Mar 23 2008 |  Συνέντευξη στον Ηλια Μαγκλινη «Αναμίχθηκα σε αυτή την ιστορία όταν ο Ρόμπερτ Μπίτλστοουν μου ζήτησε τη γνώμη μου για κάποια κείμενα αρχαίων Ελλήνων συγγραφέων, κυρίως του Στράβωνα, ο οποίος αναφέρεται στη γεωγραφία της ομηρικής Ιθάκης. Ο Ρόμπερτ δυσκολευόταν να αποδεχθεί ότι η ομηρική Ιθάκη είναι η σύγχρονη Ιθάκη. Είχε εντοπίσει ένα απόσπασμα στον Στράβωνα, στο οποίο υπήρχε αναφορά σύμφωνα με την οποία η λύση του αινίγματος ίσως να βρισκόταν στην Κεφαλονιά. Η θεωρία του θέλει την ομηρική Ιθάκη να είναι εκεί που βρίσκεται η σημερινή Παλική, το δυτικό κομμάτι της Κεφαλονιάς. Ο Ρόμπερτ πιστεύει ότι στην εποχή του Ομήρου και του Οδυσσέα η Κεφαλονιά χωριζόταν σε δύο νησιά: στο ανατολικό, τη Σάμη, και στο δυτικό, την Παλική, όπου θεωρεί ότι βρισκόταν η ομηρική Ιθάκη. Πίστευε ότι η θεωρία του ενισχυόταν απ’ όσα έγραφε ο Στράβωνας, ο οποίος περιγράφει ένα κανάλι το οποίο από καιρού εις καιρόν καλύπτεται από βορρά προς νότον με νερό. Φυσικά, ο Στράβωνας έγραψε πολλούς αιώνες μετά τον Ομηρο. Ωστόσο, ο Στράβωνας βασίζεται σε γεωγράφους που έζησαν 2 - 3 αιώνες νωρίτερα.» Πλήρες κείμενο κριτικής (Ελληνικά). |
Mar 19 2008 |  By Elizabeth Speller "One lavish account of such an inquiry, the businessman and Homerist Robert Bittlestone's Odysseus Unbound, was published in 2005 and claims Cephalonia as the true location of Ithaca and, therefore, Odysseus. Bittlestone's is an extraordinary quest; in 3,000 years, the topography of the volcanic Ionian islands has changed significantly; one of the most violent of its several earthquakes occurred in 1953 and devastated much of Cephalonia. The project's supporting website announces: "An unprecedented array of gravity, seismic, marine and helicopter-based electromagnetic techniques is being used to test the theory." This project could only be possible with the current armoury of scientific machinery and computer modelling, but it is hard not to see Odysseus's challenges reflected in the geophysical adventures of Bittlestone and his crew. " Πλήρες κείμενο κριτικής (Αγγλικά). |
Mar 14 2008 |  Αναζητώντας την πατρίδα του Οδυσσέα. Του Γιαννη Τριανταφυλλου. «Το βιβλίο Οδυσσέας Λυόµενος (εκδ. «Πολύτροπον») παρουσιάζεται σήµερα το βράδυ στο Μουσείο Μπενάκη από τους συγγραφείς του. Ενας Βρετανός επιχειρηµατίας και δύο καθηγητές βρετανικών πανεπιστηµίων, έπειτα από πενταετή έρευνα, δηλώνουν µε αυτοπεποίθηση ότι η θέση της οµηρικής Ιθάκης είναι στη σύγχρονη Κεφαλονιά. Μια υπόθεση που έχει ήδη ξεσηκώσει θόρυβο στον παγκόσµιο Τύπο, αφού αποτέλεσε αντικείµενο ενθουσιωδών κριτικών αλλά και σηµαντικών ενστάσεων. Μένει να δούµε αν τελικά θα οδηγήσει και σε έναν ενδο-επτανησιακό εµφύλιο µεταξύ Ιθάκης και Κεφαλονιάς, για το ποια από τα δύο νησιά είχε την τιµή να φιλοξενεί το βασίλειο του τραγουδισµένου από τον Οµηρο πολυµήχανου ήρωα...» Full text of review (Greek). |
Mar 14 2008 |  Καινοτόµος η πρόταση που εκφράζουν βρετανοί πανεπιστηµιακοί σε βιβλίο το οποίο παρουσιάζεται σήµερα. Μαρια Θερμου. «Η προϊστορική Ιθάκη του Οµήρου και του πολυµήχανου Οδυσσέα δεν ήταν άλλη από ένα σηµερινό τµήµα της σηµερινής Κεφαλλονιάς, την Παλλική. Ενας δίαυλος χώριζε στην αρχαιότητα τα δύο τµήµατα, ο οποίος ύστερα από ένα γεωλογικό γεγονός ενώθηκε µε αυτήν. Στη θεωρία αυτή επιµένουν βρετανοί ερευνητές, καθηγητές των Πανεπιστηµίων του Κέιµπριτζ, του Εδιµβούργου και του Πανεπιστηµίου Αθηνών. Πρόκειται για µια επιστηµονική οµάδα που ερευνά τα οµηρικά κείµενα καταθέτοντας και µέσω ενός βιβλίου µια πρόταση καινοτόµα, αφού προκαλεί αναστάτωση στη σηµερινή γεωγραφία αλλά και την κοινωνία των Ιονίων νήσων. Οδυσσέας Λυόµενος είναι ο τίτλος του βιβλίου των εκδόσεων «Πολύτροπον» (παρουσιάζεται σήµερα στο Μουσείο Μπενάκη) κατά το πρότυπο του αισχυλικού έργου.» Full text of review (Greek). |
Mar 8 2008 | Η συνάντηση τριών ανήσυχων ανθρώπων γίνεται η αιτία για αμφισβήτηση της ταύτισης μεταξύ πραγματικής και ομηρικής Ιθάκης. Η Ιωάννα Σιταρίδου, λέκτορας Ρωμανικής Γλωσσολογίας στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Cambridge. «Τι μπορεί να προκύψει από τη σύμπραξη ενός δαιμόνιου επι χειρηματία, ενός καθηγητή αρχαιοελληνικής γραμματείας και αντεπιστέλλοντος εταίρου της ελληνικής Ακαδημίας και ενός καθηγητή στρατογραφίας; Αυτός ο ασυνήθιστος συνδυασμός - τουλάχιστον για τα ακαδημαϊ κά δεδομένα - οδηγεί ούτε λίγο ούτε πολύ στην αναθεώρηση της Ιστορίας και την επαναχάραξη του χάρτη. O Οδυσσέας Λυόμενος: Η αναζήτηση της Ομηρικής Ιθάκης των Robert Bittlestone, James Diggle και John Underhill υποστηρίζει ότι η σημερινή Ιθάκη δεν είναι η ομηρική Ιθάκη.» Full text of review (Greek). |
