An important finding from Ithaca, a clay tablet which vividly depicts an episode from the Odyssey of Homer, was published by the German archaeological journal Kadmos.
The tablet is purported to depict a ship with Odysseus bound to the mast facing some sort of monstrous creature identified as a Siren. The tablet is also inscribed with what appear to be signs of the Mycenaean Linear B script.
The as yet undated find was discovered with several other “tablets” likewise said to be inscribed with scenes from both the Iliad and the Odyssey at Ayios Athanasios, a site also known as “Homer’s School”, by Greek archaeologists from the University of Ioannina.
Linear B tablets have been discovered at a number of Mycenaean palaces in both Mainland Greece and Crete. The site at Ayios Athanasios was ‘discovered’ in 1996 and comprises a massive building complex spread over two or three levels connected by a staircase carved into the solid bedrock of the hillside.
The Greek Ministry of Culture has since appropriated some 25,000 square metres of land at Ayios Athanasios for the continuation of the excavations, though these are proceeding at a snail’s pace due to the lack of funding.
Source: Eleutherotypia [November 17, 2006]