A preface to the book, plus Odysseus and Calypso

This is an extract from a small book of mine titled: “A brief and realistic approach to the wanderings of Odysseus”, which was published in 2023 in Greek:  https://www.politeianet.gr/books/9786185693046-metaxas-georgios-risos-mia-suntomi-kai-realistiki-proseggisi-stis-periplaniseis-tou-odussea-337605

A fundamental knowledge of Odyssey is necessary.

(Book numbers are always referring to Odyssey rhapsodies, except when Iliad is specifically mentioned).

Homeric texts taken from: http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/odyssey5html.html

Preface to: “A brief and “realistic” approach to the wanderings of Odysseus”.

The motive for writing this essay, was a comment I have read during summer 2017 in a Greek site, about the “super-ships” of Phaeacians, that according to the author had almost “spacecraft-like” features!

About the same time, I have read the theory of the American writer and amateur archaeologist E. Mertz, dated since 1965, that Odysseus had eventually reached America! This very idea, Z. Petridis a Greek engineer and writer, attempted to improve by adding more navigation details.

These were enough stimuli to motivate me to have a look for myself, using only Odyssey as a primary source, my knowledge as an engineer, Google Earth and … some common sense.

Deliberately, I chose not to be influenced (in the first place) by other writers’ theories about Odysseus wanderings, save from these I inevitably already knew from my school years.

So I started with the ships of Phaeacians (book 8, 556-562) and soon I got “two birds with one stone”, as I reached to a plausible explanation both for their ships and  the location of their land, the later having nothing to do with the almost globally accepted version of Corfu. A “third bird” was gotten later on, with an assumption about the origin of Phaeacians.

Then I moved back in time in Odyssey, and examined the previous stations of Odysseus’ voyage, for most of which I arrived in quite different conclusions, sometimes even close to heresy, especially with the part of the sojourn of Odysseus in the island of Calypso.

Of course all these are hypotheses, but so are the views of all researchers both ancient and more recent, as we all share the same unique source, i.e. Odyssey. Nevertheless, as the title implies, I tried to make my approach as realistic as possible, and at the same time stay close to Homer’s narrative.

Thus, I disagree with Eratosthenes who claimed that Odyssey has no geographic but only poetic value (Strabo, Geographica A 1.10) and also with philosopher Heraklitus the younger of 1^st ce. BCE (not the better known philosopher of Ephesus of the 6^th ce. BCE), who in his work “Homeric problems” claims that all adventures of Odysseus are symbolic. In contrast, Strabo himself an admirer of Homer, states that Homer could be considered as the founder of the science of Geography (Strabo, Geographica A 1.2).

Finally, as my purpose was to track as best as possible the key locations in the voyage of Odysseus and connect them to present day locations, mostly as “food for thought” and as a trigger to more research, the whole text is rather lean and technical. Consequently, only the passages of Odyssey related to this research are mentioned in the text, without any scholar or philosophical extrapolations.

Note:

This essay presupposes a general knowledge of Odyssey, and as there are numerous references to its books (rhapsodies) and lines, it is most useful that the reader has readily available a detailed translation of Odyssey, in either paper or electronic form.

Some general information.

The  “realistic” in the title is in quotation marks, because there is a contradiction in taking at face value a poem written to praise the feats of a hero, maybe by his grandson, as Pythia in Delphi oraculated to Roman emperor Hadrian  who asked about the origins of Homer.
A poem full of supernatural creatures, of magic and of gods directly involved in favor of, or against to, in human affairs. The testimony for Pythia’s oraculation comes from “Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi” line 37, work of the 2^nd ce. AD, but of an unknown author.

Nevertheless, a certain realism can emerge behind the myth in relation to the description of places, routes, time intervals and weather and sea conditions. Characteristically, Zenon the Stoic stated that in Homer one can distinguish parts written “according to one’s beliefs” and other parts written “according to the truth”.

But even the exaggerations in the poem can be comprehended, if one considers than beyond Odysseus personal glorification, there had to be justified:

1. The total loss of his army, which should had accounted for more than 700 warriors, if we consider that 12 ships had started the return voyage from Troy and each one carried a crew of at least 50 sailors (as can be deducted from book 10, 203-209 when Odysseus in the island of Circe splits his crew in two equal companies), then add the losses of the voyage up to that point and then some more for these on the battlefield of Troy.

2. The 10 years he had abandoned his kingdom in addition to the 10 years spent in Troy, returning finally alone and with the modest gifts given to him by the Phaeacians.

3. The entrapment and elimination of the best of the citizens of his kingdom together with their servants, more than 100 men altogether, as expressed by Eupeithes, father of the leader of the suitors Antinous, in his speech to his fellow citizens of Ithaca:

 “My friends, this man has planned and carried out
dreadful acts against Achaeans. He led
many fine courageous men off in his fleet,
then lost his hollow ships, with all men dead.
Now he’s come and killed our finest men by far             
among the Cephallenians.