Feb 3 2008 | ATHENS - "Το βιβλίο «Οδυσσέας λυόμενος: η αναζήτηση της ομηρικής Ιθάκης» του Robert Bittlestone έρχεται να προσφέρει νέα και συμπαγή τεκμηρίωση στην επίλυση ενός μόνιμου και πεισματικού προβλήματος. Πού βρίσκεται επιτέλους η Ιθάκη που περιγράφει η Οδύσσεια, αυτό το «χαμηλό» νησί, το «πιο δυτικό» απ’ όλα τα Επτάνησα; Το βιβλίο είναι συναρπαστικό και το ενδιαφέρον του ποικιλόμορφο. Είναι πρώτα απ’ όλα ένα εξαιρετικό αφήγημα: το βιβλίο «φτιάχνεται» καθώς γράφεται και μέσα σ’ αυτό ζυμώνονται η υπόθεση, η παρατήρηση, τα τεκμήρια και οι αποδείξεις. Ο συγγραφέας εκθέτει στον αναγνώστη την προσωπική του οδύσσεια στην αναζήτηση της Ιθάκης –η οποία όμως βρίσκεται στην Κεφαλονιά– και αυτό το κάνει αναμειγνύοντας τον ξηρό τόνο της καταγραφής ημερολογίου, με το πάθος της εμμονής, το ανάλαφρο χιούμορ και την εξονυχιστική συζήτηση...Το βιβλίο διαπνέεται από πάθος και θάρρος. " Full text of review (Greek). Kathimerini extract (Greek). |
Dec 30 2007 |  ATHENS - "Ο κ. Μπίτλστοουν δεν είναι φιλόλογος ούτε αρχαιολόγος. Είναι πιχειρηματίας, ιδρυτής μιας εταιρείας συμβούλων managers, που ζει στη Βρετανία, αλλά ο νους του _προσφάτως και ο ίδιος_ ταξιδεύει πολύ στην Ελλάδα. Από τότε που διάβασε τους στίχους της Οδύσσειας που περιγράφουν ότι «η Ιθάκη ήταν χαμηλή και πιο απομακρυσμένη προς τη Δύση» αδυνατεί να συγκεντρωθεί μόνο στη δουλειά του. «Πώς μπορεί κανείς να αγνοήσει την ευκαιρία να βρει μια νέα λύση σε ένα αίνιγμα 3.000 ετών;» απαντάει, όταν τον ρωτάμε πώς ένας μπίζνεσμαν αποφάσισε να αναζητήσει τη χαμένη πατρίδα ενός επικού ήρωα της αρχαιότητας. " Full text of interview (English). VIMagazino extract (Greek). |
Oct 11 2007 |  Interview with Bill Buschel of Hellenic Public Radio, Graffiti 19:10 - 19:45 EST
NEW YORK - Graffiti is a bimonthly program dedicated to the arts. Over the years, Bill Buschel - a storyteller himself - has proven his talent in detecting and interviewing interesting musicians, composers, artists, film-makers, translators, poets, actors, playwrights, authors and storytellers. This interview with Robert Bittlestone and John Underhill was recorded by telephone on October 3 and by the kind permission of its parent organisation, the Greek American Educational Public Information System (GAEPIS), the interview soundtrack has now been provided on this website. Our thanks are due to Bill for conducting the interview and to sound engineer Panagiotis for providing this recording (41 minutes). Listen live at 7.10 pm on Thursday Oct 11, or after that date Save and listen (right-click, 38Mb) |
Sep 6 2007 |  The Mystery of Ithaca - BBC Radio 4 Material World, 16:30
Presenter Quentin Cooper interviews John Underhill to discover how the mystery of Odysseus's island home, Ithaca, may soon be solved by geologists setting out to drill into the modern Greek island of Cephalonia – which they suggest was once two separate islands before earthquakes and landslides filled in the gap. Homer’s Odyssey is the story of its hero’s eleven year quest to find his home island of Ithaca. If it’s a true story, it happened about 500 years before Homer composed his poem. Ever since then people have argued where the real island is. Now one theory places it on a peninsula of modern Cephalonia – once separated, it’s supposed, by a narrow channel of water. In two weeks' time a team of geologists will be heading there to see how old the bridge of rock between the two parts is, and whether it could have been built by earthquake-induced landslides. The leader of that team, Edinburgh’s Professor John Underhill joins Quentin Cooper and Durham University classicist Dr Barbara Graziosi to describe the theory and how their explorations will test it. (14 minutes) Right click and save before listening |
May 8 2007 |  Secrets of a lost world - The Engineer
"Scientists in the UK are preparing to solve an ancient mystery: the location of Ithaca as described in Homer's Odyssey. In 2003 a group of UK academics proposed that this confusion has occurred not because of geographical errors by the poet but because of geological changes in the landscape that have occurred in the last 3,000 years. Last month, the team announced it had joined up with Dutch geophysical prospecting company Fugro. Now, led by Edinburgh University geologist Prof John Underhill, the group is preparing to visit Kefalonia to use Fugro's technology to search for a buried sea channel consistent with their hypothesis. Steve Thomson, Fugro's director of airborne survey, said that initial tests are likely to be carried out from the air." Click here for the full article (scroll down below the Pyramid pictures). |
April 30 2007 | FUGRO and Odysseus Unbound coverage in Dutch newspapers (click on logos for full text)  AD/Haagsche Courant: "Leading project role for Fugro: Search for the kingdom of Odysseus."
 Het Financieele Dagblad: "Engineers will search for Odysseus' home. After 2,000 years the search for the isle of Odysseus has been reopened - Fugro will help."
