People have been searching for or theorizing about Homeric Ithaca for over two millenia and there is still no clear consensus in the academic world. Yes, there was a civilization that initially created the Odyssey myth well before it became an epic, but was that civilization ever called Ithaca? We will never know. In this post I will elaborate on what I have written in my book about Ithaca and its meaning. I also add new material that I did not cover in the book: the religious/mythical roots of the term "ithaca." Note: there are no spoilers in this post, at least not about the location of the royal tomb.
Throughout the book I draw parallels between the Minoan civilization and the civilization of Kokolata-Livatho in Kefalonia. Since the Minoan civilization was also closely tied to Egypt, we begin there with my analysis.
Hathor was one the major goddesses of Egypt, possibly worshiped since the predynastic era - Egypt's prehistoric period, roughly speaking, before 3,000 BC. She was the daughter of Ra, the sun god. She was depicted wearing a crown of horns, and also as a cow, with a sun disk between the horns. This is Hathor:
Statue of the goddess Hathor from the time of King Amenhotep III. (Height: 154 cm, Diorite, 18th Dynasty), found in the Luxor Temple cachette, on display in the Luxor Museum, Egypt. Wikimedia Commons: Olaf Tausch
Statue of Hathor in the form of a cow with the chief scribe, seal administrator and palace leader Psammetich (height 96 cm, width 29 cm, slate, late 26th dynasty), found in 1863 by Auguste Mariette in the tomb of Psammetich in Saqqara, exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo , Egypt. SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons, Olaf Tausch
Let's look to Minoan Crete and its famous Bull Rhyton, a vessel used to pour liquids, likely during ceremonies. The Bull is a common religious motif in Crete, seen on many frescoes, seal stones. and other objects such as this rhyton:
Rhyton in the form of a bulls head - production place: Crete - period / date: neopalatial period, late minoan IB or II-IIIA1, ca. 1550-1500 BC - material: serpentine / black steatite - height: tip of muzzle to top of head (without horns): 20 cm - findspot: Knossos, little palace - museum / inventory number: Heraklion, Archaeological Museum 1368 + 1550 - bibliography: Peter Warren, Minoan Stone Vases, Cambridge 1969, 89, P 489 Robert B. Koehl, Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta, 2006, Cat. 307. Source: Wikimedia - ArchaiOptix
Thus we have a common motif, one of horns. Is it coincidental or could they be related? Let's look to architecture from both Egypt and Knossos, Crete. Maybe architecture or symbolism shows a connection, a coincidence that can not be ignored.
Sunrise at Creation
Minoan Horns of Consecration at Knossos, Crete
As I have mentioned in my book, "Ithia-aki" or "ithi - aki", has been translated to mean a "guiding peak." (see HERE) I review the unique solar alignments of Kefalonia in my book and found something unique related to this, What I haven't done was to use that same analysis for Ithaca and the recently re-explored and re-excavated site of Aghios Athanasios, a site many Ithacans (incorrectly) still believe was the palace of Odysseus. That analysis leads me to the conclusion that the solar cult center at Aghios Athanasios was purposefully located to serve as an observation point of solstice sunsets and sunrises that mimic the above horizon/solar motifs.
Here is the eastern horizon as viewed from Aghios Athanasios at today's Ithaca:
Notice the summer solstice sunrise at a unique "dip" in the horizon, and the equinox sunrise, when minutes later the sun is located between the two mountain slopes. To emphasize my point, I drew a curved yellow line below the sun. Reminiscent of Hathor, and the Minoan Horns of Consecration, right?
Furthermore, the winter solstice sunset, probably the Bronze Age's most sacred day of the year which marks the end of the shortening day and the beginning, or regeneration of the day, is located just behind Aghios Athasios, where the sun sets right at the tallest peak of the mountain behind. Currently, there is a monastery there, not unusual if it were also a peak sanctuary in the bronze age. In Greece, many ancient sacred sites retained their significance even during the introduction of Christianity.
Thus, the site, or location of Aghios Athanasios was purposefully chosen due to its views of important solar solstices and features on the horizon that "marked" the sun with either a peak or a "U" shaped feature, similar to the Minoan Horns of Consecration.
During the Bronze Age, the winter solstice sun would have been a little more to the left, but nonetheless, it seems that it would still have been visible as it set into the peak.
Maybe "ithi-aki" was always the description of the winter sun "returning" to a guiding peak on the winter solstice, and not necessarily a place name? "Ithi-aki" seems to have evolved from the Egyptian Hathor-horns-sun motif. Unlike the "U" shaped horns, however, the solstice sun setting into a peak was also significant in the Central Ionian Sea.
Without going into too much detail and spoiling the story, let's look at Kefalonia for any religious imagery and unique topographical features.
So we return to the bull motif. The Late Helladic period seal stone above is of a bull, profile view. Such Minoan influenced glyptic art was common during the Mycenaean era. This seal stone was found at Kangelisses, Kokolata, at the cemetery which was used both in the Middle Helladic and Late Helladic periods. According to Christina Souyoudzoglou Haywood, professor at the University of Dublin, it is one of the finest of all seal stones found on the island. Let's look at its horns more closely. Note: Other seal rings found in Greece, as explained in my book, may be evidence of religious motifs re-interpreted in The Odyssey. See HERE.
Although the bull on the seal stone is portrayed in profile, the horns nonetheless should be analyzed as we have seen with the Minoan horns of Consecration and the Horns of the Egyptian goddess Hathor. These horns on the seal stone have a unique curve. The above image is a close up which shows the details much better and I drew a curved yellow line parallel to the horns. For those that have read my book, they may understand where I'm going with this. Let's look to the western horizon from Kangelisses:
This is the highest western peak viewed from the Kangelisses cemetery. This peak seems to have the same curve as the horns above in the seal stone. Something unique happens at that peak: it is the winter solstice sunset. When this peak is viewed from another Bronze Age sacred site in the area, the moon does something similar at that peak roughly every two decades.
This photo was taken two days before the winter solstice at Kangelisses. Nonetheless, two days later, the sun would have been at the same area. Kangelisess was not just a cemetery, but a solar cult gathered there likely since the Early Helladic period, and eventually, that solar cult became a hero cult.
Here is a short video with the image of the bull from the Kangelisses seal stone superimposed at varying opacity, onto the peak at Lakithra:
As we see above, the sun sets between the horns on the winter solstice. Just like the motif of the solar disk above Hathor in Egypt and most likely the Horns of Consecration on Crete. See Banou, 2007: Minoan ‘Horns of Consecration revisted: A Symbol of Sun Worship in Palatial and Post-Palatial Crete? Link HERE.
And so, maybe there never was an Ithaca, but rather it was a "guiding peak" that the solar worshipping natives used to mark their solar year with a festival. They celebrated the "return to light," on the winter solstice. Classicist and author (Center for Hellenic Studies) Douglas Frame, has analyzed the term "nostos," a major theme in The Odyssey, as the return to light HERE. Thus, "nostos," the return, in The Odyssey, was applied to both the sun and the protagonist Odysseus, who was likely a solar hero to the natives of Kefalonia.
Perhaps they were worshipping Odysseus along with the sun?
In my book: Odysseus Found: A Royal Tomb, a Hero Cult, and the Birth of a Legend, I explore that peak with surprising results.
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