Ithaka has a history of 6.000 years. First traces of island habitation date back to the Neolithic era. During the Mycenaean period (1500-1100 B.C.), Ithaki was the capital of the state of the Cephalonians which ruled over the Ionian islands and some of the inland part of Epirus. In the next 900 years Ithaki lay in the backwaters of history (1100 – 180 B.C.) until the Romans came and the island became part of the prefecture of the Illyrians. In the Byzantine era it constituted part of the province of Epirus, until in 1185 A.D. the Normans and the Franks arrived. For a brief period the island was taken over by the Ottomans in 1479 and the island was deserted until the Venetian rule started in 1504 and the island blossomed. In 1797, the Franks arrived and in 1809 they were succeeded by the Russians and the Ottomans, and only few years later, in 1809, all of the Ionian Islands were under the rule of the British. In 1864, Ithaki along with the rest of the Ionian Islands, was handed over to the Greeks.  

Folklore Museum in Vathi: a modern museum with unique exhibits which present briefly the history of the island in these last centuries.

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