... for obvious reasons
But, being a Serb I don't count as a xenos. Rather, well, almost Greek, right Kolo? ;-)
Posted on 09/23/2005 7:37:53 PM PDT by wagglebee
POROS, Island of Kefalonia, Greece - The tomb of Odysseus has been found, and the location of his legendary capital city of Ithaca discovered here on this large island across a one-mile channel from the bone-dry islet that modern maps call Ithaca.
This could be the most important archeological discovery of the last 40 years, a find that may eventually equal the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann’s 19th Century dig at Troy. But the quirky people and politics involved in this achievement have delayed by several years the process of reporting the find to the world.
Yet visitors to Kefalonia, an octopus-shaped island off the west coast of Greece, can see the evidence for themselves at virtually no cost.
The discovery of what is almost certainly his tomb reveals that crafty Odysseus, known as Ulysses in many English renditions of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” was no mere myth, but a real person. Plus, passages in the “Odyssey” itself suggest that modern Ithaca and its main town of Vathi probably were not the city and island of which Homer wrote.
Rather, this small village of Poros on the southeast coast of Kefalonia now occupies part of a site that most likely was the much larger city which served as capital of the multi-island kingdom ruled by Odysseus and his father Laertes.
Archeologists have long and often times looked for evidence of Odysseus on modern Ithaca, but never found anything significant from the Bronze Age. This led many scholars to dismiss Homer’s version of Ionian island geography as strictly a literary creation.
But two pieces of fairly recent evidence suggest archeologists were looking in the wrong place. In 1991, a tomb of the type used to bury ancient Greek royalty was found near the hamlet of Tzannata in the hills outside Poros. It is the largest such tomb in northeastern Greece, with remains of at least 72 persons found in its stone niches.
One find there is particularly telling. In Book XIX of the “Odyssey,” the just-returned and still disguised Odysseus tells his wife (who may or may not realize who she’s talking to; Homer is deliberately ambivalent) that he encountered Odysseus many years earlier on the island of Crete. He describes in detail a gold brooch the king wore on that occasion.
A gold brooch meeting that precise description lies now in the archeological museum at Argostoli, the main city on Kefalonia, 30 miles across the island from Poros. Other gold jewelry and seals carved in precious stones excavated from the tomb offer further proof the grave outside Poros was used to bury kings.
Greek archeologists also found sections of ancient city walls extending for miles through the hills around and well beyond Poros. These surround both the village and a steep adjacent hill which bears evidence it once served as an acropolis, what the Greeks called hilltop forts in most of their major cities. The stones of the walls date to about 1300 B.C., the approximate time of events described in the “Iliad” and “Odyssey.”
Most likely, the royal capital at Ithaca was a much larger city than Poros or any other town on either modern Ithaca or Kefalonia. It would have needed a major source of water. There is none on modern Ithaca, but streams abound near Poros, where there is also a small man-made lake. This area had the necessary water. The island now called Ithaca likely did not.
Several other ancient settlements found elsewhere on Kefalonia also suggest the island was a major population center at the time of Odysseus.
And Homer described two major landmarks near ancient Ithaca: He says it sat beneath an impressive mountain, the “tree-clad Mt. Neriton,” which dominated views from the “wine-dark sea” for many miles around. That description fits Mt. Aenos, just above Poros, the highest peak in the Ionian islands. Homer also describes the legendary Cave of the Nymphs as within a day or two walk from the city of Ithaca. A spacious, dark cave with large stalactites and deep blue water matching Homer’s description is currently a tourist attraction about 15 miles northwest of Poros.
Why hasn’t all this been reported before? Because of local politics and economics. The most active promoter of the Poros area as Homeric Ithaca is the current mayor, who at one time was governor of the prefecture (county or small state) including both Ithaca and Kefalonia.
Gerasimos Metaxas, an author and amateur archeologist who gladly shows visitors remains of the ancient city call and innards of the tomb, was defeated for reelection as governor when he began promoting the Poros-as-Ithaca idea in Greek publications. Why? If Poros is Ithaca, who would ever go to the barren island now using the name? And if tiny Poros ever gets a huge tourist and cruise ship influx, what happens to Argostoli, now the center for those trades on Kefalonia?
As a result, the entire find has never been reported in the non-Greek press. And so far, major world media show little or no interest in the tale. But for lovers of Homer’s sagas, there’s now no place more appealing than Kefalonia.
