Ithaca
Ithaca
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Location Information
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Ithaca is an island, the home of Odysseus and the location of his kingdom. It appeared in a story from the book Classics for Children.
History
Odysseus left Ithaca to take part in the Trojan War. After ten years of fighting, Odysseus defeated the King of Troy and set sail for Ithaca to return home. Because of Poseidon's interference (on orders from Zeus), the return trip took ten years, during which Odysseus had a narrow escape from the Sirens, lost his crew at Circe's island, and finally had to sail the River Styx in order to get back to Ithaca.
In Odysseus' absence, however, a group of suitors took up residence in Ithaca, seeking his wife Penelope's hand in marriage because Odysseus hadn't been heard from and was therefore presumed dead. Penelope was apparently about to choose one of them when Odysseus returned home. He announced that he was going to do something he hadn't done for twenty years -- "Take out the trash!" At that, Odysseus killed all the suitors and settled back into life with Penelope and his son Telemachus, even though he complained that she was smothering him and went to Moe's to escape.
While Odysseus was gone, Helen of Troy also stayed at Ithaca, but she didn't cause nearly the problems that the suitors did.
Behind the Laughter
Ithaca appears in the "D'oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" segment of "Tales from the Public Domain". The segment is a re-telling of the Odyssey with Homer Simpson cast as Odysseus and other Springfieldians as the other characters in the story.
