The Homer Tomb for the Ios island is a real mark of recognition. We find it in thesouthern part just above the Psathopyrgos hill not far from thepicturesque Plakoto village and about thirteen kilometers from thecapital Chora.

But let’s start from thebeginning to discover this marvel which, in addition to being one of the most interesting places to visit and therefore to be included inthe list of things to see in Ios, is also a part of Greek mythology,always so fascinating and full of surprises.

Who doesn’t know Homer? GreatGreek singer who considered the earth as a disc with a diameter offour thousand kilometers where Delphi was the center, whose existencestill remains today an open debate, the one who gave birth to thefamous “Homeric question” the endless discussion on thepaternity of the two colossal and immortal works of the Iliad and theOdyssey leaves the world with another unsolved mystery, the veracityof the remains of his tomb on the island. There are many legends, onespeaks of Ios as his homeland to which after a long pilgrimage hewanted to return, another that he returned as his homeland and wherehis beloved mother Clymene lived, yet another the more plausible oneas also mentioned by ancient historians such as Herodotus, Alceo,Pausanias and Stravonas, is that he stopped for a break during hisjourney from Samos to Athens and in this situation the inhabitantsasked him a question to which he was unable to give an answer and forthis he was killed. However, the connection between the poet and theisland is confirmed by the discovery of some local coins from the 3rdand 2nd century BC where his face is depicted and an inscriptionrelating to a calendar with a month where Homer’s name is mentioned.As in all Greek myths, absolute truth will never be found, there areso many rumors and assumptions, but all this further increases thecharm of the great poets and of Greece itself.

Despite its enormousimportance, not everyone is aware that the Ios island is the placewhere Homer is supposedly buried. In reality it is not a tomb even ifit is often defined in this way to identify it, it consists of acenotaph a sepulchral monument which according to studies would noteven be where the poet’s remains actually lie. A small white stonebuilding with a simple workmanship above the hill and overhanging thesea with a plaque on which there is an effigy and an inscription inGreek “There the earth hides, under the sacred head, the divineHomer, by clear order of gods and men”. Nothing more’ as someinhabitants say, a few piled up stones, but according to the visitorsa magical place where the view is breathtaking over the infiniteAegean and the sea breeze that caresses the face blows away allthoughts to create a dreamlike connection with nature and theuniverse of total bliss.