Ogygia, the mythical island

Overview

Ogygia is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey as the island of godess Calypso, where Odysseus was washed out after his ship sunk during a storm.

In his “De facie quae in orbe lunae apparet” Plutarch provides valuable information on the location of the island, while describing travel experiences in the “seas west of Britain”. Harold Cherniss in the Prologue of his translation of this work, comments:

In the dialogue as it stands the first speaker is Sulla. His chief function is to recount the myth which he mentions in the first extant words which occupies the final fifth of the work;... He [Sulla] is a Carthaginian...

The last part of the [dialogue’s] narration consists entirely of Sulla's myth in Sulla's own words; this myth, Sulla himself says, is a story told to him by an unnamed stranger, whom he quotes first indirectly and then directly to the end.

The stranger explained to Sulla how, from the continent on the other side of the Atlantic he came to the Isle of Cronus, one of several that lie westwards of Britain, and thence, after having served thirty years, travelled to Carthage where he met Sulla.

The excerpt of Sulla's narrative regarding the trip to the “great mainland” is as follows:

Well, I am but the actor of the piece, but first I shall say that its author began for our sake –if there be no objection– with a quotation from Homer: An isle, Ogygia, lies far out at sea, a run of five days off from Britain as you sail westward; and three other islands equally distant from it and from one another lie out from it in the general direction of the summer sunset. In one of these, according to the tale told by the natives, Cronus is confined by Zeus, and the antique, holding watch and ward over those islands and the sea that they call the Cronian main, has been settled close beside him. The great mainland, by which the great ocean is encircled, while not so far from the other islands, is about five thousand stades from Ogygia, the voyage being made by oar, for the main is slow to traverse and muddy as a result of the multitude of streams. The streams are discharged by the great land-mass and produce alluvial deposits, thus giving density and earthiness to the sea, which has been thought actually to be congealed. On the coast of the mainland Greeks dwell about a gulf which is not smaller than the Maeotis and the mouth of which lies roughly on the same parallel as the mouth of the Caspian sea. These people consider and call themselves continentals inhabitants of this land because the sea flows around it on all sides; and they believe that with the peoples of Cronus there mingled at a later time those who arrived in the train of Heracles and were left behind by him and that these latter so to speak rekindled again to a strong, high flame the Hellenic spark there which was already being quenched and overcome by the tongue, the laws, and the manners of the barbarians. Therefore Heracles has the highest honours and Cronus the second. Now when at intervals of thirty years the star of Cronus, which we call ‘Splendent’ but they, our author said, call ‘Night-watchman,’ enters the sign of the Bull, they, having spent a long time in preparation for the sacrifice and the , choose by lot and send forth in a correspondingly sufficient number of ships, putting aboard a large retinue and the provisions necessary for men who are going to cross so much sea by oar and live such a long time in a foreign land. Now when they have put to sea the several voyagers meet with various fortunes as one might expect; but those who survive the voyage first put in at the outlying islands, which are inhabited by Greeks, and see the sun pass out of sight for less than an hour over a period of thirty days, –and this is night, though it has a darkness that is slight and twilight glimmering from the west. There they spend ninety days regarded with honour and friendliness as holy men and so addressed, and then winds carry them across to their appointed goal. Nor do any others inhabit it but themselves and those who have been dispatched before them.

Geographic inconsistencies

Carefull reading of the passage, reveals some problematic situations regarding the geographic consitency of the narrartive.

Problem #1

According to the narrative, Ogygia is equidistant to three other islands, which are lying in the direction of the summer sunset (i.e. northwest) and are closer to a great mainland than Ogygia is.

In that great mainland, there is a gulf as big as Lake “Maeotis” (the present-day Azov Sea), whose mouth is at the same parallel as the “mouth of the Caspian Sea”, the mouth of the river Volga, which is the largest river mouth in the Caspian, lying at 46 o North.

According to the narrative, once at the islands adjacent to Ogygia, the travelers “see the sun pass out of sight for less than an hour over a period of thirty days, –and this is night, though it has a darkness that is slight and twilight glimmering from the west”.

But, this phenomenon can only be observed in latitudes around the Arctic Circle (at latitudes around 67 o north) during the summer months.

It cannot be observed at the latitudes of 46 o where the islands adjacent to Ogygia are supposed to be located, near the entrance to the gulf of the great mainland.

What could be wrong?