 Trouw: "Drilling for the isle of Odysseus; Dutch company will help search for the 'real' Ithaca."
 Cobouw: "Fugro on the search for the homeland of Odysseus. Fugro will focus seriously on the search for the isle where Odysseus, the hero of the epic Odyssey, would have lived."
|
April 26 2007 |  The Search For Homer's Ithaca - Queens' College Record
Summary of a presentation given by James Diggle and Robert Bittlestone "Around are many islands, close to each other, / Doulichion and Same and wooded Zacynthos. / Ithaca itself lies low, furthest to sea / Towards dusk; the rest, apart, face dawn and sun. But is Ithaki the island furthest west? No, it is furthest east. Is Ithaki low-lying? No, it is mountainous, with cliffs plunging sheer into the sea. So, we have a problem. Are we to suppose that Homer has invented an island that never existed? The alternative hypothesis is that in the Bronze Age, Cephalonia was not one island but two, with the western part (now known as Paliki) separated from the eastern part by a narrow channel. Recently we drilled a 120 metre (400 foot) borehole at the southern end of 'Strabo’s Channel'. As John Underhill’s geological predictions had suggested, instead of meeting solid limestone bedrock, the drill bit encountered only loose material all the way down to below sea level. A subsequent analysis of the drill cuttings revealed the presence of a relatively recent marine microfossil called Emiliania huxleyi. Although this evidence does not yet prove the case, it provides strong support for the proposal that a narrow marine channel separated the western peninsula of Cephalonia (Paliki) from the rest of the island only a few thousand years ago, and that catastrophic rockfall and landslides triggered by earthquakes destabilised the adjacent mountainsides and caused part of them to detach and thunder down to the sea, obliterating the channel completely." Click here for the full article. |
Apr 8 2007 |  Perhaps Odysseus came from Paliki - NZZ Switzerland
The great Greek lived on Ithaka, wrote Homer. Only which island did he mean? A British researcher now wants to solve this ancient mystery. By Geneviève Lüscher. "It was in February 2003 that the Bittlestone family from Kingston upon Thames decided to spend their summer holidays in Greece. They nearly chose Tuscany or Turkey instead, but they settled on the island of Kefalonia, a decision that became fraught with consequence for the father of the family. The Englishman is convinced that Ithaka - the homeland of the Odysseus - is to be found on Paliki, a peninsula of Kefalonia. For centuries scholars have asked themselves where the homeland of the victorious Trojan hero might lie, because today's island with the names of Ithaka does not match the location described by Homer." Click here for the full article (in German). |
Apr 5 2007 |  Fair wind for Odysseus - Geoscientist
Industry and government are joining forces with academe in an attempt to settle the question of Odysseus's true homeland. Ted Nield writes: Global geoscientific and geotechnical engineers FUGRO are to team up with the Odysseus Unbound project and the Greek geological institute IGME to solve the age-old mystery over the true geographical location of Odysseus's homeland, Ithaca. FUGRO's sponsorship will bring industry-scale geophysical techniques to bear, enabling the team to perform a "full body-scan" of the six kilometre long isthmus that today links the main island of Kefallinia to the peninsula known as Paliki. " Click here for the full article. |
Apr 4 2007 |  Testing Homer - The Economist
The latest claimant to be Odysseus's home meets a geological survey. "John Underhill of Edinburgh University has found evidence that the isthmus is full of landslide rubble, which could have tumbled into a narrow sea channel during an earthquake. He has located possible exits for such a channel, as well as tiny fossils of Mediterranean algal blooms formed in the past 10,000 years. It looks as if some boulders sit atop layers of ash spewed out by known eruptions of Mount Etna, meaning they fell after Troy did. The task of establishing if the sea ever divided Paliki from Kefalonia is about to get easier. Fugro, a geophysical prospecting company, has lent machinery for a full subterranean scan. If the geologists conclude that Paliki was once an island, that will boost its claim to be ancient Ithaca." Click here for the full article. |
Mar 29 2007 |  Referee’s epic quest to solve ancient riddle - Edinburgh Evening News
"EASTER ROAD erupted as the man in black reached into his pocket to deliver his red card, sending Hearts’ Edgar Jankauskas to the dressing room and paving the way for a famous Hibs victory. For SPL veteran referee John Underhill it was another fiery weekend at the centre of the football action, a chance to enjoy his sporting hobby in the red hot cauldron of an ill-tempered Edinburgh derby. It was October 2005, and it couldn’t have been further removed from the gentle sound of waves lapping against the unspoiled shore of a baked Ionian peninsula. Yet the referee’s role in the game at Easter Road was nothing compared to the dramatic impact he is about to have on this sleepy Greek outcrop. And few … if indeed any … of those derby match football fans could possibly imagine that the man brandishing the red card at the Hearts favourite might really be some kind of modern day Indiana Jones, hunting for clues to ancient civilisation, unravelling centuries’ old riddles. Today John is edging to within touching distance of solving a perplexing Greek mystery that has confounded scholars and sent archaeologists on a wild goose chase for two millennia. If the theory he is working on proves to be correct, the whistler and his two colleagues will be feted the world over for having made the greatest classical find since the discovery of the site of Troy 130 years ago. " Click here for the full article. Click here for the newspaper page image (4.2 Mb PDF). |
Mar 27 2007 |   Engineers to help find Homer's Ithaca
By DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press Writer    Tue Mar 27, 6:14 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.
