1. HOMERIC ITHACA. The territory of Odysseus.
2. Municipality and other territories of the HOMERIC KEFALLENIANS.
3. HOMERIC DOULICHION during the Odyssey. Its metropolis was in the ECHINADES.
4. HOMERIC SAMI.
I was at a LECTURE in 2004, when the historian Gerasimos GALANOS revealed in his greeting that more than fifty-five (55) theories have been developed regarding the subject of HOMERIC ITHACA!...
Today, after my own, that of Mr. Bittlestone, Mr. Kordos (in favor of the new Ithaca), Mr. Karydis regarding the island of Lefkada, Makis Likoudis for Paliki, and many other researchers, we have surpassed sixty-five!
All of these have something in common. For example, that Odysseus's Empire was not in the Aegean or the Atlantic...
It was to the west or northwest of the Patras Gulf. It certainly included the present-day islands of ZAKYNTHOS, KEFALONIA, and ITHACA.
However, from that point on, since the 'island' of Ithaca where Odysseus was born and grew up can only be one, the other theories are INCORRECT.
Therefore, the theories that identify some other place are LYING !
For instance, I, who until 2003 had not studied enough historical data, stated in my first Homeric book, the LAST CHANCE a big lie...
...Just like Manolis Andronikos who for 30 years assumed that the tomb of Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, was in another location...
...I say in the book THE LAST CHANCE that the names of the islands of the Empire of Odysseus changed during the First Migration (meaning that since then the island next to Cephalonia is called Ithaca) due to the descent of the Dorians.
Thus, I thought that after 3000 years everyone must believe that it is called ITHACA.
This is a lie; it is a lie that has lasted for many centuries, because as we will see, this island for many centuries was either not called that, or was deserted!...
«... The families whose surnames we have mentioned did not inhabit Ithaca for many years, as one could say about the inhabitants of Cephalonia and other islands. According to the traditions on the island, and by written monuments of indisputable historical significance, Ithaca was uninhabited at the beginnings (my note: meaning around 1500, so it is correct to say 'around the end' and not 'at the beginnings') of the 15th century for an unknown length of time. It is known that this island, so renowned because of Homeric epics, has no history; it is only mentioned occasionally during periods of history that are far removed from one another; yet it was completely forgotten during the Middle Ages. Its name, altered to Thiac, remained among the local inhabitants of Cephalonia, Lefkada, and Aetolia, but the cosmographers and sailors of the West referred to it as Val di Compare, the Valley of the Godfather.
In the year 1504, the Venetian Senate issued a decree at the prompting of the governor of Cephalonia, Alivizis Solomon (1502), which was sent to all the governors in the East, stating that an island located near Cephalonia and named Val di Compare is deserted, and that it should be inhabited and cultivated, as it is fertile and fruitful. For this reason, it is ordered that the governors of the East announce that anyone who wishes to come and inhabit the island and engage in the cultivation of the land will receive land free of charge as absolute property for themselves and their heirs, and that for 5 years they will be exempt from taxes. After the five years have passed, they will be obliged to pay to the Chamber of Cephalonia what the residents of Cephalonia pay.
After this order, it seems that many from Cephalonia and from Central Greece hurried and settled the deserted island, building their homes initially far from the sea.
In a document from 1548, it is mentioned that on the island there were three villages built in three different locations, inhabited by about 60 families living in great fear due to pirates; for they had no fortification to which they could flee for their safety, except the mountains. In this document, the port of Vathi is mentioned. Another document from 1563 notes that by then the island was well populated and that after the death of Kostas Pouliézos, whom Venice had appointed as the captain of Ithaca for life, it became necessary to grant the council of the island the right to elect another; but the Cephalonians then requested to be given the right to appoint one of the noble Cephalonians as captain of the island, since Ithaca was primarily inhabited by Cephalonian settlers.
Porcacchi wrote in 1572 that it was sufficiently populated.
