Ios, Greece: a Pilgrimage to Homer’s Tomb
It’s summer: seemingly everyone you know has jetted off to Santorini or Mykonos to vacation in the Greek islands, coming back tan and obnoxiously ebullient from their time in the Aegean. While it’s true, that Santorini is gorgeous (and they have one of the world’s most famous bookstores there), on my recent trip, I loved exploring the hidden gem of underrated Greek Island, Ios.
While in Ios, Greece, it felt like I had the whole island to myself. I relaxed on uncrowded beaches, took boat tours to hidden coves, saw beautiful sunsets, tasted locally made goat cheese, snorkeling in the blue waters of the Aegean, and, of course, made my way to a bucket list literary travel destination.
That’s right, not only is Ios island less crowded than neighboring Santorini, but it’s also home to an absolute must for any literary traveler: the alleged tomb of ancient Greek poet, Homer, author of The Odyssey and The Illiad.
If you are a fan of literary travel, or even if you’re just a visitor looking for beautiful places to visit on Ios, trust me, you will want to add Homer’s tomb on Ios to your list of activities on your next Greece vacation.
Use this post as your guide to find one of Ios’s hidden gems: Homer’s tomb and some incredible views.
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Whenever possible, I recommend buying books at local bookshops or through Bookshop.org, because shopping there puts the profits right into the hands of indie bookstores all over the country.
Who is Homer?
Homer is a classic author who has been famous for more than two thousand years, as the author of The Odyssey and The Illiad, arguably the two most famous and influential epic poems ever written. If you’ve heard of these famous poems but have always been too scared to admit you have no idea what they are, let me give you what you most need to know:
The Illiad tells the story of the famous Trojan War, and The Odyssey of the famous 10-year home journey of Trojan War hero, Odysseus. It is one of the best books to read set in Greece.
Let me start off right away and tell you that we don’t actually have any definitive biographical details about Homer. Still, people generally believe him to have been a traveling poet and historian living in the 8th century BCE. Many people also think of Homer as a blind poet, though again, we’ve nothing to prove this is so.
There are even scholars who doubt whether Homer was really a single man or if his work was written by multiple poets. Even if Homer was real and did indeed compose both The Illiad and The Odyssey, he would have recited them orally; they would only have been written down by others long after his death.
So it’s safe to say that Homer as a person is just as much a mystery and a legend as the stories he did (or didn’t) tell.
Related: If you like seeing literary sites in epic locations, make sure you take a half-day trip to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion from Athens for a truly memorable sunset and another literary legend.
Legends of Homer’s Death
Since we’ve established that Homer may or may not have lived and that he may or may not have composed the works with which he is credited, it makes sense that we don’t know a lot about his death.
Once again, we have no reliable factual accounts of Homer’s death, but what we do have are really interesting and varied legends of Homer’s death, which have been told and shared for literally thousands of years.
People have been obsessed with learning more about the poet Homer’s life for centuries. Roman Emperor Hadrian was so fixated on learning more about him, he traveled to consult the Oracle at Delphi on the matter.
According to legends, Homer’s mother lived on Ios Island, and some ancient sources claim Ios as Homer’s birthplace.
1st-century Greek historian Strabo wrote an account of Homer in “Geography.” This is one source of the legends we have about Homer’s birth and death on the island of Ios. Strabo tells one legend about Homer’s death there: Homer somehow predicted the day of his own death and told his friends that when he died, they should throw his body in the sea, and if it washed up, bury him in Ios. They followed his instructions: his body did wash up on the shores of Ios, and so they laid him to rest there.
Another common legend about Homer’s death concerns the Oracle at Delphi. According to this legend of Homer, the Oracle warned Homer about the “enigma of children” on his home island of Ios. When Homer later visited his mother on Ios Island, he encountered some children who were fishing. They presented him with a riddle: “Whatever we get we leave it and whatever we don’t get we take it with us.” According to this story of Homer’s death, Homer wasn’t able to answer the riddle (lice), and when walking or running away according to different accounts, he slipped in mud and… died. As one does.
And finally, another legend about the death of Homer is that he was attacked and killed by swans. According to this story, the swans killed Homer because he portrayed their deity, Apollo, in an unflattering light in his poems.
As we will never really know the truth of Homer’s death, I say to choose your own favorite legend and embellish as you see fit. It might be a great way to entertain and impress at your next dinner party.
Related: If you’re visiting Athens on your Greece trip, make sure you check out my top Athens bookstore picks, including a charming bookstore café.
How to Get to Homer’s Tomb on Ios
Okay, now that we’ve established that we have zero proof Homer was really buried on Ios, we can talk about how to visit his supposed tomb. Because at the end of the day, does it really matter? The site is a beautiful place to visit on Ios, whether or not you’re a Greek poetry aficionado. And if you are, you can still pay your respects here in this epic location on the truly underrated Greek island of Ios.
How to get to Ios Island
To get to Ios, you will need to take a ferry, either from Athens or from a neighboring island with an airport, such as Santorini. A ferry to Ios from Athens takes 4-7 hours, while a ferry from Santorini to Ios takes 30-60 minutes. Check FerryScanner for ferry schedules and choose one that best suits your travel plans.
