“Iliad” and “Odyssey” The poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey” were created on the basis of a popular cycle of works about the war of the allied leaders of the Greek (Achaean) tribes against Troy. The name of these epic works is directly related to the content of the poems. So the name of the first "Iliad"

Siberian Odyssey Fantastic rumors about unknown lands in the northeast, where caravans only occasionally reached and brought furs, gold, silver, and precious stones, reached the ancient Greeks and Romans. Later, daring people began to penetrate “beyond the Stone.”

The Trojan War ended, All the heroes went home. And only Odysseus was carried by fate for a long time across the waves and lands, allowing him to reach his home only after many years.
So where did Odysseus sail to? Where has he been?
It has long been believed that the hero traveled along the coasts of Greece or Italy, some send him to Pontus Euxcus (Black Sea), and there are those who believe that Odysseus sailed to the country of the fjords...
"Greek" version by Tim Severin
The first version was thought out and even reproduced in reality by the famous Irish traveler and explorer Tim Severin and a team of 13 people on the 18-meter Argo galley.
Tim believed that Odysseus led his 12 ships northwest along the coast of Thrace. According to the Homeric text, the last point to which Odysseus' path can be traced is Cape Malea in the southeast of the Peloponnese peninsula. Then the stormy winds carried Odysseus south: 9 days of drift is quite enough time to reach the coast of North Africa in the territory of modern Libya. Their route back lay through Crete. The folklore of the island's inhabitants still contains stories of cannibalistic giants, and wild goats still roam its plains. Also preserved are the stones that, according to the islanders, Polyphemus threw at Odysseus and a cave very suitable for giants. Island of the Lord of the Winds Eol. The old pirate fortress of Grabuza on the northwestern corner of Crete closely corresponds to the walls of the island of Aeolus described by Homer. And the ancient Greeks called Grabuzu Korikos, which means “leather bag”. Further, Odysseus' path lay to the north. According to Homer's description, 11 ships entered the bay, closed on all sides by a continuous ring of steep rocks - this description ideally corresponds to the Mehapos Bay not far from the ledge of the Mani Peninsula.
The island of the sorceress Circe Aea and the journey of Odysseus and his comrades to the kingdom of the dead to the blind soothsayer Tiresias: having descended at the mouth of the Acheron River, travelers reach its confluence with the rivers Pyriphlegethon, the River of Burning Fire and Cocytus, the River of Lamentation. In the second century AD, this area on the Greek mainland was called Necromantheon, the Oracle of the Dead. Three miles upstream the river bearing the same name - Acheron - flows two streams: Vauvos (Cocytus) and the second, which, according to the memories of local residents, used to phosphorescent, rumbled and echoed - the real River of Blazing Fire. Therefore, the island of Aia is modern Paxos - a beautiful, small green island with the only source of drinking water.
According to Circe's instructions, Odysseus had to sail home past the island of the Sirens, and then either go through the converging rocks, or try to slip through the narrow strait between Scylla and Charybdis. The small rocky islet of Sesula - a rock divided in two by a vertical crack, the flat walls of which go under the water - is very reminiscent of converging rocks. And the narrow strait between Scylla and Charybdis is a narrow strait between the island of Lefkada, past Cape Scylla, and the mainland on which Mount Lemia rises, which means “monster”. There is a cave in the mountain mentioned in the poem. And Charybdis is surrounded by foaming breakers, with rocky outcrops on the surface.
Then, according to Tim Severin, the habitat of the sirens is the northern tip of the island of Lefkada: local maps indicate three ancient burial mounds - quite suitable for the mountain of skeletons described by Homer.
The next landing place for Odysseus is the island of Trinacria - the island of the “Three Points”. If you approach the modern island of Meganisi from the north, you can see three hills standing one after the other.
Seven years of Odysseus' stay on the island of Ogygia with the nymph Calypso - the modern island of Ogygia is several days' journey downstream.
The kingdom of the Phaeacians is the modern island of Corfu - the opinions of most researchers and admirers of Homer’s work agree on this.
New Odyssey around the Crimean Peninsula.
There are researchers who believe that all the signs of entering Hades find their confirmed material evidence in the nature and history of Crimea and the Azov region. The fabulously rich and outlandish region along the northern shores of Pontus and Maeotis has long attracted the attention of the Greeks. And its inhabitants - the Scythians, riding golden chariots in golden armor, striking enemies with iron weapons - were taken by the Greeks to be gods. Ten days north along the coast of Thrace - the island of lotus eaters - lotus eaters. Lotus plantations grow and are cultivated in the deltas of the Volga and Kuban. Polyphemus Island - even ancient geographers believed that upstream the Istra (Danube) there was a tribe of androphages (cannibals). This place is located near the mountains of Thrace and very close to the underwater palace of Poseidon, whose son was Polyphemus.
Located opposite the Danube Delta, the modern Snake Island, with its cliffs and copper wall, is very reminiscent of the island of Eola. And the island of Berezan near Ochakov can be considered the habitat of the sorceress Circe, the island of Eya. Then from Berezan through the Dnieper (Boristhenes - Ocean River) to the Nikolaev Peninsula, which in its shape resembles the figure of a lion - Cape Hippolaus is translated as “Big Lion” and “Horse People” - these could well be nomads: Scythians and Cimmerians. Odysseus's voyage to Hades completely coincides with the geographical location of the Dnieper-Bug estuary: Hypanis - Southern Bug, Styx - Ingul, Periphlegethon - Dnieper. Then Odysseus went past the island of Sirens (Karadeniz Bogaz), through the strait (Bosphorus), past the rocks of Symplegades (now stones near the bay of Rumeli-Kavagi), Scylla (Mount Yusha) and Charybdis (whirlpool near Cape Mesar) and arrived on the island where the sacred bulls (Prince's Islands). Then Odysseus was carried by the current through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea and carried to the island of Ogyg (the coast of the Crimea), from there on a raft he reached the island of the Phaeacians (the city of Batumi).
Baltic Odyssey by Paolo Torretta.
Italian scientist Paolo Torretta believes that the events described by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey took place in the Baltic. Already in ancient times, Homer's poems served as a source of ambiguity and gave rise to many disputes: some cities, countries and islands in the Mediterranean we know do not all exist, are not located at all in the place described by Homer, or do not exist at all.
After favorable climatic conditions in the Baltic changed for the worse, its inhabitants, blond sailors, founded the Mycenaean civilization in the 16th century BC. Even Plutarch, in his work “On the Face on the Lunar Disk,” makes an interesting conclusion that the island of Calypso Ogygia is located in the North Atlantic - “five days’ sail from Britain.” This allows us to identify Ogygia with one of the Faroe Islands. Hence, the schedule of Odysseus' movement from Ogygia to Scheria fits exactly into the route from the Faroe Islands to the southern coast of Norway. An analogy can also be drawn with the Danish islands in the southern part of the Baltic Sea: the Southern Finnish archipelago includes three main islands: Langelapi ("Long Island" - Delichi), Ørö (Sams) and Tosings (Zakynthos). Even the medieval historian Saxo Grammaticus often mentions in his writings a people called “Hellespontians” and an area - the Hellespont - which, according to his instructions, is located in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. Consequently, Troy lies to the northeast of the sea - in the region of southern Finland, where the Gulf of Finland merges with the Baltic Sea. The landscape between Helsinki and Turku fully corresponds to Homeric descriptions: hilly terrain dominating a valley with two rivers, a plain sloping down to the seashore - the quiet Finnish village of Toya...
"Atlantic" version by Robert Philippe