In 1688, Piacenza writes that it was rough, that no cultivation took place on it, and that pirates and criminals inhabited it, who prepared a miserable and hidden dwelling there for their own safety.
The Venetian cosmographer Coronelli (1685) notes that during his time it was called Thiacchi (Teacchi) or Little Cephalonia (Cefalonia Picciola), that Niger refers to it as Val di Compagno, and the Sofian as Val di Compare. He then describes its location relative to Cephalonia, the strait, etc., mentions the port of Vathi and two others, Sarachinicco (Sarakiniko) and Gidachi (Gidaki). He refers to three villages: Vathi, Anoih and Exoih, inhabited by 15,000 residents, a great part of whom originated from Zakynthos, Cephalonia, and Corfu, and that they were persecuted by the Cephalonia governor who held the title of captain of Ithaca.
Apart from the local traditions and the testimony of the Venetian documents regarding the desolation of Ithaca, geographical names of various parts of the island also bear witness to this, which do not have anything peculiar, deriving from a certain historical source that attests to the continuous settlement of the island from ancient times. The names of the three regions of the island, Vathy, Anoyia, and Exoyia, are common in many places, particularly in Cephalonia, from which they were taken; many capes bear the names of saints, including the name Sarakíniko, which is very common in Greece and Italy; the name Palaiokastro also, and the name Polis as well from the ruins there; the mountains of Anoyia and Exoyia do not have their own names; the high southern part is called Petaleiko mountain from the Petaleos family, who once held its ownership; the name Pera Pigadi is also a common designation; only the names Kioni, Filiatro, and Frikes could suggest something about their antiquity, if there were not other testimonies. Today, the inhabitants call certain places the Spring of Arethusa, the Castle of Odysseus, Νήριτον and Νήϊον, Forkynos' harbor, and Reithron and the spring Melanydron, but these were given by learned men, scholars and lovers of Homer, who sought while traveling the island the traces of the descriptions of Homer, and believed that each had discovered them according to his own invention...».
These were excerpts from A. Miliarakis' book "POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY of the New and Ancient Cephalonia." The highlights and underlinings are ours.
As we just read, in reality, the island of Ithaca next to Cephalonia remained anonymous or was given names that belittled it, such as: "Little Cephalonia" or Val di Compare.
For most centuries, the name Ithaca went elsewhere, as we will see, and indeed shortly after 1800, Lord Byron noted with joy that "NOW AT LAST we have DISCOVERED where TROY and ITHACA are..."
I mean, so much?
Because indeed, after Alexander the Great (the admirer of Achilles) and the Romans, the name Troy gradually fades away...
Did the same happen with Ithaca?
ITHACA for the Athenians during their period of prosperity was certainly the island that is called so today... (Even if other sources deny this, then I am 100% a liar).
... Across from it is SAMI, which as a tourist destination was a must and in vogue for the occupiers of that time. So until the siege and destruction in 188 B.C., it was certainly Ithaca for thousands of people - due to the spread of the HOMERIC EPICS - across from it, which was difficult for anyone to visit.
... Difficult to visit for two reasons.
1st Due to its occupation by the opponents of the Athenians, the winners of the Peloponnesian war, the CORINTHIANS, and
2nd Regarding the western side, due to the steep terrain.
In those years, universities and scientific conferences did not provide any conclusions about what Homer's Ithaca is...
Thousands of tourists from Sami everywhere reported that: "WE SAW THE ITHACA OF ODYSSEUS ACROSS FROM SAMI WHERE WE SPENT OUR HOLIDAY (we took our baths and visited its spa - Sami, of course)."
...In fact, some who visited Thiachi at that time even made dedications or took souvenirs with inscriptions like "ΕΥΧΗΝ ΟΔΥCCΕΙ" etc.
It was a period of tourist development, which continued later (see ROMAN VILLA in Scala)...
Despite this systematic brainwashing for centuries, the texts from the Hellenistic and Roman periods differ. In fact, STRABO, who never visited the islands, reports views of others like Apollodorus, noting that there have likely been terrible changes because Ithaca is not as Homer describes it.
