Text & Copyright: Hettie Putman Cramer & Makis Metaxas
Aerial photograph of Poros by George Avgoustiniatos
Homer locates the "harbour of Rheithron" in Homeric Ithaca in the area ‘below [or near] to the wooded Neïon’ (the ὑπονήιος area), just outside the city (Άστυ).
Today most translators agree that the Neion was a mountain on Homeric Ithaca. It is our belief that ὑπονήιος [hypo-neion] area (the area ἐπὶ, ὑπὸ (περὶ, παρὰ) τὸ νήιον), that is the area near the
harbour, in other words the ἐπίνειον or port serving the hinterland of Ithaca.
The word ἐπίνειον is still used today to mean a port
serving an inland area: for example, Piraeus is the ἐπίνειον of Athens
ὑπονήιον
> ἐπινήιον
> ἐπίνειον [etym. < anc. Gk. ἐπίνειον < επί- + -νειον/-νηιον < ναύς, ship]
It is important to mention here that,
according to Eustathius (1613,
29-30), Neïon is listed by the
ancient geographers Krates and Philoxenos in their catalogues of ports
and harbours, not in the catalogues of mountains or anything else. A similar
piece of information is preserved by Apollonios
Sophistes (first century a.d.)
in his only surviving work, the Homeric
Lexicon (Λεξικὸν
κατὰ στοιχείον Ἰλιάδος
καὶ Ὀδυσσείας), where he quotes Apion the
grammarian as stating that ὑπονήιον is the name given to the
port of Ithaca
Homer describes
the “Rheithron port” as situated not far from the city and quite close to the
palace. The sea was visible from the
palace and it was possible to see the ships entering the harbor. The
description of the suitors arriving at the “ Rheithron port”- after the ambush that had been set up by them on the
island of Asteris to kill Telemachus had
failed- is very descriptive and leaves
no doubt (Od. π.342-362). Homer describes this port as «πολυβενθές» (Od.π 351-353) ( to penetrate deep into the land) and the harbor
area where the ships moor is not visible
from the palace. This derives from the questions
submitted by Telemachus to Mendes, king of the Tafhians. When Mendes arrives by ship at the palace of
Odysseus, Telemachus is not able to see Mendes’ ship moored
at the harbor’s depth and he asks Mendes how he arrived in Ithaca.
Mendes’ famous
response to this question is until today one of the top riddles of the Homeric
topography.
τὸν δ᾽ αὖτε
προσέειπε θεά, γλαυκῶπις
Ἀθήνη·
"τοιγὰρ ἐγώ τοι ταῦτα
μάλ᾽ ἀτρεκέως ἀγορεύσω.
Μέντης Ἀγχιάλοιο δαΐφρονος εὔχομαι εἶναι
υἱός, ἀτὰρ Ταφίοισι φιληρέτμοισιν ἀνάσσω.
νῦν δ᾽ ὧδε
ξὺν νηὶ κατήλυθον ἠδ᾽ ἑτάροισιν
πλέων ἐπὶ οἴνοπα
πόντον ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοθρόους ἀνθρώπους,
ἐς Τεμέσην μετὰ χαλκόν, ἄγω δ᾽ αἴθωνα
σίδηρον.
νηῦς δέ μοι
ἥδ᾽ ἕστηκεν ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ νόσφι
πόληος,
ἐν λιμένι ῾Ρείθρῳ
ὑπὸ
Νηίῳ
ὑλήεντι.
‘I will
answer all your questions truthfully,’ answered the bright-eyed goddess Athena.
‘I declare that I am Mentes, the son of warlike Anchialos, and I rule over the
seafaring Taphians. And now I have arrived here with my ship and crew, sailing
across the wine-dark sea to Temese where the people speak a strange language,
carrying gleaming iron to exchange for copper. My ship lies over there beside
the fields away from the city, in the harbour of Rheithron
The word ῥεῖθρον[i] rheithron (ῥέεθρον), used to describe the
physical setting of the port
of Homeric Ithaca port
of Homeric Ithaka
How
important is it for researchers to verify this information – an item of
information unique in Homer’s epics? To put it another way, in trying to locate
the city and palace of Homeric Ithaca, how helpful would it be to establish
whether or not a harbour in a river bed, as described by Homer, actually
existed?
Have
any ancient harbours in river beds been found on Kephallenia, and more
specifically in the part of Kephallenia under discussion: the south-east?
Archaeological finds have proved that in
antiquity there were at least two harbours in river beds on Kephallenia, both
of which can be located with a fair degree of certainty. One is at Vatsa at the south end of the Paliki
peninsula, where a sanctuary of Poseidon has been discovered, and the other is
on the east coast of the island, in the bed of the River Vohynas at Poros.