Book 24, 420-423

Comparable wanderings to Odysseus had only Menelaus, who took 8 years to return at his home in Sparta (book 4, 82) and with only 5 out of a total of 60 ships (book 3, 299).

So the scandalous favor and help of Athena, goddess of wisdom, to Odysseus and the approval of his plans gives him her “blessing” as deducted from book 13, 375-376 where the goddess actually conspires with Odysseus for the elimination of the suitors, and is also expressed in brief in the words of Medon, the messenger of the suitors:

“Men of Ithaca, now hear me. Odysseus did not plan these acts
without the gods’ consent.

    Book 24, 440

On the other hand, it is interesting to note that in the Greek theatrical plays of the classic times (5^th ce. CBE) “Ajax” and “Philoctetes” of Sophocles, “Ekavi”, “Cyclops” and "Rhesus" (the later probably) of Euripides, where Odysseus is either the protagonist or has a key role, the moral qualities of the hero are questioned and the emphasis is put in his attitude of “gain at all cost”.

Much closer to present time (1938), Nikos Kazantzakis in his own vast “Odyssey” of 33,333 lines, a fictional sequel of that of Homer’s, focuses more on the anticonformistic nature of his hero, something that has to do mostly with his personal quests.

By the way, there was also an ancient sequel of “Odyssey”, named Telegony  (7^th - 6^th ce. BCE, probably written by Eugammon of Cyrene), but as with Kazantzakis’ “Odyssey” it should be considered as complete fictional, and doesn’t give the same “sense of history” as Homer’s Odyssey does.   

So, if we consider Odyssey been true for the geography, distances and time intervals, it is possible to trace more or less accurately the locations the hero visited and one can be quite positive that his wanderings didn’t take him further than Thrace to the east and further than Sardinia to the west, and in fact most of them happened into the Tyrrhenian sea. It must also be emphasized that the proper sailing time, out of a total of ten years of voyage, was less than one and a half years* as he stayed in Circe’s island for one year (book 10, 466) and in the island of Calypso for about seven and half years (book 7, 259-262). It is also reasonable to suppose that he avoided to sail during winter time, as can be deducted from book 10, 468-469 when he and his crew left Calypso’s island “when the days became longer”.

*Probably divided into three extended summer periods, one from Ilion to Circe, one from Circe to Calypso and one from Calypso to Ithaca.

 It should also be accounted that all his experiences Odysseus is narrating to king Alcinous and his nobility after he has arrived on their land (and in brief, later on to his wife Penelope). 
As about the timing of Odysseus repatriation, according to professor of Astrophysics Panagiota Preka-Papadima following recent estimations based on a particular solar eclipse, the return in Ithaca should have happened on October 25 1207 BCE. The eclipse itself that was almost total in Ionian sea, it took place five days later, the same day the suitors were killed, as the seer Theoclymenus had forseen just one day earlier (book 20, 350-356). Up to now, the common belief was that Troy fell in 1209 (Parian Chronicle) or in 1184 (Eratosthenes estimation), so the return of Odysseus in Ithaca should happened 10 years later.

The very same eclipse, in Palestine was visible as annular, and according to Cambridge professor Sir Colin Humphrey was the same phenomenon that Joshua of Navi describes by the words:

 “Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
 and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

    Joshua 10:12

as latest translations prefer  the word “silence” i.e. “darken”, instead of “stand still” .

Anyway, the month (October) seems plausible, as Odysseus wouldn’t risk to sail on a raft from Calypso’s island to the unknown in any other period than summer time, and he arrived in Ithaca after about one month when the chill had set in, as deducted from the cover he needed in the cave of his swineherd Eumaeus (book 14, 520-522) and Eumaeus comment:

«These nights go on forever»

    Book 15, 392

It is also evident and reasonable as well, that Odysseus was trying each time to sail eastwards, as he knew that his position after the land of Lotus Eaters was west of Ithaca and at the same time to sail north or south, according to his estimation of the latitude of his current position relatively to his island.

To the west he sailed only three times, two of them drifting with storms, the first when after the Kikones ended up in the Lotus Eaters and the second when while approaching Ithaca his companions opened the Bag of Winds and ended up (again) in the island of Aeolus. The third time was after his Cyclops adventure (who, as we suppose here were living in Lipari, a small island northeast of Sicily), because ignoring the Messina passage he turned back and circumnavigated Sicily from the west.

So it is most unlikely that he sailed to the west as far as Gibraltar, either purposefully or drifting with a storm. On the other hand, the “Straits or Pillars of Hercules” were well known at the time of Homer and there should have been at least commented (picture 1).