Were there OTHER ITHACAS?
In the past, we had many Alexandrias. Today, no one confuses the small Alexandrias (Imathia) with Alexandria in Egypt.
No one mixes up New Smyrna with Smyrna, except for tears, exile, pain, and nostalgia.
Just as no one confuses Samothrace with Samiko in Ilia, or Sami with Samos.
Thus, at that time, official sources placed the name Ithaca on the current rocky island.
However, tradition resisted, and Strabo, Apollodorus, Σκύψιος, Plutarch, and earlier Skylax, Pausanias... depending on their sources, recognized different versions of Ithaca!
All of them studied the Homeric dialect as Ancient Greek. They did not understand the concepts.
The Kefallinian, however, a contemporary of Odysseus, when he said SAMI meant a steep place from the Phoenician word SAMA...
When he said ITHACA he meant a straight place from the Homeric ITHYS!
Therefore, if a place were called Rombaxekumboti, simply, the church would force the state to change the name, while the people at the same time would visit it for its baths.
After centuries, during which conquerors would have enslaved the Greeks there, driven them out and settled foreigners, they would have simply discarded the difficult name and the place would be called ROMBA or ROBA (like RODA) according to the Latin.
Fortunately, however, regarding Ithaca, there are still quite a few who understand the HOMERIC as a mother dialect, and wherever they go they want the topography to match the name.
We say PIRAEUS, PERAMA and we mean something that is a Limit - PIRAEUS or PASSAGE for something. ...KORINTH, and immediately we look at Acrokorinth remembering also the korines of gymnastics etc., etc.
…SAMOTHRAKI and we behold the absolutely steep mountain lying in the sea, below Thrace.
…SAMOS, meaning steep, and our mind goes to KERKETEAS, momentarily ignoring that the name was transferred from the STEEP HOMERIC SAMI - the rocky one - meaning today’s Ithaca.
Thus, when we say ITHACA, our minds go to STRAIGHT lines due to ITHYS, which, however, do not exist ANYWHERE in nature.
There lies the big lie.
THEY EXIST in one place only: In Paliki of Cephalonia and especially along the eastern coastline.
So if anyone wishes to delve deeper, they have two things to do:
1st Read from the book titled THE ISLAND WITH THE STRAIGHTS, the chapter “ITHYS” and
2nd Visit LIXOURI.
And we return. Why did the Athenians carry out this deception?
Simply because the name Sami existed in Cephalonia. Due to the study of the Odyssey, they exhibited the island across as Ithaca, so that as Ionian descendants - relatives of Odysseus - they would have claims over the land of present-day Ithaca, which was then occupied by their opponents, the Corinthians.
And yet, despite their honorable efforts, during Rome and Byzantium, Ithaca was DIFFERENT. As for after (and before the Venetians gave it the current name), it was recorded on maps as Val di Compare and Cefalonia Picciola (Little Cephalonia).
Regarding BYZANTIUM, for a thousand years, the only description that provides clear information is from ANNA KOMNENA, from the "epic" ALEXIADA, regarding the death of Guiscard (Ziscar) in 1085.
pages from 168 to 169NOTES referring to the geography of Cephalonia, Note 3. Page 11:
«The Cape of Atheras is worthy of note because its name has been mentioned since the year 1085 in the history of the Norman Robert Guiscard, who, after the conquest of Southern Italy, set out against the Byzantine state and fell ill with fever around this cape while on his ship, dying in 1085. Anna Comnena in her Alexiada (Book 1, p. 287) narrating the events of Guiscard adds that he, burning with fever, asked for water, and those around him, distracted on the island in search of water, met a peasant who told them, 'Behold this island Ithaca; in it was once built a great city, Jerusalem, although in time it is deserted, there is a spring that always gives drinkable and cool water.' Hearing this, Robert was overcome with fear, for combining the names Atheras and Jerusalem, he remembered a prophecy that had been delivered to him before, which went like this: 'Until you subjugate all of Atheras; from there you shall go to Jerusalem to serve your duty.'».
