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- How come, all these years
we haven't found where Ithaca is?
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MAKIS:
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HETTIE: We live in Poros,
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so you know every stone,
especially Makis.
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MAKIS:
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Then I thought, "Well, here I am."
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- Could this be Odysseus tomb?
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YANGOS:
They found the skull in there.
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This might be the skull of Odysseus.
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A dog grabbing a deer.
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- In this moment and in this image,
that is Odysseus.
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- (laughs)
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HETTIE: And Maki has energy
inside him, because of this.
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I would get a small
electrical shock from him.
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- If that's real,
that would be unique.
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- The grave and the discovery,
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it has such a big impact on our life
in the way that, afterwards,
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everything we did or thought,
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we had to do to live our life,
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we had to bring up our children.
We had to work.
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But it was always this, always,
in connection with the grave.
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- Well, I was like nine,
eight years old
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when it all began, so...
(laugh)
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it's funny because my father
was absent most of the time.
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To give you an example, people,
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they were calling at home
for my father.
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And me and my brother were
just saying, "He's at the tomb."
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And the people didn't understand
what that meant.
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(laugh)
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Yeah...
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That, that's how it began.
(laugh)
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HETTIE: It was always something
happening with the grave.
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Either it was a publication,
either people that were angry
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and say that nothing of that
was true.
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Other people started to threaten us,
to call us names.
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How does a shopkeeper, they thought,
they said - Maki was a shopkeeper -
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know anything about Homer.
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And you know Homeric Ithaca is
where it is, in Ithaca.
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Don't start to change this.
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PHILIPPOS: You hear things, you
catch up, conversations, comments.
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So yeah, I knew, I knew...
(laugh) ..that, uh,
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this is a topic that creates
friction.
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Well, I was playing football
at the local team,
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and we're playing... I also had
to go to Ithaca to play match.
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So, I think that was the first time
I understood that.
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I was like, uh, not very...
welcome person, even as a kid there.
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00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:12,440
- We always had the idea that
the Kingdom of Ulysses, of Odyssey,
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was the area of the Ionian Islands.
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00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,800
So it was Kefalonia, Zakynthos,
Lefkas, Ithaca.
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00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:25,800
And we never wanted to exclude
anybody or to do harm to anybody.
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But of course, Ithaca is the island
that kept the name
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alive through the ages.
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It was a symbol,
an important symbol.
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And the people of Ithaca
protect that. And rightly so.
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So, when we found this ancient tomb,
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and everybody started to talk again
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about Homeric Ithaca and Odyssea,
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that was quite threatening,
I suppose, for them.
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00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,200
It was very difficult for Maki.
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00:03:58,440 --> 00:03:59,960
Cos he was in local politics.
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00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,040
- For us,
Ithaka is a different place.
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- Yes
- But we love each other.
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- Yes, thank you, thank you.
- And I voted for him.
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- It is down to his efforts
that we got where we are,
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00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:48,680
although I don't agree with him.
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00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:06,800
- They were very angry
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00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,280
and I also remember that they were
even throwing stones at you.
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00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,320
- I don't think they were just kids.
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00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,160
I mean spirits were a bit more
aggressive.
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00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,240
- And this created a big problem
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00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,720
both to your person because
they started opposing you
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and they started feeling afraid
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00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,480
that you would probably run
as a candidate...
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00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:56,880
- Oh yes.
- ..for a seat in the parliament.
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00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:58,640
- OK.
- Because none of the political
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parties would be willing to lose
the seat
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because of the people of Ithaca.
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- They were not believing you
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00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,720
because they thought
you were the enemy.
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00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,360
The thing is, sharing the knowledge
with people about
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00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,520
this new discovery,
really never came out.
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00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:19,320
MAKIS:
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00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:59,240
- Mr Kolonas has published
articles in archaeological journals,
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but he hasn't published
the dig in its whole.
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00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,240
Well, Mr Kolonas always was a very
busy man and he had other digs.
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00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:10,680
And then he became responsible
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00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,200
for all the archaeology
in the whole of Greece.
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NARRATOR:
Falco Brings up
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00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,120
the Bronze Pieces
which have baffled them.
