Map of Odysseus' Journey

Odysseus' journey does not map with certainty onto any known geography. Homer doesn't specify exact locations. This has not stopped Homer's readers, ancient as well as modern, from attempting to reconstruct his travels by real world landmarks in the Mediterranean -- and it won't stop us! While the map produced here should be used with this caveat, it will give a useful guide to keeping his wanderings straight, and a workable approximation of the physical template onto which Homer and his audience might have projected the hero's travels. We can be relatively sure that Homer's audience of sea-faring traders would have done a similar exercise, trying to match Odysseus' travels with their own experiences in the Mediterranean. Read books 8-13 carefully, and gather as much empircal data as you can. Try to produce your own rough map of Odysseus' journey. If you find evidence that argues against the map produced here, please feel free to produce it.

Interactive Map of Odysseus' Route

This is a larger, interactive version of the static map below. It is graphically intensive (may require some time to load on low-bandwidth connections) and requires a JavaScript-capable browser. 800x600 resolution or greater is recommended.

Launch Interactive Map

Static Map of Odysseus' Route

For reference and review

Legend: 1 Troy 9 Underworld 2 Cicones 10 Sirens 3 Lotus Eaters 11 Scylla and Charybdis 4 Cyclopes 12 Helios 5 King Aiolos 13 Calypso 6 King Aiolos (again) 14 Phaeacians 7 Laistrygonians 15 Ithaca 8 Circe

Alternate Map

This map was scanned from another scholar's attempt to reconstruct the journey. Click on the map for a larger version to see the captions and text. Note the rather wide variation from the map suggested above. Source: A.A.M. Van Der Heyden and H. H. Scullard, eds. Atlas of the Classical World (New York: Nelson, 1959)

Timeline of Relevant Events