As we can see on the map, a vessel located off the coast of Atheras cannot discern today's Ithaca. Meanwhile, it has three other options for sighting: either towards Lefkada, or towards Eryssa (North Kefalonia), or towards Atheras itself and Paliki, where there are two ancient springs near Petanous, the Chalkes and the Keria (a name that can easily be distorted into Jeria, in connection with Jerusalem!).
Also, in the various theories that support today's Ithaca as the Homeric one, the word Jerusalem is connected to the toponym Roussiano in the area of Stavros, on the island of Ithaca. However, a likely origin for Roussiano is probably the Latin Etrusciano, which does not change many consonants. If the Et- was once considered a conjunction, the rest remained as the sought after: Etruscoi is, after all, the well-known tribe from neighboring Italy. Moreover, it takes great skill to transport the about-to-die Guiskardo from the Atheras of Paliki through Fiskardo to the location of Polis in Ithaca, below the village of Stavros, as attempted by Mr. M. Kordosis on pages 259-263 of his notable book mentioned earlier.
Since the 'local' is unlikely to be from Lefkada, the other two possibilities remain. Also, regarding the crumbled Jerusalem, and because, if we go up to the clearing above the spring in Chalkes, where the road connecting Petanous with Livadi passes, the ruins of Odysseus's city, the city of Homeric Ithaca, were probably still clearly visible back then, from the rear side and along the ridge of Krikello above today's village of Livadi...
CONCLUSION: For a thousand (1000) years during the Byzantine period, the name ITHACA resided in KEFALLONIA.
If it turns out that something like this also occurred in the times of Rome, then I am a big LIAR, for stating in the book THE LAST CHANCE that for 3000 years the small island next to Kefalonia has been called Ithaca!
We will now examine a very important source of information that no researcher had used until recently.
Poplius VIRGILIUS, the great poet of Rome.
... Poplius VIRGILIUS, who, inspired by the epics of Homer, tried to create an epic rivaling the Odyssey.
He was inspired by the AENEIDΑ, that is, the journey of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who is supposed to have become, after wandering after the destruction of Ilium, the forefather of ROME.
Thus, the Romans wanted to believe that they were descendants of the Trojans and rightly avenged the descendants of the Achaeans by conquering GREECE.
The source for Virgil was the Homeric epics and the post-Homeric tradition.We certainly understand that everything the epic poet of Rome describes was the image that the Romans and Virgilius himself had of the GEOGRAPHY of various places.
Therefore, it is worth studying the journey of Aeneas through the islands of the IONIAN SEA and how he comes from the southern Peloponnese out to the open sea, heading towards LATIUM.
Let's open a parenthesis.
In the study by the professor from Ioannina, Mr. Mich. S. KORDOSI, titled THE HOMERIC ITHACA (ISLAND - CITY), Athens 2007, which examines the subject from the perspective of modern Ithaca, it also mentions - aside from Virgilius - the unclear position of Ovidius and Cicero's view in favor of today's Ithaca, who recognizes the ruins of the city of Ithaca in the location 'Alalkomenes', above the port of PISSAETUS as we head towards Vathy.
“... Fugimus spumantibus unbis
qua cursum uentusque qubernatorque uocabat.
Iam medio apparet Eluctu nemorosa Zacynthos
Dulichiumque Sameque et Neritos ardua saxis
effugimus scopulos Ithacae, Laertia regna
et terram altricem saeui exsecramur Ulixi.
Mox et Leucatae nimbosa cacumina montis
et formidatus nautis aperitur Apollo ...”.
It was an excerpt from the AENEID that includes the book: THE HOMERIC ITHACA (ISLAND - CITY) Mich. S. Kordosis, Athens 2007. TRANSLATION:
the wind helps the course and the captain sets the direction.
Already, among the waves, the wooded Zakynthos can be seen,
Doulichio, as well as Sami and the steep cliffs of Neritos.