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00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,680
But they soon are identified
as parts of ancient furniture
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00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:39,480
by the Greek archaeologist aboard,
Lazaros Kolonas.
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00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,640
- Yes. But he had
the wrong priorities. Definitely.
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When they found the tomb,
and he was walking in the ministry.
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00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:03,800
- Yeah.
- Other archaeologists would say...
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00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,040
- Don't do it.
- ..you don't think you're going
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00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,160
further with this.
You know, things like that.
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All very negative.
- All negative.
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00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:27,320
ISMINI:
He was very afraid.
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00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:29,520
That was really realistic
for him to be afraid.
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00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,160
'Cos in archaeology, one of the
things that you should not do,
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00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:34,160
which people do
and certainly did in the past,
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was you're not really supposed to be
going to look for something.
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00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,480
You find something
and then you interpret it.
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00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,280
We've had this amazing
tomb sitting here.
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So it's like, you know, as a family,
like, we, we care about this.
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00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:53,080
And I know for Kolonas too,
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a lot of not making any big
statements was about politics.
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And, you know, you have
to think about those things.
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- I believe, you know,
this grave is like this
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because of the political situation.
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Kolonas did not public say ever
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that this is Ulysses grave.
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But Makis... (laugh)
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..that's one of the problems.
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00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,880
"We found Ulysses!"
(laugh)
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YANGOS: When Kolonas
first came, he was dismissive.
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Very dismissive, very unbelieving.
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But it was spectacular.
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Really spectacular.
The change.
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00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,960
Because after the findings
it seems that in Kolonas' mind,
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the evidence that was coming up
eventually convinced him.
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He gave the first presentation where
he announced the findings in public.
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And a lot of people, I was there,
we were all there.
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- Yeah.
- It was winter of '93, '94.
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00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,840
- Something like that.
- And he was full of himself.
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He was full of himself.
I mean, his sails were full of air.
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I thought that, I mean,
if he's going at that speed
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00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,040
in two years we're going to have
his books.
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00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,960
- I don't know whether he had been
threatened,
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00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,800
whether he had been paid,
bribed, I mean,
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whether... or he's chicken,
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I don't know what of all three
happens.
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VO: Do you wish to return home
right now?
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00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,320
I wish you the best.
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00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,680
But if you knew what pains you were
fated to suffer before you set foot
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00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:41,840
on your native land,
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you'd stay right here with me!"
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PHILIPPOS: Archaeology in Greece,
it is really important and powerful.
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And they don't like outsiders.
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00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,520
And of course,
my parents were seen as outsiders.
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And they tried to undermine it.
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In our case, it happened, I guess.
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00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,480
GRIGORIS:
It's a pity to focus only on Homer,
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because what we have in Kefalonia
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00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,240
concerning the Mycenaean period
is very important.
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00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,320
And we, as the archaeological
service here on the island.
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It's important for our research
to be based on data.
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The only thing we can say now
is that we have a centre of power.
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Nothing more.
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00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,880
Because we are waiting
for the final publication.
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- We knew that
in university circles,
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it was a kind of not done
to look for Homeric Ithaca.
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That was something that was only
for people that were dreaming,
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that you find this and that you can
connect it to Homeric Ithaca.
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Homer is taught as an epic poet
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and there is no connection
to the reality in these poems.
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VO: But come now,
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to convince you, I'll show you
the landmarks of Ithaca.
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MAKIS:
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00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:14,480
- For me, the Odyssey
and Homer and the epics in general,
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Darin Atwater they spoke to me,
almost screamed to me
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the first time I read the first line
of the Odyssey,
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because the first couple of lines,
the first four lines that said:
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"Sing in Me Muse.
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Through me, tell the story
of the Man Skilled in all the ways
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of contending, the wanderer,
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harried for years on end
after he had plundered
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the stronghold
on the Proud Height of Troy.
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Tell us in our own times,
lift this great song again."
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And I was like, wow,
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this is actually a tradition that
was about singing and poetry.
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EMMA: Both the Iliad and
the Odyssey are filled with song.
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And there are two internal singers,
characters who are singers,
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called rhapsodes.
