Ithaca's main island has an area of 96 square kilometres (37 sq mi) and in 2021 had a population of 2,862. It is the second-smallest of the seven mainIonian Islands, afterPaxi. Ithaca is a separateregional unit of theIonian Islands region, and the onlymunicipality of the regional unit. The capital isVathy (or Vathi).[1][2]
Modern Ithaca is generally identified withHomer's Ithaca, the home ofOdysseus, whose delayed return to the island is the plot of theepic poem theOdyssey; however, many other attempts at identification have been made.
The island has been inhabited since the 4th millennium BC. It may have been the capital ofCephalonia during theMycenaean period and the capital-state of the small kingdom ruled byOdysseus. TheRomans occupied the island in the 2nd century BC, and later it became part of theByzantine Empire. TheNormans ruled Ithaca in the 13th century, and after a shortTurkish rule it fell intoVenetian hands (Ionian Islands under Venetian rule).
Ithaca was subsequently occupied byFrance under the 1797Treaty of Campo Formio. It was liberated by a jointRusso-Turkish force commanded by admiralsFyodor Ushakov and Kadir Bey in 1798 and subsequently became a part of theSeptinsular Republic, which was originally established as aprotectorate of theRussian Empire andOttoman Empire. It became a French possession again in 1807, until it was taken over by theUnited Kingdom in 1809. Under the 1815Treaty of Paris, Ithaca became a state of theUnited States of the Ionian Islands, a protectorate of the British Empire. In 1830, the local community requested to join with the rest of the newly restored nation-state ofGreece. Under the 1864Treaty of London, Ithaca, along with the remaining six Ionian islands, was ceded to Greece as a gesture of diplomatic friendship to Greece's new Anglophile king,George I. The United Kingdom kept its privileged use of the harbour atCorfu.[3]
Olive tree of Ithaca that is claimed to be at least 1500 years old.
The origins of the first people to inhabit the island, which occurred during the last years of theNeolithic period (4000–3000 BC), are not clear. The traces of buildings, walls and a road from this time period prove that life existed and continued to do so during theEarly Helladic era (3000–2000 BC). In the years 2000–1500 BC some of the population migrated to part of the island. The buildings and walls that were excavated showed the lifestyle of this period had remained primitive.[citation needed]
Ithaca is to the upper right of the largerKefalonia island in this picture. The small island in the top-right corner is the uninhabitedAtokos island (NASA World Wind satellite picture).
During theancient Hellenic prime (800–180 BC), independent organized life continued in the northern and southern part of the island. In the southern part, in the area of Aetos, the townAlalcomenae was founded. From this period, many objects of important historical value have been found during excavations. Among these objects are coins imprinted with the name Ithaca and the image ofOdysseus which suggest that the island was self-governed.
Arms of theOrsini family, rulers of Ithaca in the 13th-14th centuries
Across time, the island fell to various conquerors and experienced changed circumstances, meaning the population of the island kept changing through history. Although there is no definite numerical information until theVenetian period, it is believed that from the Mycenaean to theByzantine period, the number of inhabitants was several thousand, who lived mainly in the northern part of Ithaca. During theMiddle Ages, the population decreased due to the continuous invasions of pirates, forcing the people to establish settlements and live in the mountains.
The island, often referred to with the name 'Val di Compare', followed the fortunes of its bigger neighborCephalonia throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, when it formed part of the holdings of various Latin rulers. In 1185, when Cephalonia andZakynthos were captured byMargaritone of Brindisi, it is most likely that Ithaca was among the territory he conquered.[4] Later, Ithaca changed ownership together with Cephalonia, first to theOrsini family after Margaritone's death, and then toJohn of Gravina,prince of Achaia, who conquered them from the Orsini in 1324.[4] From 1333 until 1357 the islands were transferred toRobert of Taranto, who in 1357, bestowed them uponLeonardo Tocco, a Neapolitan courtier.[4] While Ithaca had until now merely followed the fate of Cephalonia, it is under the Tocco that more specific mentions of Ithaca begin to appear in the record. In the 15th century, there was one family, theGalati, with noble privileges and land interests on the island given by theTocco family.[4]
In 1479, Ottoman forces reached the islands and many of the people fled from the island out of fear of the new Turkish settlers.[4] Those who remained hid in the mountains to avoid the pirates who controlled the channel between Cephalonia and Ithaca and the bays of the island. In the following five years,the Turks,Tocco andVenetians laid claim to the islands diplomatically. Possession of the islands was finally taken by the Ottoman Empire from 1484 to 1499. During this period, the Venetians had strengthened into a major power with an organized fleet. The Venetians pursued their interest in the Ionian Islands, and in 1499 a war between the Venetians and the Turks began. The allied fleets of the Venetians and the Spanish besieged Ithaca, and the other islands. The fleets prevailed, and from 1500 onwards the Venetians controlled the islands. According to a treaty of 1503, Ithaca, Cephalonia and Zakynthos would beruled by the Venetians, andLefkada by the Ottoman Empire. By then Ithaca was almost uninhabited, and the Venetians had to grant incentives to settlers from neighbouring islands and the mainland to repopulate it.[5] 1504, the Venetians ordered official the repopulation of Ithaca with tax incentives to attract settlers from neighbouring islands. The Venetian authorities found the island was already being repopulated by members of theGalatis family, who laid claim to it as their property, having received rights over Ithaca under the Tocco regime.[6] However, according to historians, the island received a great population revival in the period before and after thefall of Candia when numerous people from Crete arrived there as well as the noble Karavia family (Latin: Caravia), a branch of the ancient byzantineKallergi family. This family and its followers inhabited settlements on the island, received fiefs from theVenetian Senate and indulged in a tremendously profitable maritime trade as well as piracy against theOttomans. According to the French travelerLeake during the 18th century the families of Karavias, Petalas and the Dendrinos constituted the three main factions of the island, with the Karavias controlling its most productive part. During the next centuries the island remained under Venetian control.[7]
A few years after theFrench Revolution, the Ionian area came under the rule of theFirst French Republic (1797–1798), and the island became the honorary capital of theFrenchdépartement ofIthaque, comprising Cephalonia, Lefkada, and part of the mainland (the prefecture was atArgostoli on Kefalonia).
The population welcomed the French, who took care in the control of the administrative and judicial systems, but later the heavy taxation they demanded caused a feeling of indignation among the people. During this short historical period, the new ideas of system and social structure greatly influenced the inhabitants of the island. At the end of 1798, the French were succeeded byRussia and Turkey (1798–1807), which were allies at that time. Corfu became the capital of theSeptinsular Republic, and the form of government was democratic, with a fourteen-member senate in which Ithaca had one representative.
The Ithacan fleet flourished when it was allowed to carry cargo up to the ports of theBlack Sea. In 1807, according to theTreaties of Tilsit with Turkey, the Ionian Islands once again came under French rule (1807–1809 AD). The French quickly began preparing to face the British fleet, which had become very powerful, by building a fort in Vathy.
Flag of the United States of the Ionian Islands (1815 to 1864).
