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THE QUEST FOR
HOMER’S ITHAKA
By
Dr. Carolyn Pararas-Carayannis
INTRODUCTION
In
early September 2007, my husband George and I embarked on an adventurous,
8,344 mile journey
from Honolulu, Hawaii to
Athens, Greece. As
soon as we recovered from jet lag, we drove from the city of
Athens to the city of Patras on Peloponnese and continued south
along the west coast until we came to the bustling, small port town of Kimili.
From there we took the ferry to the island
of Kefalonia.
Our quest was to determine, on a cursory scale, whether, as some scientists have proposed recently, the peninsula of Paliki on the Ionian Sea island of Kefalonia may really be the land mass of ancient Ithaki (Ithaca), the island that Homer described so poignantly in his writings. Researchers suggest that the land mass of present-day Ithaca may be the 'lost' island of Doulichion and that "true" Ithaca is the present peninsula of Paliki on Kefalonia, which in ancient times was separated by a postulated isthmus, thus forming a separate island.
George and I wanted to check the geomorphology of the island of Kefalonia and try to reconcile Homer’s description of ancient Ithaca and of the site of Ulysses’ palace, which do not match the geomorphology of present day Ithaca and since no palace has been found that resembles the description in the Odyssey. Also, George wanted to check on evidence that would support that indeed a giant rockfall may have closed the site of the postulated isthmus at Thinia valley.
After
we reached Kefalonia and checked in at
a hotel in Poros for the night, we examined our
maps and prepared for our extensive searches.
In the next few days, we spend a great deal of our time driving
everywhere on the island, up on its high mountains
and along its
cliffy coasts. We searched for elevated beaches, we examined
rock formations, we looked for landslides, rock falls and geological
faults, we explored
underground caves
and searched
for
any evidence we could find
of tectonic uplift or subsidence of the
island. We drove for miles and miles to most of the remote areas
of the island
looking for such geological evidence. Our
subsequent experiences were extremely rewarding and we were very
happy with what we found. The following is a brief, anecdotal
description of
our quest for Homer's Ithaca and the friends we made during our
travels.
We plan to revisit the island and further expand
the search. Also, George will try to summarize our findings
in a more scientific manner.
The Paliki Hypothesis
In the first century B.C., the geographer Strabo wrote a 17-volume work called
Geography, which includes geographical descriptions of locations around
the Mediterranean. He wrote that Kefalonia included “an isthmus
so low-lying that it is often submerged” by the sea “where
the island is narrowest”. Today, some scientists suggest that Kefalonia
may once have been split in two at the point where its Paliki headland
joins the northwestern section
of the main island (see maps). This separation indeed would create a separate,
low-lying island to its west, presumed to be ancient Ithaca, and a narrow
sea channel
between the two landmasses. Extensive geological testing of the Thinia
valley at Paliki and the location of the postulated isthmus, has shown
that it is possible that 3,000+ years ago, Paliki, and the rest of Kefalonia,
could have been, indeed, two separate islands.
Today
the postulated isthmus at Thinia Valley rises to about 180 meters (600
feet) above sea level. This means that either the land mass has risen
and/or
that the shallow, postulated channel filled over the last 3,000+ years.
Since tectonic forces alone cannot account for the valley’s elevation
in just three millennia, researchers have suggested that the valley filled-in
with rubble from landslides
and debris
flows caused by catastrophic earthquakes and
rock-falls and - so we searched for such geological evidence.
The Ionian Islands lie in one of the most tectonically active parts
of the world and Kefalonia is just east of a triple-point junction
in the Ionian
Sea.
There, the African and Eurasian tectonic plates abut and subduct the
Aegean subplate, a fractured portion of the Anatolian plate. These
dynamic interactions
produce tensions in the earth’s crust that result in frequent,
strike-slip, lateral-force earthquakes, powerful up-thrust earthquakes,
disastrous rock-falls
and landslides.