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Rhapsode comes
from two words of ancient Greek.
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"Rapto,"
meaning "to stitch" or "to weave,"
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and "aoida" meaning "song."
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And they would go around performing
large chunks of this poetry.
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So the Homeric song is really poetry
that has been stitched together,
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hence rapto,
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by different rhapsodes
over a long period of time.
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So if you were reading
The Odyssey aloud in Greek,
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you would be reading
something like this:
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(speaks Greek)
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Which is the first line of the
Odyssey, in the rhythmical Greek.
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00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:44,520
(speaks Greek)
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Bum ba ba bum ba ba bum ba ba bum.
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- The fact that the Odyssey,
this document that is held
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and lionized in western culture
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00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,720
as the fountainhead
of western culture,
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00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,160
you find out that
this is preliterate, right?
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This comes from a bard, this comes
from a minstrel, this was a song,
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and you know,
memory was a huge part of that.
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- For a long time, it was considered
that it would bend
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00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,000
the rules of plausibility
and feasibility and the capacities
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00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,760
of any human brain to memorize
this amount of material.
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00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,840
But in the 1930s a scholar
called Milman Parry,
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00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,760
who did a lot of field work
in a Yugoslavian community,
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where most of their literature
was disseminated,
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00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:39,200
not through written word,
but through song.
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00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:41,760
(singing in Bosnian)
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00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,640
Parry saw that every noun,
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00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,360
every word would have
an adjective to describe it
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attached to it automatically.
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00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,800
So for example, in English,
we might say
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00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,920
a dark and stormy night,
"night" being the noun,
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00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,360
"dark" and "stormy"
being the adjectives described.
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00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,160
When we might say
it's a bitter pill to swallow,
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"bitter" is attached
to the word "pill."
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00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,240
These phrases would come
straight into the mind
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and roll off the tongue.
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And that could happen
over a huge amount of material
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and a song that would go on
for a very long time.
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(Singing in Bosnian)
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And when he applied this thinking
back to the Homeric poems,
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he found an uncanny similarity.
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00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:26,920
Achilles isn't just Achilles,
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he's swift footed Achilles,
(speaks Greek)
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00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,080
Odysseus is not just Odysseus.
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00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,320
He's (speaks Greek) "much enduring,"
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00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,640
he's (speaks Greek),
"great-hearted Odysseus."
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- It's these kind of devices
that are about memory
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and about audience engagement.
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You might not have to remember
the entire epic, right?
225
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But if you remember this episode
and you build on it,
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now you have an epic poetry
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and you have a document
like The Odyssey.
228
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,520
- And precisely because
of this oral tradition,
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00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,360
these tales that traveled in time
as well as in space across Greece,
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there may well be
that certain rhapsodes were basing
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00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,120
their characters on actual figures
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00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,680
who lived and reigned
and fought and battled
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00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:28,280
and won and lost
in this late Mycenaean period.
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00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,520
- These things are anchors
that kind of help everybody
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00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,880
hold onto in terms of,
when everything else goes,
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00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,080
we have our identity in these
things.
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CHILL (sings): # I shed some
light on where it's darkest at,
238
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:22,400
# Where the kicks
and the coffins match,
239
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:23,560
# Get air'd to max
240
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:25,520
# You from where minimum
is offered at.
241
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,800
# Couple days from graduation,
They took off his cap,
242
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,440
# An outcast, caught him holding,
told him come up off his stacks,
243
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,400
# Flashed a big boy, black on black,
that's an awful match. #
244
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,800
So where I'm from
is everything to me,
245
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,080
and I try to exude that in
everything that is me.
246
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,760
So in my music and the way I dress,
the way I walk, the way I talk,
247
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:44,040
it's Philly.
248
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,280
And then in the lyrics, you shout
out the spots that only we know.
249
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,640
So you got the Liberty Bell,
Rocky steps.
250
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,080
But then, when you hear "West
Philadelphia, born and raised"
251
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:54,520
like you know Will Smith.
252
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,200
But the beginning of that story,
is Overbrook High School.
253
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:00,320
What we affectionately call
the castle on the hill.
