HENRITTE PUTMAN CRAMER, GERASIMOS METAXAS

SERIES: HOMERIC TOPOGRAPHY

There is an island
called Asteris
(Homer Od. 4.844-847 )
THE ISLAND OF THE SUITORS




Reithron
Athens 2010
2
























3























This offprint entitled ASTERIS: The island of the suitors is one of several self-contained,
popularized excerpts from a much longer work on the Homeric geography and
topography of Western Greece.
4


Bearing in mind the particular readership for which this paper is chiefly intended,
we have deliberately eschewed analysis of specialized issues and excessive use of
citations and footnotes, which are mainly of interest to specialists in Homeric studies.

In this series we shall in the near future be publishing books, D.V.D, articles and
papers addressed primarily to academics and scholars and all readers of the learned
journals dealing with the subject.

The purpose of this offprint is to bring to the attention of anybody interested in the
subject, summarily and in an easily readable form (with more illustrations and fewer
citations), the new theories and hypotheses put forward concerning the prehistoric
era in Western Greece, giving those who so wish to be involved in and supporters of
the systematic study of the subject at every level of scholarly endeavour.

The Society for the Study of Prehistoric Kephallenia, which actively supports the
project outlined above, welcomes any collaborative effort that might help it to
achieve its objects. (See phone no. and email address at foot of this page)

Bearing in mind the dictum of the famous poet Seamus Heaney that the only
weapon of resistance left to contemporary man is memory, this booklet is dedicated
to two members of our research team who have recently passed away.

To the memory of Yannis Valsamis we have dedicated the chapter entitled
Travelling with the suitors and Telemachos to the isle of Asteris. We have
embellished (perhaps over-embellished!) the text of Homers narrative with
numerous pictures of ancient ships, which Yannis liked to paint, and reproductions
of the frescoes from Thera, which were his favourite subject.

To Yannis Zouganelis we have dedicated the Postscript; or rather, to be more precise,
he has dedicated the Postscript to us as an offering to the prefix amphi-, which has
enriched the Greek language with so many inimitable compound words. The
adjective amphidymos (), referring to the twin harbours (one on either side)
of Asteris, is added to the long list of 67 compounds with the prefix amphi- which he
retrieved from oblivion, and we dedicate it to his memory.

Society for the Study of Prehistoric Kephallenia:
https://www.facebook.com/EtaireiaMeletonProistorikesKephallenias?ref=hl
Information: Tel. 0030 26740 72220, Mobile 0030 695 630 0564 & 0030 694 777 7150,
email: reithron@hotmail.com





5

ASTERIS
THE ISLAND OF THE SUITORS





































6







7

Henritte Putman Cramer - Gerasimos Metaxas

ASTERIS
THE ISLAND OF THE SUITORS

,
[ ,]*
,
. (Od. 4.844-847)

There is a rocky island in the middle of the sea,
[midway between Ithaka and rugged Samos,]*
called Asteris. It is of no great size, but it has safe harbours, one on each side;
and there the Achaians set their ambush [for Telemachos] and lay in wait.

he quest for Homeric Ithaka usually starts with what is theoretically the
thorniest problem of Homeric geography, which has to do with the existence
and precise position of the islet of Asteris. It is the island where the suitors
vying for the throne of Ithaka spent twenty-eight days lying in wait for Telemachos
with the intention of killing him on his way back from Pylos.
As anyone interested in Homeric geography will know, the crux of the
problem of identifying Homeric Ithaka and confirming the accuracy of Homers
geographical data is the location of Asteris, known as the island of the suitors. It is
the rock on which, up to the present time, all theories have come to grief the theories
put forward by the latter-day suitors of Homeric Ithaka in their attempts to discover
its whereabouts. If it could be established that Asteris exists, and in a position that
matches Homers description, Homeric geography would undoubtedly be proved
accurate and reliable and there could be no further argument about the positions of
Homeric Same and Ithaka in relation to Asteris.
Even now, after 3,200 years, Homeric Asteris remains a phantom floating in
the Ionian Sea, looking for its true home on every island and islet, every rock and reef
in the waters between Kephallenia, Ithaka and Leukas. After 150 years of fierce
T
8

argument and vain searching, scholars the world over have assigned this ghost island
to the world of Homeric myth together with the islands of Ogygia,
1
Aiaia,
2
Aiolia,
3

Thrinakia
4
and others.
It is true that ancient geographers and historians, with their apparently
disjointed opinions (which turn out not to be so disjointed after all, as we shall see),
failed to clear up or throw sufficient light on the precise position of Asteris and
question whether the island as described by Homer did or did not exist. Strabo
(C 457.16, C 59-60), who never actually visited the islands of Western Greece to see
the lie of the land for himself, gives us his own opinions about Asteris and records the
views of Demetrios of Skepsis and Apollodoros:

( '
)

' .
,
' .

Between Ithaka and Kephallenia is the small island of Asteria (the poet calls it
Asteris). The Skepsian says it is no longer as the poet describes it:
It has harbours providing safe anchorage, one on either side.
Apollodoros, however, says that it remains so to this day and mentions a small town
called Alalkomenai on the island, situated on the isthmus.

Strabo (C 453), who took the view that Homeric Samos was the historical
Kephallenia and had been told of the existence of a small rocky islet (now called
Daskalio
5
) between Kephallenia and Ithaka, eventually concludes that that islet must
have been Homers Asteris. He attributes the absence of
6
[]

7
(safe harbours on both sides of the islet, which is not much more than a
reef) to subsequent changes resulting from natural causes, rather than to the poets
ignorance or misrepresentation of the facts. However, as he says himself,
[ ] (The matter is unclear and I leave it for every
man to judge for himself (C 59-60)
9



,
, .
,

,
, , '


' .
,
.
[ ] .

And one of the Echinades Islands, too, which used to be called Artemita, is
now part of the mainland; and they say that the same has happened to some of the
other islets near the mouth of the Achelos owing to the silting up of the sea by that
river; and the rest of them too, as Herodotus says, are in process of fusion with the
mainland. Again, there are certain Aetolian promontories which were formerly
islands; and Asteria, which the poet calls Asteris, is no longer what it was:

There is a rocky island in the middle of the sea,
called Asteris. It is of no great size, but it has safe harbours, one on each side,

There is not even a good anchorage there now. Furthermore, in Ithaka there is neither
the cave nor the shrine of the Nymphs described by Homer; but it seems more correct
to attribute this to physical change rather than to Homer's ignorance or to his
romancing to suit the fabulous element in his poetry. However, the matter is unclear
and I leave it for every man to judge for himself.
10


The rocky islet of Daskalio between Kephallenia and Ithaka

Strabos view is accepted by Stephanos of Byzantium,
8
who retails Homers
statements about Asteris with the difference that he says between Kephallenia and
Ithaka instead of midway between Ithaka and Samos. Eustathios
9
repeats the
information that there is a small town on Asteris, which some people call Asteria.
Hesychios in his Lexicon
10
has the entry Peirieis island, also called Asteria (i.e. an
island lying in a channel, in a useful position for a ferry crossing). The islet of Asteris
and another one called Prote are mentioned by Pliny the Elder
11
in his Historia
Naturalis (IV.54-55): he describes it as lying in the open sea about fifteen miles off
Cape Araxos in the Peloponnese:
Ab ea Araxum Peloponnesi promunturium XV. ante hanc in alto Asteris, Prote.
The existence of Asteris is also mentioned in the History of the Byzantine
historian Niketas Choniates
12
(12th c.), who incorporated many memoirs from
ancient writings in his accounts of events and states that the island
Asteris lies in the Sound of Kephallenia. According to Choniates, the Venetians
ambushed the Byzantine fleet at Asteris in the reign of Manuel II Komnenos, when
the two powers were at loggerheads because they were vying with each other to
capture Corfu from the Normans:
13

