Ithaca

Ithaca is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is also the legendary home of the mythological hero Odysseus in Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey (8th century B.C.). The etymology of the island’s name (Ancient Greek: Ἰθάκα) is uncertain although the first element “I” is believed to be Phoenician for “island.” Other etymologists surmise that Ithaca’s name is merely a Greek corruption of a Hebrew name meaning “hard, rugged island” (a fair description). Even Homer says of Ithaca: “It is rough, but it raises good men” (9.27). Odysseus spent ten arduous years trying to return to Ithaca to assume his rightful place a King following the Trojan War. As a result, Ithaca is often associated with ideals of one’s “homeland” or a place where one wishes to return. At the end of the 18th century, Ithaca, New York was surveyed and established in the United States. The surveyor’s clerk was a Greco-Roman history enthusiast and so named the area Town of Ulysses (Ulysses being the Latin form of the Greek Odysseus). It was later renamed Ithaca in honor of Odysseus’s home.