Tiresias and the Underworld

We decided against searching for Tiresias, the blind prophet, somewhere at Oceanus which was beyond the Pillars of Hercules, todays Gibraltar, as it required changing our southern course towards the Aeolian Islands.   

Odysseus though reached the Underworld, met Tiresias, and performed the rite Circe taught him, pouring fresh ram's blood on the ground. Tiresias the blind prophet was not the only shade Odysseus encountered in the Underworld, as he spoke to the ghosts of his fallen comrades, including Achilles and Agamemnon.  He also saw Minos, the great king, dispensing judgment; and Tantalus, forever hungering for food just out of reach; and Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again.

Two sets of myths revolve around the cause of Tiresias blindness. The most prevalent one was that the goddess Athena blinded him when he saw her bathing naked.  The other myth states that Zeus called up Tiresias, to mediate on an argument he had with Hera about who was most pleasured during an erotic act - a man or a woman. Tiresias, a man who also lived as a woman for seven years, stated that women experience more pleasure agreeing with Zeus. This angered Hera, who in return blinded him.  Zeus felt badly and gave Tiresias the gifts to prophesize and that of a long life that lasted seven generations. 

While in the Underworld the ghost of Tiresias revealed to Ulysses that Poseidon was angry with him but gave him advice and directions on how to get home to Ithaca safely.  As we did not meet Tiresias we had to rely on ancient and modern navigation methods to find our way and reach our destinations, which I will describe in a future post.  But first we had to sail by the Sirens!

Circe’s Island

Somewhere in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea the morning after the storm, we had to either head east to Αια (Greek) also called Cabo Circeo or change course and head south towards the Aeolian Islands. In Odyssey, Ulysses landed on Circe’s island, which according to Srabo was south of Rome.  Cabo Circeo on the west coast of Italy is a small promontory which when approached from the sea looks like an island.  Unlike Odysseus’s who had lost most of his crew to the Laestrygonians, and were sailing with heavy hearts, we were elated as we had survived the storm and had lost only one man to an unknown virus.

As all four of us on Vol de Nuit were of Greek decent and had studied the Odyssey at school, we were aware of the difficulties Odysseus’ men had from their encounter with the beautiful and godly attractive Circe.  Had we succumbed to human weaknesses and vices, imprudent decisions, could have us entangled in Circe’s charms.  Homer tells that Circe (Greek: Κίρκη), the daughter of the Sun God, Helios, was an enchanting and captivating sorceress. Had we interacted with her, she could convince us to try one of her magic potions that caused amnesia and then by merely touching us with her magic wand would have turned us into swine.  Circe invited Ulysses men to a feast during which they drunk the “amnesia potion” that was laced with honey and wine following which, as the story goes, Circe turn them to pigs.  Hermes alerted Odysseus to use the holy herb Moly (Greek:Μῶλυ) as an antidote to Circe’s magic elixirs.   Ulysses thanks to Molly stayed on Circe’s island for a year, feasting, drinking wine and enjoying Circe’s favors.

Odysseus and his men would had stayed captives for life if it was not for Hermes again who advised Odysseus to draw his sword and act as if he was going to attack Circe. According to Homer, Circe released Odysseus and his men from their spell and advised them to either pass thru the dangerous strait of monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis or go to the Underworld and ask Tiresias for directions on how to return to their beloved Ithaca.

As we had favorable northerly winds, unlike Odysseus who went west to Oceanus, to meet Tiresias, we sailed due south towards the Aeolian Islands.