SAILING INSTRUCTIONS
When Odysseus tells Circe he should leave to return home, Circe says:
"Let the blast of the north wind carry you.
But when you have crossed with your ship the stream of ocean, ...
There is
a rock there, and the junction of two thunderous rivers. ...
Question ... Teiresias, ... the prophet, ... and he will ...
tell you the way to go, the stages of your journey
and tell you how to make your way home ..."
We don't have any problem with the "stream of ocean" because there is the Atlantic, right there.
To go from Barra to Northern Ireland you are really crossing the edge of the Atlantic. But to
those who think Odysseus is in the Mediterranean, that particular phrase doesn't make any sense.
"Circe sent us ... a following wind,
filling the sails, to carry from astern
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
"Let the blast of the north wind carry you.
But when you have crossed with your ship the stream of ocean, ...
There is
a rock there, and the junction of two thunderous rivers. ...
Question ... Teiresias, ... the prophet, ... and he will ...
tell you the way to go, the stages of your journey
and tell you how to make your way home ..."
We don't have any problem with the "stream of ocean" because there is the Atlantic, right there.
To go from Barra to Northern Ireland you are really crossing the edge of the Atlantic. But to
those who think Odysseus is in the Mediterranean, that particular phrase doesn't make any sense.
"Circe sent us ... a following wind,
filling the sails, to carry from astern
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
There is
a rock there, and the junction of two thunderous rivers. ...
Question ... Teiresias, ... the prophet, ... and he will ...
tell you the way to go, the stages of your journey
and tell you how to make your way home ..."
We don't have any problem with the "stream of ocean" because there is the Atlantic, right there.
To go from Barra to Northern Ireland you are really crossing the edge of the Atlantic. But to
those who think Odysseus is in the Mediterranean, that particular phrase doesn't make any sense.
"Circe sent us ... a following wind,
filling the sails, to carry from astern
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
Question ... Teiresias, ... the prophet, ... and he will ...
tell you the way to go, the stages of your journey
and tell you how to make your way home ..."
We don't have any problem with the "stream of ocean" because there is the Atlantic, right there.
To go from Barra to Northern Ireland you are really crossing the edge of the Atlantic. But to
those who think Odysseus is in the Mediterranean, that particular phrase doesn't make any sense.
"Circe sent us ... a following wind,
filling the sails, to carry from astern
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
and tell you how to make your way home ..."
We don't have any problem with the "stream of ocean" because there is the Atlantic, right there.
To go from Barra to Northern Ireland you are really crossing the edge of the Atlantic. But to
those who think Odysseus is in the Mediterranean, that particular phrase doesn't make any sense.
"Circe sent us ... a following wind,
filling the sails, to carry from astern
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
"Circe sent us ... a following wind,
filling the sails, to carry from astern
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
the ship with the dark prow ...all day,...
All day long her sails were filled as she went through the water,
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
and the sun set, and all the journeying-ways were darkened.
She made the limit, which is of the deep running ocean.
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
There lie the community and city of Kimmerian people,
hidden in fog and cloud. ...
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
Making this point, we ran the ship ashore ..."
I would think, from my navy experience in and around the Irish Coast, that's a pretty good
description of Ireland. It's beautifully green, it rains a lot, and it's foggy and cloudy quite
frequently. I don't think it's a particularly good description for anywhere that I've been in the
Mediterranean. You may also have noticed the text says 'sails' in the plural. This may suggest the
penteconter raised a jib, or spinnaker, or foresail forward of the mainsail when running before the
wind. I suggest the 'point' Odysseus discovers is Malin Head. If that's the case, he would be
entering Lough Swilly which fits Homer's description, as it has two rivers and Inch Island.
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX
The distance from where Odysseus left Barra to Malin Head is about 140 statute miles.
Assuming 10 knots average speed for the day, that would mean about a 12 hour passage, which
fits the suggested location perfectly, as does the direction of the wind each way.
Odysseus has his discussion with the prophet, Teiresias. Then:
"...Going back on board my ship, ...
the swell of the current carried her down the ocean river
with rowing at first, but after that, on a fair wind following.
...when our ship had left the stream of the ocean river,
and come back to the wide crossing of the sea's waves
and to the island
of Aiaia ..."
You'll have noticed the phrase "the stream of the ocean river". This implies to me the lower tidal
reaches of a river, which would not apply to a river in the Mediterranean where there are no real
tides.
The Lough Swilly area they have just come from appears to have been an important Neolithic
centre. We know that the Irish at this time constructed elaborate building centres for exposing
their dead to the elements to be picked clean by wild creatures before interring the bones in
roofed barrow tombs (Map 12).
The whole coastline from Spain to Norway, in Neolithic times, has been called the Megalithic
route. These megalithic people were evidently great seafarers. They were deep sea fishermen,
because we have remains of fish such as cod.They built sophisticated structures such as New
Grange (Ireland).Callanish (Hebrides) and Maeshowe (Orkneys).
Radio carbon dating has shown us that these sites were populated and in use up to 3,000 years
before the time of Odysseus and even about 1,500 years before the pyramids were built.
"That's fine" you may say, "but that doesn't prove Odysseus, or even any other Mycenaean, was
there." Not necessarily so. Here's what was found in this century carved into the stone at
Stonehenge, only about 300 miles from where we say Odysseus is, at Lough Swilly.
Agamemnon was another hero with Odysseus at the siege of Troy.
TO INDEX