Quick facts
Location: a hilltop at Plakoto, in the far north of Ios, above the bay of the same name.
What it is: a small stone and marble monument, about a metre high, with an inscribed marble plaque, surrounded by carved Hellenistic period headstones.
Claim: local and ancient tradition holds this as the burial place of the poet Homer, though there is no definitive archaeological proof, and several other places in Greece make the same claim.
Access: reachable by car or scooter from Chora or the port, via Pano Kambos and Koulida, followed by a short uphill walk to the site itself.
Why visit
Whether or not this is genuinely Homer’s grave, and there is no way to prove it either way, the tomb is worth the trip for the setting and the story. It sits in one of the quietest, least visited corners of Ios, surrounded by carved Hellenistic gravestones, with a legend attached that has been repeated by writers for the best part of 2,000 years.
History and legend
Ios’s claim to Homer’s grave is genuinely old. The geographer Strabo, writing in the first century BC, noted that Ios was one of several places claiming to be the poet’s final resting place, and the second century geographer Pausanias recorded the same tradition. The Suda, a tenth century Byzantine encyclopedia, repeated the claim centuries later, and local tradition has long held that Homer’s mother, Clymene, came from Ios, which islanders point to as a reason he might have ended his life here. In the seventeenth century, an archaeologist working in the area is said to have identified one grave among several on the hill as Homer’s, based on an inscription found with it, though this identification cannot be independently verified today.
The best known local legend explains how Homer supposedly died on Ios. According to tradition, the elderly poet, by then blind, was asked a riddle by local fishermen that he could not solve, and died of distress at his own failure shortly afterwards. Other versions of the story attribute his death instead to illness following a fall. None of these accounts can be verified, and Ios is far from the only place in Greece to claim a connection to Homer, Chios and Smyrna both make similar claims, so the tomb is best approached as a genuinely old and evocative legend rather than settled history.
Getting there
The tomb sits in the far north of the island, a proper drive from either Chora or the port at Gialos, through the Pano Kambos valley and the settlement of Koulida, followed by a short walk uphill to the site itself. A car or scooter is the practical way to reach it. See getting around Ios, Ios taxi and the Ios bus timetable for current transport options.
Map
Visiting tips
Combine it with Plakoto beach. The tomb sits just above the bay, so it pairs naturally with a swim once you have made the trip out to this corner of the island.
Wear proper footwear. The final approach is a short uphill walk over uneven ground rather than a paved path.
Go for the setting, not certainty. Treat the site as a genuinely old legend rather than a confirmed historical fact, and enjoy the quiet, remote position as much as the story attached to it.
Check current drone rules before you fly. Greece follows the EU’s common drone regulations, which generally require operator registration for anything over 250 grams. Rules can change, so check the current requirements from Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority before your trip.
Explore more of Ios
Chora, Ios Town · Skarkos · Getting around Ios · How to get to Ios · Ios bus timetable · Ios taxi · Ios map · Ios weather
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