about ithaki

HISTORY



Homer
The poet of Greece with the Ionic name, Homer was an actual person who lived towards the second half of the 8th Century BC. After the fourth century, many biographies were written of him, from which only about seven can still be seen today. These biographies though are a strange mixture of fact and imagination so it is not easy to know what Homer’s life was actually like. The older or ancient biographers refer to him as being blind. Art is inspired by his descriptions already from the seventh century. Many leaders were inspired by him and it is thought that Alexander the Great used to sleep with the Iliad under his pillow.


ULYSSES

The life of Ulysses:

Odysseus was son of Laerti and Antilkeia. His name means “terrible in rage” and was given to him by his grandfather, Aftolikos. He stood out from a young age due to his good looks, his wit, his physical strength and his bravery. As he was growing up, his knowledge enriched his wisdom and his rhetorical capabilities. He had also become a very strong and invincible athlete.
He acquired his wife Penelope, daughter of Ikaros, by winning her other suitors in a street race. Together they had Tilemahos. When his father Laertis saw his son’s many capabilities he handed over the throne to Ulysses for the good of the island.
Ulysses played a significant role in Trojan War. Only after ten years of siege did the Trojan horse, which was his idea, manage to break through the gates of Troy. It was on his way home that he lived through all of the adventure that Homer describes.



Ulysses’ wanderings

For ten whole years the King of Ithaki wandered the Mediterranean Sea and reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean.
He fist arrived on the beach of Thraki (Thrace), the land of the ‘Kikonon’, where many of his crew was lost.
From there, the strong Northerly winds brought him to the land of the ‘Lotophagon’ (the beach of West Libya), from where he quickly left because the magic lotus were making his crew forget about their homes.
He arrived at the land of the Cyclops, where the giant, ‘Polyphemus’ ate six of his crew and where the only reason he escaped once again was his smartness. Not befor taking revenge for the death of his six friend sand leaving the Cyclops blind.
Then the waves washed him onto the island of ‘Aiolos’, who offered him a sfae return home, closing all the inconvenient winds in a sack. Despite this, when they neared Ithaki his crew opened the sack out of curiosity and the winds that came out swept them away to the land of the man eaters ‘Anthropofagoi’. From the many ships that made up the fleet, only one was able to escape the island and on this ship he reached the island of ‘Kirki’. He stayed here for a year, enchanted be her beauty. With Kirki’s help, Ulysses managed to travel to the under world where he met the prophet, ‘Tiresias’ who told him about his future.
He then passed the island of the ‘Sirines’ where he escaped by blocking his and his crews’ ears with wax so that they wouldn’t succumb to the hypnotizing singing of the sirens. He narrowly escaped the ‘Sibligades’, huge rocks. He then passed through the straits of ‘Skilla’ and ‘Xarivdi’ (Italy and Sicily), where he lost another six companions.On the island of the sun which was his next stop, his companions accidentally killed the holy cows and the God of the Sun caused a huge storm and destroyed their ship with a bolt of lightning. Only Ulysses survived and managed to swim to the island of ‘Kalypso’, ‘Ogigia’. The beautiful nymph took care of him and kept him with her for seven years. In the end though, she let him return to Ithaki. He built a raft and left Ogygia on that.After many days of wrestling with the waves he reached the island of the ‘Faiakon’(Corfu), where he enjoyed King “Alkinoos’” hospitality. He finally reached Ithaki around 1174 after twenty years of adventures.
But the problems had only just begun for Ulysses. Countless suitors had taken over the palace hoping to marry Penelope as they were sure Ulysses would not return. Ulysses knew all this from Tiresia and so dressed as a beggar, he went to the palace where he killed all the suitors and lived happily until well into his old age.
According to myths outside of Homer’s writings, Ulysses was killed by ‘Tilegonos’, his son with Kirki, who arrived on the island looking for him. Homer only talks about Tiresias prophecy which said that Ulysses would live happily until his old age.
Finally, we know that Ulysses was worshiped as a semi God in Ithaki. This is evident on the piece of clay that has been found which is inscribed with the words “ΕΥΧΗΝ ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙ» which is loosely translated to wish/prayer to Ulysses.