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)37.083333, 15.283333,Thrinacia Where Odysseus blinds Polyphemous. Does he go back again? (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 Does he go back again? (K)36.05, 14.25,Ogygia (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) Thrinacia. 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
• (J)Thrinacia Does he go back again?
• (K)Ogygia
• (L)Skherie
• (M)Ithaka