We avoid the reefs of Ithaca, the kingdom of Laertes,
and we curse the land, the nurse of the wild Odysseus.
Soon, the stormy brow of Lefkada appeared,
and the dread of Apollo spreads among the sailors, his temple. ..."
If a supporter of Lefkada, as Homer's Ithaca, takes this text seriously, they will be disappointed, because Lefkada is supposedly seen by Aeneas in the distance after Ithaca!
On the contrary, a supporter of today's Ithaca, as Homer's Ithaca, like Mr. Kordosis for example, will simply be confused: How could he first see Niritos (northern Ithaca) and then face Ithaca if he comes from the south?
…And which obstacles does it bypass since Ithaca sinks almost vertically on its western side?
Virgilius would see these things only if he were a supporter of our theory!
Indeed, coming from the western Peloponnese, you first encounter Zakynthos. You would 'catch sight' of Dulichium immediately after if the Kakava between Skala and Katelios in Cephalonia belonged to it. Just like today's Ithaca, which was then Homeric Sami, in the depths to the right, alongside the steep cliffs of NERITUS which for us is AINOS.
Precise analysis of Virgilius' description
This is what Ainos looks like from the south! From elsewhere it doesn't look like this. The description is very accurate.
However, the surprise is that in the end, Aeneas avoids dangerous rocks (scopulos) - sea rocks (not mountain ones like Ainos) - threatening of Ithaca, and immediately afterwards he discerns in the distance the island of Lefkada, dedicated to Apollo...
If northern Cephalonia or Ithaca were HOMERIC ITHACA, then at the end of the journey Lefkada would be right in front of them and not somewhere in the distance.
Also, what dangerous rocks and reefs? When even next to ASTERIDA the depths drop vertically to 60 meters?
Dangerous rocks and reefs, as well as distant sighting of Lefkada in the background, we have only if HOMERIC ITHACA is PALIKI, where before the cape of Gerogombo is KARAVOKLASI with countless SHIPWRECKS, known even before the Roman era.
In concluding this article, I would like to present an incredible fact conveyed by Mr. Mich. Kordosis on page 66 of his remarkable book, which we previously mentioned on pages 131, 132, and 234 of the “ΚΑΛΛΙΝΙΚΟΥ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗΣ”. There is a toponym SAMIKO on today's Ithaca: "The toponym is ancient and does not originate from a resident of SAMI".
NOTE:In most theories, THIAKI is identified with HOMERIC SAMI. Where the latest findings from the UNIVERSITY OF IOANNINA were discovered in Thiachi, the toponym SAMIKO was also preserved.
IN OTHER WORDS, these “old” places were already ancient for the inhabitants of classical Ithaca in the 5th century BC, during the time of “ΕΥΧΗΝ ΟΔΥCCEI”. Where the locals took pride in their origins - just as the residents of Travliata at the Castle of Cephalonia take pride in being former city-dwellers - referring to them as “ΤΑ ΣΑΜΙΚΑ”. So before Ithaca, was the island called SAMI? As the naming of the site of the findings suggests?
CONCLUSION: Except for the period during which Athens influenced developments in the Ionian, as well as the echo left by this era…
... The island next to Cephalonia underwent periods of desolation, anonymity, or arbitrary and conventional naming depending on who owned it.
The consequence of this is that since the Venetians named it, its inhabitants, regardless of their origins, want to project the Homeric dimension of this place, especially as the homeland of Odysseus, the protagonist of the most read and sung epic, HOMER'S ODYSSEY!
…Of the hero, who all Greeks conceal something of his character within us!
…As well as very many foreigners who also adore him.
…This Odysseus had beside him the goddess ATHENA - a global model - goddess of wisdom, the properties of which the new religion has also assimilated in the revered form of the THEOTOKOS virgin!!
I justify them. It's like wanting to deprive the Israelites of the Promised Land, Christians of Bethlehem - for which so much unjust blood has been shed since the Crusades and here! - as well as the Muslims of Mecca.
