The rocky hills of Ithaca, home to olive groves and old Greek legends, have now yielded their most evocative secret: the possible sanctuary of Odysseus. At a site known for over two centuries as the “School of Homer,” archaeologists have unearthed compelling evidence of a hero cult that persisted for more than a thousand years — dedicated to the mythological king of Ithaca himself and protagonist of Homer’s Odyssey.
The discovery was announced by the Greek Ministry of Culture in early June, but it is the culmination of decades of labor. The project, based at the Agios Athanasios site in northern Ithaca, is led by Professor Emeritus Giannos G. Lolos and includes work by Dr. Christina Marambea of the University of Ioannina.
While historians agree that Odysseus was a fictional character, these findings reveal just how real his memory was to the ancient Greeks, who worshipped him, invoked him, and etched his name into stone for generations.
This is the strongest indication yet that the legends of Homer’s Odyssey were not just preserved in verse — but etched into the lives, rituals, and civic identity of the people who lived where the story begins.
Odysseus’s Shrine
To understand the discovery, it’s worth recalling who Odysseus was — at least in myth.
He was the wily king of Ithaca, the strategist behind the Trojan Horse, and the reluctant hero of The Odyssey, Homer’s 8th-century BCE epic poem. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus wandered the seas for ten years, surviving shipwrecks, monsters, and temptations. He blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, resisted the lure of the Sirens, and defied the wrath of gods — all in a prolonged journey home to his faithful wife Penelope and son Telemachus.
Like Heracles or Perseus, Odysseus belongs to the vast pantheon of Greek mythology; a repository of characters who embody cultural values more than real biographies. Still, over centuries, many Greeks came to revere him as more than a story. They treated him as a symbol of perseverance, cleverness, and the yearning for home. Some even prayed to him.
From Rock and Ruin, a Myth Comes to Life
Now, archaeologists have uncovered what they believe is physical proof of that reverence.
At Agios Athanasios, a rugged site in northern Ithaca known since the 19th century as the “School of Homer,” a team led by Professor Emeritus Giannos G. Lolos has found evidence of a hero cult dedicated to Odysseus. The team has been studying the area since 2018, building on decades of earlier excavations.
The site’s topography is dramatic: a rocky outcrop overlooking a spring-laced slope, cut into two main terraces linked by carved staircases. On the upper terrace stands the remnants of a 3rd-century BCE Hellenistic tower. The lower terrace contains a large rectangular structure surrounded by niches likely used for votive offerings.
Beneath these architectural layers, archaeologists found something older — and rarer. A corbelled stone cistern, carved deep into the rock, dates back to the 14th or 13th century BCE. That’s the Mycenaean era, the time scholars traditionally associate with the Trojan War and the world Homer described.
According to Dr. Marambea, the cistern is among “the few of its kind known in the Aegean.” Its craftsmanship and the surrounding pottery shards suggest the site was an important regional hub, likely supervising nearby ports and controlling freshwater resources. It was, in other words, more than just a settlement. It was a center of ancient power.
Myth Made Matter
But it’s the inscriptions that transformed this dig into something far more resonant. Archaeologists uncovered 14 stamped roof tiles and inscribed fragments bearing unmistakable traces of Odysseus’ name. One fragment reads “ΟΔΥCCEOC,” the genitive form in ancient Greek, suggesting possession — perhaps “of Odysseus.” Another reads “ΟΔΥCCEI,” likely a dedication: “to Odysseus.”
Nearly a century ago, in a cave at Polis Bay — also on Ithaca — a votive mask bore the inscription “ΕΥΧΗΝ ΟΔΥCCΕΙ,” or “a vow to Odysseus.” Now, these new inscriptions confirm that people returned again and again to honor the figure who once, mythically, left them behind.
There’s more. A miniature bronze bust resembling depictions of Odysseus from 4th–3rd century BCE coins was found on site. Archaeologists believe the sanctuary functioned from the Hellenistic through to the early Roman period—roughly the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE.
This was a place where people came to offer thanks, to make vows, to remember a king who never stopped journeying home.
The finds also include ritual vessels, loom weights, and over 100 coins from cities across the Greek and Roman worlds. These coins are particularly revealing — they speak not just of local devotion, but of distant travelers. Ithaca, it seems, became a destination for pilgrims. The cult of Odysseus was not a quaint local practice. It had reach.
Among the clay offerings were 34 votive fragments, likely dedicated in moments of personal prayer or gratitude. Spindle whorls and loom weights hint at women’s roles in these rites, perhaps invoking Odysseus’ long-suffering wife, Penelope.
The Search for the Real Odysseus
This is not the first time archaeologists have searched for the “real” Odysseus. For centuries, scholars have debated whether he was a historical figure or pure invention. Like King Arthur or Gilgamesh, he exists in a twilight zone between literature and memory.
But that distinction may not matter.
Even if Odysseus never lived, these findings show that people acted as if he had. They carved his name into stone. They honored him with rituals and offerings. And they built, maintained, and traveled to his sanctuary for generations.
The Greek Ministry of Culture states the site can now be “confidently identified” with the Odysseion — a hero shrine to Odysseus mentioned in a 2nd-century BCE decree from Magnesia in Asia Minor. That decree also references the Odysseia — athletic and cultural competitions held in his name.
These games, like the sanctuary itself, served to anchor myth in everyday life. They turned Odysseus from a literary figure into a civic one.
A Site Older Than the Odyssey
Strikingly, the site’s roots stretch back well before Homer. The earliest artifacts — flint tools and ceramic shards — date to the Final Neolithic period, sometime between the late 5th and 4th millennia BCE. This suggests that the hill where Odysseus would one day be worshipped was already sacred in deep prehistory.
And that matters. Myth often repurposes memory. It builds new stories on old foundations. The fact that this rocky terrace was already important before Odysseus was ever dreamed up only deepens its power. The Odyssey may be fiction, but it grew from soil already rich with significance.
This recent find ultimately reminds us of how humans connect myth to place — and how places, in turn, shape our understanding of history.
Odysseus was a wanderer. To discover, now, a shrine that bore his name and welcomed his worshippers across centuries is to realize that myth is not always abstract. Sometimes, it has an address.