( ,

)

(It is interesting to note that the island known as Asteris both in the Homeric age and in the Byzantine
period is mentioned as a place well suited to naval ambushes. Is this mere coincidence, or was there
really an island called Asteris used for their own purposes by pirates active in the Sound of
Kephallenia? It is a point worth thinking about.)
11


17th-century map marking Asteris S.E. of Kephallenia! Fotis Kremmydas Collection

During the Renaissance the science of cartography developed apace and
European mapmakers, influenced by Homeric geography and Strabos Geographica,
marked an island with the name of Asteria or Asteris in the channel between
Kephallenia and Ithaka, in roughly the same position as Daskalio Rock or a bit further
south. This they drew on their maps with all the distinguishing features of Homers
Asteris. Presumably Daskalio was christened Asteris in an attempt to validate the
accuracy of Homers geography, even though it has not the slightest indentation in its
coastline,
14
nor has it undergone any such morphological changes as to explain why
its present appearance is so completely different from the description given by Homer.
Leaving aside the commendable attempts by Renaissance cartographers to
resurrect an island between Kephallenia and Ithaka where there had never been one,
opinion among Homeric scholars as well as the general public is largely divided
between two schools of thought:
(a) That Homer, who lived and composed his epics in Ionia, far away from
Western Greece, was first and foremost a poet, not an infallible geographer; that his
descriptions are coloured by poetic licence, since his object was to describe places and
things in the way that best suited his narrative; and that therefore the location of the
isle of Asteris belongs in the context of a work of literature and a narrative structure
that is not obliged to follow the rules of a geography lesson; or
(b) That Homer was describing an island that has since disappeared without
trace or has changed shape, probably as a result of violent geological upheavals, and
12

the places he describes truly existed in his time, so he is as far as we are able to
know - the only one who thousands of years ago saw and described places that we
cannot now locate.

Since the second theory is dismissed by most geographers, the first has come
to prevail in the field of Homeric studies. Among the factors contributing to its
acceptance have been the unsuccessful attempts of many scholars to identify Asteris
with Daskalio
15
and other islets in the Ionian Sea, such as Vardiani,
16
Arkoudi
17
and
Atokos,
18
or parts of the mainland opposite Kephallenia and Ithaka
19
or even semi-
submerged reefs,
20
all of which actually helped to consign Asteris to the world of
Homeric myth once and for all.

Aerial view of the rocky islet of Daskalio. Its very small size, the absence of any trace of two safe
harbours on opposite sides or indeed any kind of anchorage, and the absence of high, windswept peaks
has led most historians and researchers to consign Asteris to the world of Homeric myth or to look for
it in other, larger islands or reefs presumed to be submerged islands in the Ionian Sea.

Although these two hypotheses have come to dominate the debate at every
level up to now, we have to take a third parameter into consideration (Odysseas
Metaxas, personal communication), namely the question whether the controversial
lines of Homer referring to Asteris are entirely authentic: whether they have been
corrupted or altered or other lines interpolated, as has happened so often in Homer.
The possibility that the original text may have been tampered with, either to make
Homers references to Asteris fit in with the geography of the islands in historical
times (in which respect Daskalio Rock must have seemed like a godsend confirming
the bards words) or to corroborate (so to speak) Homers topography as understood
by the copyists in the light of the state of knowledge of their time, was a matter that
needed to be examined in detail. The differences between the renderings of many
13

lines in surviving manuscripts and there are a great many of them, due either to the
copyists or to commentators on Homer leave us no option but to give serious
attention to all the new data that have come to light and will presumably continue to
come to light, considering that research on the subject (cf. Odysseas Metaxas) is
constantly in progress.
Since in this case too (as in the case of the not very big Ithaka)
21
there seem
to be strong indications or firm evidence answering the questions raised above, we
feel it would be a good idea to organize a conference for the discussion of this issue
and several others. The conference would address the evolution of the Homeric text
and consider any other important observations that might arise, which could be the
subject of separate papers, and the presentation of such papers would be of enormous
help towards our understanding of the complex Homeric problems we have inherited
from earlier scholars.
Here we shall be accepting the text as it stands because, whether or not the
line suspected of being an interpolation is included, the conclusion to be drawn
regarding the identification of Asteris remains the same. This controversial line in the
Odyssey (4.845) is enclosed in square brackets at the beginning of this study. Why it
is there and what its presence signifies are extremely interesting questions, because
careful examination of the matter may well lift the veil that has kept lost Asteris
hidden up to now, and they deserve close scholarly analysis.
We therefore feel that the time has come, following the story told by Homer
(and the Homeridae!) to go on a voyage with the Mycenaean suitors and Telemachos
to the isle of Asteris, hoping that Athena, the goddess of wisdom, will send us a
favourable breeze to speed us safely on the way to the first point on the coast of
Ithaka.



14

Following Homers narrative:
A VOYAGE WITH THE MYCENAEAN SUITORS AND TELEMACHOS
TO THE ISLE OF ASTERIS

In memory of Yannis Valsamis

A replica of the legendary Argo, in which the Argonauts sailed on their expedition in 1400 B.C. Similar ships were used by the Greeks in the
campaign against Troy. The suitors vessel would almost certainly have been of similar design.

, But give me a fast ship and twenty men,
670 and I will set an ambush to catch him
, as he sails home through the channel between Ithaka and rugged Samos.
. Then all his voyaging in search of his father will come to a grim end.
( . 669-672) ( Od. 4.669-672)



15

, Thereupon he picked the twenty bravest men
. and they went off to the swift ship on the seashore.
, 780 First of all they ran the ship down into deep water,
, stepped the mast and rigged the sails in the black ship,
, fixed the oars in the leather thole-straps,
, all shipshape, and spread the white sails.
. Meanwhile their willing menservants brought them their weapons.
, 785 They moored the ship well out in the harbour, went back ashore
, . and there had their supper, waiting for nightfall.
(. , 778-786) (Od. 4.778-786)


Fresco from Thera depicting Bronze Age ships.


Meanwhile the suitors had embarked and were sailing the seas,
. plotting foul murder against Telemachos.
, There is a rocky island in the middle of the sea,
, 845 midway between Ithaka and rugged Samos,
, called Asteris. It is of no great size, but it has safe harbours,
. one on each side; and there the Achaians set their ambush for Telemachos.
(. 842-847) (Od. 4.842-847)


16

, . And I will tell you something else: take heed of what I say.
The bravest of the suitors are lying in wait for you
. in the channel between Ithaka and rugged Samos,
, . 30 intent on murdering you before you reach your native land.
But I do not think they will succeed: sooner than that, several of the suitors
, . who are devouring your substance will themselves be laid in the earth.
, However, keep your good ship well clear of the islands
and sail on through the night, and the immortal deity
. 35 who guards and protects you will send you a following breeze.
, When you reach the first point on the coast of Ithaka,
, send the ship and all your companions on to the city;
, you yourself must go first of all to the swineherd
, . who keeps your pigs and is fond of you.
40 Spend the night there and then send him to the city
, to tell wise Penelope
. that you are safely back from Pylos.
(. 27-42) (Od. 15.27-42)



Merchant vessel of the Homeric age similar to the one Telemachos borrowed to go to Pylos.

17







Merchant vessel of the Homeric age similar to the one Telemachos borrowed to go to Pylos.