Keep in mind that these are enormous, fancy ferries that are more like airplanes than, say the ferry to visit Chateau d’If in Marseille. You’ll sit inside, in an assigned seat, and can purchase snacks and even meals if you choose. If you’re prone to motion sickness, unless it’s severely sensitive, you likely won’t feel a thing on these ferries between the Greek islands. Still, I always pack some Dramamine as part of my essential travel gear.
For flights, use Skyscanner to find the best flight prices to Athens International Airport or to Santorini Airport.
Related: Check out another possible location related to Homer, the Odysseus Cave on Mljet Island, Croatia. Some claim this is the hidden location where Calypso held Odysseus captive for 7 years in The Odyssey.
Where to find Homer’s tomb on Ios
To get to Homer’s tomb on Ios, you will need to either rent a car or an ATV, a popular mode of transportation on Ios. Both are budget-friendly options, especially in the off-season.
There are few paved roads on Ios, so it isn’t difficult to find your way to Homer’s tomb. You’ll need to park at the following location, which you can enter into Google Maps:
(36.7818918, 25.3074031)
From there, you’ll walk along a clearly marked path for about 10 minutes until you reach the alleged Tomb of Homer. This is a beautiful coastal walk, one to savor. You’re not likely to meet throngs of tourists, so take your time and enjoy the sea breeze and the beautiful blues of the Aegean Sea.
It is impossible to miss when you’ve arrived at Homer’s tomb. It is surrounded by a rustic rock wall and contains a headstone dedicated to the author of The Odyssey.
While the fact of the tomb being Homer’s is contested, please remember that the site is somebody’s tomb. Please be respectful when visiting.
I found this spot to be beautiful, meditative, inspiring, and peaceful. I encountered only a few other people at this Ios site and had it entirely to myself for at least 10 minutes.
Where to learn more about the life and death of Homer
We don’t have any reliable historical sources for the life of Homer. The resources scholars use to speculate on the life of the ancient Greek poet Homer include his own writings as well as writings by Herodotus, Pseudo-Plutarch, and Aristarchus of Samothrace. The latter claim to have details of Homer’s life, though they were written hundreds of years after Homer would have lived.
If you’re interested in reading more scholarly writings on the life and death of Homer, check out the following articles available on JSTOR. Even if you’re not a student, you can access 100 free articles a month as a private researcher.
Levine, D. B. (2002). Poetic Justice: Homer’s Death in the Ancient Biographical Tradition. The Classical Journal, 98(2), 141–160. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3298018
West, M. L. (1999). The Invention of Homer. The Classical Quarterly, 49(2), 364–382. http://www.jstor.org/stable/639863
Finding Accommodations on Ios
As you look for somewhere to stay, I recommend checking for lodging on Hotels.com. I almost always book my accommodations through Hotels.com, because you can earn rewards for every night you stay without having to choose only one hotel chain to be loyal to. You can even book locally owned apart hotels and bed and breakfasts.
If you’re looking for privately owned vacation rentals, I recommend checking VRBO. I’ve personally had much better experiences with their owners and rentals than I have with their primary competitor.
Travel Resources At-A-Glance
All of the following are links to sites and services I actually use to book and plan my travel or to purchase books or travel gear.
For flights: Skyscanner is my number one go-to resource for booking flights. I love using the “explore” function to find the cheapest places I can fly during a given time or using the fare calendar to identify the cheapest days to fly.
For hotels and lodgings: For hotels, hotels.com, and for vacation rentals, VRBO.com. I’ve had much better experiences with private rentals through this website than through other popular private vacation rental websites.
For car rentals: Kayak allows comparisons across a wide range of booking agencies and lists reviews of companies as well. I’ve found this to be the most user-friendly and efficient way to compare car rental prices.
For tours & excursions: Viator and Get Your Guide are my top choices for booking excursions and tour experiences in a new destination.
For travel gear: Amazon.com and REI for more outdoorsy items. Check out my travel gear recs here.
For booking trains & buses: I find the Omio app and website to be the most easily navigable for comparing options for public transportation, especially in Europe,
Best travel credit card: My favorite travel rewards credit card for European travel has been the Chase Sapphire Rewards card. Visa is accepted just about everywhere in Europe, and there are no foreign transaction fees on the card. Some of the travel benefits I love on the Chase Sapphire include free TSA pre-check or Global Entry (worth it every time), an annual $200 travel credit, an annual $200 hotel benefit, built-in rental car, and trip insurance, and points are worth 50% more when used to book travel. I travel around Europe a LOT, and I end up with many free flights and hotel stays from using my points on my Chase Sapphire.
For books: Bookshop.org often has prices as good as Amazon or sometimes better, but profits go to indie bookstores all over the country. Whenever possible, consider buying your books from this online indie bookshop resource.
Whether or not Homer ever lived or died in Ios, it’s undeniably a beautiful Greek island to visit during your time in the Aegean.
What other literary travel locations would you like to see featured on this site? Drop them in the comments!
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