254
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,320
It's just because of its stature,
because of its prominence
255
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:04,960
and what it meant to West Philly.
256
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,040
Odysseus, he talks about
this mountain and he's like,
257
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,040
"You'll know that you here,
when you see the mountain."
258
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,200
And in my mind, that's the same
as the castle on the hill.
259
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,440
So the first part will go...
260
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,160
# A man of one name, but many
meanings, many schemes but yet
261
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:28,800
# And still he remains blameless.
262
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,400
# It's dangerous, terrain switch.
263
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,800
# He's resilient, built to survive,
added endurance to the brilliance #
264
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:38,040
Oh yeah you got me,
and then I go to my joint.
265
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:39,200
# I go by chill.
266
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:41,520
# They call me Moody both together
it's nothing to me.
267
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,920
# Son of moody the blood of
West Philly is running through me,
268
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,560
# there's not chances I'm gonna fail
before the classes in the 'ville
269
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,320
# it was the castle on the hill
Location's far from basic #
270
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:05,840
DARIN: That's why
oral traditions are powerful.
271
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,960
A human has to tell you this story.
272
00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,040
A human has to sit down with you
and engage with you
273
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,680
and tell you about this great time
in our human civilization.
274
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,240
And I think it's those universal
themes that echo across epics.
275
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:26,960
There's an African proverb
that says,
276
00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:30,800
"When an old man dies,
a library burns to the ground."
277
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,960
You know, you're charged
with keeping these stories alive,
278
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:37,600
keeping these places alive.
279
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,000
JOHN: Homer is a process.
280
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,400
It's a centuries long process.
281
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:14,880
And when you recite the Odyssey,
282
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:20,240
you're reciting something that's
been formulated over centuries.
283
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,200
(speaks Greek)
284
00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:32,600
This is JOHN: from America.
285
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:37,760
Tell me where will I go
to study the seal? OK.
286
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,080
We will be there in about 20
minutes. Thank you. Thank you.
287
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:42,560
Bye-bye.
288
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,080
DIRECTOR: So, look, we just got this
email from the ephor of archaeology.
289
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,720
We've been trying to get permission
to see these seals for months.
290
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,840
"Unfortunately as far
as Professor Younger is concerned,
291
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,600
his permission is only to study
the material and not for filming."
292
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,000
- It's Greece. What could go wrong?
(laughs)
293
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,280
So we have the seals
here in little zip bags.
294
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,360
Almost all of these seals
are workshop fresh.
295
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,080
Not used, not worn.
296
00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:30,920
Here's the rock crystal one there.
297
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:35,280
And I expected to see
a lot more wear.
298
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:37,520
It's been kept care of.
299
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,360
There's a lot of detail
in this thing.
300
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,440
You'll notice that the, um, uh,
301
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,000
the foreleg of the lion
should have a tibia.
302
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,840
And you can actually see
the separation of the tibia.
303
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:54,280
There are dots with a little, um,
rectangular ends for the talons.
304
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,960
This seal, it's special.
305
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,400
I mean, there's a parallel
to the Odyssey
306
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,720
and the parallel is, um...
307
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:06,280
is not exact.
308
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:10,120
Isn't that Homer?
309
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,280
I want to be able to get
into that tholos.
310
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,080
For so many years,
Homer was just a story.
311
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,960
But now with excavations,
we have lots of Homeric details
312
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,560
that we can point to and say,
yes, that's in Homer.
313
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,400
The most famous example
is the cup of Nestor,
314
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,080
which Homer describes as a gold cup
315
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,600
which has doves on the handles.
316
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,680
And there is such a cup
from the shaft graves at Mycenae
317
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,320
dating to around 1,600 BCE.
318
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,400
That's really intriguing.
319
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:49,960
This is definitely a country tholos,
320
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,440
meant to look like it's been here
321
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,600
much longer than any other tholos
in the world.
322
00:29:55,760 --> 00:30:00,800
I'm describing the blocks
of the interior dome,
323
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,800
how they're so loose and
kind of square, like chunks of feta.
324
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:07,840
I don't think I've ever seen that.
325
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,080
- Already downloaded
some of these images.
326
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,880
- Yes.
