2 ISAKH (Ithaca) was the island home of Odysseus, cleverest of the heroes who went to the siege and destruction of Troy. It was the cleverness of Odysseus that conceived the plan of the great wooden horse, hollow so as to hold a group of Greek warriors, that, taken into Troy as a holy object, brought about the capture and destruction of the city, After the war Odysseus• fate kept him wandering for ten years through dangers and great hardships, before he was finally allowed to return to Ithaca. During this long time, through all the hardships, his longing for the hills and woods of Ithaca and for his wife Penelope kept him in sorrow--a sorrow that turned, on his return, to deep anger at finding his palace over-run by the unmarried noblemen of Ithaca wooing his presumably widowed wife and using up his wealth in elaborate parties. Still clever, disguised as a beggar, he made his way into his palace, revealed himself to his son and one faithful retainer and taking the suitors by surprise, slaughtered them in the hall of the palace. He lived then until old age happily upon his beautiful island in comfort and ease. N.L. ~ "16AKHSIOS (pronounced Ith-a-kay-shus) is Greek for "The Ithacan," the descriptive phrase Homer often uses for Odysseus. We chose it because Odysseus is a fine hero--curious, inventive, daring, persistent, and yet willing to return to his beautiful home. E. W,
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