WHERE IT'S SAID HE WENT
Now we're better prepared to examine where Odysseus went. I want to take an example of a
Mediterraneanist, as I call them; people who say he never left the Mediterranean.
We left Odysseus being blown past Kythera with a North wind. Ernle Bradford, a
Mediterraneanist, says he was blown to Djerba Island, off the coast of Africa. That's location 4
on this map of the Mediterranean:
This is about 700 statute miles. Remember he was running nine days and nights before the wind,
and on the tenth day he reached the Land of the Lotus Eaters:
say, 216 hours (9 days only)
700 statute miles = 616 nautical miles
So his average speed running before the wind on this basis was 2.85 knots.
I propose something quite different. We know that a penteconter could sail on course with the
wind at about right angles. We know Odysseus was trying to head north to Ithaca instead of
going in a southwesterly direction. I suggest he could and did sail almost due west. He would
steer clear of all landfalls in a gale. Running on to rocks in a storm has been the proverbial
ending of many a good sailing ship throughout history. I suggest Odysseus passed south of Sicily
and then continued sailing in a westward direction, eventually emerging from the Mediterranean
into the Atlantic, following the shoreline down to say, Rabat, or Casablanca, by the famous
ancient Atlas mountains. Total distance in statute miles, about 1800.
The surface tidal currents at 'spring' tides, off Gibraltar, show Odysseus could easily have passed
through the straits at that time:
I suggest that Odysseus could have reached Rabat in 9 days and nights with an average speed of
no more than 7.5 knots.
There is another confirming point. He arrived in the country of the Lotus Eaters, not an island.
Odysseus describes it this way:
"We set foot on the mainland ---- I sent some
of my companions ---- to find out ---- what men
---- might live here in this country. --
My men ---- presently met the Lotus-Eaters
---- They only gave them lotus to taste of
---- but any of them who ate the honey sweet
fruit of Lotus was unwilling to take any message
back, ---- but they wanted to stay there ----
feeding on lotus, and forget the way home."
---- "I myself took these men back weeping,
---- and put them aboard under the rowing
benches and tied them fast"----
This seems to me to imply use of a habit forming drug. There appears to be no record of such in
Tunisia, where Djerba Island is. But for Morocco, the country of Rabat and Casablanca, we have
this entry in the Universal Almanac for 1991:
Chief crops: ... cereal farming and livestock raising predominant... Illegal producer of
cannabis for international drug trade.
Ernle Bradford sailed around the Mediterranean for about 10 years with a small sailing boat,
trying to reconstruct the voyaging of Odysseus. So his suggestions about where Odysseus went
deserve respect, but I think I can soon show you he runs into serious problems.
Let's go briefly through the rest of the voyaging of Odysseus, using Ernle Bradford's
identifications as typical of the Mediterraneanists. I've marked the episodes on a map of the
Mediterranean.
We start where Odysseus leaves the Lotus Eaters (point 4 on the map) then:
5. The land of the Cyclops said to be on the west Coast of Sicily. This is about 500 miles from
his home on the Island of Ithaca.
6. The Aiolian Island is the island of Ustica off the west coast of Italy. This is where Odysseus
gets the courses of all the blowing winds tied up in a bag. He's about 450 miles from Ithaca now.
7. The harbour of the Laestrygonians is Bonifacio, between Corsica and Sardinia, south of the
French Coast. Now he's about 825 miles from home but he took 6 days and nights to get there,
meaning a speed of about 1.6 knots, barely fast enough to make steerage way.
8. Next he goes eastwards to the shores of Italy to Circe's Island. This is said to be Mount
Circeo. It's about 550 miles from Ithaca, and it's a peninsula, not an island.
9. Now we have the strange journey to consult the prophet Teiresias. Although he's only about
the same distance from home as he was at Troy City, Bradford takes him about 1000 miles in the
wrong direction, to Gibraltar, to ask the way home.
10. From there he goes back to about 75 miles south of Mount Circeo to the Galli Islands off the
Italian coast, identified with the two Sirens mentioned by Homer.
11. The wandering rocks are Stromboli -- an active volcanic mountain island and its small
associated island off the toe of Italy.
12. Skylla, the man eating monster, and Charybdis, the giant whirlpool, are the Straits of
Messina. That's about 2 miles wide at the narrows. There is one of the few Mediterranean tidal
actions here. It runs up to 4 knots at "springs". There is a town on the Italian coast nearby called
Scilla. Odysseus is now about 300 miles from home.
13. The east coast of Sicily is said to be the Island of Thrinakia, where the sun god Helios
pastured his 350 sheep and 350 cattle. These were sacred, and Odysseus was warned by Circe
not to touch them, but his companions were hungry and desperate after having put up with
contrary winds on the island for a month, so they slaughtered and roasted some of them. For this,
Zeus, king of the gods, destroys Odysseus' ship as he sails for Ithaca. Odysseus is the sole
survivor.
14. Odysseus drifts for 9 days and reaches the Island of Ogygia, said to be one of the Islands of
the Maltese archipelago. He is now about 400 miles from Ithaca.
15. After 7 years here he leaves by a craft he has constructed himself and sails for 18 days before
reaching the coastline of Scheria, the land of the Phaiakians. This is said to be the Island of
Corfu, 70 miles north of Ithaca.