During the past two years (2006, 2007), Robert Bittlestone, a researcher,
economist and author of “Odysseus Unbound: In Search of Homer’s
Ithaca”, and John Underhill, a geologist from Edinburgh University
and their team of experts, have had promising preliminary study findings
that support
their Paliki hypothesis. Their results of dating of microscopic
marine fossils in the borehole sediments of the Thinia Valley isthmus
showed that
the top 40 meters of the borehole were all "very young, reworked,
slumped landslide material” - in other words, it was all filled-in
material. Additionally, previous study results by his group have
identified a fault
running through the valley and also confirmed the possibility that
this valley was once a sea channel. Data acquired by their
seismic
surveys indicates what
looks to be like a buried channel, exactly where it would be expected.
Additionally, analysis of sea level rise and fall in the region
matches the timing
of the valley's submergence and relative uplift.
Bittlestone,
Underhill and their team will continue their investigations at the Thinia
Valley isthmus. Their theory predicts that local landslides
and rockfalls closed the isthmus - and the coastal areas that
resemble now a low-lying marshland with evidence of occasional marine
inundation.
The
rockfall
that presumably filled
up the isthmus could have been caused by a great earthquake as that
of 365 A.D. in the region - which
uplifted western Crete by 9 meters (30 feet) and
also generated a destructive tsunami that impacted much of the eastern
Mediterranean
basin. The
next phase of their research (2008-2012) will be full-scale, geological
and archeological investigations in the area, including
excavation
of ancient sites.
Interesting, huh. So what did we find?
Map of Kefalonia: note the western blip of land that
is part of Kefalonia (hanging just over the “K”. That is Paliki – the
area of Kefalonia that some scientists believe was ancient Ithaca. Also seen
on this
map is the location of present day Ithaca.
Map Kefalonia: Northwestern tip is the landmass of Paliki (not labeled). Recent fruitful scientific, geological investigations have taken place on the isthmus connecting the landmass of Paliki with the main landmass of northern Kefalonia.
What We Found
After driving all over the island and visiting the sites where the
recent geological investigations had taken place, we returned to
the town of
Poros where we were staying. The town consists of a main port for
ferry service,
about two blocks of stores, a row of waterfront taverns and a few
blocks of houses.
We were getting ready to leave the island and George went to settle
our account in the office of the hotel where we were staying. In
the office he
saw a book entitled “Homer’s
Ithaca”. George wanted to buy the book from the proprietor
but she did not want to sell her copy and told us we could get
it in the bookstore,
just down the street. So, on the way to the ferry (we had quite
a few hours to kill) we stopped by the bookstore to get the book.
Well, to make a long
story short – the author of the book happened to be in the
bookstore and refused to let George buy one. Rather, we followed
him down the street
to his place and he gave us one of his copies, no charge. So, what’s
the significance of this?
Well,
it turns out that this gentleman had been also the governor of the Ionian
island group and former mayor of Poros. His name was Gerasimos Metaxas
and had discovered
two archaeological finds just outside the town of Poros. Gerasimos’s
sons are archaeologists and helped with the dig. Artifacts and
bodies from the finds were Mycenaean and dated circa 1300-1100bc
(which includes Odysseus’ era). With plenty of time until
the ferry arrived, we decided to visit these sites.
Gerasimos Metaxas & George outside of the entrance to the royal burial chamber – Poros, Kefalonia 2007. Note the shirts, pants, beards, hair color, smiles and stance (not planned).
The first was a family burial site located underground inside a
knoll, just outside of the town of Poros. The various artifacts
and jewelry
found with
the bodies at the site confirmed that the inhabitants of this
burial chamber were of royalty. A second chamber, located
directly below
the upper one,
housed an earlier generation of the royal family. All antiquities
are currently displayed in the archeological museum of Argostoli
(on Kefalonia) – which
we visited.
The second site was the palace site. It was about an hour’s hike
up and sat on top of a mountain, just adjacent to the burial area. Unfortunately,
we did not do the hike – we were not properly prepared.
It would have been like riding class three rapids in a rowboat.
The
earth was wet and slippery,
and
the climb required the knowledge of someone who had been there
before. What a rush! we would have really enjoyed doing the
climb. But, unfortunately,
we had to suppress all seeping adrenalin and wait for a more
appropriate time.
Entrance into the upper floor of the burial chambers
The chamber on the upper-most floor held three bodies. #1. At the top of the photo there is a wall that is shaped like a “C”. Inside the cavity a body was found in a sitting position. #2 Just below that is another, longer shaped wall. In that cavity, a body was found in a lying position. #3. The last cavity is partially shown in the lower left corner of the photo. The last body in that particular chamber was found there in a lying position. If you look closely (use a magnifying glass) inside the whole you can see a well-built, stone staircase (circa 1300-1100 b.c.), which leads to the lower (and final) royal burial chamber below.
George
and I inside the upper most section of the burial chamber – still
located underground. Note the stones around the chamber
circa 1300-1100 B.C., Mycenaean
The
Beach, the Greek Coffee, the Goats and the Massive Land Upheavals
After our visit to the archeological sites we decided to wait
out the rest of our time on the beach until the ferry arrived.
We made
some
coffee, kicked
back on the deserted beach and watched the waves roll onto
the shore. Romantic? I would think so except for the fact
we turned
around to
look at the cliffs
behind us. Suddenly, George - the Sherlock Holmes that
he is - got up to look closer at the geology of the cliffs
and realized
that
the cliffs
behind
us were actually massive upheavals of land due to powerful
crustal up thrusts, the type of earthquakes, which are
so common
here.
From what
we could determine
the land rose about 10 meters over the centuries. This
means the
present town of Poros must have been under water and the
archeological sites we had just
visited (5 minute drive inland from Poros) must have been
located right by a body of water,
and not inland as they are now.
A quite moment of reflection for George sitting on the seabed of 10,000 years ago – waiting for the Greek coffee to boil and to get the energy to continue - Just before our geological expedition to the cliffs behind us.
Remember Robert Bittlestone’s project taking place on at the northern
part of the island, at Paliki. Well, his team’s
estimate of land up-thrust, around the Thinia Valley
isthmus area, was also estimated to be 6 meters while
ours on the east coast was more than ten meters. This
means that it is very
likely that events, such as the 365 AD earthquake which
had its epicenter on the Hellenic arc, initiated
crustal adjustments so powerful that they
the entire island was thrusted up,out
of the sea and that the harbor that Odysseus (Ulysses)
used was the inland valley that
we
had visited. Homer’s description
in the original Greek text matched the geomorphology
of this region. George read over and over Homer’s
initial description and we took lots of photographs
of the rocky promontories that marked the old harbor’s
entrance.
Ok, Ok, now don’t get impatient. We realize we didn’t
get to the story about the goats yet. But here it is…
Suddenly, about 50 goats came running down the mountain to the beach where we were. The best we could figure - it was chow time. They are like little eating machines (we guess we have something in common) of forage all over. As long as you don’t try competing by tasting any of the new, green shoots on the bushes they are quite docile and friendly.
Somebody must have rang the dinner bell cause here they come to keep George company on the deserted beach.
George:
pointing to sea bottom strata in an uplifted section of land.
Poros Beach, Kefalonia Greece 2007
Well, that ends our story on the island of Kefalonia for time being. Bittlestone
and his team may be right for certain geological
events that have taken
place
on the
island.
It remains to be seen if their postulated premise on the Isthmus is correct.
George has already communicated by email with Robert Bittlestone,
the author of "Odysseus Unbound" about the possible rockfall
at Thinia Valley, which may be of the same character as the 1958 Lituya
Bay (Alaska)
rockfall about which George has written and published (see http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1958LituyaB.html )
As of now, the geologic evidence we collected in our survey indicates a somewhat different scenario regarding Homer’s Ithaca and the location where Ulysess palace's may have been. George, through his good understanding of geology and tectonics of the region and his scientific deductive manner, intends to shed light on the riddle posed in Homer's poetic works. Also, George's good command of Ancient Greek should help decipher some of Homer's passages in the Iliad and the Odyssey about Ithaca, that perhaps were overlooked. Also, we look forward to the completion of the research by the team of Bittlestone and Underhill for more geological evidence.
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