In Cherniss' translation (and other translations as well) the verb “ὁρᾶν” in the phrase “καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὁρᾶν κρυπτόμενον ὥρας μιᾶς ἔλαττον ἐφ' ἡμέρας τριάκοντα” is rendered as “they see”, i.e. at present tense, suggesting that “after” the surviving travelers have reached their destination, “then” they “see the sun hiding for less than an hour for thirty days”.

But the proper translation of the verb “ὁρᾶν” in the context of the passage should be “were seeing” (and not “see”). The historical present tense that Plutarch uses in the narration for achieving a dramatic effect is represented by the past tense in Modern Greek translation. The use of a past tense is further supported by the phrase “for thirty days”, which reflects a recurring fact in the past.

Also important for the understanding of this passage is the fact that a key punctuation mark (a raised dot) which is present in the original ( Parisinus-gre code 1672 ) was omitted. The use of the raised dot (the ancient Greek punctuation mark used as a colon or semicolon) before “καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὁρᾶν κρυπτόμενον” in the ancient text, signifies the transition from the meaning of the previous sentence to that of the next.

Thus, the the meaning of the phrase dramatically changes to: “the surviving travelers were seeing the sun hiding for less than one hour for thirty days”, suggesting “while they were traveling”, apparently at latitudes that this phenomenon can be observed, that is, near the Arctic Circle.

Problem #2

According to the narrative, Ogygia is five (5) days’ sail west of Britain.

But, this travel-time is incompatible with the fact that the travellers were travelling for at least thirty (30) days during which they “were seeing the sun hiding for less than one hour”.

What could be wrong?

Plutarch's work is currently preserved through two original manuscripts known as:

Parisinus-gre code 167 (Code-E) , dated back to the 14 h century
Parisinus-gre code 1675 (Code-B) , dated back to the 15 th century

The archetype from which the above copies were made is, according to Sofus Larsen , worn and damaged papyri of the 5 th or 6 th century AD. In the process of replication of the manuscripts it was common for the transcribers to make oversight or conscious interventions, due either to the bad condition of the originals or due to personal judgement. Thus, the possibility of a wrong transcription to “five” days of sail from Britain to the west cannot be ruled out.

But if the writing of “five” (“πέντε” in Greek) days is wrong, what word could be the right one? In our analysis we will consider the word “fifty” (“πεντήκοντα” in Greek) as the appropriate one, because:

Lexicographically, “fifty” is closely related to “five”. It could be that due to the poor condition of the prototype, only the first letter (“π ...”) of the word was readable, so the transcriber rewrote it as “πέντε” (five), because a trip of “πεντήκοντα” (fifty) days could sound impossibly long.
Fifty (50) days of sailing are geographically compatible with the requirements of the presumed trip as we shall see next.

The identification of Ogygia

The island that satisfies the geographical conditions described in Plutarch's text, is St. Paul at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada.

The conditions are examined ony by one in the following.

Travel path and time

Starting from Great Britain, presumably from the western coast of Ireland (point A), and following the ocean currents of the North Atlantic , travelers most likely sailed the route shown on the map ending in Ogygia (point O).

The total length of the route is 7,100km, and based on the assumption that a total of 50 days of sailing is required, the average speed is 142km per day, which is reasonable and compatible with the sailing performance of other sail trips of antiquity .

The section of the trip from B to C (orange part), between the parallels of 59 o (where in June the sun shines for 18 hours each day) and of 67 o (where the sun shines for 24 hours each day) is a total of 4,100km.

This distance, at a mean speed of 142km per day, would take 29 days to be travelled, which is very close to the 30 days of Sulla’s narrative, where he says that the sun was hidden for less than an hour a day.

The 30 days of sailing around the Arctic Circle account for 60% of the total journey time (based on the “fifty” days hypothesis), while at the same time that distance is 58% of the total.

The correspondence of the ratios, which is probably not coincidental, reinforces the initial assumption of the number of “fifty” required days of sailing: The relationships based on both the distance of the estimated route and the required travel time are totally compatible.

Surrounding islands

“three other islands equally distant from it and from one another lie out from it in the general direction of the summer sunse”

St. Paul (Ogygia) is equidistant from three islands which are also equidistant to each other, lay to its northwest and are closer to the great mainland:

Magdalen
Entry
Brion

An alternative, equally qualifying option for these three islands could be:

Anticosti
Magdalen
Prince Edward

Towards the great mainland

“In one of these [islands], according to the tale told by the natives, Cronus is confined by Zeus, and the antique , holding watch and ward over those islands and the sea that they call the Cronian main, has been settled close beside him. The great mainland, by which the great ocean[*] is encircled...”

