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[247] 247-251. It would seem from this enumeration that the recurring line “Δουλίχιόν τε Σάμη τε καὶ ὑλήεσσα Ζάκυνθος” places the islands in the order of their importance—Ithaca itself being the smallest of the four, though, as the home of Ulysses, it was the most important.

The representation here given of the Suitors as the ‘kings’ or chief men of the four islands is borne out by the words of Telemachus in 1. 245 ff. “ὅσσοι γὰρ νήσοισιν ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄριστοι Δουλιχίῳ κτλ.” (=19. 130 ff.): also by the instances of Amphinomus of Dulichium (16. 396), and Ctesippus of Same (20. 288). It is difficult, however, to reconcile it with other passages. The Suitors do not live in the palace of Ulysses. They come every day (2. 55 =17. 534 “οἱ δ᾽ εἰς ἡμέτερον πωλεύμενοι ἤματα πάντα”), and return at night to their several abodes in the town of Ithaca (1. 424 “κακκείοντες ἔβαν οἶκόνδε ἕκαστος, 2. 397 οἱ δ᾽ εὕδειν ὤρνυντο κατὰ πτόλιν, 18. 428 βάν ῤ̔ ἴμεναι κείοντες ἑὰ πρὸς δώμαθ᾽ ἕκαστος”, also 20. 6). And when they give presents to Penelope (18. 291 ff.), the messengers go and return immediately. So too in 2. 51 they are described as “τῶν ἀνδρῶν φίλοι υἷες οἳ ἐνθάδε γ̓” (i.e. in Ithaca) “εἰσὶν ἄριστοι”. The contradiction, such as it is, seems undeniable. Moreover, it is not one which can easily be explained by a difference of authorship. Rather, like other contradictions or unevennesses in works of fiction, it arises partly from the limitation of human memory, partly from our ignorance of circumstances which the contemporaries of the poet would have been able to supply. If the three other islands are apt to be ignored (so in 1. 394 in reference to the ‘kingdom’ of Ulysses), that is because Ithaca was the dominant island, to which the others stood in the relation of “περιοικίδες”. The chiefs of the dependent communities doubtless had their “πρόξενοι” in the capital. In any case, every hearer of the Homeric poems would know how to meet the difficulty of carrying on his suit in a neighbouring town. (See Kern, Ueber die Freier in der Odyssee, Ulm, 1861.)

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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