A Sign That Something's Wrong

 

Photo©Nigel Summerley

Pictured above is the new sign that has appeared at the entrance to the most remarkable site on Ithaca... 

It's difficult to believe this is how the authorities are promoting a place that was described by Homer as the Palace of Odysseus – and unequivocally confirmed as such in recent times by the esteemed archaeologist Thanasis Papadopoulos, who studied the extensive Mycenaean remains here.

There's a further "explanatory" sign nearby (pictured below), which conveys precisely nothing – apart from labelling the site as Agios Athanasios (the name of the latterday church on the site which had absolutely no connection with Odysseus, apart from employing building material purloined from the much older palace).

The epic The Odyssey was arguably one of the greatest stories ever told and the foundation of western literature... Does Ithaca care nothing for the fact it has a site of such huge cultural significance crumbling away in a neglected corner of the island?

It is certainly not caring for the site, which lost vital coverings in a hurricane three years ago.

Nor is it providing any real information for curious visitors to the site, who can end up wandering about, not knowing what they are looking at.

The architect Dimitris Skirgiannis produced beautiful and detailed representations of what the Palace of Odysseus probably looked like, based on the work of archaeologist Litsa Kontorli-Papadopoulou. These drawings could be reproduced at the site, with a key to all the relevant locations there. This would cost almost nothing.

Meanwhile, it is left to the excellent exhibition set up by – and thanks to the passion of – Dimitris Paizis-Danias, in the nearby village of Stavros, to lay out in detail why this site is so important and why it is so clearly linked to the times and the tales of Odysseus.

Anyone with a serious interest in the remarkable legacy that Ithaca seems to be doing its best to ignore should read Papadopoulos's testament, The Excavation at Agios Athansios, which is now available on Amazon.

It would be rather good if the powers-that-be took a look at it too...

Back To The Palace

Stairway to Penelope's place   Photo©Nigel Summerley

 

Something magical always seems to happen whenever I visit the remains of the Palace of Odysseus on Ithaca.

This time I was at the apparently deserted site with friend, colleague and author Jane Cochrane.

While she disappeared up into the higher reaches of the ruins, I sat half-meditating in the remains of the megaron, the main hall, where Homer set Odysseus's bloody massacre of the suitors of his wife, Penelope.

After a while I took the ancient stairway that would have led up to the quarters of Penelope and her women. As I turned to look back down into the main hall, a young woman appeared, also apparently taking in the atmosphere of the place. 

I returned to the megaron to say hello and asked her if she knew much about the site. No, she said, but she wanted to. She had picked up on the powerful energy of the palace.

I gave her a verbal guided tour from Homer to the present day, and told her how I had worked with Jane on the hiking guidebook Walking In The Footsteps Of Odysseus.

I wanted to introduce her to Jane but she was still nowhere to be seen, and the Dutch visitor explained that she had to leave soon to catch a boat.

I gave her Jane's contact details, and the following day she was in touch to say that she had bought Odysseus' Island (prequel to Walking In The Footsteps), was really enjoying it, and was sure she would return to Ithaca – because she had drunk from the spring of Kalamos.

That's the old belief: that those who drink that water will come back to the island.

I suddenly realised that on this, my third visit to Ithaca I had visited the spring but not drunk the water, so maybe I would never return again.

Then I remembered that Jane had filled up her water containers at the spring... and I had drunk numerous cups of tea made from it.

Does that count? I guess we'll see.

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – An Offering

 

Wall mosaic in Ithaca            Photo©Nigel Summerley

I recently shared with Jane Cochrane, author of the brilliant book Odysseus' Island, this picture of a mural I saw on Ithaca. The colours reminded me of Jane's own beautiful illustration for her book cover.

She tells me: "ΕΥΧΗΝ ΟΔYCCΕΙ apparently means 'an offering to Odysseus’. It is the message on the fragment of clay from an ancient mask found in Loizos’ Cave at Polis Bay, now in the Stavros Museum that is so often shut – as it was when you visited." 

I remember archaeologist Andronikos Sakkatos telling me when I met him at the site of Odysseus's Palace last October that Ithacans were accustomed to make an offering to Odysseus – their local hero – before setting off on a journey.

And I recall too that "ΕΥΧΗΝ ΟΔYCCΕΙ" was inscribed at the entrance to the apartment that I stayed in on Ithaca.

It is gratifying to know that Jane and Andronikos are now in touch with each other to look at the possibility of mutual support in helping to bring about improvements to the Palace site, near Stavros, in northern Ithaca.

So let this connection – and this picture – be another "offering to Odysseus"... for another successful journey...

Photo©Nigel Summerley

An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague – 15: After the Afterword

 

An important ingredient of any odyssey has to be encounters with formidable women... and mine led to meetings with many: the Crazy Shop Woman of Andros, Oraia Eleni of Syros, Kiria Kapou of Patra, Dr Aimilia Dmitropoulou, Frau Hegelberger of Terracina, the Bikini Cousins of Ponza, my dear friend Z of Latina, Anastasia of Ithaca... (all are featured in An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague)...

And now last, but definitely not least, comes the remarkable Jane Cochrane, who contacted me after reading my odyssey article in The Oldie magazine.

She is the widow of the late Alec Kazantzis; together, they bought and renovated a ruined house on Ithaca in the 1980s and Jane still spends time there each year.

Since her husband's death in 2014, she has continued their work of exploring Homeric Ithaca and relating sites and paths there to scenes from The Odyssey, including of course the Palace of Odysseus site, north of Stavros, which I visited at the end of my own odyssey.

There has been a certain amount of scepticism in the past about the identification of that site as the location of the Palace. And the neighbouring and much larger island of Kefalonia has done its best to hijack the Odysseus legend for its own PR purposes – even going as far as to establish an Odyssey theme park.

But Jane Cochrane has written a book, Odysseus' Island, chronicling not only her life on Ithaca but also an irresistible case for the island (and its Palace site) being the true home of Odysseus.

I thoroughly recommend this book – and so does the respected historian and writer David Horspool. 

Jane Cochrane did her research (and her footslogging on Ithaca) with seriousness and rigour. With the assistance of lauded classicist Professor Robin Lane Fox, she secured the help of eminent philologist and archaeologist Professor George Huxley. Now she has been able to comprehensively debunk the attempt of a few years ago to locate Homeric Ithaca on Kefalonia, and she has also consolidated the direct connections between Homer and modern Ithaca.

While Kefalonia has cashed in, Ithaca is strapped for funds (and so is the university that was carrying out work on the Palace site). Jane Cochrane now intends to campaign to raise money to continue the work there, protect the site, provide proper information for visitors, and bring together all the finds in a new, improved museum. 

She is also putting together a hiker's guide to Odyssean walks on Ithaca.

Of course I am now a devout follower of Odysseus and therefore biased, but I feel her cause is a vitally important one. Read her book and I think you will probably agree.

https://www.janeocochrane.co.uk