Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreeceGreek archaelogists discover Odysseus' palace in Ithaca

Greek archaelogists discover Odysseus' palace in Ithaca

Odysseus – known to the ancient Romans as Ulysses – famously took 10 years to return home to Ithaca after the fall of Troy.
On his journey, he was twice shipwrecked and encountered a cyclops, the spirit of his mother and tempting Sirens before returning to Ithaca, where he found his wife, Penelope, under pressure to remarry from a host of suitors who had invaded the royal palace.
With the help of his father, Laertes, and his son, Telemachus, he slaughtered his rivals and re-established his rule.
But despite the fantastical details in the Greek epic, a team of archaeologists has claimed the tale is anchored in truth – and that they have discovered his home on the island of Ithaca, in the Ionian sea off the north-west coast of Greece.
Nearly 3,000 years after Ulysses returned from his journey, two archaelogists from Ioannina, who have been  realizing excavations in the area of Agios Athanasios, on Ithaca island for 16 years,  say that there is serious evidence proving that they discovered the royal residence of Ulysses. As Thanassis Papadopoulos, professor – archaelogist in Ioannina University, underlined, they have discovered the remains of a three-storey building like the ones that have been discovered in Mycenae, Pylos and Tirintha(other famous cites). Furthermore, as Mr. Papadopoulos states, they have discovered as well a spring dated back to the 13th century BC , when Ulysses is believed to have lived. The location “fits like a glove” with Homer’s description, something that makes archaelogists certain for their assumption.
Mr. Papadopoulos is now asking for help from the part of society in order to continue the excavation and to proceed to a fencing of the area as many curious visitors go there on a daily basis. Ithaca’s mayor, Spirus Arsenis, underlined that ” this is one of the most important discoveries in modern archaelogy and for Greece as well, because Ulysses, is a figurative person for the global community, as everybody gets to know him at school, through Homer’s epics.”
The Greek Ministry of Culture has not released any official reports yet concerning the discovery. However, if the archaelogical team proves right, then they will have proved that the mythic figure known around the globe, was truth and not fiction!

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts