Homer's dual narrative

Overview

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?

Before attempting to provide a possible answer, let's review the most prominent cases of dual place references in the Odyssey.

A dual reference to Ithaca

As is presented in this story of the series, the Homeric narrative regarding the trip of Telemachus to Pylos, leads to two interpretations for the placement of Ithaca: a first one that places it in the Ionian Sea , involving just a day’s sail, and a second one that places Ithaca in the middle of the Atlantic, involving a journey of 30 days.

A dual reference to Crete

As is presented in the story of Odysseus journey , the Homeric narrative speaks of two islands named Crete at the same time: one in the Aegean Sea , an another one within the “dark wine sea” which is identified with the Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

A dual reference to Euboea

On the last evening of Odysseus' stay in Scheria, Alcinous praises the naval capacities of the Phaeacians. As a notable example, he mentions the transport of Rhadamanthus to “distant Euboea” [Od 7.317] which is described as “those of our people who saw it,” and “as they say is the furthest of lands,” implying that probably not many have seen it as it is located too far away. Therefore, most likely it is not the well-known Euboea of the Aegean Sea, the island mentioned by Menelaus while recounting to Telemachus the story of his return trip from Troy [Od 3.17].

A dual reference to Solymi

On the 18 th day , of Odysseus sail from Ogygia to Scheria, the mountains of the island of the Phaeacians began to be visible on the horizon, but he was spotted by Poseidon “from the mountains of Solymi” [ Od 5.282 ].

So, Poseidon is returning presumably to Mount Olympus moving from south to north, and sees Odysseus beyond he mountains of Solymi which were located in Pisidia of Asia Minor. However, as Strabo points out:

“Homer probably is not referring to them but rather he invents a people of the same name whom he depicts as occupying the same position relatively to the sailor on his raft and the people to the south of him (who would be the Ethiopians) as the Pisidians occupy relatively to the Pontus and to the Ethiopians that lie beyond Egypt” [ Geographica, I.2.28 ]

A possible scenario of the “parallel route” that Homer created is this: Poseidon’s approach from the land of the Ethiopians can be understood both from the east side of Africa (the right magenta arrow) as well as from the west side (left magenta arrow), since the Ethiopians are said to have lived across the African continent from the east to the west coasts.

Being somewhere in the position of the left arrow, Poseidon could “see” Odysseus beyond the Atlas Mountains, which is perhaps those that the poet renames to “Solymi Mountains”, thus achieving the topological parallelism to which Strabo refers, i.e. as from the view of the right arrow he could “see” someone in the Pontus beyond the mountains of (real) Solymi of Pisidia.

What all the above examples have in common is a dual reference to “known” places with some places in the realm of the “unknown”, resulting in ambiguous narrations with perhaps even misleading readings. So, what was the reason for this tactic?

A potential explanation

A hint to an answer perhaps comes from the “confession” of Apollonius Rhodius ' in his Argonautica while describing the visit of the Argonauts to the island of Electra at the beginning of their journey, where they were initiated in the Mysteries of the Cabeiri:

“At evening on Orpheus' instructions, they put in at the island of Electra, Atlas' daughter, so that by learning secret rites through gentle initiations they might sail more safely over the chilling sea. Of these things, however, I shall speak no further, bur bid farewell to the island itself and the local divinities, to whom belong those mysteries of which I am forbidden to sing” [ Argon. 1.915-921 ]

Therefore, Apollonius explicitly states that he is not allowed to talk about the initiation rituals of the Mysteries, which aimed to educate the initiated of the ways to survive the dangers of the sea, part of which, we can suppose, would be the transfer of knowledge of the sea routes.

The information on the sea routes and sea-faring was, as it seems, extremely valuable, and was revealed only to those who had gone through an initiation process and ritual.

The same can be inferred in two more cases:

Heracles had to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries to learn the way to Hades, and he learned the route to the Garden of the Hesperides directly from the sea god Nereus .
Odysseus, had also been initiated and, therefore, was knowledgeable of the sea routes as can be inferred from the incident in which he received help from Leucothea as he was fighting with the waves just before landing in Scheria.