... for obvious reasons
But, being a Serb I don't count as a xenos. Rather, well, almost Greek, right Kolo? ;-)
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Windcatcher: One thing to watch for is if they find something with writing on it (Linear A?). The Greek alphabet is widely thought to have originated around the time of Homer, but it has been shown that the Greeks used other alphabets in earlier times. One is called Linear B, which was only recently deciphered and shows that, while the system of writing was totally different (much more like Egyptian hieroglyphics), the language and pronunciation were about the same. There is also another one called Linear A that is thought to precede Linear B but has never been deciphered (due to lack of adequate examples). I don't know the time frame of Linear A's use, but deciphering it could provide a valuable link between the modern Greek language and the proto-Indo-European languages.Some minor quibbles. Linear B was a syllabary, rather than an alphabet. It seems to have been developed from Linear A. The example texts of Linear A are less numerous than those of Linear B, and AFAIK confined to Aegean islands. There are those who claim it conceals Greek, or some Semitic language, but both of those conclusions have been rejected by most scholars. It is evident that Linear A served a population which spoke a non-Greek language, and as the model from which Linear B was developed.
http://psp.manybooks.net/books/homeretext99dyssy10/1
[snip]
The Odyssey (tr Samuel Butler) by Homer. Page: 2
I shall not here argue the two main points dealt with in the work just mentioned; I have nothing either to add to, or to withdraw from, what I have there written. The points in question are:
(1) that the "Odyssey" was written entirely at, and drawn entirely from, the place now called Trapani on the West Coast of Sicily, alike as regards the Phaeacian and the Ithaca scenes; while the voyages of Ulysses, when once he is within easy reach of Sicily, solve themselves into a periplus of the island, practically from Trapani back to Trapani, via the Lipari islands, the Straits of Messina, and the island of Pantellaria;
(2) That the poem was entirely written by a very young woman, who lived at the place now called Trapani, and introduced herself into her work under the name of Nausicaa.
The main arguments on which I base the first of these somewhat startling contentions, have been prominently and repeatedly before the English and Italian public ever since they appeared (without rejoinder) in the "Athenaeum" for January 30 and February 20, 1892. Both contentions were urged (also without rejoinder) in the Johnian "Eagle" for the Lent and October terms of the same year. Nothing to which I should reply has reached me from any quarter, and knowing how anxiously I have endeavoured to learn the existence of any flaws in my argument, I begin to feel some confidence that, did such flaws exist, I should have heard, at any rate about some of them, before now.
Geography in The Odyssey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey#Geography_in_The_Odyssey
Actually, there is some belief that the "Cyclopses" were a tribe with circles tatooed on their foreheads.
The Humour of Homer and Other Essays
Samuel Butler
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12651/12651-h/12651-h.htm
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/nbsb10h.htm
In Search of the Real Troy
Saudi Aramco World | January/February 2005 Volume 56, Number 1
Graham Chandler, Photographed by Ergun Cagata
Posted on 02/20/2005 2:33:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1347422/posts
Was There a Trojan War?
Archaeology | May/June 2004 | Manfred Korfmann
Posted on 07/29/2004 11:43:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1181498/posts
Inscription in Carian and Greek
Anistoriton | 27 Dec. 1997 | (editors)
Posted on 07/17/2004 6:20:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1173453/posts
The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social, Political, and Economic Organization
Lesson 25, The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean
Revised: Friday, March 18, 2000 | Trustees of Dartmouth College
Posted on 08/29/2004 8:19:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1202723/posts
:'D
Greek Myths: Not Necessariliy Mythical
Source: New York Times
Published: 7/4/00 Author: JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Posted on 07/07/2000 07:37:37 PDT by H.R. Gross
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3965eb3163de.htm
'Cyclops'-like remains found on Crete
CNN | Friday, January 31, 2003 Posted: 2:52 AM HKT (1852 GMT) | Editorial Staff
Posted on 02/01/2003 11:07:21 AM PST by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/833994/posts
Research To Investigate Links Between Ancient Greeks And Modern Science Fiction
Science Daily | 2005-06-08
Posted on 06/08/2005 11:28:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1419344/posts
Dinosaur Swallows Human
http://www.biblelandstudios.com/nuke/ | 12-24-04 | "Bibleland"
Posted on 12/24/2004 7:37:06 AM PST by BenLurkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1307943/posts?page=62#62
" But, being a Serb I don't count as a xenos. Rather, well, almost Greek, right Kolo? ;-)"
Absolutely, my Balkan brother!
A truly amazing find. How could they have kept this out of the press until now?
But, being a Serb I don't count as a xenos. Rather, well, almost Greek, right Kolo? ;-)
I think Kolo did, but what the heck, I will take it agaian!. Opa!
The honor is all mine, dear Eleni mou, as I once told Kolo, because we Serbs, and other Slavs, owe Greeks our life -- for it was through the Greeks that we received our Faith, our Church language and our alphabet! Who could ask for anything more?! You Greeks are our first spiritual fathers. What a blessing!
Thank you Eleni mou. His grave is even unknown. The Communists did not want his grave to become the monument of his martyrdom.
KOSTA
Bump to and old but good thread
Odessyus was very respected by the Greeks for his trickery and shrewness. He was turned to in many instances for his counsel and advice. No one doubted or was put off by his intelligence. Remember that he also tried to get out of going to the war in the first place by a dishonorable ruse. And his reputation was not damaged by that personally shameful act.
I think your theory is lacking particularly since the Greeks were not that opposed to tricks in war. Some of them were little better than sea raiders or pirates.
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