Posted on 03/27/2007 3:15:17 PM PDT by blam
Engineers to help find Homer's Ithaca
Derek Gatopoulous, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 26, 11:02 PM ET
ATHENS, Greece - A geological engineering company said Monday it has agreed to help in an archaeological project to find the island of Ithaca, homeland of Homer's legendary hero Odysseus. It has long been thought that the island of Ithaki in the Ionian Sea was the island Homer used as a setting for the epic poem "The Odyssey," in which the king Odysseus makes a perilous 10-year journey home from the Trojan War.
But amateur British archaeologist Robert Bittlestone believes the Ithaca of Homer is no longer a separate island but became attached to the island of Kefallonia through rock displacement caused by earthquakes. The theory could explain inconsistencies between Ithaki and Homer's description of Odysseus' island.
"Because no one has ever been able to find Ithaca, people felt the Odyssey was like a Lord of the Rings story," Bittlestone said in an interview. "This would say Ithaca was a real place — it doesn't say Odysseus was a real person, that's another jump."
The Dutch-based engineering services company, Fugro Group, will use high-tech surveying equipment normally used in oil-and-gas exploration for the Ithaca project, due to start this summer and last about three years. The Greek Geological Society is also sponsoring the research.
"The technology will be very varied and that attracted Fugro to this," said Steve Thompson director of airborne survey at Fugro. "It's unusual to be faced with a problem where you can apply the broad range of services that we have."
"We're all secretly hoping the thesis is true," he added. "But we are approaching this is in a very scientific way."
To test the theory, engineers and geologists will examine rock where Bittlestone believes a narrow sea channel once existed, possibly separating Kefallonia from a flat peninsula called Paliki. They hope to discover whether it is made of solid rock or debris, which would suggest Paliki was once an island.
Homer describes Ithaca as low-lying and "furthest to the sea" — but Ithaki is mountainous and is not the outermost Ionian island. Paliki, on the other hand, is generally flat and could theoretically have been the outermost island.
Kefallonia lies in a seismically active area, and was rattled Sunday by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake, followed by scores of aftershocks Monday.
Thompson said the company would sink sensors into bore holes, and likely follow up with sonar analysis of the seabed, as well as using material detectors that dangle from a helicopter and undersea sensors dragged through the water by ship.
Bittlestone, a management consultant, said he came up with the theory while reading up for a Greek holiday in 2003 and gained support from two British academics who help attract archaeologists to excavate in Paliki.
The academics — James Diggle, a professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University, and John Underhill, an Edinburgh University professor of stratigraphy — co-authored a book with Bittlestone about his hypothesis, "Odysseus Unbound — The Search for Homer's Ithaca."
GGG Ping.
thanks for the ping.
interesting.
The Island of Evil?
Is this related to the current project to find Homer's Springfield?
Engineers To Help Find Homer's Itacha...
Itacha?
You Betcha!!
(just kidding.) =)
Maybe Homer's blindness played a part.
drawn from the Homer keyword:
Who Killed Homer?
Stanford Magazine | 1998 | John Heath and Victor Davis Hanson
Posted on 09/26/2002 10:34:04 PM EDT by cornelis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/758072/posts
Was Troy a Metropolis? Homer Isn't Talking
New York Times | October 22, 2002 | John Noble Wilford
Posted on 10/22/2002 1:13:37 AM EDT by LostTribe
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/773471/posts
Geologists Show Homer Got It Right
Nature | 1-29-2003 | Philip Ball
Posted on 01/29/2003 7:58:53 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/832119/posts
Geologists investigate Trojan battlefield
BBC NEWS | 02/07/03 | N/A
Posted on 02/08/2003 12:52:05 AM EST by TigerLikesRooster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/838508/posts
Cyclops Myth Spurred by "One-Eyed" Fossils?
National Geographic News | February 5, 2003 | Hillary Mayell
Posted on 08/11/2004 1:57:41 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1189188/posts
Archeologists make historic discovery (Tomb of Odysseus)
The Madera Tribune | 8/27/05 | Thomas Elias
Posted on 09/23/2005 10:37:53 PM EDT by wagglebee
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1490367/posts
Search Locates Homer's Ithaca
BBC | 9-29-2005
Posted on 09/29/2005 4:52:09 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1493777/posts
Ancient coffin with scenes from Homer's poems unearthed in Cyprus
Associated Press via Canoe | March 20, 2006
Posted on 03/20/2006 1:31:31 PM EST by Daralundy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1599709/posts
Palace Of Homer's Hero Rises Out Of Myths
The Times (UK) | 3-28-2006 | John Carr
Posted on 03/28/2006 1:59:23 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1604800/posts
An epic battle on Homer's gender
The Australian | July 03, 2006 | Dalya Alberge (The London Times)
Posted on 07/02/2006 10:46:38 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1659530/posts
Drill hole begins Homeric quest
BBC News | Wednesday, 11 October 2006 | Jonathan Amos
Posted on 10/11/2006 12:53:43 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1717536/posts
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Ithaca is in New York which is not that far from Springfield if you take the I95.
From what I hear, it's pretty far from the rest of the country, though...
In Homer's day, which is before writing, nobody said anything unless it was in poetic form. Prose didn't get going until much later.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.