The French scientist, deputy director of the School of Higher Sciences, Robert Philippe, also somewhat agrees with this version. He believes that the Odyssey combines stories of homecoming and an older account of the Atlantic voyages of the Phoenicians, who made their trading expeditions from a base possibly located in the Canary Islands for tin in England and for gold in Sudan. Robert Philippe spent a long time comparing quotations from Homer with descriptions from geographical reference books. However, the route he proposes is most likely only theoretically possible: from the Canary Islands, Odysseus reaches Portugal across the ocean, and after drifting along the European coast reaches Brittany and even Oslo! Alas, according to Philip, our hero remains in Norway, since his return to Ithaca becomes completely problematic))

ROLE OF ODYSSEY IN THE TROJAN WAR

Odysseus is the king of the island of Ithaca in ancient Greek mythology. Odysseus's mother is Anticleia, daughter of Autolycus and granddaughter of the god Hermes. Autolycus is a clever robber who received from his father Hermes the gift of trickery, the ability to take on any form and make objects invisible. One day Autolycus stole the herds of Sisyphus, another famous cunning man. Sisyphus convicted Autolycus and, in revenge, dishonored his daughter Anticlea, who soon after was married to Laertes and gave birth to Odysseus. Some ancient authors consider Sisyphus to be the true father of Odysseus, others - Laertes. The version with the paternity of Sisyphus explains the cunning of Odysseus much better, because in this case, both on the paternal and maternal lines in the family of Odysseus there were famous cunning people: Sisyphus, Autolycus, Hermes, therefore Odysseus himself was destined to become the most cunning of people. According to the goddess Athena, even the gods find it difficult to compete with Odysseus in cunning. The name "Odysseus" comes from the Greek odyssao - ("I am angry") and indicates the fate of Odysseus to provoke the wrath of the gods (for example, Poseidon), who do not tolerate the fact that a mere mortal can equal them in intelligence and cunning.
Odysseus was among Helen's suitors, but in the end he married her cousin, Penelope, who was given to him as a wife in gratitude for his wise advice on reconciling Helen's suitors: all suitors were required to take an oath to protect in the future the honor of Helen's future husband. However, Odysseus himself was bound by this oath, and when Paris kidnapped Helen, Odysseus, among other Greeks, had to go on a campaign against Troy. Not wanting to leave his beloved wife and recently born son Telemachus, Odysseus resorted to cunning and pretended to be insane. When Palamedes, a messenger from the Achaeans, arrived to Odysseus, he saw the following picture: Odysseus, harnessed to a plow and a horse, sows salt. Then Palamedes put little Telemachus in the path of Odysseus’s plow and Odysseus was forced to give up pretense.

Soon it was Odysseus's turn to expose the pretense of another hero - Achilles, whom his mother Thetis, not wanting to send to war, hid among the girls on the island of Skyros, dressing Achilles in women's clothing. Odysseus and Diomedes arrived in Skyros under the guise of merchants and laid out jewelry and weapons in front of the girls, after which they staged an attack by robbers. All the girls ran away in fear, only Achilles grabbed his weapon and was exposed.
Odysseus arrived at the head of an army on 12 ships to the Trojan shores. In the war, Odysseus proved himself to be a fearless warrior who did not retreat from the battlefield, even when he found himself alone against many Trojans:

Here Odysseus the spear-wrestler is left alone; from the Achaeans
No one stayed with him: everyone was scattered by their horror.
He sighed and spoke to his noble heart:
"Woe! what will happen to me? Shame, since the crowds are afraid,
I will run away; but even worse than that, if the crowd comprehends
I will be alone: ​​the Thunderer scattered the other Argives.
But why does my soul care about such thoughts?
I know that the vile one is the one who dishonorably retreats from the battle!
Whoever has a noble soul in battles must, without a doubt,
Stand bravely, they hit him or he hits!”

(Homer "Iliad", canto 11)

Having captured the Trojan soothsayer Helen, Odysseus learns from him that one of the conditions for victory in the war is the possession of the statue of Athena, located in the temple of the goddess in Troy. Then Odysseus entered Troy and stole the statue (according to another version of the myth, Diomedes helped him in this).