Telemachos called to his men and told them
. to lay hold of the tackle. They obeyed at once,
hauled up the fir mast, stepped it in its hollow box,
, , 290 made it fast with forestays
. and hoisted the white sail with plaited thongs of oxhide.
, And flashing-eyed Athena sent them a boisterous wind
, blowing strongly from astern through the clear air,
. to send the ship racing across the briny sea.
. 295 So they sailed past Krounoi and Chalkis with its beautiful streams.
Now the sun set and all the ways grew dark.
And the ship drew near to Pheai, sped by the favourable wind of Zeus,
, . and on past goodly Elis, where the Epeians rule.
, From there he steered for the Pointed Islands,
. wondering whether he would come through alive or be caught.
(. , 287-300) ( Od. 15.287-300)



18

. 495 Soon Dawn was on her golden throne and the ship was nearing the shore.
, Telemachoss comrades struck sail, lowered the mast quickly
, and rowed the ship to her anchorage with their oars.
, Then they dropped anchor, made the stern cables fast,
, jumped ashore and prepared their meal
. 500 and mixed the fiery wine.
, When they had eaten and drunk their fill,
wise Telemachos broke the silence:
, Row the black ship round to the city, he said,
while I pay a visit to the fields and the herdsmen.
. I will come to the city this evening, when I have looked over my lands.
( . , 495-505) (Od. 15.495-505)



Warship of the Homeric age, similar to that of the suitors and those of Odysseus at the time of the Trojan War.


, Then spoke Antinous, Eupeithes son:
, . Damn it all, the gods have delivered this man from destruction!
365 Day after day watchmen have sat upon the windy heights,
one shift following another, and after sunset
, we have never spent a night ashore but have waited for the bright Dawn
, sailing the sea in our swift ship,
, lying in wait for Telemachos to catch him and finish him off;
. but meanwhile some god has brought him home.
(. .363-370) (Od. 16.363-370)
19

Two Mycenaean rhyta in the shape of warships. Below, drawing of a ship on a sherd of Bronze Age pottery.



20

thena warns Telemachos, who is on a visit to Sparta, that the suitors are
planning to set an ambush for him in the channel used by ships sailing
midway between rocky Samos and Ithaka, intent on murdering him. She
allays his fears, however, by telling him that for his return journey from Pylos she will
send him a favourable (southerly) wind so that he can steer well clear of certain
unnamed islands and land safely at the first (i.e. southernmost) point on the coast of
Ithaka (Od. 15.27-42).
Meanwhile the suitors have rigged and launched their ship and anchored well
out in the harbour, and in the evening they set sail for a smallish island named Asteris
with two safe harbours, one on each side, lying in the channel midway between
Samos and Ithaka (Od. 4.669-672, 778-786, 842-847). There they wait for
Telemachos for four weeks, spending the days keeping watch from the islands
windswept peaks ( ) and the nights out on patrol to catch him on
his return from Sparta and Pylos (Od. 16.363-370). From Asteris they can also watch
the route from Pylos to Ephyra
22
in Thesprotia, in case Telemachos decides to go
there to get poisoned arrows to use against them (Od. 2.325-330).
It is soon after midday when Telemachos sets sail from Pylos on his return
journey. During the afternoon his ship, staying close to the coast, passes Krounoi
23

and Chalkis.
24
By nightfall, with the favourable wind Athena has sent him, he is near
the cape called Pheai (now Katakolo); and in the early hours of darkness, as he skirts
the coast of Elis steering for the Thoai (Pointed Islands), he starts worrying about his
prospects of escaping alive from the ambush set by the suitors (Od. 15.295-300).
With the help of Athena and the favourable south wind, he keeps well clear of
the islands and presumably far enough away from Asteris and at dawn he lands
safely at the nearest point on the coast of Ithaka (Od. 15.495-500).
That same day the suitors, who may have been informed of Telemachos
return by a god or may have seen his ship sailing past, return frustrated to the port of
Homeric Ithaka (Od. 16.342-370).

A
21


Satellite photo of the coast of Western Greece. It was in these waters that Telemachos sailed from
Ithaka to Pylos and back.
Messenian Pylos
Pheai
(katakolo)
Krounoi, Chalkis
Dyme
(Araxos) ITHAKA
Thoai
(Oxia)
)
Triphyllian
Pylos
ELIS
Beautiful lake
(Lake Agoulinitsa)

EPHYRA
22

If we wish to find out whether Homers geography of Western Greece is based
on reliable sources and so to confirm that the places are in the right order in relation to
Homers accounts of the voyages and the times taken, we have to answer the
following basic questions about the outward and journey:
Do the accounts of Telemachos voyages to and from Pylos conform to the
standard guidelines for navigation in that period?
What results do we get if we compare the place-names with the courses,
sailing times and wind directions given by Homer?
What were the normal speeds of ships at that time?

The accounts of both Telemachos voyages, which many scholars believe to
have been the nucleus of a separate epic that was gradually incorporated into the
Odyssey, would appear to have been intended mainly, though not exclusively, for the
purpose of recording the geographical and navigational data of the waters of Western
Greece in those times.
It can therefore be taken for granted that the geographical information and
coastal place-names given by Homer must have been recognizable to local seafarers
of the Late Bronze Age as descriptions of the places they actually passed on their
voyages. And the same is true of the seaways between the islands and the
Peloponnese and the Late Bronze Age navigational methods.
Anyone who knows about the weather and wind conditions considered
suitable for sailing in the Ionian Sea and the method of sailing a square-rigged boat of
the kind then in use is bound to agree that a sailor wishing to go from Ithaka or
Kephallenia to the Peloponnese would normally wait until the late afternoon or early
evening, when the north-west wind (zephyros) and the northerly land breeze coming
off the mountains of Kephallenia start to blow. That is exactly how Telemachos timed
his departure from Ithaka for Pylos in Homers account (Od. 2.388-425, 3.1-6).
The same goes for a vessel sailing from the southern Peloponnese to
Kephallenia and Ithaka. Since the prevailing winds in the Ionian Sea are northerly to
north-westerly, this presents much more of a problem. One has to start by sailing
along the coast of the Peloponnese as far as Cape Araxos, taking advantage of the
land breezes blowing down from the mountains as a result of inversion. From Araxos
one can catch the wind setting from the Gulf of Patras, which gives one a fairly easy
run to Kephallenia and Ithaka with the wind on the quarter, passing outside the islands
23

now called Oxis. Only if there is a south wind is it possible to shorten the voyage by
not coasting all the way round to Araxos: in that case one can steer a straight course
from the Peloponnese to the islands with the wind astern ( ). That was
the way Telemachos returned from Pylos, Athena having promised him a favourable
south wind to enable him to escape the suitors murderous ambush off Asteris (Od.
15.33-35).

The merchant vessel Kyrenia
25
(a replica of an ancient merchantman) sailing in the Aegean. The vessel
Telemachos borrowed to go to Pylos would have been similar to this.

Given that Homers accounts of Telemachoss outward and return voyages
describe the standard journey plan and sailing conditions as they actually were and are
in the Ionian Sea, we have to take the following considerations into account:
(a) It is now generally accepted that the maximum speed of a sailing ship of
that period, with a favourable wind of reasonable strength, was not more than
5-6 knots;
(b) The time taken to complete the voyage, as Homer tells it, was not much
more than twelve hours;
(c) On the evidence of the sailing times given by Homer for the voyages to and
from Pylos and the normal cruising speed of a ship of the Mycenaean period
24

(~5 knots), the distance between Homeric Ithaka and Pylos could not have
been more than 60-65 nautical miles; and
(d) No matter which island was Homeric Ithaka (see p. 000), no Mycenaean
ship could have gone as far as Pylos in Messenia in the time stated, assuming
that the sailing time and the maximum speed are as estimated above, as
Messenian Pylos is at least 85-90 nautical miles from the southern tip of
Kephallenia, giving a sailing time of at least eighteen hours. However, the
figures would be right for a voyage to and from Pylos in Triphyllia, which is
about sixty nautical miles from Kephallenia and about seventy from the
southern end of Ithaka, so that the sailing times would be approximately
twelve and fourteen hours respectively. Triphyllian Pylos is ideally placed to
give the right ratio of speed and time to distance only just right in the case of
Ithaka but exactly so in the case of Kephallenia.
Bearing all this in mind, and following the itinerary in the precise order given
by Homer, and with the same timings, we find that Telemachos sailed past the island
called Asteris (keeping well clear of it) in the period between midnight or just after,
when he was off the coast of Elis (Od. 15.287-300), and dawn, when he was mooring
his ship at the first point on the coast of Ithaka (Od. 15.495-506).
Commonsense suggests that Asteris must have been close to, or one of, a
group of islands which Athena had warned him to steer well clear of (Od. 15.33-35):

,

.

However, keep your good ship well clear of the islands
and sail on through the night, and the immortal deity
who guards and protects you will send you a following breeze.

25


PENTECONTER (model). A warship of the Homeric age with fifty oars and square sails:
a precursor of the trireme. Hellenic Maritime Museum.

So which were those islands that Athena advised Telemachos to stay away
from? Could Asteris have been one of them? And, if so, what connection could
there have been between them and the Thoai ( , i.e. Pointed
Islands) that Homer mentions (Od. 15.299) as being the last place he would pass
by now quaking with the fear of death before landing at the nearest point on
the coast of Ithaka?

,


From there he steered for the Pointed Islands,
wondering whether he would come through alive or be caught.

When Athena warns Telemachos that the suitors are lying in ambush for him
in the channel between Ithaka and Samos (Od. 15.29), curiously enough she says
nothing about any island called Asteris: all she does tell him (Od. 15.27-33) is that he
must steer well clear of certain islands which she does not specify. That Asteris must
be one of them seems quite clear, for we know that it, too, was in the channel between
Ithaka and Samos (Od. 4.669-672, 4.844-847). Therefore it must be one of a group of
26

islands; and, since it was chosen by the suitors for their ambush, it must obviously be
one of the islands that Athena warned Telemachos to avoid on his way back from
Pylos.
Homers references to Asteris are so numerous and so specific that one simply
has to take note of its various distinguishing features as he describes them:
(1) It is in the channel between Ithaka and rugged Samos (
) (Od. 4.671);
(2) It is midway between or perhaps equidistant from ()
Ithaka and Samos, in the middle of the sea ( ) (Od.
4.845);
(3) It is a rocky () island (Od. 4.844);
(4) It is an island of no great size ( ) (Od. 4.846);
(5) It has sheltered harbours offering safe anchorage on opposite sides
of the island ( [] ) (Od. 4.846-
847);
(6) It has windswept heights [or headlands] (
(Od. 16.365).
Given that Asteris is midway between or equidistant from Ithaka and
Homeric Samos, it is not necessary to be sure of the precise location of Homeric
Ithaka before one can fix the location of Asteris. That is because, no matter which
island was actually the site of Homeric Ithaka whether modern Ithaka or
Kephallenia or even Leukas, the choice favoured by some scholars the position of
Asteris in relation to Homeric Ithaka and Samos is not affected. It is therefore worth
inquiring to see whether the islands (in the plural) that Telemachos was warned to
steer clear of on his return voyage ( ) [Od.
15.33]) and the islands (again in the plural) called the Thoai or Pointed Islands
( ) [Od. 15.299]), the sight of which
caused Telemachos to wonder whether he would come through alive or be caught
( ) [Od. 15.300]), are the same group of
islands in both cases, or whether there was some connection between them, and
whether one of them was in fact Asteris.
27

We have it on the authority of Strabo (C 458.19), Herakleitos (Homeric
Problems, 45), Eustathios (305.41,46 and 1782.3) and Heliodoros (V.17) that the
Thoai were the islands now called Oxis (Sharp Islands) off the mouth of the River
Achelos: they are the southernmost of the Echinades Islands. In antiquity there were
more of them, according to Strabo (C 59-60), but several have since been joined to the
mainland by silt from the river. According to myth, the Thoai took their name from
the River Achelos, which in very early antiquity was called the Thoas, but the most
probable derivation is from the verb , to make sharp or pointed. In more recent
times they have been called Oxis, because in fact they do have sharp-pointed peaks
(see photos).
The biggest and most sharp-pointed island of the group is Oxia. Locally, it is
commonly called Oxis in the plural, indicating that there used to be more islands in
the immediate vicinity: as we know from ancient literary evidence,
26
the rest have
gradually been joined to the mainland by silt from the Achelos. Without a doubt,
they are to be identified with the Thoai islands (also in the plural) north of Elis,
mentioned by Homer ( , Od. 15.299).


Aerial photo of Oxia Island. The mouth of the River Achelos can be seen at the far left. Behind Oxia is what used
to be the island of Artemita, which has been joined to the mainland by silt from the Achelos and is now called
Kotsilaris.
28



Map of Odysseus kingdom. 18th(?) cent. East of Kephallenia and Ithaka is the island marked as Oxiae.
Note the position of Oxiae (the ancient Thoai) at the meeting-point of the channels leading out to the
Ionian Sea and close to the mouth of the River Achelos, known in early antiquity as the Thoas.
Fotis Kremmydas Collection



View of Oxia Island, lying just off the mouth of the Achelos, from the north-east.

29


Satellite view of Oxia, one of the southern Echinades Islands.

The Thoai are the southernmost group of the Echinades Islands, which in the
Venetian period were called the Curzolari or Kourtzolaires.
27
This name was
presumably given to them by Venetian geographers because of their proximity to
Cape Kostilaris, the seaward headland of the Achelos alluvial plain in the south-east
of Akarnania.


Detail of a 16th-century map on which the Oxis Islands are clearly marked as Insulae Curzolari.

30

The time has now come for us to ask ourselves how likely it is that the island
called Oxia or Oxis (the plural form of its name indicating that there used to be more
than one island here) is to be identified with Homers Asteris, and whether
Oxia/Oxis was one of the islands (also referred to in the plural: ) that
Athena warned Telemachos to avoid.

If we assume that Oxia/Oxis was Asteris, then it has to fit Homers
description, that is to say:
(1) It must be midway between or perhaps equidistant from Kephallenia
and Ithaka (
[: in the middle, midway, at the half-way point
28
], assuming
that one of those two islands is Homers Samos. Clearly Oxia does not lie
between Ithaka (whichever island Homer may be referring to) and any
neighbouring island which may then have been called Samos. Although it
is equidistant from Kephallenia and Ithaka and right in the middle of the
seaway connecting the Peloponnese with those two islands, and the word
might legitimately be interpreted as an adverb denoting that
Asteris was in some sense in the middle, midway, at the half-way point
without necessarily being between two places which, of course, is the
most natural way to understand the word (and it is used in that sense
elsewhere in Homer). But then again, we should not forget that the line in
question is suspected of being an interpolation. Whatever interpretation
one may place on an interpolated line of verse, the purpose of interpreting
it is to arrive at a sensible understanding of a passage in which the
temporary acceptance and translation of that line should not be allowed to
distort the reality or conceal the essence of the descriptive narrative.
(2) The island must be rocky ().
(3) It must have safe harbours on opposite sides of the island (
).
(4) It must have windswept heights [or peaks] ( ).
(5) It must be an island of no great size ( ).
31

(6) It must be in the middle of the sea ( ) in the channel used by
ships sailing to Kephallenia and Ithaka (
);
(7) It must be one of a group of islands, to justify Homers use of the plural
( [Od. 15.33])
(8) It must be in such a position that Telemachos would be expected to sail
past it on his way to Ithaka or to Homeric Ephyra, in Thesprotia, where the
suitors thought he might be going to obtain poisoned arrows (
, , ,
[Od. 2.328-329]).



Map of 1798 marking the route taken by ships plying between the Gulf of Corinth and Italy. The main ports of
call were: Isthmus of Corinth Naupaktos Oxis Nikopolis Butrinto Saseno (Sazan) Island and finally
Otranto in Calabria. Fotis Kremmydas Collection

32


Satellite photo of the Ionian Islands from the west, showing the strategic position of Oxis (Oxia) at the mouth of
the Gulf of Patras.

Oxia Island near the mouth of the River Achelos, which in earliest antiquity was called the Thoas.
(Phot.. Panoramio google, By matlavmac)
It seems clear from these descriptions that Asteris must have been somewhere
near the half-way point () of a voyage from the Peloponnese to Ithaka and
Homeric Samos. So let us take a pair of compasses and draw a circle with Oxia at its
centre, the radius being equal to the distance from Oxia to the nearest point on the
coast of any of those three places, i.e. the island now called Kephallenia, the island
now called Ithaka and the Peloponnese.
33



To our surprise, we find that Oxia is:
exactly equidistant from Kephallenia, Ithaka and the Peloponnese
(about 18.5 nautical miles);
midway between or perhaps equidistant from Ithaka, Kephallenia
and the Peloponnese, taking each one separately and all three together!
It is also right on the route taken by a ship sailing to Ephyra in
Thesprotia and in the middle ( ) of the channel (
) used by ships sailing from
34

Kephallenia and Ithaka especially the latter to Epiros (the mouth of
the Achelos) and Elis (Araxos, Kyllene) in the north-western
Peloponnese. The Peloponnese was, of course, the centre of the
Mycenaean world and the main destination of boats sailing through the
Sound of Kephallenia and indeed the whole of the Ionian Sea.

It is beyond question that, by a strange coincidence, Oxia is equidistant from
all three of the places mentioned by Homer, in a strategic position of great importance
at the meeting-point of all the seaways

through the Ionian Sea.


Satellite photo of the Ionian Islands from the east, showing the strategic position of Oxia.

The island completely controls all the routes taken by ships entering or leaving
the Gulf of Patras on their way from or to Zakynthos, Kephallenia, Ithaka, Leukas,
Thesprotia, Corfu and Italy.

35


The strategic position of Oxia in the Ionian Sea.

But is Oxia rocky?
Has it got safe harbours on opposite sides of the island?
Has it got sharp-pointed, windswept peaks?
Is it one of a group of islands?
Would the suitors have been able to stay there for four weeks?
Indirect answers to all these questions were given about 120 years ago by the
historian Antonios Miliarakis
29
in his book Modern and Ancient Political Geography
36

of the Prefecture of Kephallenia, although at the time he did not know which island he
was describing.
This is how Miliarakis describes Oxia as one of the Echinades Islands,
repeating almost word for word but without realizing it the same information that
Homer had given three thousand years ago when describing the physical features of
Asteris with its two safe harbours on opposite sides of the island (the italics are ours).

The Echinades lie close to the south-western shores of
Akarnania. All these islands belong to two main groups. The
southernmost of them all is Oxia , which lies off Cape Skrofa, the
south-westernmost point of the Akarnanian mainland. This island, as
its name implies, is rugged and steep along its entire length, with a
high, sharp-pointed peak in the north rising to an altitude of 426
metres. Its coastline is 6 nautical miles long, its length is 4,650
metres from N to S, its greatest width 1,250 metres in the northern
part of the island and 620 metres in the south, and its area is 5.4
square kilometres. It consists of two land masses connected by a very
narrow isthmus about 300 metres in length, with bays on either side
( ). Flocks of sheep and goats graze on the island
and some grain crops are grown. The few farmers and shepherds on
the island obtain their water supplies from cisterns.

Let us remind ourselves of Homers description:

There is a rocky island in the middle of the sea,
[midway between Ithaka and rugged Samos,]*
called Asteris. It is of no great size, but it has safe harbours, one on each side;
and there the Achaians set their ambush [for Telemachos] and lay in wait.

It seems to us that no comment is necessary. Here we have Antonios
Miliarakis, writing 120 years ago, unwittingly describing Oxia in the very words used
by Homer to describe Asteris 3,000 years ago: one of a group of islands, with a
sharp-pointed peak and rocky terrain and, most significant of all, the distinctive
feature of harbours on opposite sides of the island. There could hardly be more
37

convincing evidence that Homer and Miliarakis, each knowing every detail of the
actual picture of this island, were both using the same words (allowing for the
chronological difference) in the same standard terminology to describe the very same
landscape, the very same island.
The law of probabilities leaves little likelihood of error and it seems hardly
likely that all the natural features mentioned by Antonios Miliarakis, describing Oxia
120 years ago, and by Homer, describing Asteris 3,000 years ago, should have
conspired to mislead the present-day reader.


Oxia Island at the southern end of the Echinades Islands.

Photo of Oxia Island with its sharp-pointed, windswept summits.
38





39

he ancient Greeks used the adjective amphidymos (--) to give a precise description of
harbours and bays lying on opposite sides of an island or headland and separated by a narrow isthmus.
Apollonius Rhodius (Argonautica I.937-941), copying Homers description of Asteris and paraphrasing the
relevant lines of Homer, uses Homers terminology to describe the two bays on either side of the Arktonnesos
peninsula in the Propontis (see map).



,

,

Strabo (C 257) likewise describes the peninsula of Scyllaeum, near the River Metaurus in Italy, as .
To convey the same meaning as amphidymos, the adjective amphialos () was often used in ancient
Greek literature, though usually with reference to larger land masses having deep indentations of the coastline on
either side. The shape of the Amphiali peninsula west of Piraeus conforms to the rule linguistically, semantically
and topographically.

According to an ancient scholiast, the adjective naulochos (), rendered here as safe or providing safe
anchorage, can also be applied to harbours in which ships can hide, lying in ambush.
The safety of the harbours in the Echinades Islands, which included the Oxis, is mentioned by Kallimachos in
his Hymn To Delos (line 155):
,

and also by Strabo (C 459.21), both of whom thus corroborate Homers account of the safety of the two harbours
of Asteris.


Satellite photo of the island of Oxia/Asteris.
The islands excellent strategic position, its two safe anchorages on either side of a narrow
isthmus, its rugged terrain and its windswept peaks provide emphatic corroboration of
Homers description of Asteris and evidence of its rich Homeric past.
T
40


The Oxis Islands and the Kourtsolaris or [Kostilaris peninsula viewed from the east.


Oxia Island, at the mouth of the Gulf of Patras, viewed from the east.


Oxia Island from the south-east.


Oxia Island from the west.
41


Oxia Island from the north-east, viewed from the mouth of the Achelos.
( Phot. Panoramio google, By Vangelis Doutsios)

o, on the assumption that all these similarities are the result not of an
ingeniously constructed deception but of the absolute identity of the two
islands, one fundamental question needs to be answered:
Why did Athena warn Telemachos to steer well clear of those islands, and
in particular why did she promise to send him the favourable south wind that he
needed in order to avoid them?
Would Telemachos have been able to steer clear of those islands, sailing
from south to north, if he had not had the south wind in his favour?
Would that really have been the natural course to steer in a vessel of that
period sailing northwards for Kephallenia, Ithaka or Leukas?
As already mentioned, with the northerly to north-westerly winds generally
prevailing in the Sound of Kephallenia,
30
the helmsman of a Mycenaean square-
rigged boat sailing northwards would have had no option but to sail parallel to the
coast of the Peloponnese as far as Araxos, taking advantage of the beam wind blowing
down from the mountains as a result of inversion. From there he would have caught
the wind and current setting from the Gulf of Patras and, with the wind on the quarter,
S
42

he would definitely have had no option but to pass close to Oxia before steering for
Kephallenia, Ithaka and Leukas.


The course that a northbound vessel of the Homeric age would have had to steer against the prevailing
north-west wind of the Ionian Sea.

With a south wind, however, the helmsman would not have needed to go right
up to Oxia: he could cut straight across, leaving the Kyllene headland well off on his
beam when halfway to Oxia, and, with the wind behind him ( ), could
have an easy, more or less problem-free passage to Kephallenia, Ithaka and Leukas.

43


The course usually followed by northbound vessels with a south wind blowing from astern.

That is exactly how Homer describes it. Knowing that Telemachos could
escape from the murderous ambush only with a tail wind ( ), and so,
sailing by night ( ), he asks Athena to send him the necessary
south wind so that he can avoid Oxia, then called Asteris, and make a safe landing at
the first (i.e. southernmost) point on the coast of Homeric Ithaka. (These very sailing
directions for vessels returning from the southern Peloponnese with either a north wind or a south wind in the
twentieth century we were lucky enough to hear confirmed down to the last detail by the last living shipmasters of
44

all-sail vessels of that period (none of which, alas, are still existence), Spyridon Odyssea Galiatsatos and
Themistoklis Konstantinou Batistatos.


.

.


45

Why does Homer choose that island for the suitors murderous ambush?
What was so special about it?
who had left the isles of the Echinades, where sailors cannot land
(Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis, 287-288)

We have it on the authority of ancient Greek and Latin historians that the
island of Oxia/Oxis in the Sound of Kephallenia was in the middle of an area where
maritime piracy was rife, as it remained until relatively recently.
31
Evidently the
frequent passage of ships through the channel tempted the Kephallenians into piracy
from the earliest times.
32
. The activity of pirates among the Echinades Islands, of
which Oxia is one, is attested by Thucydides
33
(I.5), Euripides
34
(Iphigeneia at Aulis,
283-288) and Livy
35
(XXXVII.13.11-12). The suitors vying for the throne of Ithaka
were true descendants of the Taphians, whom Homer describes as bandits or
pirates (); and when they picked Oxia as the best place to lie in wait for
Telemachos in order to kill him they were doing no more than carrying on the great
tradition of maritime piracy in the Ionian Sea. Knowing this, Homer makes them set
their ambush on an island that had a justified reputation as the island of pirates.
Oxias strategic position, its size and, above all, its two safe all-weather harbours on
opposite sides of the island made it one of the most notorious pirate lairs then and for
long thereafter.
In the Odyssey Homer, through the mouth of Athena, the goddess of wisdom
and knowledge, gives us yet another piece of information on the way in which
mariners avoided (or ought to avoid) passing close to the Oxis Islands because of the
hazard of piracy. Apart from anything else, Telemachos voyage appears to have a
position, value and significance of its own in the structure of the Odyssey, at least as
far as navigation in the Ionian Sea is concerned.

46


Detail from a 16th-century map marking the Oxis Islands as CURZOLAR and showing pirate ships
in the thick of an engagement between Kephallenia and the Oxis in the Sound of Kephallenia, where
they had their lairs to keep watch on shipping through the straits.
The place-name Sarakiniko is found both on Kephallenia (the port of Poros) and Ithaka. In these places
the last generation of pirates, known as Sarakini (Saracens), carried on the great tradition of maritime
piracy that had existed since the earliest times.
47

Why was it that in earliest antiquity Oxia was called Asteris, a name it
shared with the islands of Delos, Crete and Rhodes?

According to Pliny
36
and Hesychios,
37
Rhodes, Crete and Delos were all called
Asteris in early antiquity, and Homer
38
(Il. 2.735) also mentions a town called
Asterion in Magnesia. Stephanos of Byzantium
39
informs us that the town was so
called because it stood on a hilltop and therefore looked like a star from down in the
plain. Evidently the name Asteris or Asterion was given to conspicuous places that
could be seen from afar and served as beacons for the guidance of travellers by sea
(like modern lighthouses) or by land.
Obviously this would be a good reason for Crete and Rhodes to be called
Asteris, since one or other of them was the first (or last) landfall for ships on their
long voyages from or to the east and south. They were well-known landmarks
enabling mariners to check their position and set the right course. While Kallimachos
(Hymn To Delos)
40
tells us that Delos had been called Asteria in ancient times because
it fell from the heavens like a star (), its name also exemplifies the practice of
applying the name Asteris to islands that are reference points for the whole of the
surrounding area.
,
:
( . 300-301)
Fragrant Asteria, around you the islands
formed a circle and surrounded you like a group of dancers.

,
.
(Kallimachos, Hymn to Delos, 325-326)
O Delos, you who are the centre of the islands and have a fine position,
hail to yourself! and hail also to Apollo, and to her whom Leto bore!

Strabo (C 486.4) makes his own opinion on the matter quite clear: Delos, he
says, is strategically placed for those sailing from Italy and Greece to Asia (
).
Oxia, too, like Delos, occupied an excellent strategic position, for it controlled
the seaways leading into and out of the Gulf of Patras and lay on the route normally
taken by ships bound for Kephallenia, Ithaka and Leukas. With its height, its safe
anchorages and its conspicuous visibility, it served as the equivalent of a lighthouse,
48

an aid to navigation for Mycenaean seafarers. With good reason, then, was it called
Asteris, just as there was good reason for applying that name to the Aegean islands
with the same properties.



The lighthouse on Oxia Island, one of the most important in the Ionian Sea, attests to the
strategic significance of Oxias geographical position through the ages; and, shining out at
night like an earthly star, it offers a new reason for the islands original name of Asteris. It has
been contributing to the safety of mariners in western Greek waters since 1899.

The lighthouse was built in 1899. The height of the stone tower is 8 metres and its focal height is 71 metres. It
stands on the islet of Oxia in the Gulf of Patras, south-west of the Prefecture of Aitoloakarnania. The lighthouse is
served by launch from Astakos, 55 kilometres from Mesolonghi. The islet of Oxia belongs to the uniform
ecosystem of the Achelos delta, but administratively it belongs to the Prefecture of Kephallenia. It is a rocky
island lying off the Achelos delta and is covered with maquis vegetation and junipers. It is home to a colony of
griffon vultures, and short-toed eagles, peregrine falcons and other raptors also nest there. Black vultures and
imperial eagles are frequent winter visitors. For further information and photographs visit the website
www.faroi.com

49

ssentially, Homers description of Asteris is a sailing direction
for Mycenaean seafarers, telling them that at the junction of the
Sound of Kephallenia and the Gulf of Patras there is an island
called Asteris (signifying that it is a beacon or conspicuous landmark), and
that from this rocky island lying right on their route they can confidently
calculate their positions in relation to the principal destinations in the
vicinity, such as Kephallenia, Ithaka and the Peloponnese. It also informs
them that the island has two harbours, one on each side, providing good
anchorage and excellent shelter in stormy weather ( ),
while simultaneously warning them (by describing the suitors ambush)
that it is a perfect lair for pirates and should therefore be approached only
with great caution. It suggests that sailing by night is safest, presumably
because of the presence of pirates. The island can only be avoided if one is
sailing north from the Peloponnese with a tail wind ( ).