- And so these black ones
327
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,120
of black steatite there,
which are kind of normal...
328
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:29,880
is a Cretan material.
329
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,600
Um, but they show virtually no sign
330
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,080
of being worn or being used.
331
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,880
- All of them come from Crete,
yeah.
332
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,960
- The rock crystal
dates to around 1500, 1450.
333
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:44,920
The rest of them
date to around 1300.
334
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,760
So, the rock crystal has been
passed down
335
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,320
from one generation to the next.
336
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,240
- Absolutely. My feeling is that
337
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,600
if you want to become
king of Ithaca...
338
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:06,680
- Yeah.
- ..you go to Crete
339
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,960
to get your seals.
And we have noticed
340
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,000
that when you receive
your new seals,
341
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,760
you also receive an heirloom,
342
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,040
which would be the rock crystal.
343
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,880
- Whenever Odysseus says
who he is, he says," I'm Cretan."
344
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,560
So the main thing that got me
here...
345
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:34,280
was to look at this particular seal.
346
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:39,720
The lion and the deer
are nicely, uh, sculpted.
347
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,760
The lion is pretty shaggy
and looks kind of fierce.
348
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,440
And the deer has got these
big, big ears like a roe deer.
349
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,000
- But the way it was published,
it looked square,
350
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,760
like it had squared corners
right there.
351
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,560
And, uh, and that would be
a very unusual shape.
352
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,200
Usually if they have square
corners like that,
353
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,800
then it's because it's been
placed into a setting,
354
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,080
and therefore could conform
to Homer's description
355
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,000
of Odysseus's belt buckle
or whatever.
356
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,480
So I came here expecting to see
a seal that was actually not a seal,
357
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,440
but actually a piece for a setting
in something.
358
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:30,840
And I don't see that.
359
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,160
But if we're thinking about...
Kefalonia as being part
360
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,200
of the Mycenaean world,
then I don't want this to be unique.
361
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,080
Put it into a context.
And the context, it's rich.
362
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,120
Another a hundred seals
made outta rock crystal
363
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:56,080
and therefore it belongs
to a larger cultural community.
364
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:02,160
And that then fits in
with your concept that this island
365
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,360
is part of this larger
cultural community.
366
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:08,640
It doesn't sit here alone.
367
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:11,920
I've always looked at the
Ionian islands
368
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,760
as being on the edge of the
Mycenaean world looking west.
369
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,240
No. This is part of it.
370
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,040
This is not on the edge of anything.
371
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,800
The culture here is absolutely
what Homer's talking about.
372
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,360
I think it's pure prejudice
that I've never come here.
373
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,040
This is not on the fringe
of something.
374
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,720
This is right in the middle of it.
375
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,440
I would like to see more about how
376
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:46,080
Kefalonia fits into this Mycenaean
centre,
377
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,280
cos I was not expecting this.
378
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,680
- Well, I'm ready to,
to go together to show you more.
379
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,520
- So we have a road over here.
380
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:03,200
- Up there, yeah.
381
00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:16,120
JOHN: This is a big road.
382
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,120
This is unusual.
383
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,480
If this is one,
let's say, curb of the road,
384
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,800
and that's the other curb of the
road,
385
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,640
we have about three meters.
- About three meters, yes.
386
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:36,880
- It's wide enough for chariots,
for a chariot with huge curbs.
387
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,720
And you say, how long is this about?
- It's about 300 meters.
388
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:42,960
- 300 meters.
- Yes.
389
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,280
- We don't have many chariot roads.
390
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:50,920
We don't have many chariot roads
anywhere In the Mycenaean period.
391
00:34:52,240 --> 00:34:53,840
This is very evocative.
392
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,960
I mean, it really looks important.
393
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:57,840
OK. I'm getting an idea.
394
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,400
Let's imagine that
they build the tholos,
395
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,040
like the people of long time ago.
396
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,080
And then you have this avenue
397
00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:12,280
that goes from there to the tholos.
398
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,800
And that's where you would,
you go down here in your chariots,
399
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,480
and you would visit the tholos.
400
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,000
In the Argolid, yeah, OK,
401
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,400
we have a road wide enough
for a chariot.