At the games held in honor of the burial of Patroclus, Odysseus won the running competition. Also at the games, Odysseus fought with Ajax Telamonides, an Achaean hero second in strength only to Achilles. Odysseus and Ajax could not fight each other, then Achilles stopped the fight, telling them:

“End your struggle and do not languish in cruel labor.
Your victory is equal; and, having taken equal rewards,
Get off the field: let others also take part in heroic deeds."

(Homer "Iliad", canto 23)

A new confrontation between Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus occurred during a dispute over who would get the armor of the murdered Achilles. Ajax believed that he defended Achilles' body from the Trojans better than Odysseus, but the armor was awarded to Odysseus. The angry Ajax decided to kill the Achaean leaders at night, but Athena decided to insure her favorite Odysseus against an accident and sent madness to Ajax. As a result, Ajax killed the herds of cattle. When Ajax regained his sanity, he could not bear the shame and committed suicide. Even in the kingdom of the dead, Ajax refused to speak with Odysseus, continuing to harbor a grudge.

Thanks to Odysseus’s cunning, the Greeks were still able to take Troy: Odysseus proposed to build a wooden horse, hollow inside, hide a small part of the army there, and set sail for the rest of the army to return later. The Trojans, not listening to the warnings of the priest Laocoon and the prophetess Cassandra, dragged the horse into the city. At night, Odysseus and other soldiers got out of the horse, killed the guards, opened the gates to the returning Achaean army, and the 10-year war ended with the fall of Troy.

And Lotophagi

Soon Odysseus's flotilla sailed to an island on which many goats were grazing. The Greeks ate a hearty meal of their meat. The next day, Odysseus with one ship went to inspect the island. It soon became clear that it was inhabited by fierce giant cyclops, each of which had only one eye in the middle of the forehead. Not knowing how to cultivate the land, the Cyclopes lived as shepherds. They had no cities, no authorities, no laws. The Cyclops lived alone - each in his own cave among the rocks. Seeing the entrance to one of these caves, Odysseus and his companions entered there, not knowing that it was the abode of the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of the sea god Poseidon, a ferocious cannibal. The Greeks lit a fire, began to fry the little goats found in the cave and eat cheese hung on the walls in baskets.

The Destruction of Troy and the Adventures of Odysseus. Cartoons

In the evening Polyphemus suddenly appeared. He drove his herd into the cave and blocked the exit with a stone that was so huge that the Greeks had no way of moving it. Looking around, the Cyclops noticed the Hellenes. Odysseus explained to Polyphemus that he and his men were sailing home from the long Trojan War and asked for hospitality. But Polyphemus growled, grabbed Odysseus’s two companions by the legs, killed them by striking their heads to the ground and devoured them, not even leaving bones.

Odysseus in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus. Artist J. Jordaens, first half of the 17th century

Having finished his bloodthirsty feast, the Cyclops snored loudly. The Greeks could not get out of the cave, since the exit was blocked by a huge stone. Rising in the morning, Polyphemus smashed the heads of two more of Odysseus’s companions, had breakfast with them and left to graze the flock, locking the Greeks in a cave with the same stone. But while he was away, Odysseus took the trunk of a wild olive tree, sharpened its end, burned it on fire and hid it under a pile of dung. In the evening the Cyclops returned and dined on two more of Odysseus's men. Pretending to be polite, Odysseus brought Polyphemus a full cup of strong wine. Cyclops, who had never tried wine before, really liked this heady drink. Having emptied another cup, Polyphemus asked Odysseus his name. “My name is Nobody,” answered Odysseus. “Well, then, Nobody, as a sign of my favor, I will eat you last,” Polyphemus laughed.

The drunken Cyclops quickly fell asleep, and Odysseus and his not yet eaten comrades heated the barrel on a fire, stuck it in the giant’s only eye and began to rotate it.

Odysseus blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus. Black-figure vase from Laconica, mid-6th century. BC

Polyphemus screamed loudly. Other Cyclopes came running to his cry, asking their neighbor what had happened to him.

- No one, my friends: due to my oversight, I am dying. No one could harm me by force! - Polyphemus shouted.

“If no one,” answered the other Cyclopes, “why are you crying so much?” If you are sick, then ask your father, the god Poseidon, for help.

The Cyclopes are gone. In the morning, Polyphemus removed the stone from the entrance to the cave, stood nearby and began to let his flock out to graze. At the same time, he groped with his hands to grab the Greeks if they tried to leave. Then Odysseus tied up three rams and attached his men under their bellies, one at a time. He himself placed himself under the belly of the leader of the sheep herd, holding the wool from below with his hands.

Polyphemus, releasing the rams, felt their backs to make sure that no one was riding the animals. Cyclops did not think of putting his hands under the belly of the rams. Odysseus and his companions rode out of the cave under the rams and boarded the ship. While sailing, Odysseus shouted to Polyphemus that, having now become blind, he would no longer be able to devour the unfortunate wanderers. The enraged Polyphemus threw a huge rock into the sea, which fell in front of the ship and raised a wave that almost threw the ship back to shore. Pushing off the land with his pole, Odysseus shouted:

- Know, Cyclops, that you were blinded by the destroyer of cities, King Odysseus of Ithaca!

Flight of Odysseus from the island of Polyphemus. Artist A. Böcklin, 1896

Polyphemus prayed to his father, the god of the seas Poseidon, asking that Odysseus endure many misfortunes on his way home. The Cyclops threw another rock after the Greeks. This time she fell behind the stern of the ship, and the wave she raised carried Odysseus’s ship out to sea. Gathering the remaining ships around him, Odysseus left the island of the Cyclops. But the god Poseidon heard the request of his son Polyphemus and vowed to fulfill it.

Odysseus on the island of Aeolus

The heroes of the Odyssey soon arrived on the islands of Aeolus, the god-lord of the winds. Aeolus honored sailors for a whole month. Before they set sail on their further journey, he handed Odysseus a fur tied with a silver thread. In this fur, Aeolus placed all the stormy winds under his control, except for the gentle western Zephyr, which was supposed to carry the ships of Odysseus towards his native Ithaca. Aeolus said that Odysseus should not untie the silver thread on the bag before he sails home.