Satellite photo of Greece, Peloponnese, the Ionian Islands and the Italy from the east, showing the
strategic position of Oxia (Homeric Asteris).
E

Oxeia = Asteris
50



Detail from the map by Laurenbergio (1690), marking the Thoae islands (Oxis).
A pirate ship can be seen sailing between the Oxis (Thoai) and south-eastern Kephallenia, where the
Saracen corsairs had their lair at the place known as Sarakiniko, where the new town of Poros was built
after the devastating earthquakes of 1953. In those days the harbour at Poros was used as a supply
depot and a base for keeping watch on the channel linking Kephallenia with Zakynthos, Ithaka, Aitolia,
Akarnania and the Peloponnese. This area was the centre of the piratical operations recorded since
early antiquity and continuing until very recent times. Fotis Kremmydas Collection


51

esides its rich Homeric past, the island of Oxia was associated with another
event of worldwide interest when it found itself at the centre of one of the
greatest naval battles seen anywhere in the world up to that time, the battle
of Lepanto (Naupaktos).
41
That famous battle was fought on 7th October 1571
between the combined fleets of Spain, Venice, Genoa, Naples and Sicily and the Holy
See on the one hand and the united fleet of the Ottoman Empire on the other, in the
waters of the southern Echinades Islands (the Oxis) off Cape Skrofa. The outcome
was the total destruction of the Ottoman fleet.
The battle is known by this name not because it took place off the town of
Naupaktos but from the name of the gulf where it was fought, since in those days the
whole of the Gulf of Patras was known by the Venetians as the Gulf of Lepanto (or
Lepando).
The battle of Lepanto was one of the most momentous sea-battles in world
history, on a par with the one fought by Mark Antony and Cleopatra against Octavian,
which also took place in Greek waters off Aktion (Actium) in 31 B.C. Its historical
importance has been rated second only to the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C.
In the words of Nikos Patouchas,
42
the battle of Lepanto was, apart from
anything else, a historic turning-point in naval tactics and shipbuilding. This battle
spelt the end of oared ships and the dawn of sailing-ships in sea-battles. A history of
oared seafaring going back 2,500 years or more, starting with the expedition of th
Argonauts, had come to an end, giving way to sail as the principal means of
propulsion.

15th-century naval galleon similar to those that took part in the battle of Lepanto.
B
52

One of those who fought at Lepanto as a non-commissioned officer on board
the galley Marquesa was the famous writer Miguel de Cervantes, who received a
serious wound to his left hand. He later described the battle as the grandest occasion
the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see.

"
43

The Battle of Lepanto. Etching by Fernando Bertelli, Naval History Museum, Venice.
On the left of the picture are the Oxis Islands. Drawn up in line of battle in front of them is the
combined European fleet; in the centre the united fleet of the Ottoman Empire can be seen in total
disarray under the massed cannonade from the six galleasses.
44


The victory of the European allies was greeted with jubilation in the West. Great
contemporary painters, including Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, painted canvases depicting the battle
and El Greco painted a portrait of the victorious commander, Don John of Austria.
Admiral Jurien de la Gravire wrote, Three times the fate of the world has hung on the outcome of a
great naval engagement: Salamis, Actium, Lepanto. In the words of Voltaire, Never since the battle of
Lepanto have Greek waters witnessed such a large fleet or so momentous a sea-battle. The Venetian
historian Paolo Paruta described it as one of the outstanding events of all time.

53

rom all this evidence:
It now becomes clearer why Oxia or rather Asteris, as it was then known
occupies such a dominant position in the Odyssey: because, thanks to its
crucial strategic position, it was and has remained through the ages at the
epicentre of maritime action, leaving it indelible mark on every period of history.
It now becomes clearer why, when Telemachos was sailing by night, heading
for the waters around the Thoai (Oxis), he was overcome by the fear of death.
Obviously one of the Thoai was Asteris, where the suitors, ensconced on its
windswept heights or hidden in its safe harbours by day and patrolling the sea by
night, were lying in wait to kill him.
It now becomes clearer why Strabo (C 457.16, C 59-60) presumably having
heard some rather vague story about the areas mythological background to do with
the silting up of the sea and the changes made by the River Achelos to the coastline
at its delta, which was probably the location of Asteris felt the need to mention
Asteris (Asterida) in the paragraph where he says that Artemita (the island next to
Oxia) had become attached to the mainland by silt from the Achelos, but without
making any comment because he knew very little about the physical conformation of
the islands of Western Greece. It is well known that Strabo, who loved Homers
works but unfortunately had not been to Western Greece when he wrote his
Geographica, made a fair number of factual mistakes, not deliberately, of course, but
through lack of information.
It now becomes clearer why Apollodoros,
45
who was extremely
knowledgeable on the subject of Greek mythology, knew about the position and
morphology of Asteris (presumably from the myths) and describes it exactly as it had
been described by Homer. The alleged connection between Asteris and the small town
of Alalkomenai, for which Strabo cites Apollodoros as his authority, is now being
investigated to establish whether or not it is true, and further papers on this subject
will be published in due course. Be that as it may, the fact is on the isthmus of Oxia
one can still see ruined dwellings and cisterns built to collect rainwater for the needs
of the farmers and graziers who occupied that small settlement through the ages.
It now becomes clearer how it was possible for the suitors to spend twenty-
eight consecutive days and nights on the island, for it offered them two safe havens
for their ship and ample supplies of water and food, as it has done through the ages for
the farmers and graziers living there.
F
54

It now becomes clearer why Asteris is described by Hesychios in his Lexicon
46

as Peirieis island, also called Asteria (i.e. an island lying in a channel, in a useful
position for a ferry crossing), for Asteris/Oxia does lie right at the mouth of the
Achelos in the channel giving access from the mainland to Kephallenia, Ithaka and
the Peloponnese. On the relationships of the ferry boat sailors, mentioned by Homer,
with the Achelos delta area where Asteris (now called Oxia) is situated, see the
analysis in the accompanying offprint entitled In the Land of Ithaka.
It now becomes clearer why the islet of Asteris and another one called Prote
are described by Pliny the Elder
47
in his Historia Naturalis (IV.54-55) as lying in the
open sea about fifteen miles off Cape Araxos in the Peloponnese: Ab ea Araxum
Peloponnesi promunturium XV. ante hanc in alto Asteris, Prote. Fifteen miles is the
actual distance between the island now called Oxia and Cape Araxos.
It now becomes clearer why Homer chooses Oxia (then called Asteris) as the
island where the suitors vying for the throne of Ithaka set their murderous ambush,
because the Oxis islands were at the centre of the area notorious for piracy from
earliest antiquity until fairly recently: see Thucydides
48
(I.5), Euripides
49
(Iphigeneia
at Aulis, 283-288), Livy
50
(XXXVII.13.11-12) and Niketas Choniates.
51

It now becomes clearer why Oxia is mentioned by Antipater,
52
in his elegiac
epigram on a certain Aristagoras who was shipwrecked in the harbour of Skarpheia,
as one of the three most notoriously dangerous places in the Mediterranean for
contemporary seafarers.
It now becomes clearer why Strabo (C 59-60) omits the disputed line of the
Odyssey (4.845) when quoting Homers description of Asteris and does so
consistently whenever he quotes that passage in his work; and also why he ignores the
adverb (especially when used with reference to Asteris). This latter word he
never mentions nor comments on, presumably because the allegedly interpolated line
( ) was added to Book IV of the
Odyssey after the period when Strabo was writing his Geographica (circa 20 B.C.
A.D. 20).
It now becomes clearer why the disputed line (4.845), like other interpolated
or altered lines that have crept into Homers epics, have frequently deflected scholarly
research down blind alleys, as in the case of Asteris (cf. Odysseas Metaxas). The
example of the rocky islet of Daskalio, which was pronounced to be the ancient
55

Asteris in an attempt to vindicate Homers accuracy while identifying Homeric
(Mycenaean?) Ithaka with the Ithaka of historic times, is a case in point.
It now becomes clearer why, after 3,500 years, Oxia (Homers Asteris) is still
as useful, valuable and irreplaceable for mariners as it was then, so much so that one
of the most important lighthouses in the Ionian Sea
53
has been built on the west side
of the island. And, with its two safe anchorages providing shelter in stormy weather, it
will always be an excellent place of refuge or an excellent hide-out for as long as
seafarers sail the Ionian Sea (see descriptions in portolans).


