Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey is a classic adventure filled with shipwrecks, feuds, obstacles, mythical creatures, and divine interventions. But how to visualize the thrilling voyage?
The map below traces Odysseus’s travel as recounted to the Phaeacians near the end of his wandering across the Mediterranean. Odysseus’s ten-year trek began in Asia Minor at the fallen city of Troy (the green marker) following the end of the Trojan War. His ultimate destination: his home in Ithaca (the red marker). Click the markers for information on each step of his journey. It is important to note that the 14 locations plotted on this map have been widely debated by both ancient and modern scholars.
Barry Powell, translator of a new edition of The Odyssey, asserts that the currently agreed upon location of the Island of the Sun (#11) is in fact modern-day Sicily. However, the characters in The Odyssey are in “never-never land,” and consequently, the locations plotted cannot be deemed entirely accurate.
Headline image credit: Ulysses and the Sirens by John William Waterhouse, 1891. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
BRILLIANT!
There is NO ‘republic of Macedonia! There’s only a so-called Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Please amend your map. You of all to make such mistake?! It’s disgraceful.
Well, your work is an excellent one and enjoyed it. However, I would like to point out that your map has a huge mistake.Does not exist a state named “Republic of Macedonia”, it is FYROM. So if you want to be accepted by Greeks “Hellines”, you have to correct that name at once.
FYROM did not exist at the times of Odysseus, they appeared in that territory many-many centuries later from the NE Slaves.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
The map above was created using Mapbox, which sources its geography from Open Street Map. All countries and locations named on the underlying map are modern. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is commonly referred to as ‘Republic of Macedonia’ in English for brevity (as ‘Italy’ instead of ‘Italian Republic’). This is reflected in the Open Street Map data and is not the direct work of the authors or editors.
Alice Northover
OUPblog Editor
Thank you of your reply.
In any case any official organization must not accept to participate to the propaganda game of Scopia.Their real old name was and is “Vardaska”. So we, Hellines, will never accept to play their game.In any case, if they want to belong to the Hellenic recent history, they have to ask their union with Hellenic state.
Regarding “brevity” this is another of their games…..
Since you are interested of Greek/Hellenic history, please see/read new articles regarding recent discovery at ancient Amphipolis of Macedonia.This is the real history and not the constructed one.
Please do not seek in the Mediterranean!
Homeros was not a fanciful poet.
I say: explorations for Homeros should also be in the Netherlands, where in the ever sinking delta formerly was situated the land Phtia, twice a day inundated by the sea. Clay soils it had, with coarse clods, and the king was married to a sea goddess. Maps have recently been reconstructed.
Who wrote this