Summer festivals in Ithaca

Rhymes

Published in Folklore
October 26 2013

Some four line rhymes of unknown authors are still in use today in Ithaca. They are about love, marriage, emigration and daily activities.

October 26 2013

The small rocky island of Ithaca has become known worldwide through Homer’s epic poems “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”. Many people may not know its exact location, but they know Ithaca as the island of Odysseus since Ithaca and Odysseus are conceptualized together.

There is no indication from the very little ancient written information which has survived, that Ithaca is not the Homeric one. The ancient philosophers and writers Porphyry, Thucidides, Plutarch, Apollodoros, Cicero and Acousilaos, all refer to the island as Ithaca centuries after Homer’s time. The philo­sopher Aristotle writes about “The State of the Ithacans”, indicating that the island was autonomous, this was confirmed when coins of “The State of Ithaca” and “Odysseus” were found from recent exca­vations on the island. During the Roman era, the Greek geographer Strabo was the first to discover that several ancient writers disputed as to the geographi­cal position of Ithaca, unfortunately none of these documents are known to exist today.

In recent centuries many archaeologists and re­searchers came to Ithaca to investigate if it was the Homeric island.

October 24 2013

The Cultural and Environmental Society of North Ithaca "Active Citizens", is a non-profit N.G.O., founded in 2007 in Frikes, North Ithaca. The purpose of the organization is to make known and promote the walking trails of Ithaca, to allow residents and visitors to discover little known areas of the island and its History.

 

Website: sites.google.com/site/ithakitrekking

Contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sayings

Published in Folklore
October 24 2013

The Ithacan sayings are a good example of the local dialect, sense of humor, and quite often are self-sar­castic.