|
|
|
|
|
Ulysses' Real Ithaca Has Been FoundIthaca is not the same with modern Ithaki |
By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor
11th of January 2007, 13:56 GMT
Adjust text size:  
|
| |
The story of the ancient Greek hero Ulysses (or Odysseus) inspired many books, theatrical plays and movies.
His adventures in the ten years way back home, from the Trojan war to his queen, Penelope, even sparked a term: "odyssey". His proverbial cunning gave birth to the Trojan Horse (image), which defeated the Trojans after ten years of war. Over the centuries, scholars believed the lost kingdom of this Greek hero was the current island of Ithaki, as Homer, in the Iliad, attributes to Ulysses the island of Ithaca.
But British researchers have proven that Ulysses' realm was in fact on the peninsula of Kefalonia, not Ithaki. People
were caught in a trap: Homer asserts that the island was the westernmost of the Ionian archipelago, and the westernmost island is really Kefalonia, which is also much bigger than Ithaca described by Homer.
The research team compassed British businessman Robert Bittlestone, an amateur archaeologist, Cambridge classicist James Diggle, and University of Edinburgh geologist John Underhill. Based on core samples, sea depth surveys and satellite imaging, the team found that the Paliki peninsula, found on western Kefalonia, may have been an island 3,000 years ago, and the seismic activity may have filled a sea channel, binding it to Kefalonia. "Three millennia ago, in Homer's Iron Age, this peninsula was an island. Landslides and rockfalls from earthquakes later filled in the gap between the two islands", commented the researchers.
The team made extensive geological and geophysical investigations on the southern end of the isthmus between Kefalonia and Paliki where they drilled a 122-meter borehole. The geological tests were carried on based on geographic considerations. "The drill never hit bedrock but instead plunged through loose sediments, rockfall and landslide material, reaching well below sea level," they said.
Landslides and rockfalls from earthquakes filled in the valley between Kefalonia and Paliki, thus disguising the ancient channel described by Homer in the Odyssey. The absence of bedrock and the presence of very young marine fossils in the reworked borehole sediments confirm that rockfalls and landslides could have filled in the ancient sea channel to create the isthmus between the once separate islands. In this case, Paliki matches Homer's description of Ithaca. "Unlike many historical speculations, our answer to the age-old mystery of Ithaca's location makes a prediction that can be tested by geological techniques," Bittlestone said.
The team now hopes to find the city and palace of Odysseus.
|
|
| Rating: |
|
Good (3.0/5) |
9 vote(s) so far |
|
|
|
|
User opinions: |
 No user comments yet.  Be the first to express your opinion using the form below! |
|
|
