Archaeologists Unearth 2,400-Year-Old Odysseus Sanctuary in Ithaca

2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 15

A 2,400-year-old sanctuary on Ithaca’s Mount Exogi appears to show that ancient Greeks worshiped Odysseus as a real local hero, despite modern scholars largely treating him as a literary figure.
Excavations led by University of Ioannina archaeologist Giannos Lolos since 2018 built on digs from 1994 to 2011 and revealed a sprawling terraced complex long known as the School of Homer.
The site includes a grand ceremonial hall, a possible watchtower and an intact Mycenaean-style cistern, strengthening the case that it served as a place of organized reverence.
No surviving structures date to around 1200 B.C. — the era traditionally linked to Odysseus — so the find does not prove he existed, but it narrows the gap between Homeric myth and ancient belief.