In 1809 Great Britain mounted a blockade on the Ionian Islands as part of thewar against Napoleon, and in September of that year they hoisted the British flag above the castle of Zakynthos. Cephalonia and Ithaca soon surrendered, and the British installed provisional governments. TheTreaty of Paris (1815) recognised theUnited States of the Ionian Islands and decreed that it become a British protectorate. ColonelCharles Philippe de Bosset became provisional governor between 1810 and 1814.[8]
A few years laterGreek nationalist groups started to form. Although their energy in the early years was directed to supporting their fellow Greek revolutionaries in therevolution against the Ottoman Empire, they switched their focus toenosis with Greece following their independence. TheParty of Radicals (Greek: Κόμμα των Ριζοσπαστών) founded in 1848 as a pro-enosis political party. In September 1848, there were skirmishes with theBritish garrison inArgostoli andLixouri onKefalonia, which led to a certain level relaxation in the enforcement of the protectorates laws, andfreedom of the press as well. The island's populace did not hide their growing demands for enosis, and newspapers on the islands frequently published articles criticising British policies in the protectorate. On the 15th of August in 1849, another rebellion broke out, which was quashed byHenry George Ward, who proceeded to temporarily imposemartial law.[9]
During the British protectorate period prominent citizens of Ithaki participated in the secret "Philiki Etairia" which was instrumental in organizing the Greek Revolution of 1821 against Turkish rule, and Greek fighters found refuge there. In addition, the participation of Ithacans during the siege ofMessolongi and the naval battles against Ottoman ships on the Black Sea and theDanube was significant.[citation needed]
Ithaca was annexed to theGreek Kingdom with the rest of the Ionian islands in 1864.[3]
Since antiquity, Ithaca has been identified as the home of the mythological heroOdysseus. In theOdyssey of Homer, Ithaca is described thus
...dwell in clear-seen Ithaca, wherein is a mountain, Neriton, covered with waving forests, conspicuous from afar; and round it lie many isles hard by one another, Dulichium, and Same, and wooded Zacynthus. Ithaca itself lies close in to the mainland the furthest toward the gloom, but the others lie apart toward the Dawn and the sun—a rugged isle, but a good nurse of young men[10]
It has sometimes been argued that this description does not match the topography of modern Ithaca. Three features of the description have been seen as especially problematic. First, Ithaca is described as "low-lying" (χθαμαλή), but Ithaca is mountainous. Second, the words "farthest out to sea, towards the sunset" (πανυπερτάτη εἰν ἁλὶ ... πρὸς ζόφον) are usually interpreted to mean that Ithaca must be the island furthest to the west, but Kefalonia lies to the west of Ithaca. Lastly, it is unclear which modern islands correspond to Homer'sDoulichion andSame.[5]
The Greek geographerStrabo, writing in the 1st century AD, identified Homer's Ithaca with modern Ithaca. Following earlier commentators, he interpreted the word translated above as "low-lying" to mean "close to the mainland", and the phrase translated as "farthest out to sea, towards the sunset" as meaning "farthest of all towards the north." Strabo identified Same as modern Kefalonia, and believed that Homer's Doulichion was one of the islands now known as theEchinades. Ithaca lies farther north than Kefalonia, Zacynthos, and the island that Strabo identified as Doulichion, consistent with the interpretation of Ithaca as being "farthest of all towards the north."
Strabo's explanation has not won universal acceptance. In the last few centuries, some scholars have argued that Homer's Ithaca was not modern Ithaca, but a different island.[11] Perhaps the best known proposal is that ofWilhelm Dörpfeld, who believed that the nearby island of Lefkada was Homer's Ithaca, whereasSame was the present-day Ithaca.[12][13]
It has also been suggested thatPaliki, the western peninsula of Kefalonia, is Homer's Ithaca. It has been argued that in Homeric times Paliki was separated from Kefalonia by a sea channel since closed up by earthquake-induced rockfalls.[14] However, no scientific review publications are available in support of this theory.[11] Indeed, scholars have found that "all the geological and geomorphological evidence refutes this hypothesis".[15]
Despite any difficulties with Homer's description of the island, in classical and Roman times the island now called "Ithaca" was universally held to be the home of Odysseus; the Hellenistic identifications of Homeric sites, such as the identifications ofLipari as the island ofAeolus, are usually taken with a grain of salt, and attributed to the ancient tourist trade.
