In Bornova, in the Turkish province of Izmir, researchers and local officials claim that Homer composed the Iliad and the Odyssey in a cave overlooking the olive-covered hills of the region, hoping to take advantage of the renewed interest sparked by Christopher Nolan's film.
A cave long known to the locals
This place has always been called Homer's Valley by the locals, explains researcher Altan Altin, author of a recent book on the subject, recalling that travelers from all over the world once came to visit this cave where the poet is said to have composed his verses. According to him, a previously known ancient bas-relief reproduces the geography of the place with astonishing accuracy, a detail that went unnoticed until recently.
Archaeologist Mehmet Akif Erdem points out that coins found during excavations, adorned with the figure of Homer, show that the inhabitants of ancient Smyrna already considered the poet as one of their own, a hypothesis reinforced by the fact that the Iliad and the Odyssey were written in Ionic and Aeolic dialects.
An ancient debate that remains alive today
As early as the 2nd century, the Greek geographer Pausanias mentioned the Meles River and its source, where it was said Homer composed his poems, fueling an ongoing debate about the poet's exact birthplace, placed in the 8th century BC. Other locations, including the Greek island of Chios, also claim this origin, but ancient Smyrna and its hinterland remain among the sites most closely associated with Homer.
The municipality of Bornova has already erected a statue of Hector in a central park and plans to develop the cave to open it to visitors, with Mayor Ömer Eski stating that preserving Homer's legacy is a duty to humanity.
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