Picture 1. The Gibraltar rock covered in clouds. Such a view may have created the myth of Atlas who carries the weight of heavens on his shoulders. Often, with a eastern moist wind a cloud is forming over the rock that looks like stationary, but in fact it is created continuously on the windward side (on the right in the picture) and dissipates on the lee side. But nowhere in Odyssey there is any implication that the hero reached this remote and very distinctive hallmark of the Mediterranean. (Source: www.gibraltar-levante-cloud.jpg).

For this essay an extensive use of Wikipedia was made, mainly for the search of the Homeric text and for various information about the locations Odysseus may have visited. In contrast, the assumptions of the ancient or more recent authors who themselves had not any source other than Odyssey were not taken into account initially, as they had not in their disposition the modern knowledge and technology, like the compass, the Google Earth and the Wikipedia!

The island of Calypso.

This is the most difficult station of Odysseus to track, as after loosing his ship and all of his crew and passing again through Scylla and Charybdis (in a northern direction this time) struggling with the waves for ten days (book 12, 447-449), he reached Ogygia the island of Calypso. There he spent seven and half years. For this island there are the following indications and some reasoning can also be deducted:

1) The sea currents north to the straits of Messina flow northward and move practically along the west coast of the Italian peninsula, with a speed of about 1 knot.

2) Ten days battling the waves, even hung on a board and during summertime, it is rather a long time for someone to survive. Probably, Odysseus stopped at a small island along his way, maybe Stromboli, made a raft, took rations and let the current drive him to the north, as a raft without a sail goes rather with the current than with the wind. So his trip should have lasted at least the double (i.e. twenty days) if, as we suppose below, he landed on the island of Elba. Another more bold assumption will be examined further below.

3) Ogygia should have been large enough to have rich plantations and wild life (book 5, 64-65) but also fir trees which Odysseus used to construct the mast of his raft, when he finally managed to escape from the island (book 5, 234-239).

4) Such an island is Elba, to the east of the northern tip of Corsica, north enough (at the same latitude as Sofia, Bulgaria) and having a mountain with an elevation of more than 1000 m (3300 ft), so it may had fir trees.

5) For the above reasons it is practically impossible the island of Calypso to be Ceuta just opposite of Gibraltar on the African coast, as some researchers suggest, at triple the distance from Messina compared to the distance of Elba from Messina, in a low elevation and at the same low latitude as for example Crete.

There is a problem though with Elba. When Calypso, after seven and half years said farewell to Odysseus who was leaving on his raft heading unknowingly to the land of Phaeacians (book 5, 278-280), she advised him to keep the constellation of “Bear” or “Chariot” (Big Dipper) to his left (book 5, 276). The Big Dipper is a big and easily recognizable constellation, that in that era (more than 3000 years ago) was closer to the “Polar Star” of the time (α΄ of Dragon), a different star than today’s Polar Star (α΄ of Small Dipper) although the difference is not all that important. But this course to due east, would had led from Elba to the nearby coast of northern Italy (picture 2).

Picture 2. Map of eastern Mediterranean. (Source: Google Earth)

Actually from Elba, the course to the land of Phaeacians should have been to the south (if we accept that the land of Phaeacians is Trapani, as will be shown in the chapter about Phaeacians). A realistic explanation is that, as in that era sailors didn’t distance away themselves from the shoreline, Odysseus should have stayed initially in a southerly course parallel to the east coasts of Corsica and Sardinia which form a convenient near perfect north to south line. Upon reaching the southeast end of Sardinia, he turned to an eastern course and then the advice of Calypso came on handy as he had to sail for about seven days and nights without sight of any land.

Eventually this eastern course led him to the north of Trapani, 18 days from leaving Calypso, so after the storm Poseidon sent to him just before arriving to the land of Phaeacians, Athena gave him a northern breeze (book 5, 385) to help him reach his destination. Anyway, it is quite clear (book 7, 244) that Ogygia was far away from the land of Phaeacians.

So, the wanderings of Odysseus become much more realistic, although the distances still remain important for that era. Today, all stations and locations Odysseus had visited can be easily traced through Google Earth and be compared with Homer’s descriptions. However, it should be taken into consideration than the coastline of Homeric era would be somewhat different, thanks to the lower sea level by 2.0 - 2.5 m (6.6 - 8.3 ft) relatively to the present level (picture 3).

Picture 3. Sea level, in meters, below present level (vertical axis), relatively to thousands of years before present (horizontal axis). In Homer’s era sea level was about 2.0 - 2.5 m (6.6 - 8.3 ft) below present level. The “meltwater pulses” may be due to “deluges” with the last one close to the date Plato gives for the destruction of Atlantis. These deluges could be the result of collapse of great glacier barriers holding big lakes behind them, either in Atlantic or Pacific (as for example lakes Agassiz and Missoula). (Source: worldoceanreview.com)

Now, as promised above, a new bold theory about the reason Odysseus stayed idle for so long on the island of Calypso will be presented, as it is obvious that there were not her attractions (book 5, 154-155) who kept him in Ogygia all these years.

