After 16 years of excavations on the Ithaca island, the Greek archaeologists have announced they have found the palace of Odysseus. File photo Greek archaeologists have claimed they have found the palace of Odysseus during excavations on the Ithaca island in the Ionian Sea. On Tuesday, the archaeologist, Thanasis Papadopulos, who has been leading the excavation team on Odysseus' home island for 16 years, said that he knew the right place of the remains since 2006. “We found the ruins of a three-level palace with a staircase carved into the rock,” Papadopulos said, adding that they also found a well, dating back to 13th century BC, when the Trojan War is believed to have taken place.
According to the archaeologist, the discoveries are identical to the ones described in Homer's Odyssey, presumably written about 8th century BC.
The Greek Ministry of Culture has provided more funding for the continuation of the excavations.
The mayor of Ithaca, Spiros Arsenis, has stated that Papadopulos' discovery is easily one of the most important discoveries in modern archeology, as reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
According to Robert Bittlestone's Odysseus Unbound (2005), written with the assistance of Professor James Diggle of Cambridge University and Professor John Underhill of the University of Edinburgh, Paliki, a peninsula of Kefalonia, is the location of Homer's Ithaca, the home of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.
The initial insight leading to the argument came from a tourist roadmap of the Paliki area, which Brittlestone purchased following a visit to the region, in preparation for another visit — one this time to the modern island known as "Ithaki" (Ithaca). Scholars for centuries have noticed that the island of Ithaki does not correspond to the detailed descriptions of the home of Odysseus offered by Homer in the Odyssey. Many explanations, from simple ignorance on Homer's part to "poetic license", have been used to account for the discrepancies.
Bittlestone had noticed, however, that the western peninsula of Kefalonia appeared to correspond with the principal clues offered by Homer, yet it is not an island. On his previous trip, though, his daughter's question, about an inland hilltop fortress on neighboring Lefkas island — "But why did they build it here?" — had led to the thought that sea levels in the area might once have been much higher, that in turn leading to the idea that higher sea levels might once have cut off the Paliki peninsula from its mainland, Kefalonia, making Paliki an island. The tourist map seemed to confirm this: on it, Bittlestone saw, the neck of land connecting Paliki to Kefalonia did appear to be very narrow and, more importantly in this mountainous region, relatively low along most of its length.
Confirmation was needed from at least two sources: philology — to ensure that the Homeric account of "Ithaca" was properly understood — and geology, to establish among other points that the narrow neck of land on Kefalonia could in fact have been the site of a sea channel, in the times of Homer and of Odysseus.
Imaginary bust of HomerJames Diggle, co-author of the study which argued that Paliki was Homer's "Ithaca"1(the study, particularly Appendix 1), is Professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University and a recognized authority on Ancient Greek texts. His detailed analysis of the "clues" contained both in Homer and in Strabo and other texts was crucial to supporting the Paliki argument.
Various lists of philological clues were assembled, derived from the ancient texts, to identify specific geographic details which might correspond to modern locations. For example 26 such locations were identified "in or near Homer's 'Ithaca'"1(the study, Figure 3.3, p. 31) :
Ithaca — Odysseus' island off the west coast of Greece: location disputed
Ithaca city — Its capital
Ithaca harbor — Its harbor, adjacent to the city
Same — The island opposite Ithaca, also known as Samos Island: location disputed
Doulichion — Another island nearby: location disputed
Zakynthos — One of the Ionian islands to the south: location known
(etc.)
— and similar lists were made for "Odysseus' Palace"1(the study, Figure 17.2, p. 194), "Doulichion"1(the study, Figure 21.12, p. 270), and other locations.
A list of 32 such "clues" also was drawn up by the team, and a chart prepared, showing how other "Ithaca" locations suggested by previous theories — including the modern island of Ithaki — do not correspond, while the Paliki peninsula does1(Appendix 4):
Clue 1 — Does Ithaca lie low and to the west, the furthest out to sea of a group of neighboring islands, called Ithaca, Samos Island, Doulichion and Zakynthos?
Clue 2 — Does Ithaca contain a bay with two distinctive jutting headlands?
Clue 3 — Can a ship leave Ithaca harbor driven by a stiff following wind from the west?
Clue 4 — Is there a two-harbored island called Asteris in the straits between Ithaca and Samos Island, with windy heights that would enable an ambush to take place?
(etc.)
24.08.2010