The journey became calm. Odysseus was already approaching Ithaca and could even discern the lights of the fires burning on it, but at that moment he fell asleep from extreme fatigue. Odysseus's companions, believing that Aeolus' bag contained rich gifts given to their leader, secretly untied the silver thread. The winds broke out and rushed home to Aeolus, driving Odysseus's ship ahead of them. The heroes of the Odyssey soon found themselves again on the island of Aeolus and began to ask him for help, but the angry god drove them away.

Odysseus and the Laestrygonians

For more details, see a separate article.

After leaving Aeolus, Odysseus sailed to the country of the terrible giants Laestrygonians. Like the Cyclopes, they were cannibals. Not yet knowing where they had been taken, the Greeks entered a bay with a narrow entrance, surrounded by sharp rocks, and moored at the place where the road approached the water. Odysseus himself, out of caution, did not bring his ship into the bay. He sent three people to find out what kind of island it was. Homer reports that these people met a huge maiden, who led them to the house of her father, the Laestrygonian leader Antiphatus.

Odysseus and the Laestrygonians. Wall painting from the end of the 1st century. BC

At the house, Odysseus's three companions were attacked by a crowd of giants. They ate one of them, the other two ran away. The cannibals rushing after them began throwing stones from the cliffs at the ships of Odysseus’s flotilla. All the ships standing at the edge of the land were destroyed. Having gone down to the shore, the Laestrygonians, like fish, strung the dead on stakes and carried them with them to be eaten. Odysseus barely escaped with a single ship standing outside the bay. Avoiding death, he and his comrades worked with oars as best they could.

Odysseus and the sorceress Circe

Rushing east across the sea, they soon reached the island of Ei, where the sorceress Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios, lived. On her father's side, she was the sister of the treacherous king of Colchis, Eetos, from whom the Argonauts mined the golden fleece. Like this brother of hers, like her niece Medea, Circe was skilled in witchcraft and did not like people. Odysseus's friend Eurylochus and 22 other people went to explore the island. In the center of it, in a wide clearing, they saw Circe's palace, around which wolves and lions roamed. The predators, however, did not attack the people of Eurylochus, but began to fawn over them, waving their tails. The Greeks did not know that these beasts were actually people bewitched by Circe.

Circe herself also came out to the Greeks and, smiling welcomingly, offered them a meal. Everyone agreed, except the cautious Eurylochus. He did not go to Circe’s house, but began to peek through the windows at what was happening there. The goddess set before the travelers delicious dishes with a magic potion added to them. Homer's poem reports that when the Greeks tasted it, Circe touched them with a magic wand, turned them into pigs and drove them into a pigsty with a malicious grin.

The crying Eurylochus returned to Odysseus and told about what had happened. Odysseus rushed to help his comrades. Along the way, the god Hermes appeared to him and gave him a remedy that could protect him from Circe’s witchcraft. It was a fragrant white moth flower with a black root. When Odysseus reached Circe's house, she invited him to the table. However, while eating her treat, the hero, on the advice of Hermes, smelled the magic flower all the time.

Circe hands Odysseus a cup of witchcraft potion. Painting by J.W. Waterhouse

Circe touched Odysseus with her staff with the words: “Go and roll in the corner like a pig.” But the witchcraft did not work. Odysseus jumped up and raised his sword over Circe. The sorceress began to beg for mercy, promising that she would treat Odysseus well and share his marital bed.

Odysseus and Circe. Greek vessel ca. 440 BC

Having taken an oath that Circe would not cause him any harm, Homer's hero lay down with her. He did not respond to Circe’s lovemaking until she removed her spell not only from his comrades, but also from all the sailors she had previously bewitched. Odysseus lived for a long time on the island of Circe. She gave birth to three sons from him: Agria, Latinus and Telegonus.

Odysseus descends into the kingdom of Hades

Longing for Ithaca and his wife Penelope, Odysseus nevertheless decided to leave Circe. She advised him to first visit the underground kingdom of the dead of the god Hades and ask the shadow of the famous soothsayer Tiresias of Thebes, who lives there, about his future fate in his homeland. Homer's poem describes how Odysseus and his companions, driven by a fair wind sent by Circe, sailed north, to the edge of the world, where a tribe of Cimmerians lives in thick fog and twilight. At the place where the underground rivers Cocytus and Phlegethon merge with the Acheron, Odysseus, on the advice of Circe, sacrificed a cow and a black ram to Hades and his wife Persephone. The souls of dead people immediately flocked to drink the sacrificial blood. On the advice of Circe, Odysseus had to drive away all the shadows with his sword until the soul of Tiresias of Thebes came to drink the blood.

The first to appear at the place of sacrifice was the shadow of Elpenor, Odysseus’s companion, who a few days ago drunkenly fell from the roof of Circe’s palace and fell to his death. Odysseus was surprised that Elpenor reached the kingdom of Hades faster than his comrades, who sailed there on a fast ship. Strictly following the words of Circe, Odysseus, overcoming his pity, drove the soul of Elpenor away from the blood of the slaughtered cow and ram. He even drove away from her the shadow of his own mother, Anticlea, who also flew to where her son stood.

Odysseus in the kingdom of Hades, surrounded by the shadows of his dead comrades

Finally Tiresias of Thebes appeared. Having drunk his fill of blood, he told Odysseus that the god Poseidon would cruelly persecute him for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Tiresias convinced Odysseus to do his best to keep his companions from kidnapping the bulls of the sun god Helios on the island of Trinacria (Sicily). He said that great troubles awaited Odysseus in Ithaca, but he would be able to take revenge on the thieves of his property. But even after returning to his homeland, Odysseus’s wanderings will not end. He must take a ship's oar and travel until he meets people who have never seen the sea. Where Odysseus' oar is mistaken for a shovel, his wanderings will end. There he should make a sacrifice to the propitiated Poseidon, and then return to Ithaca. Having lived there to a ripe old age, Odysseus will receive death because of the sea.

After listening to Tiresias, Odysseus finally allowed his mother to drink blood. Then the shadows of the dead wives and daughters of glorious heroes clung to her. According to Homer, Odysseus noticed among them the famous Antiope, the mother of Helen the Beautiful Leda, the wives of Theseus – Phaedra and Ariadne, as well as Eriphile - the culprit of the campaigns against Thebes of the Seven and epigones.

Odysseus also spoke with the souls of his deceased comrades in the Trojan War: Agamemnon, Achilles. Ajax Telamonides, who was unkind to him, did not engage in conversation and left in gloomy silence. Odysseus saw how the judge of the underworld passed sentences on the shadows of the dead Minos how to hunt Orion, Tantalus and Sisyphus suffer, and I saw the mortal soul of the great Hercules.

Before continuing to Ithaca, Odysseus returned to Circe's island. The sorceress warned the hero that he would have to swim past the island of sirens, bloodthirsty women with the body and legs of birds (some legends tell, however, that sirens had the body and tails of fish). With beautiful, enchanting singing, they lured sailors to their magical island and put them to a cruel death, tearing them into pieces. They say that the sirens were turned into birds by the goddess of love Aphrodite because these arrogant maidens did not allow anyone to take their virginity. In the meadow of their island, piles of human bones could be seen. Circe advised Odysseus to cover the ears of his men with wax so that they would not hear the sirens singing. If Odysseus himself wants to enjoy their beautiful singing, then let him order his companions to tie themselves tightly to the mast and not untie them, despite any requests.

Odysseus and the Sirens. Attic vase, ca. 480-470 BC.

Now Odysseus had to pass between two cliffs standing close in the middle of the sea waters, on which lived two disgusting monsters - Scylla and Charybdis. The huge Charybdis (“whirlpool”), the daughter of the god Poseidon, sucked up masses of water from her cliff three times a day and then spewed it out with a terrible noise. On the opposite rock lived Scylla, the daughter of the terrible monsters Echidna and Typhon. It was a monster with six terrible dog heads and twelve legs. Revealing the entire area with a heartbreaking screech, Scylla hung from her cliff, caught sailors passing by, broke their bones and devoured them.

Odysseus's ship between Scylla and Charybdis. Italian fresco from the 16th century

To escape from Charybdis, Odysseus directed his ship a little closer to the cliff of Scylla, which grabbed six of his companions with its six mouths. The unfortunate people, dangling in the air, stretched out their hands to Odysseus with screams, but it was no longer possible to save them.

Odysseus on the island of Helios Trinacria

Soon Trinacria (Sicily), the island of the sun god Helios, who grazed there seven herds of beautiful bulls and numerous flocks of sheep, appeared before the eyes of the sailors. Remembering the prophecies of Tiresias of Thebes, Odysseus took an oath from his comrades not to kidnap either a bull or a ram. But, according to Homer’s story, the Greeks’ stay on Trinacria was prolonged. A nasty wind blew for thirty days, food supplies were running out, and hunting and fishing yielded almost nothing. Once, when Odysseus fell asleep, his friend Eurylochus, tormented by hunger, persuaded his companions to slaughter several selected bulls, saying that in gratitude they would erect a temple to Helios in Ithaca. The sailors caught several bulls, slaughtered them and ate their fill of meat.

Waking up and learning about this, Odysseus was horrified. Helios complained to Zeus about the arbitrariness of travelers. When Odysseus' ship left Trinacria for the sea, Zeus sent a strong wind and struck the deck with lightning. The ship sank, and everyone who sailed on it, with the exception of Odysseus himself, drowned - as Tiresias of Thebes predicted in the kingdom of Hades. Odysseus somehow tied the mast and keel floating on the water with a belt and held on to them. He soon realized that the waves were carrying him to the Charybdis rock. Clinging to the roots of a fig tree growing on a cliff, he hung on them until Charybdis first swallowed the mast and keel with water, and then released them back. Grabbing the mast again and starting to row with his hands, Odysseus sailed away from the whirlpool.

Odysseus at Calypso

Nine days later he found himself at the island of Ogygia, the home of the nymph Calypso, covered with meadows of flowers and cereals. Calypso lived there in a huge cave overgrown with poplars, cypresses and wild grapes. The beautiful nymph greeted Odysseus, fed him and put him to bed with her. Soon she gave birth to twins Nausithos and Navsinoas from the navigator.

Odysseus and Calypso. Artist Jan Styka

For seven years Odysseus lived with Calypso on Ogygia. But he never stopped yearning for his native Ithaca and often spent time on the shore, looking out to sea. Finally, Zeus ordered Calypso to free Odysseus. Having learned about this, Odysseus tied the raft, said goodbye to the hospitable nymph and sailed to his homeland.

But the hero’s light ship was accidentally seen by his hater, the god Poseidon, riding across the sea on a winged chariot. Sending a huge wave onto the raft, Poseidon washed Odysseus overboard. The sailor barely swam to the surface and somehow climbed onto the raft again. Next to him, the merciful goddess Leukotea (Ino) descended from the sky in the form of a diving bird. In her beak she held a wonderful blanket, which had the property of saving those who wrapped themselves in it from death in the depths of the sea. Poseidon shook Odysseus's raft with a second wave of terrible height. Thinking that this time the hero could no longer escape, Poseidon went to his underwater palace. However, Leucothea's blanket prevented Odysseus from drowning.

Odysseus on the island of the Phaeacians

Two days later, completely weakened from the fight against the water element, he reached the island of Drepana, where the Phaeacian tribe lived. Here, on the shore, Odysseus fell into a deep sleep.

