The Odyssey and the Argonauts

It has been said the Odysseus voyage back to his ancestral home of Ithaka is nothing more that a trip around Sicily. If true then he and is crew seem to be inept sailors even allowing for a limitation of ships and navigation tools in ancient times. Perhaps Homer (or the storytellers who told Homeric poems) were familiar with this area and this could give more resonance to their tales.

In this article we shall look at the route taken by both Odysseus and Jason and determine what similarities and differences marked their voyages

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(A) 39.957, 26.239,Troy (B) 40.85, 25.866667,"[place" contains a listed "[" character as part of the property label and has therefore been classified as invalid. First Stop after Troy where he fights with the Kikones (C) 37.783333, 10.883333 Country of the Lotus Eaters (D)37.755, 14.995,Land of the Cyclopes Where Odysseus blinds Polyphemous. (E)38.423889, 27.142778,Aiolia After which they are in sight of Ithaka when they are blown across the world (F)38.716667, 13.183333, Telepylos Where the crew were confronted by Giants (G)42.761833, 10.240833, Here Odysseus is enchanted by Kirke (H)40.55, 14.133333, Odysseus ties himself to the mast and hears the voices of the Sirens (I)38.183333, 15.55,Skylla and Kharybdis (J)37.283333, 15.583333,Thrinacia (K)36.05, 14.25,Ogygia Odysseus is imprisioned by Kalypso (L)39.666667, 19.75,Skherie (M)38.366667, 20.716667,Ithaka </googlemap>

The Voyage of Odysseus

• (A) Troy is the site of the Trojan was as recounted in Homer's Iliad. After the war was successfully concludes with the sacking of Troy, Odysseus and his crew start what will be their ten year journey back home to Ithaka.
• (B) "[place" contains a listed "[" character as part of the property label and has therefore been classified as invalid.. First Stop after Troy where he fights with the Kikones at Ismarus. This was more an act of piracy and plunder than a stop off for supplies.
• (C) Country of the Lotus Eaters. It is a nine day sail to this location. Poor navigation presumably means they have overshot Ithaka by four days. His crew spend a year here drugged by the Lotus Eaters although for the crew they do not sense the passing of time.
• (D) Land of the Cyclopes. Back to the island of Sicily where Odysseus blinds Polyphemous after losing at least two of his crew. At this point things go from bad to worse as Odysseus provokes Poseidon who is determined to make Odysseus' trip back home as awkward as possible. A little more diplomacy from Odysseus would have served him and his crew well. As it is his arrogance will prolong his journey and lead to the ultimate perish of his crew. Does he go back again?
• (E)Aiolia. It looks like another long sail to Aiolia. Odysseus meets the god of the wind Aeolos and strikes up a good rapport with the god. He provides Odysseus a west wind to propel him back to Ithaka as well as a bag of winds. As they are in sight of Ithaka, his crew convinced the bag contains gold opens it only to release the wind that pushes them back to Aiolia (not shown) Aiolos is not willing to help again given their apparent greediness and the sail off to the land of the Laestrygonians.
• (F)Telepylos This looks to be another long journey and yet again the crew fail to see the right turn that would lead them to Ithaka.
• (G) Here Odysseus is enchanted by Kirke and some of his crew are turned in to pigs and back again. Hermes provides Odysseus the antidote and knowledge to subdue the witch. Yet he stays here with the remainder of crew for a further year. At the end of the year, he asks for Kirke's advice on how to get home. Her recommendation was to travel to Hades and consult with the blind prophet Teiresias. Being the underworld, this is not a location that can truly be located on a map. Some suggest that Hades was Gibralter or via Gibralter. This makes some sense as one would think that it would be thought to exist at tghe periphery of the Ancient Greeks known world. Wherever the underworld is, Odysseus provides his crew with a rather meandering route to it.
• (H) After running back to his ship after his appointment with Tiresias, the crew sail back to Kirke;s island and she gives him some more navigation tips and tells him to beware the enchnating song of the Sirens
• (I)Skylla and Kharybdis These are places and monsters or maidens turned in to monsters by Zeus. These monsters create giant whirlpools that suck unwary sailors in to the monsters clutches if they get too close. It is an allegorical between a rock and a hard place . The body count rises by another six after this misadventure
• (J)Thrinacia This is where Odysseus loses the rest of his crew after they slaughter Helios' cattle
• (K)Ogygia Odysseus is now on his home when he washed ashore on Kalypso's island. He will remained imprisoned here, with no means of escape for seven years. Plenty of time to reflect on his failings after the glory of Troy
• (L)Skherie is a kind of purgatory or halfway house between Odysseus the flawed warrior and Odysseus the post redemptive King of Ithaka. Skherie or modern day Corfu becomes a cathartic episode in Odysseus' journey. He is literally stripped of clothes and metaphorically stripped of all the psychological baggage he has acquired over the past 20 years. It is only by acquiring the persona of a poor beggar, bereft of power, hangers on, money can his true Kleos shine through. If indeed he possesses it. If he is to prove he is worthy of greatness then all the inbuilt advantages of power, status, strength must be removed and he must rely on his metis and polymetis
• (M)Ithaka. Touched by his story Alkinoos provides a boat for Odysseus to travel to Ithaka where in disguise he takes his time to reacquaint himself with his kingdom and its people before embarking on his final quest to return as the rightful King of Ithaka bathed in glory.