   Click on logos for the full report
Click here for the full press list |
Feb 25 2007 |   Looking for Odysseus - Sunday Times Travel
The Greek hero’s final journey has been shrouded in mystery — but on a canoeing trip to Cephalonia, historical detective Robert Bittlestone found the pieces falling into place. "It’s 1200 BC, and after 10 years of war the Trojans have been vanquished. Helen’s catastrophic flirtation with Paris has come to an abrupt end and she is now playing the dutiful housewife with her husband, Menelaus, back in Sparta. Meanwhile, Agamemnon, the Greek commander, has returned to Mycenae only to be murdered by his adulterous wife, Clytemnestra. But what of Odysseus, master of plots and teller of tall tales? How is he to explain to his faithful wife, Penelope, that instead of spending just a week or two on the voyage home from Troy, it has taken him another 10 years to return to his palace on Ithaca?" Click here for the full text. Right-click here to download the page image (3 Mb). |
Jan 28 2007 |  Where was Homer's Ithaca? - iris magazine - promoting classics in UK state schools
"It’s the oldest marine adventure in the world. It was already ancient history when Aristotle and Socrates were in the cradle. It has spawned a hundred spin-offs and inspired writers and artists, philosophers and poets, statesmen and soldiers for the last three thousand years. It’s the original Odyssey: a Bronze Age blockbuster and a cornerstone of Western civilisation. And not surprisingly, most people have presumed that Odysseus’ homeland of Ithaca is as imaginary as Ithilien in Lord of the Rings. Robert Bittlestone thinks they’re wrong. iris interviews the man who wants to put Odysseus’ homeland back on the map." Click here for the full article. Click here for the back cover. Click here to purchase the book from CUP (iris readers' discount code 11869Z). |
Jan 12 2007 |  Drilling 'boosts Homeric theory' - BBC News
"The Mediterranean island of Kefalonia was probably once two separate islands, new geophysical studies suggest. A British-led team is amassing evidence that indicates Kefalonia's western peninsula, Paliki, was only recently joined to the main landmass. The team believes a huge in-fall of rock in the last 3,000 years may have built a land-bridge between the two. If correct, the researchers say, it would support their view that Paliki was the real site for Homer's Ithaca. The location was supposedly home to Odysseus, whose mythical 10-year journey back from the Trojan War was chronicled in the Greek poet's epic tale The Odyssey. New results from a test borehole and other survey work in the region lend support to the Paliki hypothesis, the team claims. The Thinia isthmus is some 6km long and 180m at its highest "Unlike many historical speculations, our answer to the age-old mystery of Ithaca's location makes a specific prediction that can be scientifically tested by geological techniques," said Robert Bittlestone, the businessman who first made the contention in a book published in 2005." Click here for the BBC article |
Jan 10 2007 |  Interview with Robin Lustig on BBC Radio 4 - The World Tonight
"If you've ever taken a holiday on the Greek island of Ithaca you may well have thought you were following in the steps of Odysseus, the ancient Greek hero immortalised by the poet Homer. Not so, according to a British businessman and amateur archaeologist Robert Bittlestone, who's convinced that Homer's Ithaca was somewhere else entirely...(4 minutes). Right click and save before listening. |
Jan 10 2007 |  Interview with Audrey Carville on BBC World Service - Europe Today
"It's one of the founding stories of Western civilisation - the epic journey home to Ithaca by Odysseus following his victory in the Trojan War. It has long been argued whether Homer's tale is pure myth. Well now a British businessman has set out to prove that the Greek hero's homeland does exist. He says that it does, but it's not where people thought it was. Robert Bittlestone is with me now (4 minutes). Right click and save before listening. |
Jan 10 2007 |  Riddle of Homer's Odyssey island solved? By Paul Majendie
"LONDON (Reuters) - British history sleuths say they have uncovered new geological evidence to solve one of the great riddles of ancient Greece -- pinpointing the ancient island of Ithaca, home of Homer's legendary hero Odysseus. "We are one step closer to solving the age-old mystery," said management consultant Robert Bittlestone who has worked with professors of classics and geology to piece together an intriguing archaeological jigsaw puzzle. Finding Ithaca could rival the discovery of ancient Troy on the Turkish coast in the 1870s. " Click here for the full article. |
Jan 10 2007 | A scientific discovery on the trail of Homer. By Thomas H. Maugh II "Using boreholes and seismic imaging to analyze subsurface geological features, British researchers have provided a key confirmation of their claim that Ithaca, the home of the legendary Greek warrior Odysseus, was located on a present-day peninsula of the island of Cephalonia. The jutting piece of land, the scientists say, was a small island separate from Cephalonia until rubble from landslides and earthquakes over the centuries filled the channel between them...A borehole drilled through the suspected site of the channel and underwater imaging of nearby bays have revealed rubble and marine fossils consistent with the researchers' theory, said John Underhill, a geologist at the University of Edinburgh " Click here for the full article.
|
Jan 10 2007 |  History sleuth's odyssey to Homer's island. By Nic Fleming
"An amateur historian produced evidence yesterday to back his claim to have found the island homeland of Homer's legendary Greek king, Odysseus. Scholars have argued for centuries over the whereabouts of Ithaca, the lost kingdom of the hero of the Trojan war. But Robert Bittlestone, a management consultant from Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, and two professors of classics and geology have suggested the location is not the Greek island of Ithaki, but Paliki — a peninsula of Kefalonia. If true, it would be the greatest classical discovery since Heinrich Schliemann found the site of Troy in Turkey in the 1870s, and would establish Odysseus as a figure from history as opposed to a figment of Homer's imagination. " Click here for the full article.
|
Jan 10 2007 |  Heroic quest for home truth is over. By Stephen McGinty
"IT WAS the home of the hero of Troy. Odysseus, the Greek warrior who tricked the Trojans with a wooden horse, hailed from "bright Ithaca", according to the poet Homer. The identity of the fabled island emerged from the mists of time yesterday, when a geologist at Edinburgh University produced evidence to support the theory that Ithaca is part of the Greek island of Cephalonia and not, as was always believed, the neighbouring island of Ithaki." Click here for the full article.
|
Jan 09 2007 |  Even closer to finding Ithaca. By Managing Editor Megan Sever "Researchers are several steps closer to finding Homer's Ithaca, thanks to new results released today from geologic tests that support the hypothesis that the ancient kingdom of Ithaca may in fact be on western Kefalonia, not the modern-day Greek island of Ithaki, as has been suggested for several centuries, and is reported this month in Geotimes. The hypothesis — put forth by businessman Robert Bittlestone, classicist James Diggle and geologist John Underhill in their 2005 book Odysseus Unbound — suggests that a channel once separated Kefalonia from its western peninsula, called Paliki, creating two separate islands. Paliki is Ithaca, as described in the Bronze Age 3,200 years ago, according to the hypothesis." Click here for: the rest of this news article; feature article Finding Ithaca; AGI press release.
