Homer's Ithaca

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the mythological Greek island. For the real Greek island, see Ithaca (island).
A reconstruction of Homeric Greece. Modern Ithaca can be seen to the west
Ulysses meets his father Laertes on Ithaca (Theodoor van Thulden, 1600)

Ithaca (

Kefalonia, as argued by Bittlestone, Diggle and Underhill in Odysseus Unbound.[1][2][3] This theory, however, has not been generally accepted on grounds of geology,[4] archaeology,[5] philology,[6] or historical and Homeric analysis.[7] “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.”[8]

The central characters of the epic such as Odysseus, Achilles, Agamemnon and Hector are sometimes believed to be fictional characters.[by whom?] 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.

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.

Theories on the location of "Homer's 'Ithaca'" were formulated as early as the 2nd century BC to as recently as AD 2005. 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'"

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.
  1. ISSN 0028-7504
    . Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  2. ^ Underhill, John; Styles, Peter; Pavlopoulos, Kosmas; Apostolopoulos, George (2018-05-01). "The Geological Society of London - Ithaca the story continues". www.geolsoc.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  3. Smithsonian Magazine
    . Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  4. ^ Gaki-Papanastassiou, Kalliopi (2011). "Geomorphological study and paleogeographic evolution of NW Kefalonia Island, Greece, concerning the hypothesis of a possible location of the Homeric Ithaca". Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability. Special Paper 476. and others. Geological Society of America: 78–79.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ George Huxley, Review of Odysseus Unbound in Hermathena, no. 182 (Summer 2007), pp. 165-169; Barbara Graziosi, Review of Odysseus Unbound in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 128 (November, 2008), pp. 178-180.
  7. ^ Jonathan Brown, In search of Homeric Ithaca (Canberra: Parrot Press, 2020), pp. 321-333.
  8. ^ Classics Ireland. 14: 90. 2007. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

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