LEUKAS
Greece.
An island almost joined to
the Akarnanian coast of Greece, and in ancient times
a peninsula. According to Strabo (
10.451) the isthmus
that joined it to land was cut by Corinthian colonists,
who founded the city of Leukas about the middle of the
7th c. B.C. The island had been inhabited from the
Neolithic period until the Bronze Age, but the theory
that Leukas was the Homeric Ithaca now has little support. From the 5th to the 3 c. B.C. Leukas had its own
coinage. Probably in the 1st c. B.C. the isthmus was cut
anew and a bridge, now submerged, was built to the
mainland.
Excavations in circular tumuli in the plain of Nidri on
the E coast have uncovered burials in pithoi, in rectangular pits, or in cist tombs, as well as Early and Middle
Helladic pottery. Remains of a large building were also
identified. In the ancient city of Leukas part of the polygonal enclosing wall of the acropolis survives, some of
the enclosing wall of the lower city, and part of the
theater. The necropolis was SW of the city. Near the
church of Haghios Yoannis Rodaki in the S part of the
island the foundations of a Doric temple have been
found, and there are remains of several Greek lookout
towers in various parts of the island. At Cape Laukatas,
the S end of the island, on the perpendicular cliff overlooking the sea that gives the island its name, are the
remains of the Temple of Apollo cited by Strabo
(
10.452). It was from this point, according to tradition,
that Sappho threw herself. There is a small museum at
Nidri in what was once the home of Dörpfeld.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Bürchner,
RE XII, 2 (1925) 2213-57;
W. Dörpfeld,
Alt Ithaca (1927)
MPI; B. Janssens, “Leucade et le pays des morts,”
AntCl 30, 2 (1961) 381-94;
A. Wace & F. Stubbings,
A Companion to Homer (1962)
410ff; B. E. Frangoules
Λευκάς, ἡ ὁμηρικὴ Ἰθάκη (
ἡ θεωρία τοῦW. Dörpfeld) (1972)
MPI.
M. G. Picozzi