|
Jan 09 2007 |  In search of Odysseus's Ithaca. By Julian Rush, Channel 4 News "It's one of the founding stories of Western civilisation - the epic journey home to Ithaca by Odysseus following his victory in the Trojan War. It's long been argued whether Homer's tale is pure myth. Now British businessman Robert Bittlestone has set out to prove that the Greek hero's homeland does exist. But his controversial hunch about Ithaca's actual location would only make sense by showing the region had been transformed, possibly by a massive earthquake. So in October, he set out to prove his theory by drilling a borehole on the Greek island of Kefallonia - with Channel Four News having exclusive access to the project. Our Science Correspondent Julian Rush reports on how the evidence found there may fundamentally change our view of the Ancient World." Click here to watch the report.
|
Dec 13 2006 |  Riddle of Odysseus solved? By Kaianders Sempler "Where exactly was Odysseus' fairytale island of Ithaka? Many people have searched in vain, but the English amateur archaeologist Robert Bittlestone now believes that he has at last found the place where Odysseus' palace may be located...and he did it with the help of geology. " Click here for the full article (in Swedish) and an imaginative cartoon . |
Nov 10 2006 |  Odysseus interrupted, by Andrew Jefford "It’s hard to imagine a better spot to lance the boils of stress than on one of [Greece's] 1,900 islands. But which one? Having stayed on six and stepped on to eight more, I am a mere beginner; but I love Homer’s Odyssey, so Ithaca beckoned... In addition to all the normal pleasures of Greek island life, such as listening to donkeys bray, lapping milky ouzo as you watch tiny boats bob on glittering water, and chatting with some of the gentlest people on earth, I could also trip about in the footsteps of an emboldened Telemachus, hunt down the pig farm of faithful Eumaeus, and locate the vineyard where tired Laertes hauled himself along the steep slopes during his ill-rewarded retirement. Or so I thought. Then a Greek friend asked me if I’d read Robert Bittlestone’s Odysseus Unbound (Cambridge University Press). This recently published book – which, at just over 2kg, constitutes excess baggage on its own – makes an entertainingly energetic and often convincing case for Homer’s Ithaca in fact being the relatively low-lying, western peninsula of Cephalonia, known today as Paliki... It is Bittlestone’s contention that a channel once separated Paliki from the rest of Cephalonia, which would explain Odysseus telling Alcinous and his court that his Ithaca “lies low and away, the farthest out to sea, / rearing into the western dusk / while the others face the east and breaking day”. Modern Ithaca, according to Bittlestone, was Homer’s Doulichion...There are named Homeric sites on modern-day Ithaca, but apart from the enjoyable walks they provide, all are scarcely worth bothering with; to call them hopefully vague in attribution is charitable. The museum exhibits, too, are disappointing... But, once installed, why go anywhere? The deepest joys of two weeks on an unspoiled Greek island are those that come as you take possession, imaginatively, of a small landscape...Nowhere combines simplicity with beauty quite like Greece, and Ithaca – or Doulichion – sets it against the deepest cultural backdrop of all. " Click here for the full article. |
Nov 6 2006 |  Ithaca: the geological challenge John Underhill is interviewed on the Nights programme of Radio New Zealand. "All along this project I have been setting out a working hypothesis for testing the proposal, without anticipating the results either way...The drilling took place last month: we drilled a borehole on a hillside on the west of Cephalonia. We're now investigating the cutting samples from the borehole and those tests are ongoing and should give us some results by January" (18 minutes). Right click and save before listening. |
Oct 25 2006 |  Legend has it: why scientists are turning to myths for inspiration Myths may seem unlikely sources of scientific revelation, but geologists are turning to ancient tales to discover new earthquake hotspots...The reality behind the folklore. "Homer's description of Ithaca, the home of Odysseus in the Odyssey, baffles scholars. It bears little resemblance to the modern Greek island of Ithaki. Some geologists now believe that Ithaca is in fact Paliki, the western peninsula of Kefalonia, which may have been separated by a sea channel that was filled in more than 2,000 years ago. Geologists are testing to see whether Paliki could have been a proper island in the recent past, and so meet all the descriptions laid down in the Odyssey. " Click here for the full article. |
Oct 13 2006 |  Was Cephalonia Odysseus’ Ithaca? "Mr Bittlestone and his associates are convinced that today’s Ithaca bears no relation to Odysseus’ island in Homer’s verses, which describe “rocky” Ithaca as lying “low, furthest to sea towards dusk”. Again according to Homer, the other islands in the archipelago face towards dawn and the sun, implying that the poet placed them east of Ithaca. The description is hard to square with today’s Ithaca, which is mountainous and lies to the east of the archipelago. Instead of the far sea, it looks towards the Greek coast. If the real Ithaca were what today is the Paliki peninsula, Homer’s description would be much closer to the facts... " Click here for the full article: English; Italian. |
Oct 12 2006 |  A new home for Odysseus Cephalonia may be the native land of the hero, not the current Ithaki " LONDON. A group of British researchers is challenging cherished ideas on Greek mythology by proposing an alternative site for Ithaca. Most people think the land of Odysseus - whose 10-year journey back from the Trojan War is chronicled in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey - is the modern-day island of Ithaki. But, this week, geologists have initiated drilling in Cephalonia in an attempt to discover if the peninsula of Paliki is the true home of the Greek hero." Click here for the full article (in English and Portuguese). |
Oct 11 2006 | Drill hole begins Homeric quest "A UK-led team is challenging cherished ideas on Greek mythology by proposing an alternative site for Ithaca...Geologists are this week sinking a borehole on nearby Kefalonia in an attempt to test whether its western peninsula of Paliki is the real site. The scientists hope to find evidence that the peninsula once stood proud, separated from Kefalonia by a narrow, navigable marine channel. It is only within the last 2,500- 3,000 years - and long after Homer's time - that the channel has been filled in, the team contends. 'We can't prove the story of the Odyssey is true, but we can test whether Homer got his geography right', said Edinburgh University geologist Professor John Underhill, who is supervising the drilling operation." Click here for the BBC article (English); Spanish; Hungarian. |