The rationale of a dual narrative

In such a context of protecting the secrets of the sea routes, a behaviour which can reasonably be assumed to have prevailed over time, we can infer that in the Odyssey Homer chose his own way to preserve secrecy, i.e. that of using a “dual description”. Using this technique, he was able to inform his audience of real events that took place in the Atlantic, while at the same time not revealing any “secrets” as at a first reading, the events seem to take place within the geographical context of the Mediterranean, fitting well to the common geographic knowledge of the vast majority of the audience.

Starting from the “known”...

In order to define the geographic framework of the Odyssey for the “first reading” in a way that would set the whole scene in the “well-known” area of the Aegean, Ionian, Adriatic and eastern Mediterranean familiar to his audience, Homer carefully chose the references for the starting point and the final destination of the trip.

As a starting point, the connection with the Iliad was very reasonable and convenient: Odysseus departs from Troy in Asia Minor and passes through “known areas” like Maleas and Cythera on his way to Ithaca.

Although the placement of Troy in Asia Minor is challenged in another story, it was (and still is) the commonly believed location of the legendary city, that is, there, where the audience would expected it to be.

...into the realm of the “unknown”

The sequel is continued with visits to the Lotus-eaters, the Cyclopes, the Laestrygonians, the distant island of Circe, Hades, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the islands of Thrinacia and Ogygia, and then of the Phaeacians. For the majority of the audience, most of these places –if not all– probably existed only in the realm of their imagination.

When Homer wants to pass from the “known” areas to the “unknown”, it is done with various stratagems, such as the ambiguity of “we found ourselves beyond Cythera ”.

...and back to the “known” again

As a final destination, Homer again chose a “well-known” place, Ithaca, which also has “known” islands around it, such as Zacynthos and Same, which could be normally identified with islands of the Ionian Sea, and the island of Dulichium, which could perhaps also be identified by the audience with one of the adjacent islands.

This particular choice of Ithaca seems to have been made on purpose: It is probably the only one among the Greek islands that meets the specifications for the dual narrative of events that took place in the “ Atlantic Ithaca ” in a way that at “first reading” sound to have taken place in the Ionian Ithaca:

The Ionian region has a high rainfall rate that is closer to the profile of the Azorean islands, where the humid oceanic climate prevails.
The islands around Ionian Ithaca have similar features to those of the islands around the Atlantic Ithaca (Kephallenia for example, with its high mountain of Ainos, would justify the name “Same”)
The location and distance of Ithaca from the Peloponnese fits the distances that were required for the “first reading” of Telemachus's journey to Pylos .
Ionian Ithaca is located at exactly the same latitude (38.5° N) as the Atlantic Ithaca.

According to Strabo , Eratosthenes had interpreted this dual writing of Homer as an attempt to account for events in the Atlantic, a view which he allegedly abandoned later due to the lack of sound knowledge of the western regions:

“Eratosthenes himself had a suspicion of this, for he says one may suppose that the poet wished to place the wanderings of Odysseus in the far west, but abandoned his purpose, partly because of his lack of accurate information, and partly because he had even preferred not to be accurate but rather to develop each incident in the direction of the more awe-inspiring and the more marvelous” [ Geographica I.2.19 ]

At the same time Strabo, was pretty confident that the Odyssey takes place in the Atlantic:

“For Homer says ‘Now after the ship had left the river-stream of Oceanus’; and ‘In the island of Ogygia where is the navel of the sea’, also going on to say that the daughter of Atlas lives there; and again, regarding the Phaeacians, ‘Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us’. Now all these incidents are clearly indicated as being placed in fancy in the Atlantic Ocean” [ Geographica I.2.18 ]

Indeed, Homer provides us, in great detail, with clues for a “second reading”, that reveals the Atlantic geography of the narrative:

The hint that Eumaeus’s home island was located at the “turning places of the sun” , i.e. around the Tropic parallel, leads unambiguously to a region outside the Mediterranean, and in particular, to the island cluster of the Canaries.
The descriptions of the phenomena of “l ong days ” and “ continuous night ” refer without a doubt to areas at the latitudes of the Arctic Circle.
The explicit references to ocean navigation via the ocean currents ( towards Hades , returning to Circe's island ) clearly refer to a trip in the Atlantic Ocean.
The testimony of the time needed to travel from Ithaca to the Peloponnese through both an explicit reference to thirty days , and the masterfully-directed plot for the return trip of Telemachus from Pylos places Ithaca outside of the Ionian, and in fact outside of the Mediterranean.