Odysseus at the court of the Phaeacian king Alcinous. Artist Francesco Hayez, 1814-1815

The next morning, Nausicaa, the daughter of the king and queen of the Phaeacians (Alcinous and Arete), came with her maids to the stream to wash clothes. After work, the girls began to play with the ball and screamed loudly when it fell into the water. This cry woke up Odysseus. Covering his nakedness with branches, he went out to the girls and with skillful speech aroused the sympathy of Nausicaä. The royal daughter took him to the palace, to her father and mother. King Alcinous listened to the story of Odysseus's travels, gave him gifts and ordered him to take the hero by sea to Ithaca.

The departure of Odysseus from the land of the Phaeacians. Artist C. Lorrain, 1646

Being already near his native island, Odysseus fell asleep again. The Phaeacians who were with him did not wake up the navigator, but carried him sleeping to the shore, placing Alcinous's gifts next to him. When the Phaeacians were returning by ship to their pier, Poseidon, angry at their help to Odysseus, struck the ship with his palm and turned it and its crew into stone. He began to threaten Alcinous that he would destroy all the ports on the island of the Phaeacians, covering them with the rubble of a large mountain.

Odysseus and the suitors

Return of Odysseus to Ithaca

Waking up in Ithaca, Odysseus walked away from the seashore and met along the way the goddess Athena, who took the form of a shepherd. Not knowing that Athena was in front of him, Odysseus told her a fictitious story, calling himself a Cretan who fled his homeland because of a murder and accidentally ended up in Ithaca. Athena laughed and revealed her true form to Odysseus.

The goddess helped the hero hide the gifts of King Alcinous in the grotto and made him unrecognizable. Odysseus's skin became covered with wrinkles, his head went bald, and his clothes turned into miserable rags. In this form, Athena took him to the hut of the servant of the kings of Ithaca, the faithful old swineherd Eumaeus.

The son of Odysseus and Penelope, Telemachus had recently gone to see Odysseus’s comrade-in-arms in the Trojan War, the Spartan king Menelaus. On the way back from the walls of Troy, Menelaus also underwent many adventures and misfortunes, and was even in Egypt. Telemachus asked Menelaus, who had recently returned home, if he had heard news of Odysseus somewhere.

In Ithaca, everyone thought that Odysseus was dead, and 112 noble young men from this and neighboring islands began to brazenly court his wife, Penelope. By marrying her, each of these young men hoped to obtain the local royal throne. The suitors hated Telemachus and were going to kill him when he returned from Sparta.

The suitors, Homer says, asked Penelope to choose one of them as her husband. At first she flatly refused, saying that her husband Odysseus was undoubtedly still alive. But the young men’s persuasion was very persistent, and Penelope outwardly agreed to choose a new husband. However, she said that she would do this only after she had woven a shroud in case of the death of Odysseus' old father, Laertes. For three years Penelope sat over the shroud. Staying faithful to her husband and deceiving her suitors, she weaved during the day, and in the evening she secretly unraveled all the work done during the day. Over the course of these three years, the suitors feasted in the palace of Odysseus: they drank his wine, slaughtered and ate his cattle, and plundered his property.

Having met a warm welcome from Eumaeus, Odysseus did not yet begin to reveal his real name to him and called himself a foreign wanderer. At this time, Telemachus returned to Ithaca from Sparta. The idea of ​​hurrying home was inspired by the goddess Athena. She brought Telemachus to the hut of Eumaeus, where his father was. During their meeting, Athena temporarily returned Odysseus to his former appearance, and the son and father recognized each other. Odysseus decided to act against the suitors by surprise and therefore did not allow Telemachus to tell anyone about who he was. Telemachus should not have even revealed his mother, Penelope, to this secret.

Once again taking on the image of a beggar tramp, Odysseus went to his house, where the suitors were feasting. Along the way, no one recognized him, and the rude goatherd Melanphius even attacked the rightful king of Ithaca with abuse. In the palace courtyard, Odysseus saw his faithful hunting dog, Argus, once strong and agile, but now dying of old age on a heap of manure. Having recognized the owner, Argus wagged his tail, moved his muzzle - and died.

Eumaeus led Odysseus into the hall where the feast of the suitors was taking place. Telemachus, who was present here, pretended that he did not know the stranger and affectionately invited him to the table. Continuing to pretend to be a beggar, Odysseus walked along the table, asking the suitors for scraps. But these greedy and arrogant young men unceremoniously drove him away. The most shameless of the suitors, Antinous, threw the bench on which he had previously placed his feet at Odysseus. The local beggar Ir, fearing that the stranger would now compete with him for the leftover food left by the suitors, began to drive Odysseus out of the hall. Trying to present himself as a brave man, Ir challenged Odysseus to a fist fight. The impudent Antinous, hearing this, laughed and promised to treat the winner of the fight with goat stomachs.

Odysseus took off the top part of his rags and went to Ira. Seeing the powerful muscles of Odysseus, the beggar was terribly scared. Odysseus knocked him to the ground with the first blow of his fist. Watching the clash between the two old tramps, the suitors died of laughter. Then they continued to feast, and in the evening they went home. When there was no one left in the hall, Odysseus ordered Telemachus to remove and hide the suitors’ weapons hanging on the walls in the storeroom.

Meanwhile, Penelope, having heard about a stranger who had come to her house, called him to her and asked if he had heard news about her missing husband Odysseus. Odysseus has not yet begun to open up to her, saying only that her husband is alive and should return soon. Penelope ordered Odysseus's old nurse, Eurycleia, to wash the wanderer's feet. Having brought water, Eurycleia suddenly saw an old scar familiar to her on Odysseus’ thigh. She screamed with joy and surprise, but Odysseus put his finger to her lips, making it clear that the time had not yet come to reveal his presence to Penelope.

