THE EVENT

Describing his homeland, Homer’s Odysseus famously says that Ithaka is one of a group of islands but that it lies ‘last of all on the water toward the dark while the rest face the Sun.’ These few words have ignited a long-running controversy since ancient times because, in the real-world geography of the Ionian islands, it is Kefalonia not Ithaka that lies to the west ‘toward the dark.’ TICKETS HERE

Some scholars think that the names have been confused over time and that Kefalonia was Homer’s Ithaka. And Kefalonia is not the only candidate – Lefkada, Sicily or even south-west Spain have also been proposed. But archaeology suggests that Ithaka is indeed Ithaka. The discovery of valuable and prestigious items in a collapsed cave in northern Ithaka show that this small island was the site of an Odysseus cult from the early Iron Age onwards, that is from around 900 BCE, before the Odyssey as we know it was even composed! 

THE SPEAKER

This lecture will consider the archaeological evidence, as well as Dr Heather Sebo’s personal observations of the correspondences between the landscapes of Ithaka and descriptions in Homer’s Odyssey.

TICKETS

TICKETS HERE

$40 Full

$35 Concession

$100 Festival pass – full price

$90 Festival pass – concession

$80 Festival pass – Humanities 21 member

CLICK HERE to view the full program of the Festival of Homer.