Where is the Ithaca described in such detail in Homer's Odyssey? The mystery has baffled scholars for over two millennia because Homer's descriptions bear little resemblance to the modern island called Ithaki, one of the Ionian Islands off the coast of western Greece.

In 2003 a radical alternative was proposed. What if Homer was right all along? What if this mismatch has occurred not because of geographical errors by the poet, but because of geological changes in the landscape? Could something unprecedented have altered the layout of these islands since the time of the Trojan War around 1200 BC?

On Wednesday, 30 November at 6pm Robert Bittlestone (Chairman, Metapraxis), Professor James Diggle (Classics, Cambridge) and Professor John Underhill (Geology, Edinburgh) will present a seminar at the Old Hall in Queens’ College on the geological, classical and archaeological discoveries described in their recent book Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer's Ithaca.

Since 2003 an interdisciplinary project team of geologists, classicists and archaeologists has been testing this hypothesis and the results that have emerged are astonishing. They have been able to reconstruct the former layout of these islands and it provides a compelling solution to the long-established enigma of the location of Homer's Ithaca.

The topic will be illustrated throughout with slides, satellite photography and computer animations. The speakers will be available for questions at the end.

The presentation is organized by the Cambridge University Hellenic Society (CUHS). CUHS is a student-run society, aiming to contribute to the social and intellectual life of Cambridge University by bringing together everyone who is interested in Greek culture.

For more information George Poulogiannis at gp266@cam.ac.uk.

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