The maid Eurycleia washes Odysseus's feet

The next day, the newly gathered suitors began noisily demanding that Penelope make the final choice and call one of them her husband. Penelope announced that she would marry someone who was strong enough to string the strong bow of her ex-husband Odysseus and shoot it so accurately that the arrow would fly through the holes in twelve axes. The bow in question was once given to Odysseus by Iphitus, the son of that hero Eurytus, who competed in shooting with Hercules himself. Several suitors tried to bend the bow, but were unable to. Telemachus could have done this, but Odysseus ordered him with a look to put the bow aside and took it up himself. Telemachus took his mother from the hall to the inner rooms, grabbed the bow, easily pulled it and shot accurately. The arrow he shot flew through the holes of twelve axes.

Odysseus stood with a bow and arrows at the entrance to the hall, and Telemachus stood next to him, holding a spear and sword. Having killed Antinous with the next shot, Odysseus told the suitors his true name. The suitors rushed to the walls for heavy weapons, but saw that they were not there. Most of them, however, had swords. Having exposed them, the suitors rushed at Odysseus, but he hit them with extraordinary accuracy with his arrows. Telemachus brought shields, spears and helmets from the storeroom for his father and his two faithful servants - Eumaeus and Philotius, who, recognizing the owner, stood next to him. One by one, Odysseus killed all the suitors except the herald Medon and the singer Phemius. Several palace maids were also killed, who were debauched with the suitors and helped them plunder the Odyssean property.

Massacre of the Suitors by Odysseus. From a painting by G. Schwab

Odysseus's litigation with the inhabitants of Ithaca

Homer goes on to tell how Odysseus went to Penelope, opened up to her and told her about his adventures. He also met his old father, Laertes. But in the morning, the rebels of Ithaca, relatives of Antinous and other dead suitors, approached the palace. Odysseus, Telemachus and Laertes engaged them in battle, which was stopped only by the intervention of the goddess Pallas Athena. The relatives of the murdered suitors began a legal battle with Odysseus, which was handed over to the decision of the son of the great Achilles, the Epirus king Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus decreed that Odysseus must leave Ithaca for ten years for the murders, and the heirs of the suitors must pay for this period to Telemachus for the damage caused to the royal property by the insolent men who wooed Penelope.

Odysseus's last journey and death

Later legends say that Odysseus decided to devote the years of his exile to appeasing Poseidon, who had not yet forgiven him for the murder of his son. On the advice he received, Odysseus set off to wander with an oar on his shoulder. His path lay through the years of Epirus. When the hero reached Thesprotia, far from the sea, local residents, who had never seen an oar, asked what kind of shovel he was carrying on his shoulder. Odysseus made a thanksgiving sacrifice to Poseidon and was forgiven by him. But the period of his exile from his native island has not yet expired. Not yet able to return to Ithaca, Odysseus married the queen of the Thesprots, Callidice. She bore him a son, Polypoit.

Nine years later, he inherited the Thesprotian kingdom, and Odysseus finally went to Ithaca, which was now ruled by Penelope. Telemachus left the island because Odysseus received a prediction that he would die at the hands of his own son. Death came to Odysseus, as Tiresias predicted, from across the sea - and indeed from the hand of his son, but not from Telemachus, but from Telegonus, whose son the hero betrothed with the sorceress Circe

Where did Odysseus sail to?

Where did Odysseus sail anyway? It turns out that there are many versions on this matter. More realistic researchers send their hero on a voyage along the coast of Greece or Italy, some with a passing current throw him into the Pont Euxine (Black Sea), and some even force him to swim to the country of fjords.

One of the most developed and even tested from personal experience is the hypothesis of the Irish traveler Tim Severin about the “Greek” route of Odysseus, but the version of the French scientist Robber Philippe, on the contrary, belongs to the realm of curious ones.

"Greek" version by Tim Severin

Tim Severin, a famous Irish traveler and explorer, personally tried to recreate the voyage of Odysseus, setting out on a voyage with a crew of 13 people on the 18-meter galley Argo.

In his opinion, Odysseus led his 12 ships northwest along the coast of Thrace. Ulysses' troubles began behind Cape Malea, the southeastern "fang" of the Peloponnese, jutting into the Cretan Sea. This is the last point to which one can trace his path, according to the Homeric text, according to geographical realities. The Greek proverb is very apt here: “When you go around Malea, forget about your home.”

From Malea, stormy winds rushed Odysseus south. “For nine days the damned winds drove me across a sea teeming with fish. But on the tenth day we arrived in the country of lot eaters.” Most scientists consider North Africa to be the habitat of lotivores. It is known that local residents ate “honey fruits,” which deprived people of the memory of their homeland. This narcotic plant was deciphered in different ways: hashish, jojoba, lotus lily or even an ordinary date.

Ten days of drifting on a galley is a realistic time to reach the coast of North Africa. At a speed of one and a half to two knots per hour, the north wind could wash them onto the coast of Cyrenaica in the territory of modern Libya. Stormy winds blowing in the Eastern Mediterranean knocked Ulysses off course, but at the same time the sun, stars and rough seas showed experienced sailors the direction of their drift. As soon as the weather improved, they could follow their own route back to Cape Malea and head home, as Greek sailors often did later when returning to Cyrenaica. Their path lay through Crete. It was there that Odysseus and his companions met the Cyclops.

The following observations confirmed, in Tim Severin's opinion, that they were on the right track. Firstly, the wild goats mentioned by Homer are still found in Crete. Secondly, stories about cannibal giants who supposedly still live on the island occupy an important place in local folklore, and an unwary traveler, spending the night in an unfamiliar village in a roadside house, risks becoming their victim. In many parts of the Aegean Sea and even off the coast of the Black Sea, pointing to huge boulders, sailors confidentially told the traveler: “These stones were thrown by the Cyclops.” And in Drakotes, which locals consider the place where Odysseus met the one-eyed giant, it was the same - the coastal boulders were allegedly thrown by an angry Polyphemus.

