Ithaca

An island in the Ionian Sea, east of the larger, neighbouring island of Cephallenia. It was the home and kingdom of Laërtes and his son Odysseus.

Ithaca was a small and rocky island. When Menelaus, king of Sparta, was going to give some magnificent horses to his young guest, Telemachus (Odysseus' son), Telemachus refused. His refusal was logical, because there was no pasture for horses and the rocky terrain was unsuitable for horse husbandry.

Laërtes was the grandson of Cephalus, son of Deïon and Diomede. Cephalus was the king of Cephallenia. When Odysseus became king, Ithaca replaced Cephallus as the dominant island.

Odysseus was one of the heroes who fought in Troy. Odysseus was the leader who brought twelve ships from Ithaca and Cephallenia. During the last three years of his absence, many of his wife's suitors were nobles from Ithaca and the neighbouring islands.