Sep 1 2006 |  ULYSSES: In search of legendary Ithaca La Aventura de la Historia, the Madrid-based historical magazine, has today published an illustrated article about 'Odysseus Unbound' by Adolfo J. Domínguez Monedero, Professor of Ancient History at the University Autónoma of Madrid. With the kind agreement of Arturo Arnalte, editor of the magazine, a copy of the published article is now available on this website. “It is a study that reveals an overwhelming passion for the Homeric world, for its personages and their landscapes...The hypothesis that the author develops is without a doubt achieved with great brilliance and with the benefit of all of the capabilities of modern technology...In this book Bittlestone has succeeded in captivating the reader throughout in his search for the Ithaca of Ulysses.” Professor Adolfo Monedero. Click here for the full article: in Spanish (magazine pages, 5 Mb); in English (illustrated typescript, 500kb). |
Aug 5 2006 |  My Greek island reverie
"On Cephalonia, Angus Clarke mixes snoozing, reading and sunbathing with gentle snorkelling...The sweetness of watching the moon rising over Ithaca was somewhat tempered by my poolside reading: the latest archaeological theory relocates the legendary island kingdom of Odysseus to the other side of the island altogether, where indeed Homer put it. The theory is a complicated business of changing sea levels and seismic convulsions. As if to confirm it, there were two small earthquakes, tremors really, during our week on the island — in truth we were by then so relaxed that we didn’t notice them, but in the south of Cephalonia crockery was jolted off restaurant tables and the sand was shaken off 40m of beach to reveal the limestone bedrock." Click here for the full article. |
July 16 2006 |  Feature article in Greece's 'Eleutherotypia' colour supplement 'Epsilon'
Following a 2-day visit to Kefallinia in June, journalist Aphroditi Politi writes today about her impressions of the Odysseus Unbound project and the geological team that is testing its hypotheses. "The epic poem comes to life with the help of technology, of scientific research and three British writers - a businessman, a classicist and a geologist – who are trying to release Odysseus from the bonds of fable and lead him back once again to his real homeland." Click here for the full article and photographs (in Greek). Click here for the English translation. |
June 4 2006 | NEW YORK - This interview was recorded on May 16 in the Astoria studios of Hellenic Public Radio and broadcast to the New York metropolitan area shortly afterwards. By kind permission of its parent organisation, the Greek American Educational Public Information System (GAEPIS), the interview soundtrack has now been provided to this website. As well as the interview itself it features a rousing Greek song aptly entitled "Ithaki". Our thanks are due to interviewer Bill Buschel, station administrator Ioanna Giannopoulos and sound engineer Gregory Polymenakos for conducting the interview and providing this recording (35 minutes). Right click and save before listening. |
May 27 2006 |  What Was The Real Location Of Ithaca? Author of “Odysseus Unbound” Says Homer’s Ithaca was in Cephalonia
By Liana Sideri. Special to the National Herald. NEW YORK - In his book, “Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer's Ithaca” (Cambridge University Press, October 2005), author Robert Bittlestone and co-authors Professors James Diggle (Classics, Cambridge University) and John Underhill (Geology, University of Edinburgh), have set out to provide an explanation for the real location of Homer's Ithaca, the Greek island to which Odysseus finally returns after ten years of wandering after the end of the Trojan War... ...To continue proving their theory, the team plans to perform a “body scan” of the entire area in order to accurately date the bottom layer of rock in Cephalonia. By using the oil industry's sophisticated technology, the team is hoping to obtain imaging of what lies beneath the rock surface underneath the island's mountains. If the mountains intersect below sea level, the theory concerning the canal gets close to being proven. There is also recent evidence from saltwater extracted from underneath the surface of this rocky area, which also indicates the existence of an ancient canal... ...The publication of “Odysseus Unbound” has captured the imagination of readers globally, resulting in sales of over 10,000 copies of the book and a series of seminars, interviews and film documentaries. The book will also be translated into Greek. In March, the History Channel broadcasted a documentary called “Digging for the Truth,” a non-academic archaeological project involving the viewer, which included a five minute segment on Mr. Bittlestone's work. The April issue of the Smithsonian Magazine also included a feature article and location photos about the project, which continues to receive considerable publicity. Click here for full article. |
May 22 2006 |  Interview on Athens International Radio 'Talk of the Town' with Alexia Amvrazi
How is the academic world reacting to the publication of Odysseus Unbound? What are the next steps involved in testing the book's proposals? What work is taking place in Cephalonia this summer? This interview was recorded and broadcast by Athens International Radio on May 22 and we are grateful to Alexia Amvrazi and her team for making it available on this website (12 minutes). Right click and save before listening |
May 16 2006 |  New York: John Metaxas explores Odysseus Unbound for Greek Americans
John Metaxas is an anchor and reporter with the award-winning news team at WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York, the flagship station of the CBS radio network. He anchors hour-long newscasts and reports on such diverse subjects as the presidential debates, the New York City Transit strike, the mayoral election, court hearings and a Metro North train crash in Westchester. He lives in upstate New York and his father was born in Cephalonia (7 minutes). Right click and save before listening |
Mar 23 2006 | A team of investigators has discovered that the modern island of Ithaca does not correspond to the location described by Homer where Ulysses, at the end of his extraordinary journey of challenges, finally lands. Homer's Ithaca is instead a peninsula of today's island of Cefalonia. Why has this misunderstanding arisen? What are the tests of this revolutionary theory? Did Homer narrate just a fable in his epic poem, or was it the history of a real king? Click here for full article (in Italian). |
Mar 16 2006 | "The controversy about the hypothesis set out in Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca continues (Cambridge University Press, October 2005). The book’s author is Robert Bittlestone, with co-authors Professor James Diggle (Classics, Cambridge) and Professor John Underhill (Geology, Edinburgh), and together they have set out to explain why Homer describes Ithaca at Odyssey 9.19-26 as the most westerly of the Ionian Islands, since the island now called Ithaki is clearly furthest to the east. A major plank of their evidence is Strabo’s description of Cephalonia at Geography 10.2.15: "Where the island is narrowest it forms an isthmus so low-lying that it is often submerged from sea to sea." Such an isthmus has never been identified on Cephalonia, but Bittlestone, Diggle and Underhill think that Paliki, the westernmost peninsula of Cephalonia, was cut off from the rest of the island during the late Bronze Age by a submerged isthmus, which has now been filled in by catastrophic landslides such as those that occurred in Pakistan last year. In the book they identify the geological factors that