|
The Odyssey |
||
|
'As geographers,
Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they
do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect, that beyond
this lies nothing but the sandy deserts full of wild beasts,
unapproachable bogs, Scythian ice, or a frozen sea.'
Book I Map 1 : the places mentioned by grey-eyed Athene in her advice to Telemachus concerning where he should go to enquire about his father, great Odysseus (Pylos to visit aged Nestor and Sparta to visit brown-haired Menelaus), the island home of Mentes (Taphos), and the area from which the adjective 'Argive' derives.
There are different ideas about the location of Ithaca. Some commentators identify Ithaca with Zacynthos (Same). Book III Map 1 : showing the places mentioned by horse-proud Nestor in his description of the return of his fleet from the siege of Troy (Lemnos, Tenedos, Lesbos, Psyria, Chios, Mount Mimas, Euboea and Geraestus), and the area from which great-hearted Achilles' Myrmidons originated (Phthia).
Map 2 : showing places visited by Telemachus (Pylos, Therae, Lacedaemia, Sparta), other places mentioned by Nestor, the Gerenian horse-lover, in his account of his journey home from the siege of Troy (Sunium and Malaea), the area of Crete where half of famous Menelaus' fleet was destroyed according to Nestor, son of Neleus, (Phaestus and Gortys), the place where Gerenian Nestor avoided the slaughter of his brothers by Heracles (Gerenia), the possible location of the Caucones (Elis and Messenia) and the home of Idomeneus (Crete).
Book V Map 1 : the location of the island of Phaeatia and the mountain (Pierus) referred to in the description of the flight of Hermes' of the gold rod.
Map 2 : the haunts of the earth-shaker Poseidon (Aegium, Euboea, Lycia and Solymi) and the location of the place of birth of chaste Artemis and royal Apollo (Delos / Ortygia), where the poet says Orion died.
Book VI Map 1 : the mountains of Taygetus and Erymanthus, where arrow-loving Artemis likes to chase wild boar or flying stags with her rout of nymphs, moving carelessly beautiful among them all where all are beautiful.
Book VII Map 1 : Marathon and Athens, where Athene, goddess of the limpid eyes, flew from Phaeatia (Scheria), leaving the wily Odysseus at the door of wise Alcinous' palace.
Book VIII Map 1 : the Delphic Oracle, most holy Pytho, location of the shrine to Phoebus Apollo.
Book IX Map 1 : the city in Thrace which Odysseus sacked on his way back from the siege of Troy (Ismarus), and the point Odysseus reached on his way back before being blown off course (Cape Maleia, Cythera). The location of the Lotus Eaters is pure speculation and belongs to mythography rather than geography.
|
||
