Ancient Identifications
Ancient sources provide a wealth of interpretations of Odysseus' wanderings, with a complex range of traditions which affect one another in various ways. Broadly speaking there are two dominant trends. One is that of Euhemerist accounts, which re-wrote mythical stories without their fantastic elements, and were often seen as thereby recovering "historical" records. The other reflects the conventions of foundation myths, whereby stories of a city or institution being founded in the course of Odysseus' travels often came to have political significance.
Some identifications are common to both groups. The main distinctions between them are in how the identifications were passed down through the generations, and the uses to which they were put. The most standard identifications, which are rarely disputed in ancient sources, are
- land of the Cyclopes = Sicily
- land of the Laestrygonians = Sicily
- island of Aeolus = one or more of the Aeolian Islands off Sicily's north coast
- Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians = Corcyra (modern Corfu), off the west coast of Greece and Albania
- Ogygia, the island home of the nymph Calypso = Gaudos, modern Gozo, part of the Maltese archipelago.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of The Odyssey, Geography of Odysseus's Narrative
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