The site of Dulichium gave rise to much dispute in antiquity.
Hellanicus supposed that it was the ancient name of
Cephalonia; and
Andron, that it was one of the cities of Cephalonia, which
Pherecydes supposed to be Pale, an opinion supported by
Pausanias. However,
Strabo maintains that Dulichium was one of the Echinades, and identifies it with Dolicha (), an island which he describes as situated opposite
Oeniadae and the mouth of the
Achelous, and distant 100 stadia from the promontory of
Araxos in Elis. Dolicha appears to be the same which now bears the synonymous appellation of
Makri, derived from its long narrow form. Most modern writers have followed Strabo in connecting Dulichium with the Echinades, though it seems impossible to conclusively identify it with any particular island. It is observed by
Leake that
Petalas, being the largest of the Echinades, and possessing the advantage of two well-sheltered harbours, seems to have the best claim to be considered the ancient Dulichium. It is, indeed, a mere rock, but being separated only by a strait of a few hundred meters from the fertile plains at the mouth of the Achelous and river of Oenia, its natural deficiencies may have been there supplied, and the epithets of grassy and abounding in wheat, which Homer applies to Dulichium——may be referred to that part of its territory. But Leake adds, with justice, that there is no proof in the Iliad or Odyssey that Dulichium, although at the head of an insular confederacy, was itself an island: it may very possibly, therefore, have been a city on the coast of Acarnania, opposite to the Echinades, perhaps at Tragamesti, or more probably at the harbour named Pandeleimona or Platya, which is separated only by a channel of a mile or two from the Echinades.
Wilhelm Dörpfeld supported the theory of Hellanicus that Dulichium was the Homeric name of Cephalonia. ==References==