❖ About this map

The poem. Odysseus’ wanderings are told as a flashback at the Phaeacian court — the Apologoi, Books 9–12 — framed by Books 1–8 and the homecoming in 13–24. This map follows his route in story order.

The ground truth. Troy (Hisarlik) is excavated and widely accepted. Scheria = Corfu and Thrinacia (“three-cornered”) = Sicily were already identified in antiquity — Thucydides says so. Circe at Monte Circeo, the Sirens at Li Galli, the Laestrygonians at Formiae and Hades’ gate at Lake Avernus are Greco-Roman traditions. The Lotus-Eaters on Djerba follows Herodotus’ Libyan Lotophagi. The open-sea stretches are, deliberately, unchartable.

The skeptic’s view. The geographer Eratosthenes (3rd c. BC) said you’d find Odysseus’ route “when you find the cobbler who sewed the bag of the winds.” He’s right — and it hasn’t stopped sailors, scholars, and filmmakers from trying for 2,700 years.

Quotes. Adapted from Samuel Butler’s 1900 prose translation (public domain), with book-and-line references.

Credits. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. Built with Leaflet. Fonts: Cinzel & Cormorant Garamond.