Fragment of a tile stamped with part of the name "Odysseus"Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports
Posted on 06/19/2025 11:09:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In Homer's epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Greek hero Odysseus hails from the island of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea. Greek City Times reports that archaeological work conducted by a team from the University of Ioannina has uncovered further evidence of the Trojan War warrior's association with the island. The recent excavations occurred near the village of Exogi at the site of Agios Athanasios, often referred to as the "School of Homer." Archaeologists uncovered significant evidence of a major Mycenaean Age settlement there dating to the fourteenth or thirteenth century b.c., the supposed era in which the mythological Odysseus lived. This included a huge underground cistern constructed from monolithic blocks. The settlement was likely part of a network of seven or eight Mycenaean sites that formed the core of the island's Bronze Age urban landscape. Even more significant, however, was the discovery of tiles stamped with Odysseus' name as well as a small bronze bust of the king himself. Scholars now believe these came from an Odysseion, a sanctuary dedicated to his hero cult worship, which was not only popular among local Ithacans during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods but also for pilgrims across the Mediterranean. To read about a brick inscribed with an excerpt from the Odyssey, go to "Epic Find," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2018.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Fragment of a tile stamped with part of the name "Odysseus"Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports
So Ulysses was a real person?
“Homer’s epic poems”...fascinating. Wow! Thanks, ‘civ.
Great post. Thanks.
Thanks, my pleasure!
This Odysseion dates from much later times, iow, it’s only evidence of the existence of the epic, rather than of the person.
My pleasure.
The Samuel Butler keyword, sorted:
BTW, nice additional pics at the “Greek Reporter” source article, linked above.
As far as I know the only Bronze Age figure known from Greek mythology whose existence has been confirmed is the very minor character Mopsos of Crete, after whom Mopsuestia is named. (Mopsuestia gets some attention in early Medieval history because of its controversial bishop Theodore who died in 428.)
Thanks VR. It would be nice to find any literary text in Linear B.
Very true. Contemporary rulers in Egypt and elsewhere created monuments boasting of their achievements (even though few of their subjects could read) but the Mycenaean and Minoan rulers never did. We have one Hittite text referring to the ruler of "Achaia" but it fails to give his name. The Minoans were in contact with Egypt and are even depicted in Egyptian art, but they don't mention any rulers' names either.
It seems likely that Mycenaean archives were generally kept in Linear B (as at the “palace of Nestor”), but if they had diplomatic correspondence, it would have been in cuneiform, as even the Egyptians had. It would be nice if at some point one were found.
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