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ITHACA ('IeaK77)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 85 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ITHACA ('IeaK77) , vulgarly Thiaki (Wan), next to Paxo the smallest of the seven Ionian Islands, with an See also:area of about 44 sq. m. It forms an eparchy.of the nomos of See also:Cephalonia in the See also:kingdom of See also:Greece, and its See also:population, which was 9873 in 187o, is now about 13,000. The See also:island consists of two See also:mountain masses, connected by a narrow See also:isthmus of hills, and separated by a wide inlet of the See also:sea known as the Gulf of Molo. The See also:northern and greater See also:mass culminates in the heights of Anoi (265o ft.), and the See also:southern in Hagios Stephanos, or See also:Mount Merovigli (2100 ft.). Vathy (BaBv=" deep "), the See also:chief See also:town and See also:port of the island, lies at the northern See also:foot of Mount Stephanos, its whitewashed houses stretching for about a mile See also:round the deep See also:bay in the Gulf of Molo, to which it owes its name. As there are only one or two small stretches of arable See also:land in Ithaca, the inhabitants are dependent on See also:commerce for their See also:grain See also:supply; and See also:olive oil, See also:wine and currants are the See also:principal products obtained by the cultivation of the thin stratum of See also:soil that covers the calcareous rocks. Goats are fed in considerable number on the brushwood pasture of the hills; and See also:hares (in spite of See also:Aristotle's supposed assertion of their See also:absence) are exceptionally abundant. The island is divided into four districts: Vathy, Aeto (or See also:Eagle's Cliff), Anoge (Anoi) or Upland, and Exoge (Exoi) or Outland. The name has remained attached to the island from the earliest See also:historical times with but little interruption of the tradition; though in See also:Brompton's travels (12th See also:century) and in the old Venetian maps we find it called Fale or Val de Compar, and at a later date it not unfrequently appears as Little Cephalonia. This last name indicates the See also:general See also:character of Ithacan See also:history (if history it can be called) in See also:modern and indeed in See also:ancient times; for the fame of the island is almost solely due to its position in the Homeric See also:story of See also:Odysseus. Ithaca, according to the Homeric epos, was the royal seat and See also:residence of See also:King Odysseus. The island is incidentally described with no small variety of detail, picturesque and topographical; the Homeric localities for which counterparts have been sought are Mount Neritos, Mount Neion, the See also:harbour of Phorcys, the town and See also:palace of Odysseus, the See also:fountain of See also:Arethusa, the See also:cave of the Naiads, the stalls of the swineherd Eumaeus, the See also:orchard of Laertes, the Korax or See also:Raven Cliff and the island Asteris, where the suitors See also:lay in See also:ambush for See also:Telemachus.

Among the " identificationists there are two See also:

schools, one placing the town at Polis on the See also:west See also:coast in the northern See also:half of the island (See also:Leake, See also:Gladstone, &c.), and the other at Aeto on the isthmus. The latter site, which was advocated by See also:Sir See also:William See also:Gell (See also:Topography and Antiquities of Ithaca, See also:London, 1807), was supported by Dr H. See also:Schliemann, who carried on excavations in 1873 and 1878 (see H. Schliemann, Ithaque, le Peloponnese, Troie, See also:Paris, 1869, also published in See also:German; his See also:letter to The Times, 26th of See also:September, 1878; and the author's See also:life prefixed to Ilios, London, 188o). But his results were mainly negative. The fact is that no amount of ingenuity can reconcile the descriptions given in the Odyssey with the actual topography of this island. Above all, the passage in which the position of Ithaca is described offers See also:great difficulties. " Now Ithaca lies See also:low, farthest up the sea See also:line towards the darkness, but those others See also:face the dawning and the See also:sun " (See also:Butcher and See also:Lang). Such a passage fits very See also:ill an island lying, as Ithaca does, just to the See also:east of Cephalonia. Accordingly See also:Professor W. Dorpfeld has suggested that the Homeric Ithaca is not the island which was called Ithaca by the later Greeks, but must be identified with Leucas (See also:Santa Maura, q.v.). He succeeds in fitting the Homeric topography to this latter island, and suggests that the name may have been transferred in See also:con-sequence of a See also:migration of the inhabitants.

There is no doubt that Leucas fits the Homeric descriptions much better than Ithaca; but, on the other See also:

hand, many scholars maintain that it is a See also:mistake to treat the imaginary descriptions of a poet as if they were portions of a See also:guide-See also:book, or to look, in the author of the Odyssey, for a See also:close familiarity with the See also:geography of the Ionian islands. See, besides the See also:works already referred to, the See also:separate works on Ithaca by See also:Schreiber (See also:Leipzig, 1829); Riihle von Lilienstern (See also:Berlin, 1832) ; N. Karavias Grivas ('Ioropia r;~s vit rov 'I06.hns) (See also:Athens, 1849) ; See also:Bowen (London, 1851) ; and Gandar, (Paris, 1854) ; Hercher, in See also:Hermes (1866) ; Leake's Northern Greece; See also:Mure's Tour in Greece; See also:Bursian's Geogr. von Griechenland; Gladstone, " The Dominions of Ulysses," in See also:Macmillan's See also:Magazine (1877) A history of the discussions will be found in See also:Buchholz, See also:Die Homerischen Realien (Leipzig, 1871) ; Partsch, Kephallenia and Ithaka (189o) ; W. Dorpfeld in Melanges See also:Perrot, pp. 79-93 (1903); P. Goessler, Leukas-Ithaka (See also:Stuttgart, 1904). (E.

End of Article: ITHACA ('IeaK77)

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