Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/114

 98 ITHACA while he believes the modern capital town of Bath;'/ to occupy the site of Crocyleia. (//. I. c.) It is true that Strabo (pp. 376, 453) places AegOips and Crocyleia in Leucas; but this appears inconsistent with Homer and other ancient authorities. (See Leake, I. c.) Plutarch {Quaest. Gi'aec. 43) and Stephanas B. (s. v.) state that the proper name of the ancient capital of Ithaca was Alcomeuae or Alalcomenae, and that Ulysses bestowed this appellation upon it from his having been himself born near Alalcomenae in Boeotia. But this name is not found in Homer; and a passage in Strabo tends to identify it with the ruins on the isthmus of Aetos, where the fortress and royal residence of the Ithacan chieftains pro- bably stood, on account of the advantages of a posi- tion so easily accessible to the sea both on the eastern and western sides. It is argued by Leake (J. c.) that the Homeric capital city was at Palis, a little harbour on the JMW. coast of the island, where some Hellenic remains may still be traced. For the poet (Oc/. iv. 844, seq.) represents the suitors as lying in wait for Telemachus on his return from Peloponnesus at Asteris, " a small island in the channel between Ithaca and Samos {Cephalmiia)" where the only island is that now called AaffKuKtov, situated exactly opposite the entrance to Port Folis. The traditional name of Polis is alone a sti-ong argument that the town, of w-hich the remains are still visible there, was that which Scylax (i're Acar- Tiania), and still more especially Ptolemy (iii. 14), mentions as having borne the same name as the island. It seems highly probable that ij irdMs, or the city, was among the Ithacans the most common designation of their chief town. And if the Homeric capital was at Polis, it will follow that Mt. Neium, under which it stood ('ISd/iTjs 'Tnovrjtov, Od. iii. 81), was the mountain of Exoge {Ital. Exoi), at the northern extremity of the island, and that one of its summits was the Hermaean hill {'Ef)/j.aios (pos, Od. xvi. 471) from which Eumaeus saw the ship of Telemachus entering the harbour. It becomes pro- bable, also, that the harbour Eheithrum ('Peiflpoj'), which was " under Neium " but " ajiart from the city" (^v6a(pi ttoKtios, Od. i. 185), may be identified with either of the neighbouring bays of Afdles or Frikcs. Near the village of Exoge may be observed the substructions of an ancient building, probably a temple, with several steps and niches cut in the ruck. These remains are now called by the neigh- bouring peasants " the School of Homer." The Homeric " Fountain of Arethusa " is identi- fied with a copious spring which rises at the foot of a cliff fronting the sea, near the SE. extremity of Ithaca. This clitf is still called Korax (KJpa|), and is, doubtless, that alluded to at Od. xiii. 407, seq., xiv. 5, seq., xiv. 398. (See, especially on this point, Leake, I. c, and Mure, Tovr in Greece, vol. i. p. 67, seq.) The most remarkable natural feature of Ithaca is the Chilf of Molo, that inlet of the sea which nearly divides the island into two portions ; and the most remarkable relic of antiquity is the so- called " Castle of Ulysses," placed, as has been already intimated, on the sides and summit of the steep hill of Aetos, on the connecting isthmus. Here may be traced several lines of inclosure, testi- fying the highest antiquity in the rude structure of massive stones which compose them. The position of several gates is distinctly marked ; there are also traces of a tower and of two large subterranean cis- ITHACA. teras. There can be httle doubt that this is the spot to which Cicero (tfe Orat. i. 44) alludes in praising the patriotism of Ulysses — " ut Ithacam illam in asperrimis saxis tanquam nidulam affixani sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret." The name of Aetos, moreover, recalls the striking scene in Od. ii. 146, seq. At the base of this hill there have been discovered several ancient tombs, sepul- chral inscriptions, vases, rings, medals, &c. The i coins of Ithaca usually bear the head of Ulysses, with the pileus, or conical cap, and the legend 'IfloKoii'; the reverse exhibiting a cock, an emblem of the hero's vigilance, Athena, his tutelar deity, or other devices of like import. (See Eckhel.) The Homeric port of Phorcys (Od xiii. 345) is supposed to be represented by a small creek now called Dexia (probably because it is on the right of the entrance to the harbour of Bathy), or by another creek now called Skhinos, both on the southern side of the Gulf of Molo. (Leake, I. c.) At a cave on the side of Mount Stephanos or Merovugli, above this gulf, and at some short distance from the sea, is placed the '' Grotto of the Nymphs," in which the sleeping Ulysses was deposited by the Phoenicians who brought him from Scheria. (^Od. xiii. 116, seq.) Leake (J., c.) considers this to be " the only point in the island exactly corresponding to the poet's data." The modem capital of Ithaca extends in a narrow strip of white houses round the southern extremity of the horse-shoe port, or " deep " (Ba0y), from which it derives its name, and which is itself but an inlet of the Gtdf of Molo, often mentioned already. After passing through similar vicissitudes to those of its neighbours, Ithaca is now one of the seven Ionian Islands under the protectorate of Great Britain, and contains a population exceeding 10,000 souls, — an industrious and prosperous community. It has been truly observed that there is, perhaps, no spot in the world where the influence of classical associations is more lively or more pure ; for Ithaca is indebted for no part of its interest to the rival distinctions of modem annals, — so much as its name scarcely occurring in the page of any writer of historical ages, unless with reference to its poetical celebrity. Indeed, in a. i). 1504, it was nearly, if not quite, uninhabited, having been depopulated by the incursions of Corsairs; and record is still extant of the privileges accorded by the Venetian government to the settlers (probably from the neighbouring islands and from the mainland of Greece) by whom it was repeopled. (Leake, I. c. Bowen, Ithaca in 1850, p. 1.) It has been assumed throughout this article that the island still called Ithaca is identical with the Homeric Ithaca. Of that fact there is ample testi- mony in its geogi-aphical position, as well as in its internal featm^es, when compared with the Odyssey. To every sceptic we may say, in the wurds of Athena to Ulysses {Od. xiii. 344), — OA.A.' ^7e roL Sei^ci) 'I0a/C7js eSoj o(ppa ircrroidris. (The arguments on the sceptical side of the question have been collected by ViJlcker, Homer. Geogr. 46 COIN OF ITHACA.