Where was Homer's Ithaca?

Monday 29 October 2007

For thousands of years people thought that Troy was imaginary. Then the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated it in the 1870s. It is south-west of Istanbul and its location matches Homer's description in the Iliad precisely.

Other cities that Homer described have also been discovered: Knossos in Crete, Mycenae south of Corinth; and in 2005 Ajax's palace was located on Salamis, near Athens.

So could Homer's Ithaca also be a real location? And can modern geology combined with classical research and satellite technology help us to locate it?

On Monday 29 October the authors of Odysseus Unbound will present their proposal and the latest discoveries from the island of Cephalonia.

• Time: 6pm
• Venue: The Geological Society of London (Piccadilly entrance)
• Speakers: Robert Bittlestone, Professor James Diggle (University of Cambridge) and Professor John Underhill (University of Edinburgh).