may have led to these massive rockfalls and they also cite historical evidence which suggests that today’s Ithaki was formerly called Doulichion, the ‘lost island’ of the Odyssey. If they are correct then Paliki was Homer’s Ithaca and his geographical descriptions were precise all along. This identification of a new ‘external geography’ for Homeric Ithaca has so far met with cautious approval from classicists and geologists. The authors accept that their theory is not yet proven and they are planning to conduct more extensive tests on the island which should determine the question of this Bronze Age isthmus one way or the other. However, the controversial material in the book concerns the ‘internal geography’: the question of whether it is also possible to identify on Paliki specific Homeric landmarks from the Odyssey such as Mount Neriton, Mount Neïon, Hermes Hill and Phorcys Bay. One of the book’s appendixes summarises the attempts by other researchers over many centuries to do just that. For example, William Gladstone committed much of his time to the Ithaca enigma and more recently Professor J. V. Luce has proposed specific locations on Ithaki for seemingly poetical places such as Eumaios’ Pigfarm and Raven’s Rock (Celebrating Homer’s Landscapes Ch. 7). Although the educated public seems willing to consider this possibility, the classical world is divided, with reviewers in journals such as the TLS, THES and JCT itself expressing their concerns while others indicating their enthusiasm for a radical Homeric reappraisal. A more detailed discussion and links to the reviews is available at http://www.odysseus-unbound.org/reviews.html Meanwhile the publication of Odysseus Unbound has captured the imagination of teachers and students world-wide, resulting in sales of over 10,000 copies of the book and a series of international seminars, interviews and film documentaries. A recent audience of several hundred students and guests at King’s College School, Wimbledon responded with great enthusiasm: Head of Classics Chris Jackson writes ‘The reaction from my students the following day was quite overwhelming - it was not possible to do any work in class, as all they wanted to talk about was your presentation’. Details of this and other developments are provided at the News, Events and Press sections of the above website. The forthcoming events in March 2006 are as follows: On March 20 and 21 the History Channel will broadcast in the USA a documentary about Homer's Troy and Ithaca. The film is called "Troy: Of Gods and Warriors" and it includes the first footage of some of the sites identified in "Odysseus Unbound" on the island of Cephalonia. Details are available at http://www.odysseus-unbound.org/news.html and a video extract will be provided on this website a week later. On March 22 the Smithsonian Magazine will publish their April issue, which includes a feature article and location photographs about the project: details as above. On March 29 at 18:45 the Anglo-Hellenic League will host a seminar about the discovery at the Reform Club in London, which will be delivered by the authors. A few tickets are still available for this event, to which the public are invited: the details are at http://www.odysseus-unbound.org/events.html and applications should be made to Sophia Economides, anglohellenic.league@virgin.net or 020 7486 9410. " Click here for JACT website |
Mar 10 2006 | "Wanted: a sympathetic oil baron, company or chief executive to help solve one of mankind's greatest mysteries. It may sound like a tall order but a Kingston businessman is hoping the allure of his ground-breaking project to prove Homer's island of Ithaca existed, will attract enough funding to allow his team to complete the second and crucial phase of their research. And Robert Bittlestone has the oil industry in his sights as much of the technology used to scout for fresh oil reserves is required by his team to literally get to the bottom of their problem. Mr Bittlestone, 52, of Coombe Hill claims to have found the true location of Ithaca, described by Homer in his epic poem, the Odyssey, in 800 BC. In his book Odysseus Unbound, published last October together with Cambridge classicist Professor James Diggle and geologist John Underhill, Mr Bittlestone set out his theory that Homer's Ithaca was not the modern island of Ithaki but was in fact a western peninsula of Cephalonia which is today called Paliki. He posits that in 800 BC, a wide channel separated the two land masses and that earthquakes and rock falls have since filled this in, turning two islands into one. Mr Bittlestone said: "We have put together our geographical case but it hasn't yet been proven. We need to see through all this rock with x-ray eyes and date the bottom layer of rock. The oil industry uses sophisticated technology which would be perfect for this so I hope we can find a sympathetic donor. I'll be very surprised if I'm wrong. The description Homer gives of Ithaca is very specific. If you pick up your copy of the Odyssey and use it as a Michelin Guide it fits perfectly. There are some coincidences which are just too unlikely." The Odyssey describes the 10-year journey of Odysseus as he returns from the Trojan War in the 13th century BC. About 40 experts have been involved in order to get the project this far and Mr Bittlestone hopes to be on the Ionian island in the summer conducting the definitive geological survey. If his theory is proved correct it would become one of the greatest classical discoveries of all time, not only raising the possibility of the actual existence of Homer but also the idea that the character of Odysseus was based on a real person. And this is a concept capable of causing major upheavals in the world of classical scholarship. For more information go to www.odysseus-unbound.org." |
Mar 2 2006 |  News broadcast, Radio Jackie
How did Homer earn his living? Build-up to tonight's seminars at King's College (1 minute). Right click and save before listening. |
Feb 2006 | “For roughly two thousand years, the plays of Euripides were copied by a succession of scribes, and this process naturally caused deterioration in the authentic text. What we read in the medieval manuscripts is frequently very removed from what Euripides actually wrote. I decided that it ought to be possible to improve the text that we now read... I spent about twenty years working on the text of Euripides. My edition replaced that of Gilbert Murray that had been published between 1900 and 1910.” “I believe that Odysseus Unbound will make students look at the Odyssey with very different eyes. It has become the conventional classical wisdom to look on the Odyssey as a product of pure imagination, and to suppose that the places that are described in it never actually existed. There has also been an enormous amount of disagreement over the actual location of Ithaca itself. Because it has not been possible to locate it with certainty, many people believe that the poet of the Odyssey did not know anything about a real Ithaca and that his descriptions of its geography come entirely from his imagination. What we believe we have discovered is that the Ithaca of the Odyssey was an absolutely real and concrete place, and we are confident that it was the area of Cephalonia that is now called Paliki.” “Once we had realised that Paliki is ancient Ithaca, our next step was to ask ourselves whether there are any aspects of the landscape of Paliki that correspond to the places that are described in the Odyssey. And what we discovered, to our surprise, is that it is possible to map every locality that is reported in the Odyssey onto the landscape of the northern part of Paliki. You can reject this as a coincidence if you wish, and a lot of people will undoubtedly do so, but the fact is that there are twenty-six separate locations described in the Odyssey as being near to the palace of Odysseus, and every one of them corresponds to some feature of the landscape that can be located on Paliki.” Click here for full article (in Greek, with English translation). |
