Odysseus lands on Ithaca

Odysseus finally returns to his homeland on Ithaca at Phorcys Bay after his last sea voyage from Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, believed to be Corfu.

Homer writes that it has two headlands jutting out to sea.

Then the seafaring ship approached the island.

On Ithaca there is a bay of Phorcys,

The old man of the sea: in it, two headlands,

Projecting, sheared off, crouching from the harbour,

Shield it from waves whipped up by blustering winds

Outside

Odyssey 13.95-100

Atheras Bay on the north coast of Paliki fits that description perfectly.

Odysseus leaves his treasure in the Cave of the Nymphs, behind the beach. It has two entrances – one for mortals and one for the Gods.

Intriguingly, our geophysical surveys have identified what appears to be a significant underground cavern in the karstic limestone hills just behind Atheras Bay.