Greece
“The Journey is its own reward” – Homer
Homer’s Odyssey is arguably the most enduring travel narrative in history. Odysseus’s journey from Troy to Ithaca took ten years, and a lot of monsters had to be dealt with along the way.
Bear and I are following a segment of Odysseus’s fictional journey, from Athens on the Attica Peninsula, to the Island of Crete. Over the next two weeks, we hope to replicate some of his adventures, while keeping a safe distance from monsters.
Bear will play the role of Penelope, the long-suffering wife of Odysseus.
Penelope endured 108 boorish suitors while her husband travelled for ten years.
I am Odysseus, King of Ithaca, lost and presumed dead.
Homer wrote Odyssey in the 8th century BC. The epic poem describes Odysseus’s 10-year homeward journey after the Trojan War.
Odyssey is centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which was most of the known world at the time.
Homer was a man of his times. The Odyssey is a male-dominated, hero-adoring, multiple God-worshiping, fighting, fornicating poem. It is filled with adventure, mysticism, romance, and feats of conquest.
Some of the people and places mentioned in Odyssey are historical, most are fiction.
Bear and I hope to visit some of the places mentioned, and meet the characters, both real and imagined. Here are a few creatures we hope to encounter, or not….
Odysseus sailed on a river that encircled the world, where the living can speak with the dead.
Odysseus met Okeanos who enabled him to speak to his mother and soldiers who had died in battle.
On the mythical island of Ogygia, Odysseus and his soldiers encounter Calypso, a “voluptuous lady in an other-worldly paradise”.
Calypso was a beautiful nymph who kept Odysseus captive for seven years as her lover.
I don’t know what Odysseus’s Penelope said about his time spent with Calypso, but I know what my Penelope would say.
On the island of Aeaea, the Goddess Circe turned Odysseus’s men into pigs.
Giant cannibals, “Laestrygonians”, were a deadly threat on Odysseus’s journey home.
The man-eating giants consumed many of his men and destroyed 11 of Odysseus’s 12 ships.
Odysseus encountered the Cyclops, Polyphemus on another unidentified island. The Cyclops barricaded Odysseus in a cave for several days. Odysseus was able to trick the giant and blind him to escape.
There is no mention in the poem of what two naked men and a sheep did while they were trapped in the cave.
Polyphemus’s father was Poseidon, God of the Sea. He was enraged when he discovered that Odysseus had blinded his son. Poseidon took revenge by blowing Odysseus’s ship off course.
The ship was rerouted between two legendary sea monsters, a whirlpool called Charybdis and a multi-headed monster named Scylla.
The phrase “between Scylla and Charybdis” has evolved into a metaphor for being caught between two equally perilous options, where avoiding one danger leads to another. It is similar to “between the lesser of two evils”, “between a rock and a hard place”, “on the horns of a dilemma”, or “between the devil and the deep blue sea”.
In one episode, Odysseus is forced to sail past Sirens, female humanlike beings with alluring voices. The Siren’s sound was so compelling sailors were lured to their death by following it.
Odysseus survived a Siren call by tying himself to the mast of his ship.
Police and firetruck alarms are called sirens because French engineer Charles Cagniard de la Tour named his 1819 invention after the mythical Greek Sirens. They were known for their enchanting, loud, and dangerous calls, which la Tour likened to his device’s piercing, attention-grabbing sound.
I am torn between continuing to write this narrative and going out and having some adventures of our own. Greek mythology is compelling, but so is the natural beauty of the Mediterranean. No matter which I choose it is difficult to abandon the other.
You could say that I am …
… Between Skyla and a Hard Place.
Thank you for joining Penelope and me on our Grecian Odyssey. There will be WellWaterBlog posts most mornings of our journey.
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Autumn Downey
This is fun, Russ. I loved Greek mythology and even knew a lot of it at one time. Did you also have that little book in high school about Odysseus wanderings? And always wanted to go to Greece. Thanks for this.
Russ Paton
Thanks Autumn. The Heroes and Deities of Greece are a magnified reflection of ourselves, for better or worse. Thank you for joining the trek.
Gervais
With, if the pictures are to be believed, a lot of rather gorgeous naked women! I’m sure Penelope has views on this 😉
Russ Paton
There are many young Greek Adonis’s as well. Penelope approves.