Original sentence: Confirmation was needed from at least two sources: philology -- to ensure that the Homeric account of "Ithaca" was properly understood -- and geology, to establish among other points that the narrow neck of land on Kefalonia could in fact have been the site of a sea channel, in the times of Homer and of Odysseus.Many explanations, from simple ignorance on Homer's part to "poetic license", have been used to account for the discrepancies.The initial insight leading to the argument came from a tourist roadmap of the Paliki area, which Bittlestone purchased following a visit to the region, in preparation for another visit -- one this time to the modern island known as "Ithaki" (Ithaca)
Edited sentence: Confirmation was needed from at least two sources: philology -- to ensure that the Homeric account of "Ithaca", which has come down through so many different translations over so many centuries, was properly understood -- and geology, to establish among other points that the narrow neck of land on Kefalonia could in fact have been the site of a sea channel, in the times of Homer and of Odysseus.Many explanations, from "poetic license" to ingenious geographic routes, have been used to account for the discrepancies.The initial insight leading to the discovery came from a tourist roadmap of the Paliki area, which Bittlestone purchased following a visit to the region, in preparation for another visit -- one this time to the modern island known as "Ithaki"