[*] The original text refers to “θάλαττα”, sea, not ocean, and this presumably refers to today's Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is encircled by the great mainland. This sea was called Cronian (“πέλαγος”, in the original text).

“On the coast of the mainland Greeks dwell about a gulf which is not smaller than the Maeotis and the mouth of which lies roughly on the same parallel as the mouth of the Caspian sea”

Today's St. Lawrence River mouth (depicted in cyan) is at the 49 º north parallel, that is, a mere 3 º norther than the latitude of the Caspian mouth which is at the 46 º north parallel (shown in magenta).

The area of this “bay” is about 29,000 km 2 , roughly the same as the size (area) of Lake Maeotis (today’s Azov Sea), which is about 27,000 km 2 .

“The great mainland, by which the great ocean is encircled, while not so far from the other islands, is about five thousand stades from Ogygia, the voyage being made by oar, for the main is slow to traverse and muddy as a result of the multitude of streams. The streams are discharged by the great land-mass and produce alluvial deposits, thus giving density and earthiness to the sea, which has been thought actually to be congealed.”

St. Paul (Ogygia) is at a distance of about 980km from the great mainland, along the route depicted in the map in yellow, which is very close to the “approximately 5,000 Stadia” (925km). On the way to the bay of the great mainland, the sea has indeed a lot of sediments from mainland rivers that empty into the St. Lawrence River mouth.

The cave of Cronus

“In one of these [islands], according to the tale told by the natives, Cronus is confined by Zeus...

...For Cronus himself sleeps confined in a deep cave of rock that shines like gold –the sleep that Zeus has contrived as a bond for him–, and birds flying in over the summit of the rock bring ambrosia to him, and all the island is suffused with fragrance scattered from the rock as from a fountain.”

The cave in which “Cronus is condemned to sleep, which is made of a rock that shines like gold" fits well with the caves of Cap-aux-Meules on the Magdalen islands, which today are a tourist attraction.

The rocks of the cave and of the whole area are quartz, covered with a thin layer of iron oxide, which gives them a strong, golden red color.

Areas inhabited by Greeks

“On the coast of the mainland Greeks dwell about a gulf which is not smaller than the Maeotis and the mouth of which lies roughly on the same parallel as the mouth of the Caspian sea. These people consider and call themselves continentals inhabitants of this land because the sea flows around it on all sides; and they believe that with the peoples of Cronus there mingled at a later time those who arrived in the train of Heracles and were left behind by him and that these latter so to speak rekindled again to a strong, high flame the Hellenic spark there which was already being quenched and overcome by the tongue, the laws, and the manners of the barbarians. Therefore Heracles has the highest honours and Cronus the second.”

According to Sulla's narrative, the areas inhabited by Greeks include the three islands the areas around today's St. Lawrence River mouth and some land which is encircled by the sea, presumably today's Nova Scotia, which looks like an island as it is connected to the mainland through a narrow strait, Chignecto.

Modern Ogygia

What is Ogygia today? It is a virtually uninhabited (the lighthouse keeper being its only resident) and hard-to-access island, known as the island of St. Paul .

If we were to choose a single phrase to describe the main characteristic of the island, it would be “ the graveyard of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ”, a name that has been attributed to it because of the large number of shipwrecks that have occurred in the area: almost every spot on its coastline has the name of a wreck that has happened there.

Reports from early explorers characterize the island as follows:

The situation of this island, in the very entrance of the great thoroughfare leading from the Atlantic to the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, together with the abrupt nature of its shore and the depth of the sea around, admitting a ship to run her jib boom against the cliff before she strikes the bottom; the frequent fogs and tempestuous weather; the uncertain currents; and, at the opening of the navigation of the St. Lawrence, the large bodies of ice; all these circumstances combine with the inaccuracy of many of the charts in general use, to render the island of St. Paul probably the most dangerous to shipping that is to be found on the coast of British America. It has been the scene of innumerable wrecks since the first settlement of the colonies, many, perhaps most of which, are only told by the relics strewed upon the rocks. So constant are these disasters, that it is the custom of the inhabitants of Cheticamp [a French settlement on the north-west coast of Cape Breton] to visit the island regularly every spring for the purpose of collecting the spoil. The destruction of life and property on this fatal spot has been incalculable.

It should be of no surprize then, that Odysseus also shipwrecked on this island!

But, how did Odysseus end-up in Ogygia? Did he really get lost in the seas? Or is it that he intentionally visited the Greek colonies that Plutarch is talking about?

And why Calypso, a daughter of Atlas, chose to live in Ogygia?

These are discussed in subsequent tales, The journey of Odysseus and Plato's Atlantis .