In the Mycenaean period the sea here reached almost as far as the modern flood
barrier. In historical times the silt and rubble brought down by the river
pushed the shoreline out to where the stone bridge now stands: there the
ancient harbour works and archaeological finds dating from the Hellenistic
period were found when the bridge was being built. Since then, and especially
since the 1953 earthquakes, the ground level has risen by about one and a half
metres, with the result that the water in the river bed has receded
considerably. In 1936 the government of Ioannis Metaxas had the ancient harbour
filled in because the mosquitoes breeding in the stagnant water were a
permanent health hazard to the local people.
Photo by Brigadier Charalambos Panagiotareas
harbour of the River Vohynas at Poros Photo by Brigadier Charalambos Panagiotareas (1954)
 |
| harbour Vatsa at the south end of the Paliki peninsula, |
Rare images when you begin the reconstruction of the village of Poros in 1954 on the river Vochinas. The seawater despite the embankments that were made from 1936 to the riverbed continues to be joined with the waters of the river deep enough. The river was navigable up to that time, then was filled completely coated with cement. Since converted into a space parkiig for the summer season
Photo by Brigadier Charalambos Panagiotareas
Here, then, we have a striking and rare
peculiarity: the ancient port of the Pronnaians was on the banks and in the bed
of a river – the seasonal River Vohynas, which flows through the scenic Poros
gorge and out into the eastern Ionian Sea (see photograph) – just like Ithaka’s
‘harbour of Rheithron’ as described by Homer.
Aerial photograph of Poros by Kostas Koklanos,
The remarkable coincidence of two
harbours having the same distinctive characteristics becomes even more
interesting when one reads some of the passages by historians and geographers
describing the unique or unusual features of the landscape hereabouts.
The historian Antonios Miliarakis[ii]
describes the landscape as follows:
A
walk through the Poros gorge along the well-beaten path on the right bank
provides one of the grand natural spectacles of Kephallenia, whether one is
going up from the sea to Iraklion or in the other direction, thanks to the
wildness of the landscape, the varied scenery and the great plane trees
on both sides of the stream. These trees, which lend the scene a touch of
beauty, extend into the Iraklion valley along
the banks of the stream draining the water from Lake Avythos
On
the heights of Mount
Pachni
Charles Napier,[iii] the
Resident in Kephallenia under the British Protectorate, described this
magnificent landscape as follows:
"Description of the district of Aracli, or Heraclea"
Before
the river reaches the sea, it passes through a narrow chasm in the eastern
ridge, whose rocky sides rise perpendicularly to a vast height above the bed of
the river, which is strewed with large masses that have fallen from above,
where many still overhang, and threaten to crush the passing traveller. These
great rocks form the base of two mountains, covered with wood, which
stand on each side, like sentinels, to guard the entrance of this beautiful
valley. On the southern height are extensive Cyclopian ruins.… On passing this rocky
defile, there is a small plain between it and the sea, and enclosed by the
rocks, which run down on each side to the water’s edge. On crossing the rocks,
to the south, you find the beautiful little port of Poros
Such
is the valley of Heraclea
The archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos,[iv]
describing the Poros gorge in which the ancient port of the Pronnaians was
situated, declares that the whole scene is like a miniature version of the Vale of Tempe .
 |
| The gorge of Poros.<1900 |
Joseph
Partsch,[v]
in his description of the truly impressive Poros gorge, has this to say:
Descending southwards from the
rocky heights of Pyrgi, one comes to the valley of Iraklion, whence the water
it receives from the surrounding mountains finds a single outlet to the sea
through a narrow gorge. Many travellers have fulsomely praised the abundance of
water, the fertile soil, the flourishing orchards and the meadows in this
valley and have rated it the finest part of the island.
.JPG)
The gorge of Poros.
(Engraving
of H.L.Allen,. 1823) Collection
of Fotis Kremmydas.
Eastern outlet of the valley of Racli
The fitting portal has this beautiful vale- and as
singularly formed as most that was seen.
The stream for ages winding its course to the sea, has worn away a duly
narrow channel, when in the dry season, it settles in clean emerald pools of a
great dept, but after it rains is converted again into a furious roaring
current, boiling along in its dark bed and carrying earth and stones and
opposes its course – The graceful (….) here attaining a height of 20 to 30 feet does not forsake
the stream when it quits that ‘happy valley’, but accompanies it to the edge of
the sea.
This pass in some places is not much above a dozen
yards broad within side xx steps and lofty rock – those on the left, in this
view bear on their summits a tale of ancient days in the cyclopean remains of The
Hellenic city of Pronos – the remains of whose gigantic walls (….)to be well
tread amid the thick tangled underwood – Pronos was one of the four large
cities of Cefalonia, and share no remains to compare to Samos & Krani.
Signora Cambici told me that the late resident of the island, Col. Napier had
interested himself much in the explorations of these ruins, and discovered, or
rediscovered what had been nearly might forgotten – They are situated in and
out of the way, inaccessible place, and few persons visit them.