In addition to the Dracotes chain of caves, Tim Severin was shown another cave suitable for the legendary giants. In Sougia, on the southern coast of Crete, former partisan Kostas Paterakis and his brothers hid the Allies and their weapons from the German occupiers in a karst cavity known as the Cave of the Cyclops. In this cave alone they gathered up to a thousand sheep. The similarity of the cave with that described by Homer struck the traveler: “A huge rock fragment almost covered the entrance. The vaulted roof high above was smoked with the smoke of countless shepherds’ fires. Fresh water dripped from the ceiling into a container hollowed out from a log; there was also a pen lined with rough stones, where milked the sheep."

Odysseus's next stop was on the island of Aeolus, lord of the winds. According to Severin, the old pirate fortress of Grabuza in the northwestern corner of Crete most closely matches the Homeric description. “The rocks seem to have been built by man: The rays of the sun setting into the sea give the rocks such a characteristic rich red-brown hue” that one can recall the bronze wall encircling the island, which Homer described. In addition, Tim Severin found out that the ancient Greeks called the island of Grabuza Korikos, which translated meant “leather bag” - a reminder of the leather bag given by Aeolus to Odysseus with storms packed in it.

Next they found Laestrygonian Bay as the Argo headed north of Grabuza, following Ulysses, "if only he had chosen, as logic dictated, the shortest route home." As Homer narrates, there 11 ships of Ulysses entered the bay, closed on all sides by a continuous ring of steep rocks, and “at the entrance, two cliffs stood opposite each other, leaving only a narrow strait.” Not far from the ledge of the Mani Peninsula, the researchers came to the amazing Mehapos Bay. “Two rock masses blocked the entrance to a round reservoir, large enough for Odysseus’s galleys to fit there. Cliffs 30 meters high ominously hung over it: In the bay itself, it seemed, there was not enough air - it was closed, the air above it was stuffy and somehow... then lifeless."

After the attack of the Laestrygonians, Odysseus's galley reached the island of Aea, where the sorceress Circe lived. Severin believes that the key to unraveling the situation of the island of Aea is the episode when Circe sends Odysseus and his comrades to the kingdom of the dead, to the blind soothsayer Tiresias. After a day of sailing, they arrived at the mouth of the Acheron River. There they landed and climbed up the river to its confluence with the rivers Pyriphlegethon, the River of Blazing Fire, and Cocytus, the River of Lamentation. Here, at the foot of a huge rock, Odysseus makes a sacrifice and talks with the shadow of Tiresias. In the 2nd century AD, the Greek writer Pausanias noted that the area Homer had in mind was already on the Greek mainland. There was the Necromantheon, the Oracle of the Dead. Three miles inland from this town two streams flow into the river Acheron, which still bears that name. One of them, Cocytus, is now called Vauvos. The other, as described by local residents, used to phosphoresce, “rumble and echo,” like the real River of Blazing Fire.

If we proceed from the assumption that this is the place described by Homer, then Circe should have lived on the island of Paxos, one day's sail away. It is still a beautiful, small green island with the only source of drinking water.

Circe showed Odysseus the way home. First, he had to swim to the island of the Sirens, and then either go through the converging rocks, or slip through the narrow strait between Scylla and Charybdis. Tim Severin believes that the sorceress gave instructions to Odysseus on how to get to Ithaca, bypassing the island of Lefkada, located 24 miles south of the Acheron River. The first option is to sail in the open sea past the rocky islet of Sesula, which resembles converging rocks: it is a rock divided in two by a vertical crack about three meters wide, the flat walls of which go under water to a depth of about 30 meters. The second option is to make your way along the narrow strait between the island of Lefkada and the mainland, past Cape Scylla. Mount Lemiya, which means “monster”, rises above the strait; it also contains the cave mentioned in the poem. Charybdis can be a sandbank with rock outcropping to the surface, surrounded by foaming breakers.

Where did the sirens live then? According to Tim Severin, such a place is the northern tip of the island of Lefkada, where the town of Girapetra ("Rotating Rocks") now stands. The maps here show three ancient burial mounds, quite consistent with the accumulation of skeletons described by Homer.

Next, Odysseus landed on the island of Trinacria. Tim Severin believes that the prototype of this "Three Points" island is Meganisi. If you approach it from the north, you can see three hills standing one after the other.

The travelers were punished for the blasphemous murder and consumption of the divine herd. Their ship was broken by a storm, and Odysseus was driven by the current for nine days to the island of Ogygia, where he was to spend seven years with the nymph Calypso. According to Severinus, this island is the modern island of Ogygia.

Traditionally, the kingdom of the Phaeacians, which is the next destination on Odysseus’s journey, is considered to be the island of Corfu, and the Irish explorer does not offer other options. But he expresses doubt about the location of the kingdom of Odysseus itself and is inclined to attribute it to the southwestern coast, and not to the island of Ithaca.

"Atlantic" version by Robert Philippe

The route outlined above by Tim Severin was not only created by the mind of a scientist, felt by the heart of a romantic, but also physically lived in conditions close to those in which Odysseus was placed. And the version of the French scientist, deputy director of the School of Higher Sciences Robert Philippe was created “at the tip of his pen.”

Philip believes that Homer in the Odyssey combined not only two dramas - a man doomed by fate to suffer, and gods fighting among themselves - but also compiled the traditional ancient Greek "nostos" (the plot of returning to his homeland) with the more ancient Phoenician description Atlantic journey, overgrown with fantastic details in the Greek presentation. This “fouling” is due to the fact that for the Greeks the space already mastered by the Phoenicians was not “theirs”. The Phoenicians had long made trading expeditions from a base (possibly located in the Canary Islands) for tin to England and for gold to Sudan.

However, the route proposed by Robert Philippe is quite curious and only theoretically possible. It was born from a comparison of quotations from Homer with descriptions from gazetteers.

According to this version, Odysseus becomes a completely unprecedented traveler, since from the Canary Islands across the ocean he ends up in Portugal, and then drifts along the European coast, ending up first in Brittany, and then reaching Oslo itself!