Odysseus from Odyssey wasn’t real, but he had real worshippers in ancient Ithaca
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Matt Damon in The Odyssey.
PHOTO: UIP
Franz Lidz
- Archaeologists discovered a 2,400-year-old sanctuary in Ithaca called the Odysseion, showing ancient worship of Odysseus and linking the Homeric epic to real cultural practices.
- Artifacts like coins, prayer vessels, and inscribed tiles indicate the site was a cosmopolitan hub with rituals possibly involving women venerating Penelope.
- Findings support the idea that ancient Greeks saw Odysseus as real and that modern Ithaca matches Homer’s Ithaca despite earlier geographical doubts.
AI generated
For nearly 3,000 years, Homer’s Odyssey has reigned as literature’s ultimate road trip.
It’s a sweeping tale of a displaced king who fights wrathful gods and sea monsters to reclaim his throne on the Ionian island of Ithaca.