Jan 30 2006 | “The latest theory that the ancient island of Ithaca is located on western Kefallonia has been hailed by Discover magazine as one of the top history of science events of 2005...The first 10,000 copies of the book were snapped up in three months and reviewers have described it as "epoch-making" and "triumphant". The book's impact has led to Discover magazine placing it in its top 100 science stories of 2005 and top three in its history of science category.” |
Jan 27 2006 | “The storm of scientific and popular interest surrounding the alleged discovery of Homer's Ithaca looks set to continue after Discover magazine declared it one of the most important scientific events of 2005...Such is the importance of Mr Bittlestone's book that Discover magazine, a leading American science publication, has placed it in its top 100 science stories of last year and one of the top three in the category of the history of science...Cambridge University Press has also ordered a second print run of the book, which reviewers have described as "epoch-making" and "triumphant", after the first 10,000 copies were snapped up in three months.” |
Nov 2005 | “Over the last three millennia land-mass uplift and catastrophic rockfalls due to periodic earthquakes have filled in this region, which is now an isthmus called Thinia. This is believed to have made the single island of Kefallinia out of the former islands of Ithaca and Same...The results of [Underhill's] recent investigation of the Holocene geomorphology of western Kefallinia are unexpected and thought-provoking. ” |
Nov 30 2005 | “NASA software can help curious observers track the progress of scientists and archaeologists attempting to unearth Homer's Ithaca... It was previously never known whether the land Homer described ever actually existed... NASA's 'World Wind' technology allows enthusiasts to see for themselves on their own computers the geographical changes which may have caused the real Ithaca to be lost from view. ” |
Nov 5 2005 | A historical account of the Homeric epics and the search for Homer's Ithaca (in Greek) |
Nov 1 2005 | “The book makes the case that there is strong evidence for a channel once existing between Paliki and the rest of Cephalonia, that made Paliki an island. If we turn out to be right then we will have produced an elegant solution to the age-old problem of where Ithaca was and where Odysseus lived.” |
Oct 25 2005 | Interview on Athens International Radio 'Talk of the Town' with Alexia Amvrazi What prompted the discovery and what will happen next? (15 minutes). Right click and save before listening |
Oct 22 2005 |  Interview on London Greek Radio with Sophia Economides
How has the academic world reacted and what is the view in Athens? (7 minutes) Right click and save before listening |
Oct 14 2005 |  Interview on Focus 580 with David Inge, Radio WILL NPR Chicago
National Public Radio in Chicago asks whether the Homeric puzzle is now solved (50 minutes). Right click and save before listening |
Oct 12 2005 |  Interview with Nick Girdler, Radio Solent
BBC's local radio station for the south of England grapples with the Homeric enigma (13 minutes). Right click and save before listening |
Oct 9 2005 | The Ithaca Code: A businessman, a professor and a geologist come out fighting for Ithaca (in Greek) |
Oct 08 2005 | Interview by Susan Greenwood |
Oct 06 2005 | Interview with Martin Fletcher, Radio Jackie South-west London's local radio station tunes into the Bronze Age (1 minute). Right click and save before listening |
Oct 04 2005 | Christ's alumnus at book-signing in Heffers tonight. |
Oct 03 2005 | Cover Story - Fantastic Voyage. A story told by the poet Homer created a mystery that has taken 3,000 years to solve. Completion of this puzzle could have far-reaching implications for business management.   
|
Oct 03 2005 |  BBC Radio Ulster - Arts Extra - Interview (4 minutes) Right click and save before listening
|
Oct 03 2005 |  Archaeology - Homeric Ithaca was probably on Cephalonia |
Sep 30 2005 |  |
Sep 30 2005 |  |
Sep 29 2005 | TV and radio coverage of today's announcement Channel 4 Special Report - In search of Odysseus - by Julian Rush - Watch the film [streaming video: click on 'Watch the report' top-right of the Channel 4 web page] - Download the film [Right click and save before viewing]
BBC Radio 4 Six O'Clock News Broadcast at 18:00 after the 12:30 embargo (2 minutes) Right click and save before listening 
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme Broadcast at 06:55 prior to 12:30 embargo (3 minutes) Right click and save before listening |
Sep 29 2005 |           
 
    
   
 
|
Sep 27 2005 |  Discovery of Homeric Ithaca Athens' City Press newspaper reports today on the recent announcements by NASA of the contribution of their World Wind technology to this discovery.
|
Fall 2005 |  The Search for Homer's Ithaca A new and perhaps controversial book, Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca, by Robert Bittlestone, James Diggle of Cambridge University, and John Underhill of Edinburgh University, concerns a modern quest to locate Odysseus’s homeland of Ithaca. It is due to be released in October, 2005. A series of international seminars with the author is also planned.
North Carolina Classical Association |
Sep 14 2005 | They "saw" the palace of Odysseus in Ithaki With the help of the satellite technology of NASA, researchers believe they may have discovered Homeric Ithaki, the proposed locality of which they will announce on 29 September.
Ta Nea, Athens |
Jun 29 2005 | New tools set to solve ancient quest Ben King describes in the Financial Times how Robert Bittlestone tackled this long-standing enigma by using cutting edge visualisation technology and how similar techniques may help to solve today's business problems.
Financial Times, London |
Apr 15 2005 |  Metapraxis Chairman author of new book for Cambridge University Press Visualisation techniques shed light on Ancient Greece: "I have always been delighted by Greece and the classics and it has been a privilege to learn from some eminent academics in the course of this research." Metapraxis Ltd, London |
Για δελτία Τύπου κάντε κλικ στα εικονίδια (ενημερώνονται συνεχώς)
Has the real homeland of Ulysses been discovered? 
Joint Association of Classical Teachers reports on the controversy
Help closing in on Ithaca mystery
Ithaca 'discovery' hailed as event of 2005 
Ithaca findings a major discovery 
Project team announces discovery of location of Homer’s Ithaca 
Mythic island found at last? 
Apodimos
Feature article in BBC History magazine: Finding Odysseus' Island Home
Christ's College Alumni News
Comments