Was Ithaca (ever) an island?

There's a problem if you want to pinpoint the famous Ithaca on a modern map. The island that is now called Ithaca doesn't fit the description given by Odysseus at all. So, where exactly is Ithaca?

['Modern' Ithaca: Not 'rugged' but with gentle hills]

The first question we want to answer is: was Ithaca (ever) an island?

Odysseus himself gives a fair description of 'his' homeland and the islands that are situated near or around it in Book 9, lines 21-28 of the Odyssey, but I want to direct your attention to line 27.

a rugged isle, but a fine nursery of young men.
τρηχεῖ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαθὴ κουροτρόφος· οὔ τοι ἐγώ γε

Ah, you think there one reads 'a rugged island'. So, Ithaca must be an island. But not all is so straightforward as it seems, because the word τρηχεῖ simply means 'rugged' and carries no sense of 'island'. What Odysseus actually says is: '(it is) rugged'.

I dwell in clearly-visible Ithaca, where there is a mountain,
Neriton, covered with waving forests, majestic; and on either side of it
lie many islands very close to each other:
Doulichion, Same, and forested Zakynthos.

αιετάω δ᾽ Ἰθάκην ἐυδείελον· ἐν δ᾽ ὄρος αὐτῇ
Νήριτον εἰνοσίφυλλον, ἀριπρεπές· ἀμφὶ δὲ νῆσοι
πολλαὶ ναιετάουσι μάλα σχεδὸν ἀλλήλῃσι,
Δουλίχιόν τε Σάμη τε καὶ ὑλήεσσα Ζάκυνθος.

You see, Doulichion, Same (Cephalonia), and forested Zakynthos, are called 'islands' by Odysseus. Ithaca is never described as being an island. However, in the entire text of the Odyssey, Ithaca is described five times as amphialos (ἀμφίαλος), with the meaning of ἀμφί ('around') and αλος ('sea'). That description is sometimes translated as 'sea-girt', but a more fitting description would be 'peninsula'.

[Paliki - Image ChristosV]

If Ithaca was an island (νῆσος - nesos), Odysseus would have surely mentioned that fact frequently, because he was extremely proud of where he came from.

He never does.