Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relocating Odysseus' homeland

  • Feature
  • Published:

From Nature Geoscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Homer's Ithaca had been viewed as a work of poetic licence and imprecise geography. However, as recent research shows the island's form may have been disguised over the past two millennia by catastrophic rockfalls, co-seismic uplift events and relative sea-level change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: The modern geography of the Ionian islands.
Figure 2: The geological setting of the Thinia valley.
Figure 3: Geological structures of the Thinia valley and the Gulf of Livadi.

References

  1. Kraft, J. C., Kayan, I. & Erol, O. Science 209, 776–782 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kraft, J. C., Rapp, G., Kayan, I. & Luce, J. V. Geology 31, 163–166 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Van Andel, T. H., Perissoratis, C. & Rondoyanni, T. J. Geol. Soc. 150, 529–539 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Andel, T. H. & Llanos, N. Int. J. Naut. Archaeol. 12, 303–324 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Homer The Odyssey (trans. Fagles, R.) 9.18–26 (Penguin Classics, 1996).

  6. Strabo Geography (trans. Jones, H. L.) 10.2.15 (Loeb Classical Library: Harvard Univ. Press, 1933).

  7. Underhill, J. R. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 101, 613–634 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Sachpazi, M. et al. Tectonophysics 319, 301–319 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Taymaz, T., Jackson, J. & McKenzie, D. Geophys. J. Int. 106, 433–490 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Clarke, P. J. et al. Geophys. J. Int. 135, 195–214 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Hollenstein, C., Müller, M. D., Geiger, A. & Kahle, H.-G. Tectonophysics 449, 17–40 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Shaw, B. et al. Nature Geosci. 1, 268–276 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Vott, A., May, M., Bruckner H. & Brockmuller S. Z. Geomorphol. 146, 139–172 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Vott, A. Quat. Sci. Rev. 26, 894–919 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Stiros, S. C., Pirazzoli, P. A., Laborel, J. & Laborel-Deguen, F. Geophys. J. Int. 117, 834–849 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Underhill, J. R. Geoscientist 16, 4–29 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Underhill, J. R. Geoscientist 18, 20–27 (2008).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Shackleton, N. J., Sanchez-Goni, M. F., Pailler, D. & Lancelot, Y. Glob. Planet. Change 36, 151–155 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Tzedakis, P. C., Frogley, M. R. & Heaton, T. H. E. Quat. Res. 58, 53–55 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Milne, G. A., Long, A. J. & Bassett, S. E. Quat. Sci. Rev. 24, 1183–1202 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The support of the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and the Dimarcheions of Paliki and Argostoli is acknowledged. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is thanked for financial support. Fugro and their staff are acknowledged for their substantive geophysical and technical support of the project. Additional thanks are given to the main collaborators, R. Bittlestone and J. Diggle. Fugro geoscientists, S. Thomson, S. Poulter, D. Taliani, G. Hodges, A. Dyson and D. Kilcoyne, and Edinburgh University students, K. Hunter, N. Taylor, D. Taylor, C. Boddy and C. Duguid are all acknowledged for their help and support in geophysical data collection and analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. John R. Underhill is at the Grant Institute of Earth Science, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, Scotland, UK. jru@staffmail.ed.ac.uk,

    John R. Underhill

Authors
  1. John R. Underhill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Underhill, J. Relocating Odysseus' homeland. Nature Geosci 2, 455–458 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo562

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo562

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation