they avoided the much longer trip over the land bridge on the north part of the island, near the present city of Lefkas, where today a narrow channel with a vehicle bridge exists.
Also, Telemachus is announcing that he is going to Pylos to seek news about his father, as a “passenger on a ferry” (περάτης, book 2, 319) since he has no boat of his own, indicating that there was indeed a short sea passage to the mainland opposite. And one can easily imagine such a passage today, about 6 km south of present city of Lefkas. (Although he finally borrowed a small ship to sail to Pylos).
before he can hurry off to Pylos
or holy Elis, where Epeians rule,
………………………
… So we should act,
in case those men have a head start on us
and get across the sea. ”
In the original Greek text, in the expression “get across the sea” in the above lines, the word «περαιωθέντες» is used, having the meaning of “carried by a ferry”.
Another indication is in book 20, 184-187, suggesting the presence of a ferry that carried cattle in Ithaca from the mainland across the sea, where the land was more suitable for grazing cattle, through a narrow stretch of sea not far away from Nydri where the dwelling of Odysseus is supposed to be. That way, they avoided the much longer trip over the land bridge on the north part of the island, near the present city of Lefkas, where today a narrow channel with a vehicle bridge exists.
Also, Telemachus is announcing that he is going to Pylos to seek news about his father, as a “passenger on a ferry” (περάτης, book 2, 319) since he has no boat of his own, indicating that there was indeed a short sea passage to the mainland opposite. And one can easily imagine such a passage today, about 6 km south of present city of Lefkas. (Although he finally borrowed a small ship to sail to Pylos).
But as it was also suggested in the case of the island of Circe (not included in this extract), a narrow bridge of land between an island and the mainland (actually a peninsula) does not deprive the denomination of “island” from that place. It is indeed very strange for that matter, that Homer never names Ithaca as an island, save for just one case (book 13, 95), but curiously this detail was omitted in the English translation!
Another argument is that in the original text (but not in the translation) the adjective "αμφίαλος" is used for Ithaca (book 1, 401), meaning a place that has a sea on both sides, an adjective that has no meaning for an island, but it has for a peninsula! Actually in Attica, close to Piraeus, there is a place called "Αμφιάλη", and it is a peninsula.
It should also be noted that in Odyssey, when goddess Athena is moving from Olympus to Ithaca (book 1, 102), and from Ithaca to Sparta (book 13, 430-440) she does not cross a sea, while when she moves from the land of Phaeacians to Athens (book 7, 78-79) and similarly when Hermes moves from Olympus to the island of Calypso (book 5, 55-56) it is clearly indicated that they do cross a sea. Even in Iliad (Iliad book 14, 225-230), when Hera starts from Olympus toward the island of Lemnos, Homer specifies when she’s flying over land and when she’s flying over sea.
Notice: If we consider Lefkas as Homer’s Ithaca, then Phorcys’ bay where Phaeacians laid Odysseus (still sleeping or drugged), as renown homerist Costas Doukas notices, should be today’s Syvota bay (see map), a word related (in Greek) with the raising of swines, and this bay is in proximity to the alleged Eumaeus’ cave, just a few hundred meters uphill. Furthermore, Syvota bay is in the southeast of Lefkas, a convenient orientation when someone is sailing in from the west, (as from Trapani, Sicily, but that’s another story), and in need to debark close to Nydri without being seen.
The island of Kefalonia has also been proposed as the place of Homer’s Ithaca, and more precisely its western peninsula (Paliki), that supposedly in Strabo’s time (about 2000 years ago) was connected to the main island by a low land that periodically was flooded (Strabo, Geography book 10, 2.15), but later the land was raised due to tectonic activity, and landslides added more height to that area.
That theory, almost equally as old as that of Doerpfeld’s about Lefkas, was expressed in 1903 by Gerassimos Volteras, but also has contemporary supporters, like the late English businessman Robert Bittlestone (Odysseus Unbound), and (not surprising) some authors of Kefalonia origin.
The island of Kefalonia has also been proposed as the place of Homer’s Ithaca, and more precisely its western peninsula (Paliki), that supposedly in Strabo’s time (about 2000 years ago) was connected to the main island by a low land that periodically was flooded (Strabo, Geography book 10, 2.15), but later the land was raised due to tectonic activity, and landslides added more height to that area.
That theory, almost equally as old as that of Doerpfeld’s about Lefkas, was expressed in 1903 by Gerassimos Volteras, but also has contemporary supporters, like the late English businessman Robert Bittlestone (Odysseus Unbound), and (not surprising) some authors of Kefalonia origin.
But there is a problem with that theory. That “saddle” between Paliki and the main island of Kefalonia is rather hilly and rocky and doesn’t justify a geological change of such a big scale in such a limited time frame. In fact, it was the sea level that has risen by about 2.0-2.5m during that period, although Bittlestone maintains that the land has risen much more because of local tectonic activity.
Anyway, Strabo’s narrative cannot be taken at face value, as he had not personal experience of these islands, and he was based on accounts of other people instead.
The proponents of Kefalonia as Homer’s Ithaca, make a particular mention of the lines (book 9, 25):
“… Ithaca itself,
low in the sea, furthest from the mainland*,
lies to the west**… ”
*a more accurate translation could be: … furthest in the sea
**in the original text: “darkness”
Nevertheless, we should take into account that in antiquity, the notion of the north –south direction (as seen in a map) was skewed to a rather northwest – southeast direction, so Lefkas could be easily considered as the most western of the Ionian islands, with the exception of Corfu, which was however not part of the group of the islands close to Ithaca.
G. Metaxas
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