16. The islanders have never heard of him, and heap more treasure on him than he won at Troy.
The islanders select a special new ship for the voyage by which they take him home.
TO INDEX
We left Odysseus being blown past Kythera with a North wind. Ernle Bradford, a
Mediterraneanist, says he was blown to Djerba Island, off the coast of Africa. That's location 4
on this map of the Mediterranean:
This is about 700 statute miles. Remember he was running nine days and nights before the wind,
and on the tenth day he reached the Land of the Lotus Eaters:
say, 216 hours (9 days only)
700 statute miles = 616 nautical miles
So his average speed running before the wind on this basis was 2.85 knots.
I propose something quite different. We know that a penteconter could sail on course with the
wind at about right angles. We know Odysseus was trying to head north to Ithaca instead of
going in a southwesterly direction. I suggest he could and did sail almost due west. He would
steer clear of all landfalls in a gale. Running on to rocks in a storm has been the proverbial
ending of many a good sailing ship throughout history. I suggest Odysseus passed south of Sicily
and then continued sailing in a westward direction, eventually emerging from the Mediterranean
into the Atlantic, following the shoreline down to say, Rabat, or Casablanca, by the famous
ancient Atlas mountains. Total distance in statute miles, about 1800.
The surface tidal currents at 'spring' tides, off Gibraltar, show Odysseus could easily have passed
through the straits at that time:
I suggest that Odysseus could have reached Rabat in 9 days and nights with an average speed of
no more than 7.5 knots.
There is another confirming point. He arrived in the country of the Lotus Eaters, not an island.
Odysseus describes it this way:
"We set foot on the mainland ---- I sent some
of my companions ---- to find out ---- what men
---- might live here in this country. --
My men ---- presently met the Lotus-Eaters
---- They only gave them lotus to taste of
---- but any of them who ate the honey sweet
fruit of Lotus was unwilling to take any message
back, ---- but they wanted to stay there ----
feeding on lotus, and forget the way home."
---- "I myself took these men back weeping,
---- and put them aboard under the rowing
benches and tied them fast"----
This seems to me to imply use of a habit forming drug. There appears to be no record of such in
Tunisia, where Djerba Island is. But for Morocco, the country of Rabat and Casablanca, we have
this entry in the Universal Almanac for 1991:
Chief crops: ... cereal farming and livestock raising predominant... Illegal producer of
cannabis for international drug trade.
Ernle Bradford sailed around the Mediterranean for about 10 years with a small sailing boat,
trying to reconstruct the voyaging of Odysseus. So his suggestions about where Odysseus went
deserve respect, but I think I can soon show you he runs into serious problems.
Let's go briefly through the rest of the voyaging of Odysseus, using Ernle Bradford's
identifications as typical of the Mediterraneanists. I've marked the episodes on a map of the
Mediterranean.
We start where Odysseus leaves the Lotus Eaters (point 4 on the map) then:
5. The land of the Cyclops said to be on the west Coast of Sicily. This is about 500 miles from
his home on the Island of Ithaca.
6. The Aiolian Island is the island of Ustica off the west coast of Italy. This is where Odysseus
gets the courses of all the blowing winds tied up in a bag. He's about 450 miles from Ithaca now.
7. The harbour of the Laestrygonians is Bonifacio, between Corsica and Sardinia, south of the
French Coast. Now he's about 825 miles from home but he took 6 days and nights to get there,
meaning a speed of about 1.6 knots, barely fast enough to make steerage way.
8. Next he goes eastwards to the shores of Italy to Circe's Island. This is said to be Mount
Circeo. It's about 550 miles from Ithaca, and it's a peninsula, not an island.
9. Now we have the strange journey to consult the prophet Teiresias. Although he's only about
the same distance from home as he was at Troy City, Bradford takes him about 1000 miles in the
wrong direction, to Gibraltar, to ask the way home.
10. From there he goes back to about 75 miles south of Mount Circeo to the Galli Islands off the
Italian coast, identified with the two Sirens mentioned by Homer.
11. The wandering rocks are Stromboli -- an active volcanic mountain island and its small
associated island off the toe of Italy.
12. Skylla, the man eating monster, and Charybdis, the giant whirlpool, are the Straits of
Messina. That's about 2 miles wide at the narrows. There is one of the few Mediterranean tidal
actions here. It runs up to 4 knots at "springs". There is a town on the Italian coast nearby called
Scilla. Odysseus is now about 300 miles from home.
13. The east coast of Sicily is said to be the Island of Thrinakia, where the sun god Helios
pastured his 350 sheep and 350 cattle. These were sacred, and Odysseus was warned by Circe
not to touch them, but his companions were hungry and desperate after having put up with
contrary winds on the island for a month, so they slaughtered and roasted some of them. For this,
Zeus, king of the gods, destroys Odysseus' ship as he sails for Ithaca. Odysseus is the sole
survivor.
14. Odysseus drifts for 9 days and reaches the Island of Ogygia, said to be one of the Islands of
the Maltese archipelago. He is now about 400 miles from Ithaca.
15. After 7 years here he leaves by a craft he has constructed himself and sails for 18 days before
reaching the coastline of Scheria, the land of the Phaiakians. This is said to be the Island of
Corfu, 70 miles north of Ithaca.
16. The islanders have never heard of him, and heap more treasure on him than he won at Troy.
The islanders select a special new ship for the voyage by which they take him home.
TO INDEX