(This
was written by H.L. Allen on the back side of the gravure)
We have deliberately devoted space to some
of the many passages written at various times to describe the unique beauty of
the Poros gorge and its river, in which was the ancient harbour of the
Pronnaians. It is our belief that the distinctive character of a harbour
situated in a river bed full of leafy planes and other trees (νηίῳ ὑλήεντι) at the mouth of such an impressive gorge was
not its only memorable feature: most of all, its commercial uses and the port
facilities it offered to seafarers in the Ionian Sea were what made it, then as
now, one of the best-known places in Homeric Ithaka. A harbour known as ‘the
Harbour of the River-Bed’, thanks to which that part of Ithaca was known as ὑπονήιος Ἰθάκη, would not have been for Homer a matter of indifference. This has
now been corroborated by the recent interdisciplinary research project in the
Poros gorge. According to the archaeologist in charge of the project, Dr. Georgia Stratouli,[vi]
the Poros gorge with its Drakaina Cave[vii]
was regarded as a locus of the utmost monumental value in the region of the Ionian Sea .
Panoramic image of the center of the Mycenaean settlements in Riza Tzannata location that captures the image of viewing to the sea side were the buildings of the ruling class of that time. This picture confirms impressively the Homeric text describing the unseen side of the interior of the " harbour of Rheithron " from the position of the palace( Od A. 178-186 ) , and confirms the Homeric text that from there it was possible to visual monitoring of the arrival of the ship from Asterida ( Todays' Οxia ) to the harbour of Rheithron until the moment they saw the suitors to download the sails of their ship to enter the unseen interior of the riverine port ( Od.p , 342-362 ). The distance between the palace area and the port area which was outside of the city according to the Homeric text was relatively close (today located 1,3 Km).
Another point worth noting is that the
area at the mouth of the Poros gorge is now called Rayia. The name Rayia (Ράγια) is connected with the verb
ῥήγνυμι (break) and other derivatives thereof, such as ῥῆγμα (cleft, fissure), ῥηγμὶν or ῥηγμὶς (line of breakers, or the point at which waves break as they
approach the shore), ῥώξ/ῥωγὸς (crevice, opening: at Od.
22.143 ἀνὰ ῥώγας μεγάροιο means ‘through the
narrow passages leading into the palace’), ῥωγμὴ or ῥωχμὸς (fissure, crack), confirming once again that the local place-names
(‘names that speak for themselves’, as they are called locally) accord
perfectly with the physical features of the terrain and the uses to which they
have been put by humans.
iron ore from southeastern Kefalonia
To conclude this section about the ‘harbour of Rheithron’, it is
interesting to note a passage in the Odyssey
(1.185-186) where Homer tells us that Mentes,
whose ship was berthed in the harbour at the river mouth, had come to Ithaka to
load a cargo of ‘gleaming iron’ (αἴθωνα σίδηρον),[i] which
he was going to carry to Temese to
exchange for copper. This item of information is extremely significant in view
of the fact that, until the Second World War, iron ore mined in the area
between Andriolata and Xenopoulo on the eastern slopes of Mount Ainos
was exported from the port of Poros , being carried in caiques to the mines at Lavrio in Attica . It is not often remembered that workable deposits of iron ore, a
commodity rare in western Greece
Panoramic view of the port area of Poros located on the river Vochinas as it was in ancient times, a photorealistic approach by Artists Abraham Panagatos . This image remained intact until the mid 20th
century. Since the middle of last century was built along the coastline the new settlement of Poros. Aerial photograph of Poros by Kostas Koklanos, photorealism by Abraam Panagatos
Poros area today Aerial photograph of Poros by Kostas Koklanos,
..jpg)
Text & Copyright: Hettie Putman Cramer & Makis Metaxas
[i] Μέγα Ετυμολογικόν Λεξικόν.
[v] Joseph Partsch, Kephallenia und Ithaka – eine
geographische Monographie (in Greek translation), Athens
[vi] Georgia Stratouli, “Symbolic
behaviour at places of social activity beyond the domestic area in the
Ionian Neolithic”, Documenta
Praehistorica XXXII (2005) 123-132.
[vii] E.-M. Chatziotou, G.
Stratouli and E. Kotzambopoulou, “The Drakaina Cave: Recent investigations at
Poros on Kefalonia”, Αρχαιολογικά Ανάλεκτα Εξ Αθηνών
22 (1989) 31-60 (in Greek with abstract in English);
Evangelia-Miranda Chatziotou and Georgia Stratouli, “Drakaina Cave
[i] Eustathius, Παρεκβολαί εις την Ομήρου Οδύσσειαν, 183-186, 1409-39.
[i] Eustathius, Παρεκβολαί εις την Ομήρου Οδύσσειαν, 183-186, 1409-39.
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