Odysseus slaying the suitors. Gustav Schwab, 1882.











56


Postscript
To the memory of Yannis Zouganelis *
The adjective amphidymos (), referring to the twin harbours (one on either side) of
Asteris, is added to the long list of 67 compounds with the prefix amphi- which he retrieved
from oblivion, and we dedicate it to his memory.
All what the wind brings " "



* the legendary tuba player "left" in August 2006
57




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( - 1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPTpmvI2zxY


58

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59

NOTES


1
The mythical island home of Kalypso (Od. 1.85, 6.172, 7.244, etc.).
2
The mythical island home of Kirke (Od. 9.32, 12.268, 12.275 [the home of Aietes]).
3
The mythical island home of Aiolos (Od. 1.155).
4
The mythical island home of the daughters of Helios (Od. 12.135).
5
Daskalio: a corruption of scoglio, da (di) scoglio.
6
: A harbour in which ships lie at rest [translated from the Mega Etymologikon Lexikon]
7
: Harbours having two entrances [translated from the Mega Etymologikon Lexikon]
8
Stephanos of Byzantium, Ethnicorum, Berlin,1849, p. 138.
9
Eustathii Commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, Lipsiae 1828, p. 195.
10
Hesychios of Alexandria, Lexicon, anastatic edition, Georgiadis 1975, p. 1210.
11
Pliny, Natural History II, Harvard University Press 1947, pp. 156-158.
12
Niketas Choniates, Histoire de Manuel Comnne, Livre II, Paris
13
Michail S. Kordosis, ( ), Athens 2007.
14
Schliemann, Ithaque, le Ploponnse, Troie, p.75.
15
Leake 1835; Partsch 1890; Berard 1902; Vollgraff 1907; Rennell 1927; C.H. Coekoop1990; Livadas 1998.
16
Volteras 1903; Tsimaratos 1998.
17
Drpfeld 1927; Doukas 1995.
18
Schliemann, Ithaque, le Ploponnse, Troie, p.
19
Gell 1807; Luce 1974.
20
Schliemann 1869; A.E.H. Coekoop 1908.
21
Vangelis Pantazis, , , vol. 8, pp.267-274, Argostoli
1999.
22
A city in Epiros, in the land of the Thesprotians, later renamed Kichyros.
23
A small town in Triphyllian Elis.
24
A small town in Triphyllian Elis.
25
An exact replica of an ancient merchant vessel found off Kyrenia, Cyprus.
26
Strabo, C 59-60.
27
Antonios Miliarakis, Modern and Ancient Political Geography of the Prefecture of Kephallenia, Athens 1890, p.
166.
28
Kofiniotis, Homeric Lexicon.
29
Antonios Miliarakis, , Athens 1890, p. 164.
30
See the wind tables of the Greek National Meteorological Service and the Ministry of Merchant Marine.
31
V. Katsaros, , vol. 13, pp. 1527-1528; Hlne Yannakopoulou, Quelques repaires de pirates en Grce
de lOuest, lieux de commerce illgal (du XVIe au XVIIIe sicles), in conomies mditerranennes, quilibres et
intercommunications XIIIe-XIXe sicles, Actes du IIe Colloque international dHistoire, vol. II, Athens 1985, p.
526.
32
Georgios Souris, ,
, p. 113; Joseph Partsch, Kephallenia and Ithaka, p. 112.
33
Thucydides, I.5 : For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and islands, as communication
by sea became more common, were tempted to turn pirates, under the conduct of their most powerful men; the
motives being to serve their own cupidity and to support the needy. They would fall upon a town unprotected by
walls, and consisting of a mere collection of villages, and would plunder it; indeed, this came to be the main source
of their livelihood, no disgrace being yet attached to such an achievement, but even some glory. An illustration of
this is furnished by the honour with which some of the inhabitants of the continent still regard a successful
marauder, and by the question we find the old poets everywhere representing the people as asking of voyagers
Are they pirates? as if those who are asked the question would have no idea of disclaiming the imputation, or
their interrogators of reproaching them for it. The same rapine prevailed also by land. And even at the present day
many parts of Hellas still follow the old fashion, the Ozolian Locrians, for instance, the Aetolians, the
Acarnanians, and that region of the continent; and the custom of carrying arms is still kept up among these
continentals, from the old piratical habits.
34
Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis, 283-288: Likewise he led the Taphian warriors with the white oar-blades, the
subjects of Meges, son of Phyleus, who had left the isles of the Echinades, where sailors cannot land.
35
Livy, XXXVII.13.11-12 [: Then the praetor sent two triremes of the allies from Italy and two from Rhodes, with
Epicrates the Rhodian in command, to defend the strait of Cephallania. The Spartan Hybristas with the young men
of the Cephallanians was making this dangerous with his piracy, and the sea was already closed to supplies from
Italy.
36
Pliny, Natural History II (V.36.1, IV.66), Harvard University Press 1947.
37
Hesychios of Alexandria, Lexicon, anastatic edition, Georgiadis 1975, p. 246.
38
Homer, Il. 2.735.
39
Stephanos of Byzantium, Ethnicorum, Berlin,1849, pp. 138-139.
40
Kallimachos, Hymn To Delos, 36-38.
41
Nikos Patouchas, Wikipedia.
42
Nikos Patouchas, Wikipedia.
43
Yannis Zouganelis, Gone with the wind, letter to Nikos Karouzos.
60


44
The galleass was the three-masted battleship of that period.
45
Schliemann, Ithaque, le Ploponnse, Troie, p.
46
Hesychios of Alexandria, Lexicon, anastatic edition, Georgiadis 1975, p. 1210.
47
Pliny, Natural History II, Harvard University Press 1947, pp. 156-158.
48
Thucydides, I.5 : For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and islands, as communication
by sea became more common, were tempted to turn pirates, under the conduct of their most powerful men; the
motives being to serve their own cupidity and to support the needy. They would fall upon a town unprotected by
walls, and consisting of a mere collection of villages, and would plunder it; indeed, this came to be the main source
of their livelihood, no disgrace being yet attached to such an achievement, but even some glory. An illustration of
this is furnished by the honour with which some of the inhabitants of the continent still regard a successful
marauder, and by the question we find the old poets everywhere representing the people as asking of voyagers
Are they pirates? as if those who are asked the question would have no idea of disclaiming the imputation, or
their interrogators of reproaching them for it. The same rapine prevailed also by land. And even at the present day
many parts of Hellas still follow the old fashion, the Ozolian Locrians, for instance, the Aetolians, the
Acarnanians, and that region of the continent; and the custom of carrying arms is still kept up among these
continentals, from the old piratical habits.
49
Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis, 283-288: Likewise he led the Taphian warriors with the white oar-blades, the
subjects of Meges, son of Phyleus, who had left the isles of the Echinades, where sailors cannot land.
50
Livy, XXXVII.13.11-12 : Then the praetor sent two triremes of the allies from Italy and two from Rhodes, with
Epicrates the Rhodian in command, to defend the strait of Cephallania. The Spartan Hybristas with the young men
of the Cephallanians was making this dangerous with his piracy, and the sea was already closed to supplies from
Italy.
51
Niketas Choniates, Histoire de Manuel Comnne, Livre II, Paris
52
Antipater, Greek Anthology (in Greek), vol. VI, Kaktos Editions, Athens 2004, p. 146.
53
www.faroi.com






61