Editing Ios (section)

==Homer's death==
===The legend===
[[File:Bust of Homer at the port of Gialos on Ios, 13M998x.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.65|Bust of [[Homer]] in [[Ios (island)|Ios]]]]
The island is very strongly connected with Homer, because according to the legend, [[Homer]] died in Ios. Considered the greatest epic poet of the Greeks, the legend accounts that he died because he violated a Pythian oracle. According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], Homer visited the Delphi oracle to ask Pythia about his parents and origins. Pythia replied with the oracle "Your mother's home is the island of Ios, which will accept you when you die, but you should be careful of the enigma of the young children." The poet, however, broke the oracle and traveled to Ios. There he saw some small children fishing on the coast. He asked what they had caught and the children replied: "Whatever we get we leave it and whatever we don't get we take it with us". The children were talking about lice. Those who found them, killed them, but those who did not find them, had them to their heads. Homer did not find the answer, but he remembered the warning of Pythia. He was horrified and ran away quickly.<ref name="mixanitouxronou.gr">{{cite web|url=http://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/ok-pos-pethane-o-piitis-omiros-pou-apsifise-to-chrismo-tou-mantiou-o-thrilos-me-to-enigma-pou-den-katafere-na-lisi-ke-ton-odigise-sto-thanato/|title=Πώς πέθανε ο ποιητής Όμηρος που αψήφησε το χρησμό του μαντείου; Ο θρύλος με το αίνιγμα που δεν κατάφερε να λύσει και τον οδήγησε στο θάνατο - ΜΗΧΑΝΗ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΟΝΟΥ|date=16 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228232253/http://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/ok-pos-pethane-o-piitis-omiros-pou-apsifise-to-chrismo-tou-mantiou-o-thrilos-me-to-enigma-pou-den-katafere-na-lisi-ke-ton-odigise-sto-thanato/|archive-date=28 December 2017}}</ref> The road was muddy and the poet in his hurry slipped and fell, hitting his head and dying almost instantaneously.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eNDAAAAYAAJ&q=%CE%A4%CE%95%CE%9B%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A4%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%91%CF%82+%CE%95%CE%9D+%CE%A4%CE%97+%CE%99%CE%A9&pg=RA2-PA151 |title = Hē tou Hērodotou Halikarnasseōs historia (Romanized form)|author1 = Herodotus|year = 1761}}</ref>

According to another version, Homer died from his sadness that he did not solve the puzzle, while a third version says he was already seriously ill and went to Ios because he knew he would die. Of course, the death of Homer is not based on historical records, but on myths and traditions that circulated from oral tradition. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] simply recorded a popular narrative.<ref name="mixanitouxronou.gr"/><ref name="tya.ios.gr"/>

===Count Pasch de Krienen's expedition===
In 1771, a Dutch count named Pasch di Krienen after having read the narrative, came to Ios in order to find the grave. He was informed by a local priest of the Saint Aikaterini Chapel that there is a place with marbles and some of which had inscriptions. He was told that they were constructed long after Homer's death but he persisted and with the help of Spyridon Valetas he found three graves and the last one had inscriptions about Homer including ''Ενθάδε την ιερήν κεφαλήν κατά γαία καλύπτει ανδρών ηρώων κοσμήτορα θείον Όμηρον'' which means here under the earth lies the sacred head of heroic Homer. When he found this, Pasch was sure that the grave belonged to the epic poet but he spotted some grammatical mistakes on the gravestone and he began doubting its authenticity. After having spent considerable time and money, he decided to give up after having also found two graves at [[Agia Theodoti]]<ref>GŎmýrou bíos@ kaì poiýmata page 45</ref><ref>Breve Descrizione del Arcipelago by Pasch di Krienen, 1771, page 35-47</ref>

On 25 January 1884 the alleged tomb of Homer was visited by [[James Theodore Bent|Theodore]] and [[Mabel Bent]] during their tour of the Cyclades.<ref>“Next morning, Friday 25th [January, 1884] the Demarch came to fetch us to breakfast… Afterwards we and the Demarch started to Plaketos at the other side of the island: 3 hours. We saw the supposed tomb of Homer who died here on his way from Samos to Athens…’ Extract from ''The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J. Theodore Bent'', Vol. 1 (2006, Oxford, p.39). See also, Theodore Bent, ''The Cyclades, or Life Among the Insular Greeks'' (1885, London, pp.151ff.).</ref>