TheSchool of Homer presented inThe geography and antiquities of Ithaca in 1806
The island has been known as Ithaca from an early date, as coins and inscriptions show. Coins from Ithaca frequently portray Odysseus, and an inscription from the 3rd century BC refers to a local hero-shrine of Odysseus and games called theOdysseia.[16] The Archaeological site of "School of Homer" on modern Ithaca is the only place in the Lefkas–Kefalonia–Ithaca Triangle whereLinear B inscriptions may have been found,[17] near royal remains. In 2010, Greek archaeologists discovered the remains of an 8th-century BC palace in the area of Agios Athanasios, leading to reports that this might have been the site of Odysseus's palace.[18][19]
Another archaeological feature on Ithaca is the so-called Polis Cave near Stavros in the north of the island.Heinrich Schliemann identified it as the cave that Odysseus visited on his return.Sylvia Benton, who carried out research in the cave in the 1930s, also interpreted her findings as an indication of a connection to Odysseus. However, as is now known, the site served as a place of worship for many centuries, from the beginning of the Bronze Age (Early Helladic) to the Roman period, without any clear connection to a possible life environment of Odysseus. Numerous votive offerings indicate that thenymphs in particular were the target of the ritual acts in the Polis cave.[20]
Modern scholars generally accept the identification of modern Ithaca with Homeric Ithaca,[21] and explain discrepancies between theOdyssey's description and the actual topography as the product of lack of first-hand knowledge of the island, or as poetic licence.[22]
View of northern Ithaca across the isthmus of Aethos
Ithaca lies east of the northeast coast of Cephalonia, from which it is separated by theStrait of Ithaca. The regional unit covers an area of 117.812 square kilometres (45.5 sq mi)[23] and has approximately 100 kilometres (62 miles) of coastline. The main island stretches in the north-south direction, in length of 23 km (14 miles) and maximum width of 6 km (4 miles). It consists of two parts, of about equal size, connected by the narrowisthmus of Aetos (Eagle), just 600 metres (1,969 feet) wide. The two parts enclose the bay of Molos, whose southern branch is the harbor of Vathy, the capital and largest settlement of the island. The second largest village isStavros in the northern part.[24]
Lazaretto Islet (orIsland of The Saviour) guards the harbor. The church of The Saviour and the remains of an oldgaol are located on the islet.[25]
The capes in the island include Exogi, the westernmost, Melissa to the north, Mavronos, Agios Ilias, Schinous, Sarakiniko and Agios Ioannis, to the east, and Agiou Andreou, to the south. Bays include Afales Bay to the northwest, Frikes andKioni Bays to the northeast,Molos Gulf to the east, and Ormos Gulf and Sarakiniko Bay to the southeast. The tallest mountain is Nirito in the northern part (806 m), followed by Merovigli (669 m) in the south.
The island Ithaca is part of the regional unit Ithaca, which is part of theIonian Islands region. The onlymunicipality of this regional unit is Ithaca.[26]Ithaca is the only populated island in this municipality, which contains several other islets.
^ Kalliopi Gaki-Papanastassiou, Hampik Maroukian, Efthymios Karymbalis, and Dimitris Papanastassiou, “Geomorphological study and paleogeographic evolution of NW Kefalonia Island, Greece, concerning the hypothesis of a possible location of the Homeric Ithaca,” inGeoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability, Geological Society of America, Special Paper 476, 2011, pp. 78-79
^Frank H. Stubbings, "Ithaca", in Wace and Stubbings, eds.,A Companion to Homer (New York, 1962).
^Litsa Kontorli-Papadopoulou, Thanasis Papadopoulos, Gareth Owens, “A possible Linear sign from Ithaki (AB09 ‘SE’)?”Kadmos, Band 44 (2005), pp. 183-186
^Deoudi, Maria (2008).Ithake: Die Polis-Höhle, Odysseus und die Nymphen [Ithake: The Polis Cave, Odysseus and the Nymphs]. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press,ISBN978-9-601-21695-9 (see also thereview of this work byJorrit Kelder).
Town and Harbour of Ithaca. an engraving by J Tingle of a painting byCharles Bentley for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837, with a poetical illustration byLetitia Elizabeth Landon that accepts Ithaca as the home of Ulysses: 'The glorious island where Ulysses was the king'.
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