British researchers say they may have solved a centuries-old mystery: the location of Ithaca, homeland of the hero of Homer’s The Odyssey.
The epic poem describes Ithaca as the birthplace of King Ulysses, who wandered decades at sea before a long-awaited homecoming to his queen, Penelope.
Upon coming home to his wife Penelope in Ithaca, Ulysses slaughtered a group of suitors who had been tormenting her for years. This 1812 painting of the scene is by Louis-Vincent-Léon Pallière.
A modern island of Ithaca exists, and for centuries classicists have thought it was the one in the story. But there was always a glitch: Homer asserts that the island was the westernmost of the Ionian archipelago. But the westernmost island is really Kefalonia, which is also much bigger than the place Homer described.
The research team included businesman and amateur archaeologist Robert Bittlestone, heir to a tradition begun by another businessman, the famous Heinrich Schliemann—discoverer of the homeric city of Troy, in 1870
.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070110_ithaca.htm
The epic poem describes Ithaca as the birthplace of King Ulysses, who wandered decades at sea before a long-awaited homecoming to his queen, Penelope.
Upon coming home to his wife Penelope in Ithaca, Ulysses slaughtered a group of suitors who had been tormenting her for years. This 1812 painting of the scene is by Louis-Vincent-Léon Pallière.
A modern island of Ithaca exists, and for centuries classicists have thought it was the one in the story. But there was always a glitch: Homer asserts that the island was the westernmost of the Ionian archipelago. But the westernmost island is really Kefalonia, which is also much bigger than the place Homer described.
The research team included businesman and amateur archaeologist Robert Bittlestone, heir to a tradition begun by another businessman, the famous Heinrich Schliemann—discoverer of the homeric city of Troy, in 1870
.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070110_ithaca.htm
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