Elba was renown in antiquity for its mines of iron, whose production from ore in the Mediterranean area started about the same time Odyssey took place (circa 1200 BCE). Earlier, iron was produced either by Hittites or by Halibs living near present day Giresun Turkey, in the south coast of Black Sea. Elba was known in antiquity by the name of Aithalia (smoky) because of the smoke of the many iron smelters on the island. Anyway, in Odyssey it is clear that the iron was already known and the merchants traded it (book 1, 183-184).

It is thus possible, Odysseus after crossing for a second time Scylla and Charybdis, this time shipwrecked and in a northern direction, has been rescued by a passing merchant ship (or pirate ship, usually doing both business) and was transported to Elba, where he was kept as a slave working in the mines on the east side of the island. Then, after many years of slavery he managed to escape and he found refuge in the west side of the island, where there is a mountain and he used a fir trunk to construct the mast of the raft. Of course, in Odyssey the whole story is glorified, because slavery would be very damaging to the image of the hero.

It is also interesting, that when goddess Athena (looking like Mentes, ruler of Taphians) comments to Odysseus' son Telemachus about the delay of his father to return home, she says:

For there is no chance                
that brave Odysseus has died somewhere.
No. He’s still alive but being detained
on an island, surrounded by the sea,
with wild and dangerous men restraining him,
holding him back against his will.

------------------------------------------------------

I say Odysseus will not stay away much longer
from his dear native land, not even if
he’s chained in iron fetters. He’ll devise
some way to get back home, for he’s a man
of infinite resources.

    Book 1, 197-204

Menelaus, on the other hand, king of Sparta, who Telemachus met in Sparta later on, told him the “official version”, that Odysseus was held against his will in the island of Calyplso, the story having been narrated to Menelaus by Nireus, a demigod of sea (book 4, 557-558).

Is it plausible that Athena wanted to be discrete to Telemachus about the whereabouts of Odysseus with Calypso, or as “Mentes” could not have “divine” information and judged from himself, as he was somewhat between a merchant and a pirate?

It is also possible that this revelation of Athena is a kind of “freudian slip” from Homer who would like to leave a hint about the truth, so in this case it was a purposeful “slip”. Homer may knew the truth, especially if he was a close relative of Odysseus, according to the story of Pythia’s oraculation to emperor Hadrian, that Homer was Odysseus's grandson.

Is it also a coincidence that “Calypso” in Greek means someone who conceals or misguides?

More, “Ogygia” means something primitive, mythical and eventually a fairytale.

That’s why the island of Ogygia is referred at as an “island far away at sea” (book 7, 244), while Calypso although a goddess:

None of the gods associates with her,
nor any mortal men. 

    Book 7, 247

And what is that, that no gods or people like? Slavery maybe?

An island by the name of Ogygia is mentioned also by Plutarch in his Moralia “On the Face in the Moon” , lines 941-942, implying that it is the same as Homeric Ogygia. Plutarch is more precise than Homer, positioning the island at a distance of five days sailing to the west of Britain*. But it is obvious that he just uses the name “Ogygia” like Homer does, to state a very remote and unknown territory.

*Such an island seems to have existed in that position, i.e. about 600 km (320 n. miles) west of the southwest end of Britain and up to the beginning of the 19^th century. Its name was Hy-Brasil, but apparently it has sunk since. Its position corresponds to the submarine plateau of Porcupine Bank, lying today about 200 m (656 ft) below the surface.

What’s more, Odysseus gives very scarce information about Ogygia, he mentions almost nothing about his life and whereabouts during the seven and a half years of his stay there, and he also avoids to repeat  this part of his narration to king Alcinous, pretending that it is boring (book 12, 450).

Even the storm that hit him just before arriving to the land of Phaeacians seems just too convenient to justify his arrival there naked and exhausted, despite the many goods Calypso had provided him with.

And he mentions nothing about how Calypso managed to hold him in her island, while he gives a lot of unnecessary details about the construction of his raft.

Odysseus of course was more than capable to invent stories and outsmart his discussants, as when he met with Athena disguised as a shepherd, ( book 13, 254), when he met the swineherd Eumaeus (book 14, 199), when he met Penelope (book 19, 172) and as Homer himself admits:

As Odysseus spoke,
he made the many falsehood seem like truth.

    Book 19, 203

 Finally, if we suppose that a ship picked him up from the sea after he had traversed the straits of Messina (Scylla and Charybdis) shipwrecked, the mean speed of his transfer to Elba during a ten days period according to Homer, is about 3 km/h (1.6 knots), a quite reasonable speed for a small merchant sailing ship.

G. Metaxas