Atlantic Tales of the Ancient Greek Literature © 2018-2025 Manolis Koutlis, PhD

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Atlantic Tales of the Ancient Greek Literature

Thousand years old stories that remained in the shadow of Mythology

Overview

Plutarch, Homer, Hesiod, Apollonius Rhodius and other classic writers provide in their works, detailed descriptions of heroic voyages like the Argonauts , Cronus , Heracles and Odysseus to areas “beyond the ocean”. The details in their narratives are striking. Is it that these are just poetic descriptions, or do they refer to real voyages that were frequently conducted? And if this is so, who had this knowledge? With geographic analysis as the main vehicle, various tales of the Ancient Greek Literature, are placed on the modern map. The result bears surprises and unexpected relationships, offering new, alternative readings.

Disclaimer

Note: the claims presented in this series of tales are not accepted by mainstream academia since they oppose established views and the status quo. All claims are supported by adequate argumenation and it is up to the reader to judge their validity.

Tales

  • Ogygia, the mythical island. Ogygia was the island of godess Calypso, and one of the stops of Odysseus during his long journey. Plutarch in his “De facie in orbe lunae” offers valuable information on the location of this mythical island.
  • The journey of Odysseus. Homer’s Odyssey, the “greatest tale ever told” according to a BBC poll in 2018, follows the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus, in the aftermath of the Trojan War, until he returned to his home island of Ithaca. The commonly accepted view is that his whole journey took place in the Mediterranean. The alternative interpretation presented here, places the whole narrative in the Atlantic.
  • The dual Homeric Ithaca. Although the prevailing belief that the island of Ithaca mentioned in the Odyssey is today’s homonymous island in the Ionian sea , it is also commonly acknowledged among scholars that the geography of the island and the cluster of islands around it do not fit the Homeric descriptions, and no satisfying theory has yet been proposed regarding the identification of the Homeric Ithaca. Faial of the Azores, the landing island of Odysseus journey, fits perfectly to the descriptions of the Odyssey.
  • Troy and the Trojan War. Homer's Illiad, tells of the story of the war waged by the Achaeans (Greeks) against the city of Troy, which according to the prevailing view is palced in northwest Asia Minor. But, careful geographic analysis of the epic renders this placement invalid, counter proposing a radically new candidate for the battlefield of the Trojan war: Truro of today's Nova Scotia in Canada.
  • Homer's dual narrative. The Odyssey seems to intentionally bear some parallel references to “well-known” places, with places in the realm of the “unknown”, the interpretation of which is left to the audience, resulting in ambiguous narrations with even misleading readings. The reasonable question is of course: What was the reason for this “game”? What purpose did it serve?
  • The journey of the Argonauts. The tale of Jason and the “noble” ship Argo, as Homer calls it, was a well known epic even before the Odyssey and the Illiad. The established tradition places the journey of the Argonauts in the Black Sea towards Colchis, in today's Georgia, with a variety of versions regarding their return trip (with notable exception the version of Henriette Mertz). The alternative interpretation presented here, places the narrative in the Atlantic.
  • The oceanic streams by Plato. A geographic interpretation of the four streams that Plato describes in his dialogue “Phaidon”.
  • Plato's Atlantis. Plato, in his dialogues “Timaeus” and “Critias” provides valuable information about the legendary island of Atlantis which was eventually sunk. Geographic interpretation of the original text, combined with geological studies and other information provided in this series of tales, leads to the conclusion that Atlantis was once located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with Magdalen being the remnants of this legendary island.
  • Heracles' journeys. In at least two of his “labours”, Heracles , either being one person or many, visited today's Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. In all cases, he sought advice regarding the secret travel routes, and then he crossed the Ocean.
  • Walrus, a misinterpreted animal. In various texts of the Ancient Greek literature there are references to «εἰλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς», animals which are typically interpreted as cattle with “spiral horns” and with “rolling in their gait”. But, the descriptions of these animals point to walrus, rather than cattle, whose habitat is solely in the Atlantic.
  • An Atlantic Achaean league?. Homer uses the term Achaeans as a generic term for Greeks throughout the Illiad. Could the toponyms “Achada”, “Archadia”, “Acadia”, and others around the Atlantic be a corruption of the name “Achaea”?
  • The birth of god Hermes. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes tells the story of the first day and first night of the birth of the god in Kyllene, where among other deeds, he steals the “cattle” of his brother god Apollo, leading them from Pieria to Pylos. According to the commonly accepted view, the narrative takes place in the region of Greece. Carefull geographic analysis though, reveals that the narrative relates to the region of Trøndelag in Norway.
  • Footprints of the ancient Greek colonies in North America. Εven today, “footprints” of the ancient Greek colonies in the north American continent can be traced in:
    • toponyms of the maps drawn by the early Catholic missionaries
    • Indian tribe names and in their god-names
    • the knowledge and use of medicinal plants by the natives
    • the naming of celestial constellations by the natives
    • other linguistic aspects