Posted on 09/29/2005 1:52:09 PM PDT by blam
Search 'locates' Homer's Ithaca
An amateur British archaeologist says he has located Ithaca, the homeland of Homer's legendary hero Odysseus.
Robert Bittlestone - backed by two experts - claims the rocky island depicted in The Odyssey is part of Greek tourist destination Cephalonia.
He used satellite imagery to match the area's landscape with descriptions in the poem about the return of the man behind the wooden horse of Troy.
Many experts had stated Homer was referring to the island of Ithaki.
They had explained geographical inconsistencies in The Odyssey by suggesting that Homer lived much later than the events portrayed and in a different part of the country.
Previous studies have also named other Ionian islands including Cephalonia.
Earthquakes
Surrey-based management consultant Mr Bittlestone first came up with his theory in 1998.
During field trips to western Greece he also analysed literary, geological and archaeological data, and utilised 3D global visualisation techniques developed by Nasa.
"There is something both very new and very old to be found at this new location and that we should now treat the existence of ancient Ithaca very seriously " Robert Bittlestone
His new book Odysseus Unbound - The Search for Homer's Ithaca is co-written by Cambridge University professor James Diggle, and geographic expert John Underhill from Edinburgh University.
It suggests earthquakes have helped fill a narrow channel which had separated Cephalonia from Ithaca - said to have been located in the peninsular now known as Paliki.
Future research
It is not clear whether Odysseus or Ithaca really existed.
But Mr Bittlestone said: "Our purpose has been to demonstrate that there is something both very new and very old to be found at this new location and that we should now treat the existence of ancient Ithaca very seriously."
He has described his find as one of the most important classical discoveries since the unearthing of Troy in Turkey in the 1870s.
The book says Ithaca was the peninsular now known as Paliki
The book details 26 locations in The Odyssey that can be identified today in northern Paliki and its vicinity.
The research was conducted in cooperation with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and with the Athens-based Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration.
"The book opens exciting prospects for future research regarding the location of Homeric Ithaca," said Petros Tatoulis, Greece's Deputy Minister of Culture.
"The Ministry eagerly follows Mr Bittlestone's hypothesis and looks forward to staying informed about any future developments."
Cephalonia is the same island where Louis de Bernieres' best-selling novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin was set.
The novel, which was made into a film starring Penelope Cruz and Nicholas Cage in 2001, is set against the real-life massacre of thousands of Italian soldiers by German troops during World War II.
"Odysseus Unbound" sounds like the title of a Steve Reeves movie.
I'll probably break down and buy it anyway.
Blam's just not on the ball anymore! -:)
Neat
Just trying to say out of management, that's SunkenCiv's job. (ahem)
Well then he should be paying you more, you do most of his work.
I would tend to doubt it, as place names can be very durable things -- I would guess the island of Ithaki. However, there is the counterexample of Scotia, which once meant Ireland and not Scotland, so I suppose the same thing might have happened to the Ithaca placename over the millenia.
From what I have read, the Odyssey and the Iliad were not composed by Homer, but by another blind Greek poet with the same name.
Oh THAT Homer.
I propose a 100 per cent raise. ;')
I'm reminded of the song:
"something from nothing leaves nothing...you gotta have something if you wanna be with me."
100% of nothing is still nothing...
I feel a little guilty, as I've set my own salary to four times that much. ;')
Well my last dividend check bounced, so you'll have to wait in line!
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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