402
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:28,520
But, yeah, it starts near Tyrins.
403
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:33,720
And I'm very impressed by the Tyrins
fresco that shows women,
404
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:37,760
you know, in the,
in a chariot procession.
405
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,480
And we have down in the tholos
down there
406
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:45,880
that we have smashed pots,
drinking vessels.
407
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,120
MAKIS: Yeah, a lot of them.
JOHN: A lot of them!
408
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,920
The obvious reconstruction
is people are driving in chariots,
409
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,640
men and women driving in chariots
slowly down.
410
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,280
And you get to the tholos
and you have a libation.
411
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,080
And you smash the drinking
goblet there.
412
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:08,800
- Is there anything you
don't find here?
413
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,480
- No, I don't think so.
- (laughs)
414
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,000
- Can you show me the altar?
- Of course!
415
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:19,720
- What is this thing? Oh, whoa.
416
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,280
- You see, it's making this...
- It's big, big.
417
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,920
You're kidding me. It's big.
418
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:28,720
- Yeah, it's very big.
- It's big.
419
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:31,440
A grave circle.
420
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:36,560
It's this, it's a low wall of stones
421
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,400
that encircle an area
which is a cemetery.
422
00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:44,480
This is the size of the two
grave circles at Mycenae.
423
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:48,040
We don't have very many of these!
424
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,360
I'm sorry, I'm doing
the John Younger thing again.
425
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,320
We don't have very
many of these things.
426
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:54,240
This looks to me like...
427
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:59,040
work that you would expect to see
at the capital, Mycenae.
428
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,000
The road, the chariot,
the grave circle.
429
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,280
This is, you know,
it's on an island.
430
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:07,960
It's on an island
in the Western Sea.
431
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,800
I would expect to see this
in mainland Greece.
432
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:14,840
This is beautiful.
433
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:23,760
Well, I came here for one thing.
434
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,520
Instead, I think I found
a grave circle.
435
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,680
And we have a ceremonial road
leading down to the tholos,
436
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:34,360
big enough for a chariot!
437
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,160
There's more here than meets
the eye,
438
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:43,840
so I guess I'll be back!
439
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,000
ISMINI: One of the biggest
problems in archaeology is
440
00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:50,520
how much does not get published.
441
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,640
I taught classes
about the Mycenaean world
442
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,280
and these time periods,
and it's like,
443
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,320
it's always the big ones
that you talk about,
444
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:57,720
Mycenae, Pylos, Tyrins.
445
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,520
But I would always tell my students
about this site,
446
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:05,280
but I mean, here we are
30 years later
447
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,240
and we still don't know for sure.
448
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,120
HETTIE: Well, Mr Kolonas
was always a very busy man.
449
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:14,120
And then he was-
became retired.
450
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,040
And then we thought, well probably
he's going to write it now.
451
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,040
But yeah, life goes on
and I can't really explain,
452
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:22,800
but it hasn't happened yet.
453
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,560
ISMINI: Dr Kolonas,
he was really incredibly kind.
454
00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:23,120
I was just this kid, and yes,
my family owned the land.
455
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:24,840
But it wasn't really that with him.
456
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,480
I felt like he just genuinely
was being a nice person.
457
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,160
He's like, here's this kid
who's interested in this stuff.
458
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,240
Let me sit and talk to her
for a few minutes.
459
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:33,760
He really left an impression on me.
460
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:36,040
I just kind of wanted to be
like him, I suppose.
461
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:40,160
So now 30 years later, come back
here and I get to talk to him again.
462
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:44,200
Can you tell us
a little bit about this tomb,
463
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,960
in this whole area
in these past 30 years,
464
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:50,560
what you think about it,
what your ideas are about it.
465
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,800
(speaks Greek)
466
00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:51,280
Over always... (laugh)
467
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,480
(applause)
- And I thank you!
468
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:38,040
(applause)
469
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,160
(traditional Greek music plays)
470
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:54,880
VO: Tell me,
471
00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:57,480
are you truly Odysseus' son?
472
00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:02,240
With that head and those fine eyes
473
00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:05,680
You look just like him!
474
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,960
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